Dream may be overstating it
Written: Oct 23 '00 (Updated Jan 22 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small, relatively high value
Cons: Eggs in one basket, busy remote
The Bottom Line: Good (but not amazing) -- really ideal for a smaller room.
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| Thoughtful's Full Review: Sony DAV-S300 |
I like this system (Sony calls it the Dream System) a lot -- but it's got some shortcomings that will matter to some consumers. The short answer is that it's a good value and that you should consult Mikemac's review as well -- I agree with most everything in it.
GOOD:
It's small. The "pizza box" design is smaller than the standard CD player it replaced. And it packs in a tuner, amplifier and DVD player. Great for small spaces or if you're into a minimalist system.
It's loud enough. For an apartment dweller, the system should be fine. However, you should note that even the claim of 30 watts is overstating it. That's only for certain sources. And total system power is nearly meaningless since it is extremely rare for the rear speakers to have source material that pushes out sound to the rears at the same volume as the fronts. Nevertheless, for a bedroom or apartment system, it's plenty loud. I don't get it more than half-way to full power. And I have the subwoofer turned down.
Price: Putting together an equivalent system is probably more expensive (especially if you take account of shipping costs). And unlikely to look as cool.
DTS: It's nice to find a lower priced (relative to the price if you got the components separately) system that can decode DTS. It's a frill but some people say you can tell the difference between DTS and Dolby Digital.
All-in-one: Very convenient. You're up and running in 15 minutes (30 if you want to perfectly set up your sound fields, preset your radio stations, etc.).
BAD:
All-in-one: One piece breaks, you can't replace that component. You're probably buying a whole new system.
Speaker connection: This is actually a subset of the previous bad point -- because the speaker connections are not standard (they use a little plastic housing), you can't change or replace the speakers easily. I'm guessing that Sony won't be offering replacement speakers at low prices.
Remote: Not a very user-friendly remote. Sony should have gone with a dual remote here -- a full boat one and a tiny simple one.
Component out: No component video out. Bizarre. It's unfortunate because the picture improvement from component video is probably better than the sound improvement from DTS. I would have preferred one over the other. It does have S-video of course. One note if you've read the other review -- I think the "digital-in" that connects to a satellite TV receiver is only for the sound portion. I don't think the video comes in digitally. Then again, I could be wrong -- I don't have satellite TV.
Quality: My CD/DVD tray makes a slight grinding noise. I'm actually quite concerned about this but figure I could fix it if it ever breaks.
Display: I wish it were a little easier to read from all angles. The problem here is that it's a bit recessed and so hard to read if the unit is on a low shelf. Not a disaster. There is a nice "dimmer" feature that, contrary to the "dimmer" name, simply turns the display off. I wish it would turn off the improbably bright power light (green when on, red when off -- super-bright either way).
Clock: Sony should have given this thing a clock so you could use it as an alarm clock. Given its size and power, it's sure to end up in a lot of bedrooms. It does have a sleep function.
CD-R: I wish it played CD-Rs. I don't actually have any but I'm guessing a lot of people do. I understand it has something to do with the type of lasers used to read DVDs and CDs and that to properly read CD-Rs the unit would need a dual-laser set up which is quite a bit more expensive. I think the PlayStation 2 is going to have the same issue.
One last point -- the dream system finally has some competitors -- Panasonic and JVC have each introduced systems that seem to be better (I haven't tried them but on paper...). The Panasonic uses two-way speakers for the fronts and, I believe, has a changer. The JVC seems to have more power. This isn't to say you shouldn't get the Sony, I'm just guessing that prices are going to start dropping.
Overall, I like the system a lot and it made it easy to get on board the DVD/home theater bandwagon without guessing about component compatibility (e.g., digital audio out of a DVD player to digital audio in of a receiver).
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Thoughtful
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Location: New York City
Reviews written: 16
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