Audio Reviews

Overall a well-equipped receiver with enough power to keep most listeners happy. I chose this model for its excellent price and phono input. I'm pleased with the crisp clean sound. A few drawbacks keep this unit from perfection. The remote only controls volume and input source, although there are plenty of controls for other Onkyo components, which may eliminate the need for multiple remotes. Also the Tape 2 input is intended as a monitor that overrides other inputs when selected and must be turned off before listening to other sources, a minor inconvenience. Tape to tape recording capabilities are limited, if not impossible.

This receiver is great for people like me that want decent quality and sound but dont care about multiple channels or surround sound.This is NOT an AV receiver,and thats why I like it.Its great in a bedroom or small den as a music-only receiver.It only has 50 watts,but its high-current,low-impedance design is more than adequate to drive most bookshelf speakers or small floor speakers with up to 10" woofers.The more efficient speakers are the best choice.Good speaker cable and audio cable also helps to get the most from this receiver.With the large aluminum heat sink,this unit operates very cool.

I've owned this receiver for about three years. Very good sound, low distortion. Plus yes, it does have a phono input!

I bought this cassette recorder based on the reviews of other customers. I was looking for a cassette recorder with accurate pitch duplication.
I had also ordered two Sony WM-GX221 Walkmans which both were off more than 30 cents sharp...and off by the same amount.
The Panasonic was a little less off (less than 30 cents sharp)
so I decided to keep the Panasonic.
If anyone finds a walkman sized cassette recorder with better pitch accuracy, please let me know. it's been really difficult to find something better than the old Sony walkmans that I had before (which Sony no longer manufactures).

I bought the Panasonic RQ-A220 Cassette Player/Recorder after working part-time at a Radio Shack. Of all the things in the store, I thought this portable recorder was one of the niftiest things I saw there.

For months, I wanted to transfer my music cassettes to my Mac after endlessly trying to find CDs or even MP3s over the net of the many rare songs I love (and have owned for years) but couldn't find anywhere. When I saw this cassette player/recorder, I thought "Bingo!". I bought a Y adapter, connected the single stereo plug to the RQ-A220 and the two RCA ends to the back of my Mac (which has RCA and S-video connections) and used a freeware called Coaster (it creates AIFF files. It's for Mac OS 9 only) and after converting the AIFF tracks with iTunes, voila, instant MP3s of my favorite music. Coaster is extremely easy to use and it's free! The sound from my cassettes with the RQ-A220 is CD quality. In fact, the songs sound better than those I ripped from my CDs.

The RQ-A220 almost has everything: it's a voice recorder. You can connect a stereo microphone to it if the built-in microphone doesn't cut it. It's a radio. It plays cassettes. It can record off the radio or another source (if you have the right cables of course). It has three tiny built-in speakers, which is what initially caught my attention. And included with the recorder is a set of stereo headphones. When you listen to music with it (or when I connect the Y adapter to the headphone input), you can listen to music as is or with Extra Bass System, which gives a better sounding quality. I use the XBS option when I make my MP3s.

The sound from the three speakers is not super high quality but it's surprisingly good nonetheless, certainly for a product that fits in the palm of a hand. Oddly enough, of all the types of music, classical music and jazz sounds the best when listening to it through the three speakers, more so than pop (just good) or techno music (bad). And the speakers are perfect for listening to sports broadcast or any kind of talk radio.

There are two caveats about the RQ-A220: finding and keeping a radio channel is sometimes difficult because of the sensitivity of the tuner dial. And there's no 3v adapter to plug-in the cassette player/recorder to a wall socket when I need to work with it for long periods of time and batteries just ain't enough. I bought a 3v adapter (at Radio Shack, of course), so this problem was quickly solved but I still wish the adapter came with the recorder. As for the radio, well, a digital radio would have been better. If the RQ-A220 came with a digital tuner, I would have given it 5 stars instead of 4.

Keep this in mind: you can buy the RX-D20 boombox from Panasonic for almost the same price and you have a digital radio, a CD player with the RX-D20 and better speakers (we used the RX-D20 for our radio at the store and the sound from it was good). But you can't carry a boombox in your pocket or purse, so one has to pay a little extra for a more compact product.

