Review of Sony DAV-IS50 Home Cinema System with Rear Wireless Speakers

Visually, the IS50 looks to have every box ticked. The speakers look fantastic, and for their size carry a surprising amount of weight. The rear ones are also wireless using the Sony S-AIR system which is a great feature for people with minimalist decor who don’t want wires everywhere. The actual slot loading DVD player is a compact unit which will make it easy to site, and also looks very smart and modern in its gloss black finish. The whole set up oozes quality from the moment you open the box, through to its installation in your room. The only thing that does not look discreet is the sub-woofer, which is at 45cm high is quite large.

Connecting the IS50 is a simple affair, with HDMI and component outputs to connect up to your television, as well as digital coaxial and optical inputs to connect your console to the system. The The IS50 also works like a dream, and as well as playing DVDs and CDs, also has an RDS radio, which for many people will mean it really is a one-box solution to your home entertainment needs.

So far, so good, but can those tiny speakers on the Sony DAV-IS50 actually give a decent sound? After a little bit of fiddling about with sub-woofer position, the answer is a resounding yes! The small speakers, not surprisingly, sounded good on the high end and lacked a little in the mid range, but the bass was well catered for and the whole system went together really quite well. The picture was good too, and having the unit upscale to 1080p through HDMI was a real bonus.

Why you should buy the Sony DAV-IS50

If you want an all-in-one system that is simple to set up, good looking, and very discreet, you won’t get much better. It makes an ideal home entertainment system for those people who are prepared to sacrifice a little performance for looks, style and those amazing tiny speakers.

Why you should NOT buy the Sony DAV-IS50

With speakers that small you unfortunately have to sacrifice a little bit of sound quality, and although this compromise is not as great as you’d think, it is a compromise nonetheless.

Summary

You can’t help but like the Sony DAV-IS50, with its smart styling and cute speakers, and very decent sound quality. The price of around £500 is not cheap, but if you want a unit that does everything the DAVIS50 does, and with such style, we can’t think of many other options.

Rating:4/5

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