iLuv 9200 iPod-friendly four-disc CD player

Some older material recorded in the 1960s and 70s was less pleasing, coming out a little lacking in body and treble heavy. But by no means unlistenable for that. Alas, the 9200 has no tone controls or EQ, so there's no way to adjust the sound to compensate.

iLuv 9200: the wall

But don't let this suggest that the 9200 delivers a poor audio experience. It doesn't. The unit produces a solid, room-filling sound with plenty of punch when the volume's turned up. You can take it to the max without the sound distorting, though at this level it's far from ear-splitting, suggesting that iLuv has engineered the volume control too keep the sound well within tolerances.

Switch to CD here isn't as big a step up as it is with some systems, the 9200's reproduction of lossy formats well able to keep up - but no, not quite match - the quality of CD audio. I would have liked to try the 9200 out with a sub-woofer, but I was very impressed with the sound the system produces on its own. The 9200's CD output is both vibrant and immediate, with superb stereo imaging that really comes across on orchestral material and albums that have some fun with stereo, like Dark Side of the Moon.

The radio is less impressive, simply because the antenna is just a wire, so stereo reproduction was noisier than it ought to be. Since the antenna is fixed onto the unit, you can't replace it with a decent stereo-friendly alternative.

However, the remote control is the package's weakest component. Its looks aren't bad, if you like bumps rather than buttons, but unlike the 9200 itself, the remote feels cheaply made thanks to some ill-fitting, poorly moulded plastic. The key layout is poor and it suffers from duplication. There are two sets of play/pause and track skip keys, for example, one for the iPod, the other for the CD player. Why we can't have one set, which works with whichever input has been selected? Worse, the iPod controls sit between the disc selection buttons and the disc control keys, duh...