The Logitech Z906 Surround Sound speakers come from a long line of successful speakers released by Logitech over the past decade. The Z906 have some significantly large boots to fill, since the Z5500 were a spectacular set of PC speakers released 6 years ago. So let’s see if new Z906 speakers live up to our expectations.

6 Speakers

The 5.1 speaker system is THX certified, so rest assured there’s some level of audio quality that’s good enough for large rooms. Speaking of which, at 500W (RMS) the entire setup is powerful enough to rock any mid-sized room. Each of the satellites is rated at 67W, while the 8-inch subwoofer itself takes 165W of that power to pump out a very decent amount of bass. Of course, that all depends on the position of the subwoofer in the room.

Like most PC based speaker systems, it’s the subwoofer that takes all the inputs. While normal for such class of speakers, I was actually a little disappointed that the input ports were not in the main control panel. Although, to be fair, the control panel is rather slim and lightweight, so it would’ve been awkward to have so many wires coming out of it, but more on that later.

Connections

On the rear panel we have the place for 5 separate audio sources. Input “1”is for PC, “2”is for RCA, “3 & 4”are Optical and “5”is Coaxial. Apart from that all the 5 speakers and the control unit also plugs into the back of the subwoofer, along with the power being routed through it as well.

The 5 speakers look the same, except the rubber feet on the center speaker are on its side, which is the orientation it’s meant to be kept in. Each of the speaker also has a small hole for you to plug in stands or wall mounts if you so desire. I will say the speakers look rather bland. There’s no sense of excitement, they’re simply designed to be functional, not evoke any other emotion. And this is sadly the case with the entire Z906; nothing looks great, just good enough.

Central Console

Coming down to the central console, as I mentioned earlier it doesn’t have any sort of input; its primary purpose is to show you which source is being played and how it’s being decoded. Depending on your input source, you can have natural Dolby Digital 5.1, direct DTS or 3D Stereo (upconverted from 2-channel sources). There are two more options where you can upconvert from normal 2-channel sources; being 4.1 and 2.1.

Another cool feature of the central console is to show which of the 5 speakers are currently active, so you know what decoding process is being used. This also helps when tuning the speakers (adjusting the volume level of each), although, that’s easily done because only one speaker a time is being played when tuning.

Setting Up

Setting up the system depends on how many inputs you’re going to connect and how large your room is. The supplied cables are 6 feet for each of the satellite speakers, and depending on how well hidden you want them, the setup process can take anywhere from 10 minutes to over half an hour.

Once setup, the only thing left to do is adjusting the volume on each channel, which takes barely 2 minutes. After that select your source and you’re good to go. The only thing you need to be mindful of is the decode selection. Obviously your Bluray player, consoles and PC have 5.1 and DTS decoding built-in, so need to worry about that. Any 2-channel source, like your TV for instance, needs to be used with the 3D decode method to get full virtual surround sound. This is where things can get a bit spotty, as the surround speakers output 2-channel upconverted sound in a somewhat muffled and muddy way. But that’s to be expected given the low fidelity of the source.

The Sound

Coming to actual audio in 5.1 or DTS format, this is where the Logitech Z906 truly shines. Everything is crystal clear, with the satellites speakers packing a nice, punchy bass themselves. Of course the subwoofer provides the vibrating boom you’d expect. I was genuinely surprised at the audio quality and how high the audio can go without the sound ever cracking. Then I remembered they were THX certified, so of course the experience would be nothing less than stellar.

If you’re a fan of Logitech speakers and have used them in the past, or just want to upgrade your existing setup, the Z906 present a great opportunity. Sure they may not look as flashy as some other speakers out in the market, but they are simple to use and easy to setup. The sound quality is really impressive and hooking up to 6 sources is definitely a big advantage in today’s world where we want to connect all of our consoles and media players to on source.

The Sennheiser HD 429 is one of those standard all round daily usage headphones you can take everywhere and use with all of your modern devices without needing specialized equipment. Looking at it from the outside, it seems simple, but reassuring in its size and build quality. Indeed the experience, once you put them on your ears, is equally impressive, so let’s take a look at the HD 429 in more detail.

