The Sony MX550i is a box that tries to satisfy your every musical desire. It’ll play CDs, hook up with your iPhone or iPod and pump out DAB/FM radio. But is it good any of these things? Find out in our Sony MX550i hi-fi review.
Read the rest of our Sony MX550i review
Sony MX550i review – sound quality
Sony MX550i review – iPod docking skills
Bridging the gap between an iPod dock and a traditional micro system, the Sony MX550i will hook up with and charge your iPhone or iPod, but also plays CDs, features DAB and FM radios, and has a pair of separates-style speakers. Rather than leaving you to slot your iDevice into the top of the main box, the Sony MX550i features a hinged dock that you pull out from the front. A bit like a cassette deck, but without being hideously out-of-date.
Once your Apple gadget is plugged into the Sony MX550i, you can navigate through your library using the bundled remote control, but it’s all from your iPod’s (or iPhone’s) screen. You’d better get your glasses prescription checked if you don’t have 20/20 vision because peering at that tiny screen from a couple of metres away isn’t fun.
The screen of the Sony MX550i only features a single main line of text – nothing like the full screens of Sony’s Gigajuke range – but for simple switching between tracks, the MX500i is more than capable. As with several other aspects of the Sony MX550i hi-fi, this is a product that’s not free from price-related compromises. The question is – at £200 is this Sony hi-fi trying its luck?
Underneath the veneer of Sony style, which is as slick as ever, the Sony MX550i’s is plasticky and lightweight. It’s the same story with the speakers – they’re suspiciously lightweight and use basic paper/card-based cones. Sit back and admire it from a distance and the Sony MX550i looks the part, but up-close it feels like a budget-conscious set.
In spite of the lack of weight, the Sony MX550i’s speakers pump enough bass to fill a decent-sized living room, but the low-end is not very well controlled. Play some beefy Kanye West tunes and you’ll soon hear the bass start to take over the sound. The pronounced treble means that it won’t take over entirely, but with hardly any mid-range to give satisfying bulk to your tunes, audiophiles won’t be left grinning.
What the Sony MX550i can produce is a big, fun sound that’ll make an excellent second or kitchen hi-fi. Or one to dish out some tunes at a party if your main hi-fi is just too good to risk spilling drinks over.
The Sony MX550i seems like it’s versatile at first glance. Fairly small and lightweight, you can move it around the house in a matter of minutes, but Sony has missed out on a few tricks that could have made this little MX500i more attractive for geekier buyers.
It has an additional line-in input on its front, but what about a phono input around the back? Plug a non-Apple MP3 player into the front and that Sony cod-sophistication evaporates in a flash. This input is fine for plugging in another source during a party, but wouldn’t satisfy us the rest of the time.
The speakers use spring-clip terminals, so if those lightweight bookshelf-style speakers aren’t your bag, you can plug in loads of other suitable speakers – although the sticker on the back tells you not to. We checked the Sony MX550i with a lovely pair of Klipsch speakers and nothing blew up – the mid-range presence improved dramatically too.
The Sony MX550i can fill rooms with its sound, and with DAB/FM, CD and an iPod dock on-board, it’s no one-trick pony. However, it offers few pleasant surprises beyond its spec list, which is a bit disappointing when the similar Sony CMT-BX77DBi costs a good £50 less.
Read the rest of our Sony MX550i review
Sony MX550i review – sound quality
Sony MX550i review – iPod docking skills