All in all, I like this tiny stereo player/recorder. It's beautifully designed and the sound quality from it is excellent.

*BTW, the manufacturer specifically states on the product that it was built not in China, but Taiwan. Arf!

I stand behind my earlier review of this much used, highly practical item. It stays with me day and night--for playing and recording (with a Sony stereo add-on mic). Count it a small but admittedly irritating matter that this model does have a minor problem compared to its predecessor: the plastic feet in the base are not large and stable enough to prevent the unit from constantly toppling over. It will stand up on its own providing you're willing to "balance" it and keep the cat away from any adjacent surfaces. On the other hand, despite the number of times the unit has rolled over, the tape mechanism keeps rolling right along.

As advertised, the PAL is the perfect porch radio. For its size and portability, the sound quality is outstanding. Reception is as good or better than any other portable I own, especially Walkman style units. But don't stray too far from the house for very long. I'm very disappointed with the battery performance of my unit. Initially I had a problem getting the battery charged. After several recommendations provided willingly by Tivoli Audio staff, I finally got the battery charged but it has never held a charge for very long. Early on, on a full charge, my PAL would play for the better part of a day (at relatively low volume) but now (the unit is about a year old) I'm lucky if it runs for much more than an hour before that battery calls it quits. I'm hoping a new battery will remedy the situation.

a nice little radio. rechargeable battery pack works well, and the radio does a good job of pulling in the stations and putting out a nice sound. there are two problems: 1) the exterior is disintegrating on mine (it has not been subjected to anything harsher than a gentle touch), and 2) the tuner, while good, is quite inferior to that of the Tivoli Model One. don't buy this radio expecting it to perform as well as a Model One - it will not(though perhaps it should, given the slightly higher price of the PAL).

I live in Los Angeles where many stations compete and go in and out, especially with the pathetic pig tail antennas that are stuck like a joke in the back of many radios. But the Tivoli has a great antenna and is easy to use. I only wish this radio had digital tuning presets. Also don't be turned off by the one mono speaker. Its sound is clear and brilliant.

good but can be alot better. I was hoping for a hole in the side so my headphones could work while my mini disk player was in the case. otherwhise this is the perfect case

I have a Lyra MP3 Player from RCA and this case fits perfectly... There's even room for some spare CompactFlash Memory cards. Great Value!!!

I have a Sony NW-MS9 Network Walkman player (great little thing) and this case works perfectly with it. Since my MP3 player is so small, I can fit plenty of batteries inside with it. I like this case very much because when I take my MP3 player out with me, I know that it is safe and it won't get scuffed or scratched. Some of my friends have this case and they have larger MP3 players than mine and theirs' fit in this case just fine. If you are looking for a quality case, I suggest you buy this one. Hope this was of help to you!

I am quite pleased with both the quality and workmanship on this product.

All the openings allow for simple access to the various controls and sockets without any difficulty. In fact they matched up almost perfectly. I would have preferred to see the gap a little wider for the scrolling wheel, as bigger fingers may have a minor problems with negotiating it otherwise.

The belt clip seems quite seviceable and should perform its function well. My preference would have been for it to be slightly wider so as to provide some more stability.

Overall the product looks good and is well worth the money for the protection it affords.

To this day, I still use my Nomad Jukebox 3 on a daily basis. I don't think I'd be saying that if I hadn't purchased this last year. Not only does it make it easier for me to carry the, now massive, Jukebox 3 around, it's also kept it in perfect shape. When I originally received it, it was a very tight fit, over time it's loosened a bit and made it easier to remove if needed. I only mention this because occasionally the holes for the rear ports get slightly covered by the case. Not a big deal but still worth mentioning. If you still have the Nomad Jukebox 3 or are just now getting one, I seriously recommend picking this up as well.

I think this item is a good price a CD and MP3 player is very good if you want to listen to a CD instead of downloading the music or just download from the internet its still a good deal

The GE 35373 has made my life much, much easier. I use it for taking the minutes at my weekly writers' group and for various classes. Here's my rundown of its performance features:

Inexpensive
Generally good audio
Great for recording ideas, thoughts, etc. while traveling
Lightweight
Easy to operate
Durable (I've dropped it in my car several times.)
No problems in nearly six months of use

What would I change if I could?