Taking a closer look, the Sennheiser HD 429 has an all black plastic body with leatherette cushioning on the headband and the circumaural ear cups. The headband itself has a respectable amount of extension, while the ear cups pivot on both the X and Y axis, allowing for an incredibly easy fit.

On the outside the ear cups have a rubber textured finish with the Sennheiser logo imprinted in bold white. Inside the leatherette cushioning easily sits over the ears to give you sound isolation from background noise.

And then there’s the 10 ft. cable that extends from the base of the left ear cup. In all honesty I wish that Sennheiser would have either allowed for dual cable options like on the HD 439 (4ft and 10ft.), or at least chopped off the length somewhat, perhaps to 6 ft. At 10 feet, the HD 429’s cable is uncomfortably long, especially if you’re planning to use it with your smartphone or any other MP3 player you’re going to keep in your pockets. And unless you bunch the cable with a rubber band or metal wire, they will likely get entangled into a messy puzzle which will take you a good 3 to 4 minutes to get rid of.

Putting on the HD 429 you do get some sound isolation, but not much, because the leatherette cushions are a bit too thin for such a heavy duty job. This means that if you’re planning to use the HD 429 in a public place, especially somewhere like the Metro, you really have to crank up the volume.

With a frequency response of 18 – 22k Hz, the Sennheiser HD 429 provide very clear and distortion free sound. The dynamic range from the highs to the mid-range is very clear and pleasant. The bass, however, surprisingly underperforms with a rather flat response. You honestly have to use an equalizer in your device of choice to be able to push the 40mm neodymium dynamic transducers to give you an adequate level of bass.

At the end of the day if you can live with the extra long cable and don’t mind the low bass response (unless you use an equalizer or external amp), the Sennheiser HD 429 provide exceptional audio quality for the money. They’re comfortable, easy to use and just a pleasure to listen to.

Samsung first launched its Smart TV in 2007, although then it was know then as “Internet TV”, and the Smart TV has gone a long way since then, as evident from their 2012 lineup of the Smart TV. We were fortunate to attend the launch of the 2012 Smart TV lineup in Dubai Mall, in an event that included a sci fi inspire presentations, flash mobs, a dance troupe, and of course, the almight Smart TV as the centre of the show.

To the uninitiated, Samsung’s Smart TV features the functionalities you’d expect from any “smart” device. It has internet connectivity, app support, web browsing support and social networking (you can Skype on your TV! think about the possibilities!). In addition to that, you can use your Samsung Phone and/or your Samsung Tablet to use a second screen to control the Television.

The 2012 Smart TV range includes the ES8000 series, which is available in 46 inch and 55 inch models, and the ES7500 series, which comes in 40 inch, 46 inch and 55 inch flavors. The ES series comes with advanced display technology that offer great 2D and 3D viewing experiences, Flash Player 10.2, a 55mm bezel, Micro Dimming Ultimate and dual-core processors that ensure the television is up to speed in all tasks. The Smart TV brings with it the following major features:

- Smart Interaction: The platform through which you interact with your Television includes Motion controls, Voice controls, and Face recognition. Through motion controls, you can use gestures to navigate your television, and clench your fist to “select”. You also “talk” to your television to have it switch channels, change volumes, or go to a specific channel. Samrt TV recognizes 26 languages, including Arabic.

- Smart Content: The Smart TV delivers content catered to your own tastes and preferences through Smart TV Apps, Family Story, Fitness, and Kids.

- Smart Evolution: The Smart TV update system is defined by the Samsung Evolution kit, where every year the Smart TV range will upgraded using the Evolution kit.

In addition to its host of features, the Smart TV also provides a range of services that make most of technology’s role in home entertainment.

- Family Story: Samsung Smart TV offers a cloud service through which users can share images, videos and images through the virtual bulletin board. Family Story is accessible through various Samsung devices and computers

- Fitness: Televisions don’t have to be synonymous with “couch potato”, as the Smart TV offers users a great solution to stay healthy and fit. The television creates a virtual mirror through a built-in camera, where users can monitor their exercise routine on their television.

