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Sony Giga Juke NAS-SC55PKE Multi-Room Wireless Audio System Review

Author	Andy Vandervell
Published	13th Aug 2008
Manufacturer	Sony
Supplier	Play
Price	£486.09 (Exc VAT)
as reviewed	£559.00 (Inc VAT)
Latest Price	Click here

Design
Features
Sound Quality
Usability
Value
Overall

Sony Giga Juke NAS-SC55PKE Multi-Room Wireless Audio System

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Compared to the Music Server, the Wireless Player is a rather ordinary looking beast. On the front it has a small 2.5in white on black dot-matrix display. It does the job and is generally perfectly legible, though it could do with being a tad bigger. Below the display and some chrome trim are line-in and headphone jacks while at the back there's a power input and a USB-B port, though quite what that's for remains a mystery - there's no mention of it in the manual. It would have been nice to have a DMPort on there too, but if you do want to connect an MP3 player the line-in will suffice.

Up top there's a similar assortment of function buttons to the Music Server and again they're intelligently organised. Thankfully, the remote for the Wireless Player, if a little bulky, is far more palatable. It helps that there's a lot less going on, but the buttons it has are evenly distributed and even the plastic used make it feel considerably better in the hand.

Just like the setup process, using the Wireless Player is blissfully simple. Upon connection to the Music Server you can instantly begin browsing music housed on there, sorted by the usual Artist, Album and Genre denominations. You can also listen to Internet Radio stations through the Live365 service. In addition you can stream music from PCs and compliant NAS boxes connected to the network, as well as listen to music from any device connected to the line-in jack.

There are five preset equalizer modes: Flat, Rock, Pop, Jazz, Classical and Dance. There's also what Sony calls DSGX (Dynamic Sound Generator Xtra) which, as the name suggests, is the usual artificial processing that boosts bass and "dynamics" and this feature is also found in the Music Server.

What's the result? Though no powerhouse, the Wireless Player produces a predominantly pleasant sound given the right source material. It has a nice sense of clarity and tonality for a small unit, though unsurprisingly the sound is quite narrow. Low-level bass, however, is more or less absent save for a dull thud, and subsequently hip-hop and dance tracks lack a little drive. We also found some distortion creeping in, especially when listening to rockier tunes at higher volumes. This shouldn't be a problem in most scenarios, but it will struggle to fill out larger rooms.

Latest 4 of 18 Comments

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Cyviper said on 3rd March 2009

I bought this product over 6-months ago, primarily because I already own several Sony products and thought this would be compatible with my other electronics gadgets. However, as ... more

EborRich said on 9th June 2009

HI. I bought this system a few weeks ago and I am merrily adding my CD collection to it. No real issues so far in that respect. A question for everyone though who has or uses t... more

Paul Valentine said on 30th July 2009

I bought this system for £299.00 at Power - very glad I did not pay any more than that. You cannot stream radio from room to room. You get FM/AM and DAB on the main unit, bu... more

Geoff Mansfield said on 11th August 2009

I have just bought a Sony Gigajuke NAS-SC55PKE, and expect to receive it tomorrow. (11th Aug). Most of my music collection is on my PC in mp3 format. Some web pages say it is possi... more

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