Panasonic SC-HC28

OK features, but poor sound – I bought one of these for our kitchen as a convenient charging station for the iPhone and to play my iTunes list for a bit of background music. I was very disappointed with the lack of clarity of the sound. I can live without a big 'bottom end' (bass) but without a good, clear, off-axis high end (treble), music is dull and lifeless and cannot penetrate kitchen noise such as the extractor fan, the microwave, the dishwasher, etc.

There are several 'EQ' (equalisation) presets you can select from, but even on the clearest/toppiest one plus with the treble tone control set to maximum/+4, the bass control set to minimum/-4 AND with the iPhone on it's toppiest setting the SC-HC28 still sounded woolly and dull at normal volumes, even in a quiet kitchen.

I turned up the volume and it sounded better, but still nowhere near acceptable in my opinion and too loud. Same story with CD's, but they sounded duller than the iPhone because the iPhone has it's own treble boost which I had turned on. Warning: If you set your iPhone's tone like this and forget, the extremely toppy sound through your car's hifi will make your ears bleed.

Panasonic saw fit not to print any frequency response specifications, so testing whether the unit was faulty or just poorly designed was not possible. Also there is no headphone output, so testing whether the speakers are the problem is also not possible.

The alarm clock feature worked well but was not important to me. The time could not be set from the iPhone unlike many iPhone-supporting alarm clocks (even a $24.95 cheapie from Kmart has that feature).

The remote control worked reliably, but the menu system is somewhat illogical and cryptic and requires access to the instruction manual, which to me is a really big design fail.

After a week of trying to get used to the sound I couldn't stand it any longer and returned it for a refund. I bought a (cheaper!) brand-name replacement To Do Kitchen duty. It is much better sounding in the kitchen environment and has iPhone time syncing. Shallow space requirement. The sliding door on the CD compartment. Poor sound, cryptic remote control menu options.