I wish it had an auto-stop feature while recording.

If you have a large group to record where everyone is giving input, it's not great at recording voices from further than five or six feet away.

These are only minor inconveniences. For the money, the GE 35373 is a good investment.

I have a class magazine and I find this extremly helpful for interviews. The only thing I don't like about this item is that it chips very easily, but otherwise I recomend it highly.

This microcassette recorder is just the right size to fit in a sportcoat inner pocket. With the external microphone jack you can clip a super sensitive mic on the pocket lip. With no auto-stop, there is no "pop" at the end of a tape, but you must turn the tape over to record on the other side. Operation is very easy, even in a jacket pocket, because the record button is easy to find and press, as when placing or removing a paper from the same pocket. So much for descrete recording. Fast forward or rewind is easy because of a separate slide switch. Pickup is good within 15 feet, fair beyond, with the internal and external mic provided. Selectable mic record level for close and distant recording. Specialized mics are available. Overall, a very well designed recorder for varied applications. Be aware of descrete recording laws in your state. For lectures, I recommend the GE model with auto-reverse.

I bought the pioneer VSX-D510 from Best Buy for 200 bucks and I Love it. It packs alot of power and everything sounds great coming from it. Setup is simple if you carefully follow the instruction book, it will take you step by step with set up and instruction book does a good job describing each feature. Doesnt have S-Video, Component hook ups but I didnt need them since my TV already has these connections, no sense in buying two sets of cables for each component. I use my television for the video and my home theater for the audio. Only draw backs is the remote could be a little better and it could use a sleep timer but other than that it is wonderful!

(...) If you want a Pioneer with more inputs then spring for the D810 or D850 they have them. This receiver is not their top end model and that is why it lacks all the bells and whistles. That said it still is a great deal for the $$$.

I have a Sony 35" Trinitron with the matched base, there is only so much room in it and it is maxed out. All I can fit inside the base is the receiver, dvd player, vcr, satellite box. I don't need a cd player for the family room, the dvd fits the bill for that. I doubt I will get Tivo, so the lack of inputs is not an issue for me right now.

I have my DVD player hooked up thru the digital coax, the vcr using rca jacks, satellite using rca jacks and the tv using rca jacks. The dvd video out is S-Video to my TV directly, so everything works and I still get great quality.

I decided to get the D510 to save money and be able to purchase a decent sub, which will make a world of difference from my original passive unit. I figured that was money better spent. If I need to replace the receiver in the next 5 years then I can look for a higher end unit but right now I saved $230 from jumping to the D810 at (a higher price) so for me it was worth it.

Don't be afraid to give this unit a try it might suprise you!

I am giving the unit a 5 star value rating, for (this price) you can't beat it. It is getting an overall 4 star rating just because of the remote.

I didn't know anything about home theatres when I purchased this product. I didn't even know what "Dolby Surround" meant, nor how "5.1" and "stereo" differ from each other. The only reason I picked up Pioneer's VSX-D510 is because it was within my price range, and I recognized its brand name.
When I installed it for the first time, I was sorely disappointed. Sound was weak, and regular television broadcasts were coming from only 2 speakers instead of all six. My first reaction was to refund it, but then I decided to study about proper home theatre set-up and see if I missed anything.
Yes, it turns out that I missed a lot! Consider this an idiot's tale of overcoming his ignorance and accomplishing victory:

1. I heard that DVD have superior sound compared to VHS or television signals, but all my DVD movies sounded horrible. After studying the manual, I realized I could feed digital audio signal using DVD player's digital coaxial output instead of stereo signals. This receiver has one coaxial digital audio input, so I connected it with my DVD player. I still thought the sound was horrible. I figured that maybe my DVD player wasn't set right, and tried changing from "PCM" audio mode to "Bitstream" audio mode. Indeed it seemed to improve the sound a little.

2. I noticed that the receiver's "Dolby" light wasn't on. It was set to "Prologic," whatever that meant. I studied the manual again, and found out that I was supposed to set the digital coaxial input to "DVD" using the remote. When I did so, the "Dolby" text lighted up. There was amazing clarity in sound that almost brought tears to my ears.