- Kids: Smart TV offers a wide range of edutainment and games for children, coupled with a kid-friendly interface that parents can monitor.

The 2012 lineup of the Samsung Smart TV is available in all major electronic retailers, with the prices ranging from AED 6,599 to AED 12,999.

How often have you been anxious about storing more songs or videos on your iOS devices because space is running out? At such times you either wish you had purchased the one with 32GB or even 64GB. What if you need more space than that? Well, we have already covered the Seagate GoFlex Satellite wireless drive for iOS devices. Today we’ll look at another option that’s just been made available in the market to expand you iOS device(s) storage space, the Kingston Wi-Drive.

The Kingston Wi-Drive is simply designed to expand the storage of your iOS devices by providing you an external, portable, hard drive for you to carry around.  The Wi-Drive, as the name suggests, is a wireless hard drive so that you can connect up to 3 devices simultaneously for streaming media off of it. You can connect both iOS as well as Android devices to the Wi-Drive; all you have to do is download the app from the App Store or Marketplace.

Now the Wi-Drive itself can only play media content that’s compatible with your iOS or Android device in the first place, so you have to be careful about what all you want to transfer in there. The Wi-Drive itself will show all the format media you have, but once you click on an unsupported format, it’ll simply stay there on screen like you never touched it.

Apart from the Home menu that shows all the files, you can view by Photos, Videos and Music. Apart from that you have settings menu where you can upgrade the firmware, connect to a network, and setup a password for your drive so that nobody random in a public place has access to your files. The password itself can be setup using WEP, WPA, WPA2 and WPA2 Mixed mode.

Going back to the Network Connections sub-menu; basically you connect your iOS or Android device to the Wi-Drive via a Wi-Fi connection. This essentially means you lose internet connection over your home or office Wi-Fi network. This is not an issue when you’re travelling outside, but when you’re at home or office, you’d also want internet access through your phone or tablet that’s connected to the Wi-Drive. Now the Seagate GoFlex Satellite had the exact same issue, but thankfully Kingston allows you to connect to your existing wireless connection from within the Wi-Drive app. You can basically piggyback your internet connection through the Wi-Drive, thereby having access to all your stored media on the Wi-Drive as well having internet connection through your usual Wi-Fi hotspot.

Of course, you won’t get the full speeds on this piggyback connection; the below SpeedTest results show the difference.

The first result is with the piggyback connection.

While connected to both an iPhone 4 and our recently tested Huawei Honor Android smartphone, continuously playing songs, the battery on the Wi-Drive lasted about 3 hours and 40 minutes. Kingston themselves have rated the battery at 4 hours, but with only one device connected. Not bad for short journeys.

There are two issues I want to mention before wrapping up this review. The first is that once the Wi-Drive is connected to a PC via the mini-USB port, the wireless connection will immediately stop. The Wi-Drive will act as a regular external storage device (formatted FAT32) and will also start charging simultaneously. Once unplugged, you can resume wireless operations again. However, be careful if you’re planning to put the Wi-Drive in your pockets because the area near the mini-USB port gets quite warm with the Wi-Fi on. Imaging you’re wearing double layers with a sweater on top during summer. It’s not impossibly hot, but very uncomfortable. Of course, this heat is concentrated in a small area, so that’s just something to think about.

So eventually the Kingston Wi-Drive is a good product, but with capacities of only 16GB and 32GB, it definitely is limiting. The price difference from and 8GB to 16GB to 32GB or 64GB iOS device (basically doubling the storage) is AED 400. The 16GB Wi-Drive sells for AED 299 while the 32GB goes for AED 499. Now whether this extra storage is worth the price, or whether you’re better off buying a large capacity iOS device in the first place is a decision you’ll have to make yourself.

In their exhaustive review of the new iPad, Anand Lal Shimpy of Anandtech mentioned that Apple has an internal project for a physical gaming controller for their iOS devices:

“I know of an internal Apple project to bring a physical controller to market, but whether or not it will ever see the light of day remains to be seen.”

