DENON AVR-S670H

The Denon AVR-S670H sits near the bottom of Denon’s AV receiver range and is aimed at a first proper home cinema. It handles 5.2 channels, which is enough for a front three, a pair of surrounds and a subwoofer, and it leaves out the height channels that Dolby Atmos needs.

That is the honest dividing line in this range. If you are not going to put speakers in or near the ceiling, the money saved here is better spent on the speakers themselves.

What Apple Home actually does with it

This is an AirPlay 2 device, not a HomeKit accessory, and the difference matters.

• It appears in the Home app as a speaker you can play to, and in Control Centre as an AirPlay target.
• You can put it in a room and group it with HomePods for synchronised multi-room audio.
• Siri can send music to it by room name.
• You can use it as the audio output in a scene or an automation.

What you cannot do is turn it on, change the input or set the volume from the Home app as if it were a smart plug. Power, inputs and surround processing stay on the remote, the front panel and the manufacturer’s own app.

Before you buy

Count your speakers first, then count the HDMI sockets you need. Receivers are usually replaced because of connectivity rather than sound.

If you do want Atmos, step up to the AVR-X1800H, which adds height channels.

Specifications