Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good start but needs more flexibility., March 21, 2008
Overall, I'm satisfied with my Denon S-52. It's very well-built and feels very solid (it weighs over 14 pounds!) with impressive build quality. The WLAN antenna on the back is detachable so you can use a different Wi-Fi antenna if you need extra range.
For just popping in an iPod or CD and playing it, this thing works like a dream. It supports CD-R's burned with files (like .MP3's or .WMA files) and thumb drives work well. It won't span sub-directories for continuous play so you have to dump all your files in the same directory if you want it to play everything continuously. The CD mechanism is among the quietest I've ever heard, and the loading mechanism is _very_ smooth. I've seen high-dollar CD transports that have done worse.
The large clock display is easily readable. Alarms clearly indicate their wakeup time on the display whenever they are enabled. The separate, push-to-latch buttons for each alarm make switching alarms easy and fool-proof.
The device sounds quite good on its own -- Denon clearly spent time and money designing the speaker enclosures to be relatively free of unwanted resonances, and the speakers have adequate high-frequency response. Denon uses Audyssey bass-boosting technology to increase apparent bass which works relatively well but unfortunately is undefeatable should you hook up a subwoofer. Adding a powered subwoofer is easy because of the mono RCA (phono-jack) output on the back but adjusting it is difficult because the Audyssey technology sounds muddy when accompanied by a subwoofer. I would recommend a subwoofer with variable frequency, volume, and phase controls -- switches won't give you the adjustability you need to blend the subwoofer with the radio.
The Denon only gave me the option to wake to CD (including CD-R) or Internet radio. It didn't even offer me FM or USB thumb drive. It's possible I missed something -- the manual seems complete until you get the thing on your table and start asking detailed questions, and then you realize they left a lot out.
The clock auto-setting feature works well only if you have a local SNMP-enabled device that keeps (or gets) proper time. If you don't, the Denon will "auto-set" to the first one it sees. If the SNMP device it happens to find on the Internet doesn't have its time set properly, your time will also be wrong. It won't tell you or let you tell it where to look for the SNMP server, either. I wound up enabling the SNMP server in my access point solely to auto-set the time on this clock! It would be helpful if it would look for an NTP server instead since it only wants the time. The only way I found to reliably get it to "re-auto-set" the time (if it got it wrong the first time) was to have it look for updated firmware, which seems to cause a total system reset. You do have the option of manually setting the time, which seems to disable the auto-setting (but the manual is silent on this issue).
The only way I've found to play music back from a PC is to use Windows Media Player as a server. I had no luck trying to get it to play directly from a shared drive. I had hoped this would work with my other network music players from [...], but it doesn't seem to recognize SqueezeCenter as a music server.
Setting the S-52 up for a protected wireless network was about as troublesome as I could imagine. It insists on having you enter your network key (for WPA or WEP) one character at a time with a jog wheel, after which it _immediately_ "masks" it with an asterisk. And since the display is only 20 characters or so long, once you're around character 25, you'd better not lose your place! Also, it doesn't give you the ability to enter a space (ASCII 32) (incidentally this tidbit is also missing from the manual), so don't use them in your key. Forget about being able to correct mistakes -- while it's technically possible, you'll never figure out where in the string you are or which asterisk is hiding the character you need to change. They really need to re-think how this works -- WPA keys can be up to 63 characters in length and future revisions will only get longer.
The Denon saves all settings to some sort of non-volatile memory. It has no battery backup if it loses power, but it remembers what time it was when it was lost and it looks for the SNMP server to get the time as soon as power is restored. This makes power failures relatively painless, but it might not be a bad idea to have a backup battery-powered clock if waking up is critical and you live in an area with unreliable power.
Not a bad first try from Denon. All the hardware seems to be there -- most of the problems I had can be attributed to poor firmware design or a lack of flexibility in options. Assuming it's possible to defeat the Audyssey EQ in firmware with a future revision, Denon could address each of these problems in a future update. Until then, this unit is quite usable even if it doesn't live up to its potential.
