Denon HEOS Link HS2 Wireless Pre-Amplifier, Hi-Res Audio, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth, Multiroom Music Streaming - Black

So my opinion as an audio visual integrator I have to, as a seller recommend products to my clients, and I can say hands down this unit sounds better than Sonos and is easier to setup/control. Although Sonos does have their “room calibration” and native Spotify (not Spotify connect - which does make browsing or searching music easier) this product on a whole gets 5*S from me.

Attended a demo of a Linn streamer system (about £50k worth) at their factory and needless to say was impressed enough that I decided to get in on the act. Not having the budget for a Linn system and already having a half decent system anyway (Denon amp & Kef speakers) I decided adding a streamer to my existing system was the way to go. The dealer who organised the event lent me an Arcam r3 to try and while I was delighted with the sound quality I was less than impressed with the DTS Playfy app which accompanied it, getting frequent dropouts and having a great deal of difficulty setting it up. I returned the Arcam and picked up one of these Denon's as an open box special. I have to say I totally disagree with those who criticise the Heos app. Compared to the Playfy it has been a joy to use. Setup took seconds and I've yet to suffer any dropouts or other problems. As a bonus it can interact with my Denon Amp via the supplied IR extender allowing me to switch it on, select the input and control the volume from my phone. For some reason it won't switch the amp off again, but that's a minor inconvenience. As far as sound quality goes it obviously isn't up there with the £50k Linn and doesn't quite match the Arcam, but it's very close. I suspect all but the most dedicated audiophile would be more than happy with it, I certainly am.

I worked my way through the standard (including the "easy") setup procedures methodically several times. Once the device appeared to connect to my network (based around a Netgear RAXE500 router), but failed to connect when rebooted. Having established a fair degree of frustration, I tried a wired connection via an old AirPort Express. Connected immediately: I navigated to the "advanced" screens of the HEOS IoS App, and flipped the "wired" to "wireless" toggle. After entering a password, and saving the settings, the device remained connected. It performs extremely well, and has breathed new life into an old(ish) Denon system. Very happy with the result - but loses a star for the setup issues.

I bought this to work with my pre-Heos Denon receiver as I wanted to stream music via Alex. It's well built and solid, as you'd expect, but half the time I couldn't get it to play. The unit would turn on and say it was playing, but no sound came out. It's possible that this could be a fault with my receiver, but I've had no other issues with it.Secondly, the Alexa integration does not work with Spotify. You can play via the app, but otherwise you need to listen with Amazon Music if you want Alex control. As this was the main purpose of wanting a streamer, it was a big issue for me.In the end I sent it back and bought an Echo Input for £19.99. Yes, the sound quality isn't quite so good and I have to turn the receiver on manually, but it does me Alexa control for only a tenth of the price.

Cuts out all the time. The whole system shuts down all online services (Tidal etc) every week or so - usually on a Saturday night - for a few hours. If you search the web you’ll see many people having the same problem and getting error code -2000.I’m getting rid of mine.