Brilliant, Incredible

Where do I start? Having just recently bought this system on Saturday, I can't find enough words to describe how much it has impressed me.
The setup was extremely easy, and took a matter of minutes, and after connecting it to my PS3 and LG 32inch TV, I watched"300" on Blu-Ray and the hairs on the back of my neck were on end. I actually thought I was a Spartan!
Another great feature of this system is the DVD up scaler, I'm watching Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers, right now and can definitley notice the difference.
Gaming also, I played Fifa 2008 earlier this afternoon and thought I was in the crowd! Incredible.
USB port at the front is also a nice feature, meaning I can plug my iPod directly into the surround sound and enjoy my music!
I am honeslty delighted with this purchase, especially for the price i paid of £135, I couldn't recommend it more. Even if you are not serious about technology and just want a decent sound system, buy this now!!

This item is great!

I agree with Steve Grant this Micro HIFI player by sony is great it has a 3 disc changer,DAB radio and i live in cornwall and get all the DAB stations including the ones i didnt know there was! I thought when i got it that the bass would not be that good as it is built in the speaker (not on its own)but no it was great and now i have looked around you can get more speakers for it. Most sony speakers use the same speaker input connection so you can get different speakers like bookshelf or free standing speakers. The only problem is if you do have big bass on then if it is against a wall the bass dosnt sound as good. This is because where the bass happens at the back of the speaker it just goes straight into the wall. Bookshelf speakers have the bass at the front so comes out into the room.

DNE511 good value.......but a few weak points.

I'd have to say....this is one of my favourite Portable CD players I have owned. The sound quality is crisp and clear, while the portablility is descent as well. It is however a dedicated portable CD player......meaning no line out for those who would like to make it their mini Hi-Fi and connect their speakers. Okay, yes, you can connect the them via the headphone socket, but the max volume output is soo rediculously low you might as well just stick in earphones. As for the functions.....the Jog Dial is aalright but can be very annoying when keeping it in your jacket at school whilst listening to a track in class, and when you need to turn it off or switch the tracks you realize the jog-dial menu is up. But, that is very unlikely to happen. All In All, for the price it is a good quality piece of kit that will have your ears praising from the good sound quality.

Mighty Mice

Great speakers, really good sound for camping or on holiday, although make sure to treat them with care as they are delicate. Just a word of warning, I received mine from an Amazon Marketplace seller (iTALKonline), and I did not receive a carry case or instructions. Contacted them and was told to return them, which is a rubbish option. Why were they unpacked if they were new? Just check before you buy.

Excellent Sound Quality and Value!

These speakers really look the part and (fortunately) they sound the part too! There's not really much else I can say about them; I highly recommend them they are well worth the money. I have surround sound speakers that cost four times as much and don't sound (or look) as good. My only complaint is that they were out of stock when I ordered and it took me nearly three months to get them, but it was well worth the wait!

Compact, good quality, good features

I wanted a decent radio but live in an area with no DAB coverage. This fits the bill perfectly. With 30 presets in FM and AM (which it does automatically) we can switch between all our stations easily. The sound quality is good for such a compact unit and the design is neat, clean and under-stated - it won't embarrass you sat in the kitchen.

Sony come out tops!

Brilliant little machine, excellent sound quality, looks good and is easy to use,if I had to make any adverse comment, it would be that the"Instruction" Manual could have been detailed better,but on the whole I would recomend this model to anyone wanting a good reasonably priced music system,

Some way short of a bargain

I've had one of these for over 6 months now, paying £99 from Amazon. Overall, taking price into account, this machine does does have it's plus points, you get a DAB Tuner, FM Tuner, CD Player, Cassette Deck, and Speakers for less than £100. However, the build quality is a little flimsy, and there is only a 3 band pre programmed graphic Equaliser. There is a bass boost, but this just makes the Bass sound bloated and over emphazized. The speakers do sound better if you put spikes on them ( I know it sounds a bit strange doing this, these speakers are only about 6 inches tall but it does make a marked improvement in sound quality) or hang them on a wall. The speakers do go to full voulme without too much noticeable distortion. The speaker connection outputs on the machine are too small to allow any other speakers to be attached, and those that come with the unit are supplied with what is little more than bell wire as cable!! No wonder the sound is not that great...... Overall, it's ok to listen to in the kitchen when preparing a meal, or as light, low level background music, but if it's quality in build and sound you're after as opposed to features, this may not be quite the model for you....