Interestingly, just last month when I was in San Fransisco for NVIDIA’s GTX680 Editor’s Day, I was having a chat with Ryan Smith from Anadtech about gaming and how mobile gaming is becoming so popular. I asked him how he felt about gaming on an iOS device and he mentioned that because of the lack of actual controls it will never be as much fun. The conversation drifted to some 3rd party products that allow that but we agreed that it will only really only work if Apple came up with an official controller.

It would certainly be interesting if Apple does indeed release an accessory that could attach to your iOS device on one side and allow you an analog joytsick as well as a couple of buttons. I could see how this could work if you have a thumb nub on the front side and two buttons on the back side that your index and middle fingers could rest on.

At a press event today Kingston revealed details on several emerging market trends and introduced a new wireless storage solution designed for smartphones, tablets, and PCs.

Antoine Harb, Business Development Team Manager, MENA, Kingston Technology kicked off the presentation with an introduction and a recap of the company’s history. He then went on to focus on four major trends that the company had observed from its various channels. Firstly was the increase in users moving from traditional hard drives to SSD storage. The introduction of the Ultrabook has seen an increase in the demand for SSDs to keep both power consumption and form factor to a minimum. Users are also realizing the significant speed boost in using SSDs, and Kingston have released several high performance SSDs catering to different usage scenarios. The other trend the company observed is the roll out of USB 3.0 flash drives and storage solutions. Given the significant speed boost of USB 3.0 over traditional USB speeds, Kingston is set to release a slew of USB 3.0 compatible flash drives in Q2 of this year. Lastly Harb revealed that the company had seen a steady increase in the demand for its Hyper X memory modules, which again illustrated user demand for high-performance RAM.

Harb then went on to talk about the company’s latest product, the Kingston Wi-Drive. This sleek device doubles as a wireless storage solution for devices such as smartphones, tablets, and even laptops and PCs. Released in 16GB and 32GB models, the device allows users to connect the device to a PC and store data on the drive like a traditional USB disk. When disconnected from the PC, the drive turns on its wi-fi signal, which allows tablets and smartphones to connect to the broadcasting wi-fi and access data on the drive via a specially designed app. The app is currently available for iOS and Android devices, and is free to download from the respective app stores.

Once downloaded, it’s a simple task of launching the app, connecting to the wireless drive, and then flipping through the various content folders. Music, pictures, movies – all of these can be streamed wirelessly to your device, effectively doubling or tripling the amount of storage space available to you. So instead of trying to cram all of your music or movies onto your iPad, you can store them on the Wi-Drive and stream them directly to your iPad. Most common file formats are supported, and playback is limited only to the device’s operating system.

The Wi-Drive 16GB will retail at AED 299, and the 32GB model will be priced at AED 499. With a four hour battery life with up to three users accessing and sharing data consecutively, the Wi-Drive is the perfect device for users who are looking for an affordable and portable storage expansion for their gadgets.

Stay tuned for our review of the Wi-Drive in coming weeks.

The recently launched Monster iSport Immersion headphones are designed for those people who have an active lifestyle; working out in the gym, going for jogging, playing sports, etc. So basically not me. However, for the sake of this review I decided to give some of those things a try, to better test out Monster’s claims.

The Monster iSport Immersion come in a box that looks like some pharmaceutical product, like a heartbeat monitor or blood sugar level reader. Despite Monster’s best intensions, having some surfer dude on the cover with some woman on a treadmill doesn’t give the iSport an attractive look. Judging a book by its cover is never a good thing, but I guess in this case we can make an exception.

Design

So the Monster iSport’s main highlight is the ‘SportClip’ mold that fits the in-ear headphones snugly in your ear. The idea is that the SportClip will fit with just enough force that while moving around, the earphones won’t pop out. They have provided 5 different ear sizes (XS, S, M, L, XL) for both the SportClips and the in-ear pads.

