The Sony CMT-MX550i micro hi-fi you see here, replete with pop iPod dock, has just been announced for the UK today. It’s not out until next month, but we got to test one out today and run some sounds from it through our ear canals. Read on for the photos and impressions.
The Sony CMT-MX550i isn’t an all singing, all dancing multi-room audio streamer like Sony’s Giga Juke line (Or a Sonos rig), but if you’re on the lookout for a new mini sound system for the living room, you’d be remiss to ignore it.
The design of the Sony CMT-MX550i’s pleasant enough: it’s styled along the same “monolithic” lines as the new Bravia TVs, so there are lots of smooth edges – and in fact the iPod dock pops out of one corner of the front face (Sony says there’s no reason it won’t work with the iPhone 4, incidentally) – and it’s marred only by the gaping chasm of a USB port, which you can use to play back MP3 files from a Walkman or USB memory stick.
Much more impressive was the Sony CMT-MX550i’s sound quality. Music pumping from the 60W RMS output system was tub thumping, with a delicious raw edge that’ll make live recordings sound ace for something so compact.
Read our Sony Giga Juke NAS-SC500PK review now
The Sony CMT-MX550i, which also sports a CD player and DAB digital radio, goes on sale next month for around the £200 mark, depending on retailers, so look for it then, and check it out up close in our photo gallery here in the meantime.
Out July | £c.200 | Sony