A great little unit

A great little unit comes with a remote controller which is not always mentioned but very useful. Controls are well placed and easy to use. I could have wished for a slightly better tone but mega bass is available which makes a lot of difference. I really congratulate Sony for using re-cyled cardboard packing instead of that ghastly plastic foam which gets everywhere these days. Just missed giving it 5 stars because the price is just a tad high for the speaker quality which one gets.

Rather bright for my taste but my 10 year old son loves it

My son wanted a portable boom box for his 10th birthday. He has a CD collection, of things like School Disco and Rock Legends compilations, rather than cassettes. I was attracted to this player as the Amazon listing said it played MP3's - burned onto CD's I assumed - but actually it doesn't play MP3s at all - it's commercial CDs or CDR and CDRW audio recordings only. There is a tape player that can record from the CD or analogue radio but sadly there's no inbuilt microphone for fun voice recordings. Sound from the tape player is fine on tapes recorded from my HIFI system (naturally there's no Dolby B/C decoder and its Type I normal tapes only). The radio works fairly well and is LW, MW and FM.

My son really likes this good looking player, particularly the natty simple but effective remote control [not the same as the larger remote now shown by Amazon in their stock photo] - although very meanly, Sony didn't provide the 2 AAA batteries we needed to use it. The player itself can be run on six R14 (size C) batteries, which would further increase it's very weighty feel to a wapping 3.1 kg. These batteries aren't supplied either, but in this case you have the mains lead. On alkaline batteries Sony say the unit will playback CD's for 7 hours and tapes for 15 hours (probably optimistic). The main units battery cover is easy to remove as well, so rechargeable batteries wouldn't be a problem, other than most chargers only hold four batteries per go. There's no lines in for recording or replay either - so you can't use the system as active speakers for your MP3 player, another missed opportunity. You almost certainly can't use a Sony CP-A9 car adapter kit either as the cassette door is very tight fitting. The unit is also quite large really for a system touted as 'super compact', having a footprint of 400 cm x 250 cm deep (with the mains lead inserted).

Controls for the CD and radio are 'electronic' and have a positive if slightly tacky feel. The cassette tape controls are the very old fashioned heavy clunky push mechanical type, but they feel fine in use. Solenoid ones would have been much nicer though, and would have allowed the remote control to control the tape functions - it can't, other than switch to CD or radio with the tape still playing. The tape has auto-stop on play/fastwind plus CD record synch, but no auto-reverse. The remote works fully only with the radio, CD and volume. CD and tape eject is a slick damped affair, although the CD load mechanism is rather over complicated.

Sound wise the player is a disappointment to me as it is very bright sounding, even through my old ears. Also annoyingly there is no equalisation at all - a series of preset ones like on MP3 players really should have been provided, as there is a reasonable, but annoyingly not backlit, LCD display suitable for a menu system. You do have the 'Mega Bass' button which does add a more pleasant weight to the sound, although I would have still liked to have been able to reduce the treble. The unit goes very loud, although this exaggerates the treble as well as the base. Being bright, the sound is also quite detailed though. The headphone socket works well and probably suites cheaper MP3 type player headphones around £30 that have good midrange but a more limited treble. The otherwise awful Sony MDR-V300 headphones that are all bass and no treble don't sound that bad with the unit. However my son (who can no doubt hear far further up the treble region than me) thinks the sound via speakers and headphones is great and he is very happy with the system. I told him he could send it back - but no, he is delighted with it. So although I don't really feel I could fully recommend the unit (largely due to the lack of any equalisation control outside the Mega Bass and it's rather Spartan features), it obviously suites some tastes, and I have to admit it looks good. We paid £79 from Amazon, although if the price has dropped it makes it better value.

