LG FB165, $399.
Want to enhance your listening experience? You can get superior sound quality in a compact hi-fi for a song.
Talk to any hi-fi dealer and you'll hear that their customers, having had their time with MP3 downloads and iPods, are now looking for genuine sound quality. And it's not surprising. MP3 players were convenient and beautifully flexible but the compressed music they pumped out sure was flat and uninspiring.
And it's obvious what's driving this change. With the vast quantities of cheap memory available these days, we can have it all. Electronic music can now offer us the convenience and flexibility of MP3 with the sound quality of CD or, in some cases, even better than CD.
The demand for quality sound seems finally to be filtering down to popularly priced music systems. When Yamaha introduced its MCR models a few years ago, they became our yardstick for compact audio. They weren't perfect but they sounded good for their size and especially for their price. Now other companies haven't just caught up, they have overtaken the Yamaha.
Pioneer HM30, $399.
LG is turning out some great-sounding products in both music and home cinema, and Pioneer has always been into sound quality if you could afford it. And in recent times, the pricing of systems from both has been getting sharper and sharper. Now they each have offerings for less than $400 that we'd buy before the Yamaha we listened to here.
And unlike the Yamaha, both of them handle DVDs as well as CDs. The Yamaha has been upgraded to receive digital radio broadcasting but it still can't serve as an all-in-one solution for music and movies like the other two. If only LG and Pioneer offered the colour choice of the Yamaha, they'd be going gangbusters - it's time audio companies realised that black is boring now and silver is only marginally less so.
Any of these will serve nicely as a music system in an apartment or an average-size living room, but we'd go for the LG first for its mix of aesthetics and sound. However, if you like to play your music loud, the Pioneer is the way to go.
Yamaha MCR040, $499.
LG FB165
$399 (spotted for $374)
4 out of 5 stars
This is a good-looking unit with touch controls that you only have to lightly brush to operate. And it sounds good, too, going loud enough to fill an average room without losing too much definition, although the bass from the passive radiator at the side can get a little muddy. But overall the sound quality is good. The iPhone/iPod dock is on top and so is a slot for loading discs, both DVDs and CDs. There’s a USB at the front for both playing and recording WMA and MP3, and a digital tuner as well as FM. The HDMI output at the back means it’s easy to hook your television in and get far better sound than the telly’s tiny speakers can yield. The main unit measures 135mm wide x 285mm high x 281mm deep while each speaker is 125mm x 285mm x 280mm. lge.com.au
Pioneer HM30
$399 (spotted for $378)
4 out of 5 stars
A neat unit, this, and it goes the loudest of any of these without losing quality. Then it goes even louder and the bass gets muddled and poorly defined, but it’s still listenable if you’re not fussy. Lower down, the sound is big and beefy with lots of depth and presence â€" maybe the best word is muscular. It’s impressive for its size and it has bass and treble controls. The iPhone/iPod dock is under a hinged cover on top, with the cover providing partial protection from knocks. It’s both CD and DVD compatible (the DVD has video upscaling to full high definition) with both digital radio and FM and there’s a front-mounted USB plug for playback of music files in MP3 and WMA. There’s also a headphone jack and an HDMI. The main unit is 215mm wide x 90mm high x 300mm deep while the speakers are each 132mm x 260mm x 173mm. pioneer.com.au
Yamaha MCR040
$499 (spotted for $398)
3 out of 5 stars
Once our yardstick for compact music systems, Yamaha remains impressive but is no longer the best. This goes very loud for its size but at these volumes the music becomes something of a mishmash. At lower volumes, and certainly at volumes sufficient to fill an average room, the sound quality is good, with surprisingly strong bass for its dimensions and highs that are clear and well defined. The Yamaha’s secret weapon is that it comes in 10different colours, making it very appealing to people who are into aesthetics as much as sound quality. What it lacks compared with the other two is the ability to play DVDs, so it’s for music only. But it does have a USB for playing WMA and MP3 files, and digital radio as well as FM. The iPod dock is on top. The main unit is 180mm wide x 120mm high x 309mm deep, while each speaker is 122mm x 118mm x 287mm. yamahamusic.com.au
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