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- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 50 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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7 out of 9 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"sets a new standard for integrated table-top audio systems"
Pros: sound quality, full-featured, design
Cons: performance, quality and features don't come cheap
Summary: My experience with Polk's Isonic has been overwhelmingly favorable. For me, a long-time audio hobbyist, the best things about Polk?s little marvel are sound quality, feature set and looks, in that order. Polk's proprietary 4-speaker arrangement provides a spacious, room-filling soundstage that especially lends itself towards DVD soundtracks and demanding CD's. To contrast with Bose, with which I have considerable experience, the Isonic sounds bigger, warmer and more natural. Bass performance is exemplary for a small, integrated tabletop unit, better or equal to Bose in this regard. That the feature set includes DVD, HD-radio and XM sets it apart from its competitors, easily justifying the extra $100+. For me, radio reception is acceptable using the provided FM dipole and internal AM antenna and probably will get better with use of a decent aftermarket FM antenna. HD sounds as good as advertised though there are only a few HD stations in my area. Finally, the design itself -- modern/contemporary but not too radical looking -- is truly a thing of beauty. Everyone who has seen it in my home remarks favorably on its design, even my sister who, as a graphic artist, is extremely critical when it comes to industrial design. She actually said that she wouldn?t mind having one in her living room which she treats like a museum. Believe me, there is no higher compliment for a consumer product?s industrial design.
To acknowledge some other reviewers? complaints regarding the user interface, while it may not be immediately intuitive, once I understood how the buttons above the LCD display relate to the on-screen options, I had no problems operating the Isonic to its full capabilities, which are formidable indeed. My non-technical wife mastered the basics after a quick lesson. The option of using buttons to navigate the UI (as opposed to the remote) is welcome, especially if/when the remote isn't handy (or worse, lost). As everyone knows, once you?ve lost the Bose?s remote, you?re SOL. Sorry Bose?
To summarize, the Isonic is a great sounding full-featured entertainment system. Its audio performance is so good you may find yourself listening to it instead of those giant columnar speakers and accompanying rack of equipment in your living room, I know that I have.
Polk Audio I-Sonic:
