The present review is aimed to compare two soundbars - Sonos Beam vs Denon DHT-S517 that are meant to satisfy the needs of cinema and music lovers. Based on our rating, Beam has a total rating of 6 out of 10 versus 5.4 for DHT-S517. The competitors' control buttons are different: volume down, volume up, microphone, play/pause and power, source, demo, volume down, volume up, respectively.
Both soundbars have active amplification type. A significant difference between the units in the number of channels, the Sonos Beam has 3.0 versus 3.1.2 for the Denon DHT-S517. Competitors do not have a built-in subwoofer. Rivals have wireless connection to separate subwoofer. The Sonos Beam got our rating of 6 out of 10, and the Denon DHT-S517 5 for its audio features and specs. Spotify support not implemented in both soundbars.
Only the Sonos Beam can connect to the Internet via WI-FI. Rivals from our review have Bluetooth support. The Sonos Beam has 1/0 HDMI inputs/outputs versus 1/1 of the Denon DHT-S517. Only the DHT-S517 supports HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC). For connectivity, the Beam received a rating of 6/10 versus 7/10, respectively. App control is available in every soundbar. A built-in microphone is present only on the Beam. Soundbars do not have Multi-room support.
Only the DHT-S517 has a Dolby Atmos multichannel audio format support. The soundbars do not support the surround sound technology DTS:X. For multichannel surround Sonos Beam got a rating of 4, and Denon DHT-S517 7 out of 10.