Denon’s micro system just gets better and better
FOR Bluetooth wireless connectivity; improved sound
Denon didn’t necessarily need to release a new micro system: the multi-awardwinning D M40DAB has being hanging around our most-read reviews list like an Adele record that simply refuses to drop out of the charts.
Logically, then, there are two explanations for the D M41DAB. Either it’s a subliminal reminder that Denon remains at the top of this tree or, in the near-twoyear wait for the product’s emergence, the company has once again managed to significantly better itself.
The lengths to which Denon has gone with this updated system would suggest the latter.
Bluetooth arrives
Even if the rest of the package had remained the same, the inclusion of Bluetooth for the first time in this range (which can be turned on or off to avoid affecting the D M41DAB’S overall performance while not in use) would be our first cause for celebration.
The lack of wireless capabilities never stopped us giving Denon Awards, but it had been the only blot on the M-series’ otherwise pristine copybook.
Given the merits of the D M40DAB, it’s perhaps a risk that the company’s engineers have tinkered so much with the insides of its flagship micro system.
Triple Noise Reduction
Denon claims its brand new analogue amplifier circuit offers greater clarity and purity, with shortened signal paths and further measures to avoid sources of interference built in.
This is part of what Denon dubs its Triple Noise Reduction Design, which, while sounding like something from a gastro-pub menu, also encompasses careful separation of analogue and digital circuits and precision signal grounding.
It also claims that distortion from the input selector, volume control and power amplifier has been suppressed for the purest possible sound. AGAINST Nothing at this price
But if Denon has redesigned the interior of its micro system, the same cannot be said of the façade. At a glance, the only way to tell the D M41DAB apart from its predecessor is that the CD drive and display screen have swapped places, so that the former sits above the latter – as it did prior to the D M39.
No more USB
On closer inspection, however, you’ll notice the screen is flatter than before, meaning less reflection. It isn’t immediately obvious, but placing the pair side-by-side does reveal a significant improvement.
You’ll also notice that, given its new Bluetooth connectivity, Denon has removed the USB input. There are still analogue and digital optical inputs for playing music from an external source without Bluetooth, such as an old ipod, but that does mean no more memory sticks.
As previously, the D M41DAB is available with or without Denon’s SC M41 speakers, which add £100 to the price that we quote at the top.
Last time we tested it, we preferred these designated speakers to the Award-winning Q Acoustics 3020s. Though they look the same as before, Denon says it has ne-tuned this 12cm woofer and 25mm soft-dome tweeter conguration to make the partnership even more successful. If you buy the system all together, you’ll also benet from using upgraded speaker cables.
”We’ve hinted long enough in our reviews that Denon should add Bluetooth connectivity to these systems, and it’s been integrated very well indeed“
So the design has undergone more than just a tweak, and the rewards are reaped in the performance. The DM40DAB improved on its predecessor in just about every department, but it wasn’t as clear a leap forward as this.
Great soundstage
We play Hot Chip’s Made In The Dark on CD and immediately notice the spatial gains in the soundstage and greater detail. Dynamics, too, are more insightful and expressive – and this is only in the album’s opening build with the introduction of Out At The Pictures.
By the time it gets properly going, it’s as if the Denon has been on a mindfulness retreat for the past two years and rediscovered itself. To say the presentation is more forward is not a slight – the balance here is still pleasantly even – but it really does throw itself into the changing rhythms, which it does with an enviable sprightly confidence.
We play around with speaker positioning and end up with the SCM41S further away from our back wall than a bookshelf would really allow, but the character isn’t lost when it’s a tight fit. Really it’s another feather in Denon’s cap not to have lost its heft and stability without the low-end assistance of a rear wall.
We’ve hinted long enough in our reviews that Denon should add Bluetooth connectivity to these systems, and it has been integrated very well indeed. The drop in sound quality from CD to Spotify stream has little effect on the DM41DAB’S sonic mastery.
Light touch
We change pace with Ryan Adams’
Heartbreaker, and it’s clear the energy with which the Denon renders Hot Chip can be easily traded for gracefulness while playing the more delicate passages of this album.
While its touch is light across the fingerpicked acoustic guitars in tracks such as Oh My Sweet Carolina, it sheds no weight in Adams’ vocal performance, for which the combination of low-end stability and dynamic sensibilities leave us with a remarkably human performance for a hi-fi system at this price.
Better than before
Denon could simply have added Bluetooth to its system and struck the only item from our “against” column – but we’re pleased it did more than that.
If the DM41DAB – which again we’d recommend pairing with the company’s designated speakers – doesn’t quite put its predecessor to shame, it certainly gives it a decent hiding.
It sees marked improvements across the board combining to offer a character of performance that could hold its own against numerous separates systems at much greater cost.
We knew it would be good. We just didn’t realise it would be this much better.
“By the time it gets properly going, it’s as if the Denon has been on a mindfulness retreat for the past two years and rediscovered itself”