As you will see below, the Philips also has a "circular-appearing but not actually circular" interface (I think they must both be taking design inspiration from the iPod scroll circle wheel control). It is instead a "tilt-pad", with up and down for volume, left and right for back/fastforward-skip or tuning the radio. It definitely draws one's attention, and may draw children's hands as well, because it is not actually a turnable knob at all, and I worry it may break if someone tries too hard to turn it. The central control is a rather deceiving circular knob, with a glowing blue ring around it. The CD player is vertical, the action on the door is very nice, it's motorized and slides up to uncover the CD spindle, then back down for playing the CD - although as with any mainly-plastic motorized part I worry that it will wear out.Īlso while the glossy black finish is nice, it is also a fingerprint magnet. Like many new packing designs, it maximizes space - so don't throw out the styrofoam packing - a lot of the accessories are tucked into specific parts of the foam, including the iPod adapters which I struggled to find until I realised they were packed into slots in the back of one of the packing foam sides. The packing is very efficient, it's a surprisingly large box. The speakers are detachable and the entire unit can be wall-mounted, the mounting hardware and a card showing the exact position to drill the holes is included. It has one of those annoying scrolling displays that shows "HELLO" when you power it on and "GOODBYE" when you switch it into standby. This is the opposite of the way most computer power buttons work. It has an illuminated LED that is only lit when it is in Standby mode. by pressing CD play) before the door button will work. For example if it is playing the FM radio and you press the CD Door open button, nothing will happen. Overall the interface is very mode-based. (Of course you can see what's playing on the iPod itself.) There is no display of the playing songs on the unit itself, it just says "iPod". Play and Pause of course work as expected. "Preset/Folder" up/down will let you navigate up and down in the menu.
"ST/MO" will select an item (the same action as clicking in the centre of the scroll wheel during normal iPod operations). The Sanyo can control the iPod menu through rather obscure buttons on its remote. (It comes of course with the usual plastic parade of iPod "adapters".) The iPod is plug and go - there are no cables to attach.
The industrial design is very nice: there is an iPod dock built into the ring at the front, and it has a cover to conceal it when not in use. (Although it's not really clear from the above pictures, the design is an elliptical plastic base, with the main central unit attached to and elevated above it, and the speakers hanging on each side of the elevated central unit.) It is also very high-gloss black plastic, which gives it a sleek appearance. The Sanyo has a very slim-looking vertical aspect (although this is only when viewed from the front, the speakers are actually about 3" / 7.6cm thick at their deepest part). I got mine from Sears.ca on sale for C$165, normally it's C$200. Unusually, there is no indication that it is available in the United States it is not listed on the Sanyo USA site. The Sanyo DTA-2680 is an audio system with built-in iPod dock available in Canada. The Sanyo is in a higher price bracket though, so it's not entirely a fair comparison. The Philips is simply bulkier, with separate speakers, central unit, and external iPod adapter. The ability to conceal the built-in iPod dock when not in use is nice, and the fact that it all fits together in one elevated stand makes it compact and usable in quite a small space. We do deliver Australia wide except for a few remote territories, please check the shipping calculator to confirm delivery availability and timeframes.Īt Grays we want you to have a great shopping experience.Overall I like the Sanyo better. Australia Post parcel delivery standards will apply for regional and country areas, as well as commercial buildings. Please Note: Your goods will be delivered to your registered address. You will then be able to quickly and efficiently track the delivery status of your item! Simply follow the link and enter your reference number.
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