You’d think that given this much variety I would find something that fit my ears, but sadly that was not the case. No matter which sized SportClip I tried, nothing fit no matter how much I fiddled around. The earphones just kept on slipping out as soon as I started moving about. Eventually I had to use the iSport without the SportClip; just using them like any other in-ear headphones.

There is a secondary level of customization with the Monster iSport, in that the ‘OmniTip’ nozzle swivels around for further directional control. An interesting idea that, especially given the target audience and how much they would want having a proper fit of the headphones.

The last important point about the Monster iSport is the ControlTalk in-line remote control, although this is a common feature in most earphones targeted towards iPhone users. Basically the in-line remote has volume controls as well as play/pause button. Holding the play/pause button will activate voice control on iPhone 4, or Siri on iPhone 4S.

Usage

Unfortunately, the in-line remote control, thick as it is, turned out to be very irritating when I wore shirts with collars. The height of the ControlTalk down the left earphone’s cable was designed to be just near your mouth; sadly this is also the place where the in-line remote would continuously graze against my collar so that every time I turned my head around the cable would snag.

There are two things that I really appreciated about the Monster iSport Immersion headphones. The first was the flat cable that allowed me to easily wrap the iSport around my iPhone 4. Turns out these cables don’t get tangled up like pretty much any headphones I have ever used. Well, not much anyways.

Audio Quality

The second thing I really liked about the Monster iSport was the audio quality itself. Having just plugged in the earphones without the SportClip I had decent sound isolation, I can only imagine that with the SportClip the effect would be better.

As far listening goes, I can say that pretty much every genre sounded good on the Monster iSport. From the highs to the lows, the sound was powerful and filling. Although I won’t go so far as to say that the audio was as crisp with a deep bass, as is the case with the Sennheiser Adidas CX 310 Originals.

It’s hard to recommend the Monster iSport Immersion headphones unless you get a chance to try them on. Without the SportClip, the iSport is just another pair of in-ear headphones of which there are many others, and better verities out in the market. If the earphones do fit you properly (move around a bit to make sure) and the slightly off placement of the in-line remote control is not an issue, then the Monster iSport headphones are a good buy.

In my time at tbreak I’ve certainly reviewed some awesome gadgets. When I attended the official reveal of the Sony HMZ-T1 Personal 3D Viewer last week and had a brief trial with the unit, I figured that something that awesome would certainly be a lot of fun to review. So naturally when my review unit arrived in the office I couldn’t wait to head home and try out my new toy and immerse myself in the world of 3D.

Design and Build Quality
Two things come to mind when I look at the HMZ-T1. I’m firstly reminded of the arcade machines of my youth where you could pull down a Virtual Reality head-mounted display and pretend that you were shooting down aircraft or exploring a martian planet. The headsets were heavy and the graphics were less than impressive, but in those days it was the most magical thing ever invented. The second thing I’m reminded of is Geordi La Forge from Star Trek and his VISOR – I’m hoping that wearing the HMZ-T1 won’t suddenly transport me to an alternate dimension.

The HMZ-T1 is actually made up of two devices. The first is a black box that acts as a processor for video and audio. It has one HDMI output on the front to which you connect the headset, and one HDMI input at the back which you can connect your DVD player, Playstation 3, or other HDMI compliant devices to. There’s an additional HDMI out at the back to allow you to connect a TV to, so when the device is powered off you can watch content on your regular TV or projector. The processor box is fairly uninteresting and can sit quite unobtrusively in your living room setup or be hidden away.

The other obvious part of the setup is the actual headset itself. Unpacking the headset from the box was like handling the Holy Grail – the headset looks sleek and futuristic, with smooth finishes of white, grey, and black. There’s a blue status indicator hidden just under the Sony logo in the front, which lets you know when the device is powered up and ready to use. Holding the headset in my hands I’m aware of how weighted it is, so I’m wondering what it’s going to feel like once it’s actually on my head.