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
At last, a total digital music solution, April 20, 2008
This product exceeded my expectations. Here are details not highlighted in the product info:
A) Sound quality
I compared it with a friend to his Bose Wave system. We both prefered Denon, which had richer bass and fuller range. Both systems created an impressive stereophonic spread throughout the room if placed in the right position. Denon also compared favorably to Tivoli Radio (but Tivoli is mono). You can add an external subwoofer to this Denon (the external speaker port is for "mono" only so it is only practical for a subwoofer).
B) Music Input
This is its strongest feature. The Denon is more versatile than other shelf-systems (Bose, Polk i-Sonic, Tivoli, Boston Acoustics, Cambridge Soundworks) and even outperforms the expensive Sonos (it does what Sonos does and more... you could spend thousands putting a Sonos port with expensive speakers in each room, or just buy the Denon and move it from room to room - it's portable!).
It will switch between input-sources seamlessly with the push of a button. For toggling to your favorite track or folder, Denon has a highly readable screen which displays 3-lines (e.g. 3 folders, 3 track names). The blue screen has 3-dim levels and can be read from across a small room (because it enlarges the selected text). Toggling this menu is easy either through a button on the remote or a faster dial on the machine. Here's what it can play:
1) Ipod through a dock (better sound quality than an aux line)
2) Other digital media through front-loaded USB port (this works just like the ipod dock, optimizing sound quality and allowing you to control the folders/song titles through Denon's screen. I plugged my Creative Zen in and it instantly recognized all the folders/tracks. Even simpler, you could copy media files to a memory stick and plug the stick in).
3) Your computer's hard drive (If your computer can transmit a wireless signal - which is <$100 to add on - the Denon can pick this up and play any music on your computer's hard drive).
4) CD... including CDs with MP3 files and rewritable CDs. MP3 CDs are easy to create with iTunes or Windows Media Player... an MP2 CD holds 8-12 regular CDs. You can create subfolders on the MP3 CD, which Denon recognizes, and it displays all track names on the MP3 (sadly it does not display track names for regular CDs).
5) Radio... including HD-radio. It comes with a basic, removable, AM and FM antenna and allows you to plug in more expensive antennas.
6) Internet Radio... this is amazing! Push one button and it allows you to display all internet radio stations by category (country, genre, popularity, etc.). Every country seems represented except North Korea. As someone who is constantly foraging for new music, this was an eye-opener. I had never encountered the sounds of Afghanistan's folk music, or Chinese classical music, and Denon brought them to me live with high quality encoding after the push of 3 buttons. Note: sound quality varies by digital encoding of station; generally it's similar to or better than XM-radio.
7) PodCasts... similar to internet radio, Denon stores a huge array of free Podcasts in a folder which you can play. (FYI: podcasts are 15-60 minute talk or interview programs, put out daily to monthly, which focus on specialized topics).
9) XM Radio... this requires a subscription and antennae. Although I use XM in my car, it would require additional money/month to add on the Denon, which doesn't seem worth it given the better selection of tracks on internet radio. Lastly, Rhapsody lets you add Denon on for FREE if you have a rhapsody account on your computer!
10) Aux In (so you can effectly plug any source into Denon, like a TV, but note most MP3 players will sound and function better through the USB port). Note: The aux-in is a single plug, perhaps not as good quality as the right/left jacks on other systems.
