Excellent features

Like has been said above, this hifi has one of the best sounds you can get in any system at any price. Even at full volume - essential for the university student - it still has that crisp sound. The MD is one the major strong points, it has extensive editing features from the usual combine edit divide to fade in/out. The CD prism front, makes the CD look like it is spinning vertically, is a fine touch.

The whole experience is enhanced by the PC Link addition, this allows you to control every aspect of the hifi from your pc, but you can also record MP3 to minidisc and use the MD editing functions a lot easier through M-Crew software. The best bit about the PC Link is the fact you can use your hifi as pc speakers through USB and optical input. This is good if you don't already have a sound card and want to save a PCI slot but if you do have one then you should stick with analogue.

The bad points however are that the PC Link is expensive, £100 I paid last christmas, the menu system used by the remote for some functions cries out for that Sony signature jog dial on the main unit that you see on everything Sony nowadays, even their phones! For me also the speaker cables could be separate and not go straight into the speakers so you can then put them where you want and get your own cable.

This is an excellent hifi and well worth the money despite its (relatively) weak points

The best speakers (not available)!

These are hard to get hold of as I belive they are discontnued. The battery life is good and the sound is excellent - loud and impressive.

The downside is that the batteries tend to pop out too easily due to a weak clamping design - but it is possible to get a mins lead for it i use a model no: gc1506-03-u-35a03 adaptor with an output of 6.5v.

They come in white or grey. I work in television and I know soundrecordists use these on location sometimes...so get one!

Sony CMT Z1

Firstly I would like to point out that this machine does NOT have a USB port as was quoted to me by a Sony UK representative. I wanted to digitally hook up my NW HD1 to play tracks but the only way you can do this is the analogue way.

Apart from that the machine is actually great. Sound wise the CD and tape functions produce a nice crisp sound with plenty of welly from the DSGX function. The tuner is basic but performs well with RDS. I live in an area where reception is poor but it picked up a good number of stations.

Overall if you want this for a small room its fantastic, but as for hooking up other components its a little disappointing.