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Denon's Home Sound Bar 550 boasts Dolby Atmos and Alexa smarts

The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is a fully loaded smart soundbar with HDMI connectivity and virtual Dolby Atmos

Ty Pendlebury Editor
Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
Expertise Ty has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He majored in Cinema Studies when studying at RMIT. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast. Credentials
  • Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
Ty Pendlebury
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Sound United

Denon has announced the smart all-in-one Home Sound Bar 550 ($599) at CES which includes support for Dolby Atmos/DTS:X and 4K HDMI (eARC).  

Denon says the  soundbar  has "the ability to deliver Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D surround sound from a six-driver array" and offers a number of streaming protocols including HEOS , Apple AirPlay 2 or Bluetooth . The only thing missing for Android users is Chromecast built-in. The soundbar is also Roku TV Ready.

While the 550 is cheaper than the Sonos Arc ($799) it appears to lack the Arc's height speakers and therefore may only simulate Dolby Atmos. Denon isn't alone in this cost-cutting measure, soundbars like the Sony HT-G700  and JBL Bar 5.0 use virtual Dolby Atmos in place of actual speakers.

The 550 has onboard microphones, which will be enabled in Spring 2021, to allow communication via the Amazon Alexa assistant. You can opt to leave the mics off if you like, too.

The all-in-one can be bolstered with the DSW-1H wireless subwoofer (599 £599, AU$1099). Users can also install other HEOS speakers and compatible receivers (like the Denon AVR-960) to use as part of a multi-room setup.

The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 will be available in the US from February 2021, with UK and Australian pricing and availability yet to be announced. Expect it to be the same price as the subwoofer, though, at £599 and $1,099.