LATEST ADDITIONS

PRICE $2,148 as reviewed

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Stellar audio performance
Simple, intuitive app
Minus
No desktop controller
Fewer streaming services than Sonos

THE VERDICT
It’s not the first wireless multiroom sound system, but it certainly ranks among the best.

When I asked the folks at Denon why they felt the need to develop a multiroom, streaming music system, this was the answer they gave: “Probably for similar reasons why we developed the LP turntable and didn’t continue to manufacture gramophones.” That wasn’t quite the answer I was looking for, but it was an interesting way of putting a tangible perspective on the past 100-plus years that Denon has been involved in the audio industry.

In this day and age, it’s the rare person who sits at home enjoying selections from his or her collection of bulky spinning cylinders; streaming songs is what’s popular now. In fact, our collective propensity for listening to audio from the Internet or music stored on NAS drives and computers has resulted in wireless speakers of various kinds becoming the product du jour of nearly every audio manufacturer on the planet. So the question I really should have asked was how Denon thought they could build a system that would rise above the flood of streaming music speakers and systems on the market—and, specifically, how in the world Denon thought they could compete head to head with the Goliath of streaming music systems, Sonos.

No, you can’t get Ultra HD via antenna yet, but the technology has just gotten its first successful test broadcast in Baltimore. The test used Technicolor’s ATSC 3.0 test platform to send UHDTV through an experimental transmission system from Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of more than a hundred U.S. TV stations. The platform is based on open standards including SHVC video compression, MPEG-H audio, and MPEG-MMT signal transport. It is designed for phones and tablets as well as traditional antenna-TV reception.

Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q Why can’t audio devices be daisy-chained via Bluetooth? I have a NAD Viso 1 speaker dock and a NAD 3020 integrated amp, both with Bluetooth. The units are located in different rooms. Why can’t I send the same signal from my iPhone to both units at the same time?—J. Alan Greer

PRICE $899

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Wi-Fi, AirPlay, Bluetooth built in Analog multichannel ins and outs
Minus
No HDCP 2.2

THE VERDICT
Though it lacks the latest UHD video future-proofing, this mid-line Marantz delivered great sound and solid value.

D+M has a leading role in the audio/video receiver market. It’s actually an amalgamation of two former companies with markedly different (though both distinguished) histories. Denon, born in 1910 and known for a time as Nippon Columbia, was originally a manufacturer of gramophones and discs in Japan. Marantz, in contrast, was born in the U.S.A. in the early 1950s when Saul Marantz of Kew Gardens, New York, started building preamps in his home.

After numerous corporate permutations (which included a three-decade relationship between Marantz and Philips), Marantz and Denon merged in 2002 into what is now called the D+M Group. In 2014, the pro divisions of both brands were acquired by inMusic Brands, a maker of DJ equipment. However, the consumer divisions continue to market A/V receivers and other audio products under the D+M umbrella.