Excellent Amp

I have just purchased this Amp to replace my 23 year old Sony amp and what a difference. Great sound when hooked up to new speakers with great remote control capabilities. And very good value at the price here in Dublin. If you want a no nonsense decent amp for your home hi fi this is the one for you. Just hope it lasts as long as my previous one !!!!!!!

A thankyou to amazon.

I just wish to say thank you for the excellent service that I have recently received from amazon. Ordered one day, dispatched the next, and received the morning of the following day. If you are thinking of buying from amazon, buy with confidence.

Rediculously cute!!!

My friend recently bought the Sony MzE310s minidisc player and was thoroughly pleased with it, this has I'm affraid got me into minidisc fever and I can really see the advantages. The minidisc player works smoothly from the start no problems there really are no down sides to this product except maybe the lack of an in-line remote. I whole heartedly endorse this product.

GOOD But....

these are very good. very good sound and brilliant to just pack away. the only thing is that the connector is very weak. had mine only a couple of months and a part of plastic on the connector snaped in my phone. so now i have a peice of plastic stuck in my sony ericsson. if you want to pay a bit extra get the mbs-100 speaker it is bluetooth and just amazing

Great Looks Ruined by Poor Sound Quality.

I wanted to purchase a second smaller HiFi for use in the Study,and decided to buy the Sony.Our main HiFi/Home Cinema set up is all Sony,as is the 42" Plasma TV. I awaited the Sony CMT30GSDAB's arrival with anticipation.On connecting it all up, the Sound Quality through the supplied"Full Range" Speakers was truly AWFUL.The sound was tinny and thin with no Bass or Warmth at all.I even swapped the speakers for a pair of Tannoy Fusion 2's which made very little difference. There are no Bass and Treble controls on the unit, just 4 switchable digital sound enhancement Modes which are even worse!! I have sent the Sony back for a refund,as I felt it was just not fit for the purpose of providing decent sounding music.I listen mainly to Classic FM radio and Classical CD's. I bought another unit from the Amazon Marketplace Seller Pixmania - the Philips MCM760 on the basis of favourable online reviews.The Philips is quite simply OUTSTANDING. The sound Quality is Rich and Powerful from this 2 x 75 Watts RMS Unit,and although there are PROPER Bass and Treble Controls on the Unit, there is really no need to use them.The Philips is BRILLIANT and comes at a VERY GOOD Price!! It has been recently discontinued, so buy one quickly before it is too late!

Please note...

Even before listening to this stylish compact system, it came to my immediate attention that the ONLY auxiliary input is located on the front panel via a 3.5mm stereo mini-jack. This stereo is very much aimed at those who wish to maybe connect their MP3 player on the odd occasion - In which case this system would be adequate. It however provides very poor connectivity for those like myself wishing to connect their MP3 player via a dock. This to all intents and purpose is ok although it then provides no means of charging whilst you listen. So, on this conclusion I connected the dock to the system via a USB cable thinking it would solve all the problems, although still protruding out the front of the system. OH NO! Via USB, unless the MP3 player you own is a Sony of a specific model specified by their manual, it acts only as a storage device no longer allowing you to control what plays and when. By this I mean you can skip through the tracks using the remote or controls on the top of the unit, but have no control over the order nor can see albums available etc. I have a 30Gb Ipod Video. It is for this reason I cannot give this system an average score.

Never the less, it does look stylish and the sound quality, it has to be said, is not bad at all for a micro system. Although lacks `umph', especially down-grading from a mini system.

