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I also own the Sony, but this is a far superior sound system. I appreciate the fact that is shows the alarm is on, and the time in small letters on the bottom of the screen when the time is displayed, and when the radio or ipod is playing.
The brightness of the display goes from very bright to what I thought was off, but in reality is very very dim, just right for nighttime use. The Ipod docks well and charges easily.
The Polk Audio I-Sonic system 2 with HD radio and Ipod dock is a wonderful system. The remote functions quite well, and makes the alarm very easy to use.
It doesn't keep me up at all.Would be even nicer for less money, but I am very satisfied even at the regular price. Even on its own, without HD reception, the base is strong, the mids and trebles great.
When the HD is added it, the sound is really awesome.
Lots of presets. Similar form factor to Bose that it was to replace. Figure I can get all the FM and AM stations + HD stations + Pandora + I Pod using the internet. found it. Great Sound. Received, tested, and now returned it. In the end I decided to return this and buy an Internet Radio (Just ordered the Grace GDI-IR-3020 but haven't received or tested it yet). pause.
CONS: Slow to find and tune stations. Ordered the Polk I-Sonic Radio with high hopes. This wouldn't be so bad, except lack of direct touch preset buttons makes this a real pain to go to your favorites. Also, buttons on top are small and layout is poor. pause.
wait. too confusing. We'll see. but my wife wouldn't even turn it on. but you need to scroll through in sequence to get to your preset (Ugh). OK for technophiles. PROS: Radio looks good in our kitchen.
I think this is a function of the HD radio technology, not the radio (). tune. similar to Bose. Also very SLOW to tune to HD radio stations.
I called Polk Audio and they sent me an upgrade free of charge. The sound quality of the ES2 is excellent. After installing the firmware my HD station locking improved on weaker stations and the interface with my IPOD ITouch was much better.Overall, I am very happy with my ES2, I highly recommend it. The firmware installation is simple and straight forward. I love the HD Radio feature, I didn't realize there were that may HD stations available in my area. I found the ES2's firmware level was backleveled.
The remote control intends to operate the iPod functions but this is flawed.HD Radio: HD radio has many issues. Setting Sleep is also unfriendly as is is buried below several items on the scroll-through menu such as bass, treble, brightness, contrast and more. Polk has updated its firm ware to handle some of these issues but not all. I tried a couple of different antennas, powered and non-powered, but found the supplied di-pole to be the best. First, the buttons are neither lighted nor glow-in-the-dark.
The radio certainly sounds nice in a bubble-gummy soft of way. Polk either should go back to the drawing board before selling to the public or simplify the design so that all of the released features work well then add more as they perfect them.I certainly will not be Polk's guinea pig at a more than $300 price tag. Also, the display is very bright, even when set to the dimmest setting, it makes it hard to see at night. This is annoying to say the least. Second, your iPod must be perfectly integrated with the iSonic to capture the information. The remote provides direct access to Sleep but this function for some reason was inoperable on my unit.Tag: This is cool if you are a marketer for iTunes. The unit does not wake to iPod. When in HD mode, the radio loses its lock often causing a momentary interruption of music if you are listening to the same programming on the HD and analog signal.
It seems a cache memory would be helpful here as used on satellite radios, to smooth out the dropped signal and prevent momentary musical interruptions. If you are listening to HD 2 or 3 and the programming is different, the program switches from the HD 2 or 3 back to analog. Setting the alarm is unfriendly (you have to go through many layers of button pushing) - this could be improved. This is a really cool radio but it has too many bugs to be satisfying. Nice idea, but flawed.Sound: fat and flabby. Polk, let us know when you finish your R&D on this radio then maybe we can try again. When I spoke to Polk customer service, they said they had difficulty because Apple has changed to software several times. This locking seems to be problematic even with a good analog signal.
After two weeks, I decided to return it.I bought this radio to be used as a clock radio next to my bed. The bass and spatial dispersion are both overemphasized to give the impression of great sound. Mine was not as it has a firewire interface. Also, the wake-to-music function does not support waking to iPod music - only radio or chime. I see very little value in this function. The remote control seems to be the best way to interact with the radio but mine did work well.Overall - this radio has so many cool and complex features but fails on many of them.
I intended to wake to music and often use the sleep function at night to fall asleep.iPod Docking: The iPod docking is only compatible with certain iPods. Since this is a clock radio, one would think it would be easy to operate at night. The only option for waking is radio or chime. The remainder of the buttons are so smooth and close together, one cannot perceive any of them at night and are even hard to touch just the right button in well-lit conditions. If you do, know that this feature has certain prerequisites in order to function. Voices are hard to hear during newscasts.Interaction with the unit features: Poor at best. This is simply unacceptable.
Second, only the power button, source button and snooze/mute button have raised touch sensors. First, When the radio is on, the display for the clock is so small one can barely see it. It is not. I would visit the Polk website before purchase to be sure your iPod is compatible. First, the HD radio station must transmit the artist, album, and song info. I had two instances where the radio did not come on to wake me in two weeks. When tuned to a radio station that transmits in HD, the radio first tunes to the analog signal then locks to HD when possible.
The overall HD reception needs work.Clock Radio: This was the feature that seemed to be the simplest to get right and had the most issues.
I would like to see the prices come down a bit. My only minor complaint is that it as well as the other high end iPod dock radios are still too high priced in my opinion. It's a feature I didn't think I would use, but it turns out that it's really convenient and makes it easy to store the songs you like for future purchase.
It lives up to the hype without a doubt. Easy to use, great sound, good remote. I've had the I-Sonic ES2 for a while and put it through it's paces.
The iTunes tagging even works well. :) It has such a full rich sound with the iPod docked and the HD FM stations are truly excellent.
This will not replace your home stereo, but it is great for what it is.
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