| Denon S-52 Wireless Network Music System with Built-in Speakers and Alarm Clock |  | Brand: Denon
Category: CE
List Price: $699.00
Buy New: $594.78
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New (11) Used (4) from $463.02
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 19358
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 19.1
Dimensions (in): 18.7 x 12.9 x 9.8
MPN: S52
Model: S52
UPC: 883795000154
EAN: 0083795000158
ASIN: B000X3OOQU
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| Features:
| • | slot-loading CD player | | • | plays CDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, MP3 & WMA CDs | | • | stereo AM/FM radio tuner | | • | receives HD Radio broadcasts and multicasts | | • | XM Satellite Radio Ready (requires XM subscription and optional XM Mini-Tuner package) |
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Product Description
The Denon S-52 wireless network music system with built-in speakers and 2-alarm clock, one of Denon's first two networked audio products, delivers a smart way to play music from your computer throughout the home. The WiFi certified S-52 offers the ability to stream music either via Ethernet, or wirelessly, from internet radio sources and other network attached storage devices such as PC or Mac computers on the network. It also features a USB port that allows users to connect USB mass storage devices such flash drives, MP3 players or USB hard drives. The Denon S-52 has built-in speakers were targeted to have internationally accepted sound reproduction that is excellent for music with a powerful bass response and special audio dynamic. The S-52 comes with a clock with two alarms with auto clock set-and-adjust via internet, FM/AM radio, a built-in dock for iPod and a built-in HD radio tuner. It has a slot-loading CD player capable of decoding many popular audio formats including MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV and FLAC. The S-52 is also satellite radio ready with the optional subscription-based hardware.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Great feature set, but software and audio quality problems forced return September 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
We bought this because we needed a new clock/radio/alarm and decided to go a little overboard. We really needed CD and iPod integration with a dual alarm clock. This isn't the only unit with those features, but it was one of the few. This thing has HD Radio, XM, streaming internet radio, stream MP3s from your computer... all wow! So feature set is definitely this unit's strength.
However, right when I turned it on I was a little disappointed. The noise floor on this thing (the amount of hiss you hear when you turn it almost all the way down) is pretty poor. Our old $30 cd/clock/radio had a better noise floor. The hiss is constant, so you can't hear it at higher volumes, but when this is meant to be on your nightstand while going to sleep, it can be distracting.
But, now, on to the *big problem* with these units. You can upgrade the firmware over the internet. Out of the box, my unit (manufactured in March 2008) did not have the latest firmware. So I downloaded the firmware over the internet and upgraded the unit. After this upgrade, the unit began to randomly lock up. When it locks up, an annoying buzzing tone comes out of the speakers and you have to unplug the unit to reset it. Needless to say, I was a little miffed when it locked up after I had set it to sleep mode and had just fell asleep. There is no way to downgrade back to the old firmware - heck, there isn't even a version number to know which firmware you have! The timing on this lockup was random - anywhere from 5 minutes after I turned it on, all the way up to 5 hours. I never saw it last longer than 5 hours over the two weeks I had it.
To make sure I hadn't just gotten a lemon, I ordered a second unit. I let it play *before* I did the firmware upgrade. It appeared to have no lock ups, although you really do need the firmware upgrade because it fixes some issues with Rhapsody (can't access some tracks) and the wireless internet connectivity (much more flaky with older firmware). So, I then upgraded the firmware on the second unit, and lo and behold, it started locking up again. Denon really needs to fix the firmware, or ask the manufacturers of the innards (BridgeCo) to fix their software. Hard to say where the blame is. I believe the original firmware doesn't lock up, but Denon didn't apply the same quality controls on the firmware upgrades. Shameful.
So, I ended up returning both units. Nothing I can do, and I can't have it locking up randomly requiring me to unplug it. Customer service told me to take it in to service, but that was a 2-3 week wait and I think my experiment pretty much proved the problem is with their firmware.
Pro:
- Feature set is unparalleled
- Sounds amazing at higher volumes
Cons:
- Most recent firmware is buggy (as of 8/1/08), random freezes (*show stopper*)
- High noise floor
- Wireless network is finicky (better with latest firmware, but still intermittent)
Great features and sound July 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I agree with the other user who said that the S-52 is difficult to set up. It requires some patience in entering the Network information (e.g. WPA password), and a few times of saying, "Stink, I hit the wrong button again." But, once you get past the initial setup, the listening options are fantastic. I was surprised that the S-52 doesn't have any tone or bass and treble adjustments, but that's because it uses electronics to adjust the tone dynamically based on volume. The result is that sound quality is very good, and I'm pleased with my purchase.
 At last, a total digital music solution April 20, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
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.
Good start but needs more flexibility. March 22, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
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.
Great product January 2, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
This product is great but it suffers from being version 1. The firmware that runs the product still need a lot of work to be more user friendly.
There are a lot of undocumented features that may exists. There is a web interface on the system but no documentation of it.
I still gave it 5 stars since the sound is great size very nice.
Still planing on getting a second one for our bedroom.
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