The ‘magic’ of the headset lies in the twin OLED displays that sit in front of each eye. Using one screen per eye means that you don’t have to suffer from the crossover-3D effects that are used in most cinemas, so you get a brighter and sharper image at all times. At the back of the device are two straps, one made of adjustable plastic and another made of rubber. These are designed to fit snugly to the back of your head for optimal viewing, and generally snap away and readjust quite easily. On the sides of the device are the padded headphones, which are large and again easily adjustable to fit your head. In the front is a large adjustable pad that rests up against your forehead, and below that are slots where you can snap in optional rubber blockers to keep external light sources from interfering when using the device. Right at the front on the underside of the device are a few buttons for power, volume, and menu options for minor adjustments when using the headset.

Overall while the unit looks fairly durable, the choice to use plastic everywhere reduces the appeal of the device somewhat. Yes I understand that the device had to remain lightweight, but I would dread to think what would happen if this headset slipped off a table or someone sat on it by mistake.

Setup and connectivity
Connecting the device was fairly simple – I plugged an HDMI cable into the back of the processor box, and then plugged in the headset to the front. Oh wait, did I forget to mention that this thing is wired? Yup – 11 feet of cable connects your headset to the processor box, so wherever you’re setting this thing up, make sure there’s minimum foot traffic to avoid tripping up someone or accidentally getting the cable caught somewhere. It would have been a huge boon if the headset was wireless, but given the amount of video and audio data that is being processed, this might just not be possible at the moment.

With the device properly connected and turned on, I then began the mammoth task of adjusting everything to fit my cranium. This had to be the least fun part of the experience, as there were so many things to adjust to get the right fit. After about fifteen minutes of adjusting the back straps and ensuring that everything was fitted properly, I slid the device on my head and could hardly see a thing – I had forgotten to adjust the OLED screens, which I did so using the two sliders at the bottom of the headset. Unfortunately the screens move together rather than individually, so even after adjusting them as best as I could, there was a slight blur towards the edge of the screen. If you’re looking to share this device with other people, prepare to repeat this painstaking adjustment process for each person – if you’re on your own then you’ll be fine.

With the headset actually on my head. I was immediately aware of the pressure that it was exerting on my forehead and my nose. While it wasn’t discomforting, I could tell that if I sat in a chair and used this device for longer than half an hour, I’d begin to feel uncomfortable. Donning the rubber light-blockers at the bottom of the device allowed it to rest on my cheeks a bit more and reduce the pressure on my nose, but this was only a minor improvement. Lying flat on my couch and wearing the device also proved to be uncomfortable, as it then started pressing against my glasses. So realistically the only comfortable way to enjoy the HMZ-T1 is in a reclined position such as a lounge chair that gives you neck and head support.

It was just about the best $200 I’ve ever spent on a piece of technology. A few years ago I bought a 35mm f1.8 lens for use with my Nikon D90, and I’ve got a lot of use out of that lens. In fact, it’s the lens I use for probably 90% or more of all my photography now. For most of the remaining 10%, I use a 50mm f1.8.

When I bought the D90 it was brand new, I could shoot HD video with it, and it was all the rage. But now, if you look at specifications and functionality, it’s really showing its age. Sure, 12.3 megapixels is more than enough detail to capture most anything I want to shoot, but it’s fallen behind in many ways. That said, it’s a camera I now know all the ins and outs of: I know how to set almost anything and everything with the knobs, dials, switches, and the LCD display. And that’s of great benefit to me and probably means that I can take better photos just because I know the camera, rather than having more megapixels or better functionality.

The D90 has a 1.5x conversion factor, which means that a 35mm lens in effect turns into a 52.5 mm lens. My 50mm lens is in effect a 80mm lens, so short telephoto. This is because the sensor that captures the light in the D90 is smaller than the 24×36 mm negative size in 35 mm film.

Nikon 35mm f1.8

But what matters more is how fast the lens is, the f1.8. That’s called the aperture or f-stop and the lower the number the more light the lens can let in. Shooting at a low f-stop also means shallower depth of field. A shallow depth of field means that less is sharp in front of and to the back of what’s in focus. With a small f-stop number like f1.8 only one or a few millimeters might be in focus, with a large number like f22 almost everything in the shot can be in focus at the same time.