3. Then I found out most of my VHS collection had "Dolby Surround" logos printed on their side. So why didn't my VCR play these movies with surround sound? After hours of careful examination, I discovered that my VCR was malfuctioning. I replaced it with a new VCR and surround signal started to go through. It's no 5.1 Dolby Digital, nevertheless it significantly improved the way I watch my VHS collection.

4. Until then I thought television shows were broadcasted in stereo, not surround. My cable decoder's audio output was connected to the TV, and the TV's audio output was connected to the receiver. I speculated that TV's audio output was only capable of outputting stereo signal, so I tried connecting cable decoder's audio output directly to the receiver. From that point on, all the television shows (and even the commercials) were in glorious surround. I thought it was as good as it'd get, until...

5. My cable provider started to feed some channels with digital, 5.1 audio. I didn't know how to take advantage of this at first, but it turns out that my cable decoder had a coaxial digital audio output on the back. Whenever I wanted to watch a channel with digital audio, I had to unplug DVD's digital audio cable and plug decoder's digital audio cable. It was inconvenient and I wished the receiver had 2 digital audio input instead of one. And surprise, surprise, my DVD player has an optical audio output (as all half-decent DVD players do - but I didn't know that before). I used an optical cable to connect my DVD player to the receiver and let the decoder connected to coaxial digital audio input on the receiver. Switching cables became no longer necessary.

Now I have adequate amount of knowledge in how to set up a receiver. My review doesn't actually cover many extra features that any home-theatre enthusiasts would appreciate (such as adjusting individual speaker volume, DSP, DTS decoding, etc.). So maybe this review will only be of help to clueless beginners (like me) avoid possible pit-falls of setting up a home theatre.

Well anyway, in closing, I'd like to say that this is a very good digital receiver. I bought several other receivers for my other televisions, and they have more or less the same set of features and indifferent sound quality. The only difference is that I bought this one for the lowest cost. For that I wholeheartedly recommend this product with a 5-star rating.

Thanks for reading - Have a nice day.

it looks color (blue), and you can view pic, and listen to MP3! very convenient!

Great investment. The MP3 is great and the screen resolution is amazing.

I have recently received one of these as a gift, and the little machine was unbelievable. It's easy to use and a great entry level machine that will also keep experts in electronics busy. The best feature has to be the software game bejeweled!!!

Remember that you get what you pay for. The SADX-950 is a good value, but is defenitly not an hi-fi system. The SADX-1050 will produce less harmonic distortion. On the other hand, if you do not plan to invest too much for the speakers (e.g. less than 250$ for the audio front pair), then this system should fit your needs. Note: requires an amplified subwoofer (not a passive one).

My wife just bought this receiver for me for Christmas (2001), and while it does not have an s-video input or output, it still has pleanty of features, delivers great audio with lots of flexability for mulitple configurations. It delivers a smooth low frequency so it gives you that great presence we all love out of our subwoofers without distortion. The remote is very user friendly. For the price point it is a great buy, i love it!!!

I've heard SA-DX950 and SA-DX1050 with four SONY SS-MF600H 8 ohms speakears.... there is no diference .... They say that SA-DX1050 has less harmonic distorsion.....NOT TRUE !!!!...... The same sound and the same distorsion..... Both A/V receivers start to get distorsion at -16db with bass +10 and treble +10... The sound is exactly the same.... Both have the same power of the bass ..... I don't know why it says that SA-DX1050 has 20hz- 40khz ... I think it's the same for the both of them 40hz - 40Khz... Now i have SA-DX1050, i payed more money for the S-VIDEO input or output ....not for the power, 'cause it's the same...... So if don't need the S-VIDEO input or output .... Don't buy the SA-DX1050 .... get SA-DX950 for less money.... so you can save some money....

This thing is fast and works well however for my next reader I will be getting one that does both Compact Flash and Smartmedia. Most cameras nowadays are Compact Flash so that limits the usability of this device unless all you're going to be using it for is Smartmedia.

I like this adapter! It works as advertised and the pcmcia card is better to carry around than the cable. The reason for only 4 stars: I asked a question via their website (warranty activation). The automated response promises contact within 24 hours, but havent heard from them in for 3 days. I will try again.

I have had this reader for 8 months. I have not had any problems with it at all. Good buy for a smart media reader.