Denon HEOS Link Wireless Pre-Amplifier For Multi-Room Audio - Series 2 (New Version), Amazon Alexa Compatibility, Powered Subwoofer Connection, Black with Silver, 2.91 x 6.14 x 5.83

I recently decided to upgrade to an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription from the basic Prime Membership, and added on the HD option along with that. My goal in doing this was to essentially have an entire CD collection at my fingertips. Now I needed something that could play all of that music through my existing AV receiver and speakers. I have spent years building my system, and it plays everything from LP's to cassettes, SACD's, CD's and HD Radio. I did not want to be forced to listen to my Amazon subscription only through my phone, computer or some 'smart' speaker.The Denon HEOS Link is the perfect match. I can output the audio signal via both the analog and digital outputs, depending on what I need. The sound quality using the onboard Burr Brown 32-bit DAC is excellent over analog. I can now play all of the music in the Amazon library at HD quality (same specs as CD @ 44.1khz/16bit) or Ultra HD (up to 192khz/24bit). It is like suddenly having access to every CD in the world, but now easily played through my own home stereo system.From a design standpoint, the HEOS link is a small, attractive box with a silver finish and a modern look. It has a solid weight to it. The HEOS app is easy to use and play music through. It can display the file-type of each track it plays (i.e. FLAC 96khz/24bit) so I know the quality of the recording I am listening to. You can also connect the HEOS Link to Alexa, which will then allow you to use the Amazon Music app to play music through the HEOS Link, just in case you happen to have a preference on app interfaces, or need access to the 'My Music' section of your collection.Additionally, the HEOS Link connects to many other music services (such as Pandora, which I also use because I like their music discovery algorithm the best), and can be used to play music over your home network or via USB.All in all, for my specific situation and for what I was looking for, this was the perfect fit. I highly recommend it.[UPDATE 9/28/2020] - I still love my HEOS Link, and the overall concept behind it, which is to be able to stream CD quality or higher music to my existing legacy stereo system. However, I can no longer recommend its integration with Amazon Music. After some recent updates to Amazon Music, there are the following issues:1.) The first song of an album will always start a few seconds into the song. Irritating over time, as I am using this device to essentially replace my CD catalog and therefore expect it to play as well as CD's.2.) While playing an album, it will suddenly skip to the next song, for no apparent reason.3.) Every now and then it will simply freeze playing a song, requiring a hard reboot of the HEOS.I suspect these issues are mainly on the Amazon Music side, and the frequent changes their development teams are making, that limit how well the HEOS folks can keep up. The reason I suspect this is that using the HEOS with Tidal exhibits none of these issues. Amazon Music has always had somewhat limited integration from the beginning (i.e. no playlist support), so something about their implementation is different. Tidal integration is great, I can create playlists and use the queue, and none of the issues mentioned above are present. The first song starts right up, there is no random skipping tracks, or freezing up.There are some caveats to using Tidal:1.) Tidal streams FLAC at CD quality (44.1Khz/16 bit), but their "master" quality tracks use the proprietary MQA format, which is not supported by HEOS, so CD quality is as high as you can go through HEOS (which is fine for me). Amazon streams their UHD in FLAC format, up to 192Khz/24 bit, so you can theoretically get higher quality through the HEOS, but then, does that matter if it doesn't work?2.) Tidal is more expensive than Amazon Music HD, especially if you are already a Prime member and prepay. This one is harder to swallow, but again, if the playback is buggy, it is worth the extra $7 or so per month to me to get perfect playback.By the way, I can confirm that both services use the same source files - the track "Down Home Rag", from the album, "Now & Then", by the band "Trapezoid" was clearly made from the same scratched CD. The FLAC version on both Amazon Music HD and Tidal have the skips from the scratched disc encoded into the file.So, long story short (too late), while I would prefer to use my HEOS Link with Amazon Music HD since it is cheaper and I can leverage the higher resolution FLAC files, I have switched over to Tidal, because of the superior integration and stability it has within the HEOS app.

The HEOS Link generally works well and as advertised (although arguably this was not always the case previously). In combination with the smartphone app, it provides a convenient interface to stored audio files, bluetooth, as well as commonly-used online sources (currently Tidal, TunedIn, Spotify, SiriusXM, Pandora, Amazon, Deezer, IHeartRadio, SoundCloud, Mood:Mix).Our system has two separate HEOS Links in different rooms (one Series 1 and one Series 2). Audio sources can be played independently in each room or tied to play from a single source, which is a nice feature.Quirks and "things to know":In my experience the HEOS Links have not always work flawlessly with wireless networks even in optimal circumstances (good RSSI and minimal competition with other network traffic). The smartphone app would occasionally "hang" and not find the Links on our system. However this now works well - it is rare now for the app to fail to find a Link or "hang" when the app is started on our Android phones.I have found the Links to work well with both 4G and 5G wireless networks. (Contrary to the documentation, you may control Links on a 4G network from both 4G- and 5G-connected smartphones.) You do need reasonably connectivity of course, and a little experimentation may be required to locate your unit. As a rule of thumb, if you can watch a youtube video without breaks on your phone, you can run your Link there also (assuming the same network for both).Binding Links together to run from a single source (connecting "rooms" in the app) does work, but I have found this function to balk occasionally when linking or unlinking rooms. (However, this is one time that simply "re-trying" does the trick.) That said, when Links are bound together to run from a single source the synchronization between rooms is quite good, providing functional multi-room audio functionality (as advertised).The app interface for the online sources can be minimal - I find it most convenient to set up playlists etc. on the individual apps such as Tidal, and use the HEOS Link app for simple actions such as selecting a source.The app, after a long development journey, is now generally well organized and functional. There is a "Favorites" option that works across all sources, and this is how I normally select music. One "gripe;" the app devotes inordinate space to quasi-advertising that we don't need - e.g. the Tidal gadget in the app takes up half of an Android screen with "What's New" and "Exclusives".Local audio files can be played as a source, but there are caveats: I have been unable to use the common .wma format with the Link - to date these files must be converted to another format like .mp3 to work successfully. Along with the still-touchy "room" interface, this in my view is one of the most significant weaknesses of the HEOS Link.Volume balance can be adjusted between rooms rather easily, but we have found no way to compensate for baseline volume differences between source systems (e.g. SiriusXM to TunedIn to Tidal). It's a minor inconvenience, but a source-compensation setting would be welcome feature.In my opinion, what the HEOS Link "brings to the table" is convenience, online music sources not always available on other systems, synchronization between rooms, and - last but certainly not least - good sound quality. Nonetheless: if you play audio in a single room and from a single source (e.g. Roku) you may find your pre-amplifier built-in sources or Roku apps to be perfectly satisfactory.Finally: The HEOS Links are not inexpensive. While the Link is arguably a good value for the money, it will set you back the best part of $400 per unit. I have not encountered significant price discounting, to date.