Streaming tunes about your gaff is where it’s at these days. But with Philips and Sonos leading the way, can the Sony AIR-SA20PK and its iPod–friendly powers get a look in? Read our Sony AIR-SA20PK review and see whether this slab of audio loveliness can do the business.
For just £250, the Sony AIR-SA20PK offers a seriously tasty alternative to some of the pricier competitors out there. There’s a simple and sleek central iPod dock, as well as two extra units which you can shove into other rooms in order to get that multiroom magic underway.
Using the iPod dock couldn’t be easier, with the excellent remote control handling searches for tracks on your Apple jukebox easily and controlling whatever you want to play in another room too. That means the FM/AM radio on top of your iPod, making it a multitasking marvel.
Read our Sonos CR200 review now
Likewise, the Sony AIR-SA20PKs ability to fire video from your iPod to your telly is a very neat trick and one we found easy to get to grips with. Sound quality, too was top drawer, with the S-AIR tech offering warm sound alongside the 8W amp.
However, the lack of Wi–Fi does mean you can’t slap tunes from your computer onto the Sony AIR-SA20PK, something which rival systems do in their sleep. It’s a big miss, but at this price, perhaps a tad unsurprising. Likewise the added units don’t work too far away from the central iPod dock, so if you’ve got a mansion or just want to share tracks around your student gaff, you might want to look at a Sonos instead.
At £250, it’s hard to quibble with the Sony AIR-SA20PK. Sure it could have a heartier set of features, but if you want those, you’ll need to lash out a hell of a lot more. With the recession still raging, this is definitely a smart, well built Sonos alternative.