9) Rhapsody... This is the real gem! I have used Rhapsody on my computer and mp3 player for 3 years, and hate the system but love the music. On the computer, Rhapsody is slow, breaks down a lot, and is time-consuming to find and download tracks. Not so with Denon. This Rhapsody interface is a joy:
USING RHAPSODY: push one button, and a menu appears allowing you to listen to your personal Rhapsody library, streaming channels by genre, new releases, staff picks, most popular artist/tracks/albums, browse by genre (including dozens of obscure sub-genres) or search for what you want (using a toggle button to insert letters of the artist/song/album name). The Rhapsody feature is $15/month. The menu on Denon works great and toggles faster than the computer does, but it is easiest to first build a library on the computer with Rhapsody, then use Denon to play your library (e.g. by Playlists, by Artist, by Album, etc, just like on an iPod). This means you can access nearly every commercial album available for $15/mth, add endless tracks to your library without using any disc space, and play them anytime with Denon's beautiful sound. Other perks: you can use Rhapsody on your computer and the Denon at the same time (this is unusual... traditionally Rhapsody won't let you log onto multiple machines with one account). Also, as you update your playlists on the computer, the changes show up instantly on Denon... Amazing! Another nice feature... find a Rhapsody-Channel you like; it will play an random selection of tracks that fit your taste. If you like the song, press a button and it's added to your library. Or, press another and it will show you "similar" artists/songs/albums. If you don't like it, press a button and it skips ahead. It's fun to forage for songs to add to your library on the computer while Denon suggests good songs to inspire you through the Channel feature.
Lastly, Rhapsody plays with no detectable loss of digital quality.
C) Ease of Use
Set up was NOT COMPLEX because my LinkSys WiFi automatically sends the network code to Denon. Some internet sources may require you to enter this manually which may require a phone call to Denon and/or your ISP provider. The only technical prep I had to do was enter my Rhapsody id/password. The other prep is optional: you can set internet-radio preferences by logging into Denon's web site.
I can carry my Denon from room to room and it picks up internet just like a laptop, using its 2-inch WiFi antenna. If you don't have WiFi you will need to plug Denon into an ethernet cable, just like a desktop computer, so the internet functions won't be portable. The remote control and screen interface are outstandingly simple and effective.
D) Downsides
- When playing Rhasody or Internet Radio, you can't pause the track, you can only stop it (or mute it). After stopping, Rhapsody will start from the beginning of the track if you then press play. This is probably because it "streams" the track.
- When turning Denon on, there is 5-7 sec warm-up phase before you hear the music. When switching internet sources (eg a new internet station, a new Rhapsody channel) there is a similar delay in loading up the new source from the internet (but once you stick with a source there's no delay).
E) Other perks
1) If you have wireless internet, it automatically adjusts the clock if you unplug it (including daylight savings).
2) It has good clock/alarm features, including 2 alarms, automatic shut-off after selected time, and dimmer control for brightness.
3) It has a "remember last setting" feature so that if it's turned off, or you switch between inputs, it will remember what you were listening to before switching/shutting off. However, I found this didn't work for Rhapsody... you still have to toggle to the folder you want everytime you switch to Rhapsody.
4) If left unplugged, it will remember your settings for up to a week. Also, there is a method to restore the factory settings.
5) It has a "firmware update" feature which, hopefully, will allow the system to be updated and improved in the future.
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Difficult to Set Up but Well Worth It, December 3, 2007
I am definitely not an early adopter of new technologies. I purchased an IPod only a few months ago. However, what attracted me to the new Denon S52 is the idea of being able to listen to radio stations from around the world. As a young man, I loved staying up all night trying to pull in shortwave tropical band broadcasts. The second reason why I found the Denon to be so attractive is that I could dock my IPod to the receiver. I cannot think of anything more that I can ask of a radio.
I am replacing a Bose Wave Radio with the Denon S52. The beauty of the Bose Radio is that I plugged it in and it was ready to go. Starting the Denon S52up was a lot more complicated and well beyond my technical abilities. I am using the Radio at work and we have secure WiFi Network. I had to use the services of the company's System Administrator to set the radio up. In order to access the WiFi System, the radio needs the System's security code. Unfortunately, there was no way to download that information straight into the radio. The poor System's Administrator had to enter the 30+ characters by hand. It was a text messaging nightmare. With some distractions, it took him 15 minutes to load the characters into the radio.
Once it was set up, the radio turned out to do everything promised. The sound quality is as good as the Bose Radio. With the IPod sticking out of the receiver and the antenna protruding from the back, the Denon does not look nearly as attractive as the Bose. However, what I lost in style, I picked up in being able to listen to radio stations from around the world. If you are going to take the Denon to work, be prepared to do some favors for the System Administrator.
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