A good 'shelf top' compact Hi-Fi

I purchased this unit to replace a similar (broken) but where one of the main criteria was that it would fit the limited space I have on a shelf. As a compact unit the sound quality is very good and I have this in use in a conservatory, not noted for good acoustics. However I am not a not a Hi Fi expert, but I do appreciate a good quality of sound reproduction. I do not have a MP3 or i-Pod so I have been unable to test this feature.
The only feature which did not meet my expectations is the radio presets, this is fiddly to set up, and the lack of 'numerals' on the remote keypad means that you have to scroll through all of the presets to find the one required, but then you can make your favourite channels within the first allocations. Also the cassette 'play' button on my unit is a little stiff to operate and requires a bit more force than I would have expected from a reputable company.
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Amazing sound out of such a small box!

Ok, so I was looking for some sort of speaker system for the very cheep generic MP3 player I have as I was going on holiday and wanted some music in the room. I was looking around at all of the usual suspects but it has to be said if you are not looking for IPod specific then to get real quality is not so easy. I just happened to be in a generic Mobile phone shop with my other half when I spotted this speaker set on show, and after asking for a demonstration I was totally blown away by the quality and volume that came out of the speakers. As I happen to have a compatible phone I was sold on the spot. I wholly recommend this product and to anybody that has a compatible phone, you will be blown away by the quality!

A great piece of Sony kit, once you get over a few snags!

I'm a Sony boy, so when I decided that I wanted a HDD music system, this was the obvious choice. I was looking for a decent HDD capacity, obviously a good sound, a DAB radio and a system that looks well in the living room.

This piece of kit delivers on all four of those, so it does the job, but its not all plain sailing. I've not explored the full features of this system yet so this is not a full review, but there's certainly a few things I think people need to consider before purchasing one.

Firstly, its quite expensive for what it is, although the price on Amazon at the time of writing this is £30 less than I paid and much more reasonable. You can get a hell of a lot of system for nigh on £300 these days, so its a major consideration. I went for the NAS-EH35HD mainly because of the Hard Drive as I buy my music online these days and wanted a system that could handle the music without burning CDs. If you don't need a HDD, it goes without saying, you can get much more for your money elsewhere.

I love the way I can plug in my Sony MP3 player via the USB connection (there's one front and back) and play tracks directly from the player through the system, all controlled by the remote. Very nifty. I believe this will also be the case for Ipod. You get an Ipod cradle and its built to work with one seamlessly.

The sound is fantastic, as I expected.

The main gripe I have with the system is the importing of music. If like me you store most of your music on your PC these days, you'd have thought putting music onto the NAS-EH35HD would be a simple case of connecting your PC to the system and copying the files. Nope. What you have to do, is first dump the music to be copied onto an MP3 player and then connect that to the system. You then essentially record the music to the HDD, although its faster than real time record. Its takes about 3 hours to copy 3.5 gigs worth of tunes. Although this isn't a showstopper, its annoying, especially when your MP3 player has a 4gb memory and you need to copy 20gig of music!

The second (and last) issue I had was the way it actually stored the MP3s. I guess MP3 players must have some software which keeps albums together and ensures that album tracks are stored and played in the order intended by the artist, but I don't think the system recogised whatever filing method used by the PC. So the album tracks were stored alphabetically rather than track number, and also tracks from compilation albums are stored as single tracks (as the artist is always different). There are ways to overcome this however (I simply numbered the tracks of albums, and changed the artists on compilations to"various", but novices might have a few teething probs).

Finally, if you're looking to connect your TV to your system, I dont think this one is for you. Sony's next level up"Gigajuke" has HDMI connectivity so go for that one.

Overall, once the tracks are copied, and in the right way, this is a belting piece of kit and will be even better when the price comes down.

You get what you pay for!

Firstly if you are going to buy this turntable, buy from Amazon.co.uk. With Supersaver delivery it works out to be the cheapest. The turntable itself is basic, however,"you get what you pay for!" I have just used it on some of my"precious" vinyl and I am very pleased with the sound quality produced. Only bug bear is the slight hum produced when turntable is on & the amp is turned up quite high. This unit will not allow you to"ground" it to your amp. Audiophile's need not buy, people who still want a medium to play vinyl on should go for this one.