That’s what I like about this lens that I can play with a shallow depth of field. It’s almost like there’s a third dimension to my photos, which adds to everything else that comes into play, like color, texture, movement, composition, etc. And for $200, it’s been the best thing I could have done for my photographic experience, and I hope also, my photographic skills.

As you progress with your photographic skills and especially as you play with shallow depth of field, bokeh is something you will come across. It’s a fancy say of talking about how the out of focus background looks like. For example, how the circles form, how colors separate and blend together, and how light and dark areas appear. Now I should add that there’s also quite a bit of snobbery in the world of photography, especially when it comes to bokeh, with many claims that you need to spend thousands on a lens to get the right bokeh. To me it’s a matter of personal taste, for which it is hard to find an absolute truth.

So when you’re thinking about buying a new DSLR next time, consider putting that money on a new lens instead. Chances are you can get away with a lot less money and that it’ll make much more of a positive impact on your photography. And if you can also find out what your favorite bokeh looks like, that’s a nice bonus.

In this generation of mp3 players, streaming radio stations and headphones that make you look like a Martian, I’m glad that there’s still a company that believes in manufacturing some good quality stereo systems. Panasonic have recently revealed a range of high quality and compact stereo systems for those who still believe in enjoying CDs as a way of winding down. I’ve been given the task of checking out the Panasonic SC-HC37 stereo system to see just how it measures up. In short, my office was a 90’s disco for about 2 hours last evening.

Panasonic have always had a sharp eye on producing devices that not only look good but also function well in the home environment. The SC-HC37 is no exception, exuding a sleek and stylish appearance and almost blending into my desk where I had set it up. The entire unit is very stylish in appearance, with a shiny piano-black finish and a light grey automatically sliding glass panel in the front that hides the CD tray. What’s delightful about this unit is that it also has a hidden iPod / iPhone dock in the front, as well as support to play music through a hidden USB port at the top. You get a tiny remote control with some basic options on it, which I’ll come to later on. At the top are a series of buttons that replicate most of the commands on the remote control such as switching between the CD, iPod, and FM modes, as well as volume control and skipping tracks.

One of the neat features is how the front panel slides away to allow you to load in a CD or an iPod – if you’re loading a CD it slides to the left, if you’re attaching an iPod it slides to the right. Furthermore, when accessing the iPod dock, the panel slides back and the iPod dock slides out, just begging for your iPod or iPhone to be plugged in. I found the dock base to be a bit wobbly at times, but I think this was done intentionally in case you inserted the iPod in too roughly.

Choosing a mix CD of songs from Guitar Hero, the music quality from the SC-HC37 is absolutely breathtaking. Both bass and treble are reproduced faithfully thanks to the nano-sized bamboo speakers concealed behind the glass fittings. From rock ballads to soft piano music, ever note flowed effortlessly out without distortion. My only quip is there didn’t appear to be any shuffle or repeat mode on the remote control or the player, so you’ll need to press play again if you want to replay a CD when it finishes.

Switching to the iPod mode instantly turns your iPhone or iPod display on, but if your device is locked then good luck – you won’t be able to browse your library until you eject the dock, unlock the iPod, and then put it back in. This is of course down to Apple programming and is nothing against the SC-HC37. You can use the up and down arrows on the remote to choose either songs, albums, or artists to scroll through, and then play the song you wanted. It’s enough when you just want to skip through tracks or pause the music, but anything like queuing songs or searching for tracks will require you to eject the iPod dock and get hands-on with your iPod. Lastly, there’s an FM mode that is activated if you hook up an FM antenna to the back of the device. There was very faint static in some of the radio stations I tuned in, but I’m putting this down to the crappy reception in my office.

As mentioned before, the unit sounds absolutely brilliant thanks to the Direct-Vocal Surround technology, and is more than capable of producing enough volume for an average-sized living room. If you so desire, the unit can also be wall mounted for an ultra-sleek look, but just be a little extra careful with ambitious people who want to rush over and plug in their own iPods. In short, the Panasonic SC-HC37 is a sleek stereo system with a big set of lungs, and will blend in stylishly with almost any room it’s placed in.