The Sound Issue 2016 Product Focus: Denon HEOS

HEOS is the newest wireless audio system from Denon (which was surprisingly developed in Sydney). It allows you to centralise multiple wirelessly connected speakers around your home, and it's versatile enough that you can have the same track blaring in every room or set each speaker to a different tune. Stick them outdoors or in-ceiling, get floorstanding or bookshelf models - you can have your house song battle itself Pitch Perfect-style if you like.

It's controlled by a free app that is available for both iOS and Android, which means all you need to do is download the app, make sure you've paid your Wi-Fi bills, and then you're free to pump each room in your home full of tunes from whatever online source you fancy, be it Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, Soundcloud, TuneIn or another. You can also play music from a USB stick, NAS drive or a smart device, which you can link up to one of Denon's range compact wireless speakers.

Based on room size, whether it's going inside or out, and your own personal preference, you can choose from four wireless multi-zone music players that run the gamut from $379 to $999, with each available in black or white and with optional Bluetooth capability. 

If you've already got a system set up there are also add-on versions, so there's no need to turf all of your old speakers either. The HEOS Link model for example lets you use the HEOS app to wirelessly control your existing sound system, and the Amp model is designed to add HEOS multi-room audio functionality to any pair of stereo loudspeakers, allowing for the same simplifies wireless use as the HEOS speaker models. There's even a soundbar model that will dramatically improve the sound of your TV, the HomeCinema model, which also functions as a powerful speaker set.