Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsWorks well and easy
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2021
This compact micro stereo works is easy to use and pretty intuitive. No need for lengthy user manuals (though you can consult that, too). It has FM radio, a CD player that can also read MP3 disks, as well as Bluetooth and USB (for USB flash player) or headphone jack for audio input. However, you do need the remote control for most functions, that's a bit of a drawback, but the remote is well designed (see below).
The speakers are nothing special, but pretty good for a small size system. They are 6x9x5 inch and have a max. output power of 15 Watts. They are not super loud, but provide fairly undistorted, true sound at all volumes and don't sound tinny. It is equally good for spoken word, classical music, and pop/jazz/rock. If you're used to subwoofers, you may be disappointed because they don't deliver bass on that level, but that's to be expected. I have this system in my kitchen and I can now listen to music without getting annoyed at the bad sound quality. There is also a DSC sound enhancer that allows to switch between balanced, clear, powerful, warm and bright, but the differences are so small that you might as well forget this function.
The Bluetooth pairs easily. My android phone, my iPad, and my Mac laptop all connected without any problem. It is not password protected, so in principle, someone could connect from the outside, but with a range of 10 meters (30 feet), it is rather unlikely in my neighborhood.
Finally, the remote control is really well designed and neatly arranged. I read a lot of reviews of systems with tiny remotes or simply hard to understand remotes. This one is easy to use.
All in all, I am pretty happy with this system. It is the right size and sound quality for my kitchen (about 14 by 13 feet). And it has a pretty clean, simple design, so it doesn't sit in your house like some weird transformer toy (some compact stereo systems do look like that).
Edit: Upon playing an MP3 disk with an audio book, I found out that there is no easy way to get to the desired track. Such an MP3 disk has easily 150 to 200 tracks. The system does not remember which track you were at when you turn it off and later on again. So, you have to remember the track yourself and then push the forward button 80 times if you want to get to track 80. You can't punch in numbers. That's a huge disadvantage and I took off one star because of that.