Hitachi AXM26

Author's product rating:   

How is the Sound Quality?	Good
How is the Look & Design?	Good
Range of Features	Average
Durability	Excellent
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Compact, Cheap, Good Quality, Sound, Customization, Remote Controlled, Featuers, Looks
Disadvantages:	Cheap flimsy Cassette Desk, Mp3 not supported, no auxilary inputs

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

My sisters got one of these, and i've decided to give it a test, she has it one most days so i've heard enough ot it!

----------Compact----------
This system is incredibly small, yet its still easy to operate and you don't find yourself struggling to see whats happening on the display. Its small enough to sit on any workplace, whether it be Kitchen bedroom or office. The main unit itself its a mere 180mm wide, but it packs one hell of a punch, you'd think its much larger than it is.

----------Cheap----------
Perhaps the main reason she bought this was its cheapness. I think - i could be wrong on this - she paid £55 for this a few years ago from curreys. For its features thats a pretty reasonable deal, it can easily compare to the more expensive sony versions. The good news is, it must be even cheaper now, and this is perfect for a student on a budget.

----------Good Quality---------
Hitachi is a japanese name that you can trust, i for example have a hitachi 120W amplifier which was made some time in 70s, and its still going strong now, hasnt broken down once. When looking at this hifi, the plastics are of good quality, and they dont feel as if they would break if you put something heavy on it. The buttons have a satisfying click, yet still manage to feel soft. If you knock it, it has a solid sound which implies that its build quality is good. Saying this though, the Cassette Deck is a little flimsy, as are the buttons used to operate. I suppose this is why they've covered them up. The cassette buttons are a horrible poor quality grey plastic, the kind you'd find on a christmas cracker toy. This is a bit of a dissapoint ment, as you'd expect them to be metal.

----------Sound----------
Even though this little system is only 10w it doesnt sound it. The bass has good definition and the acoustics have a pleasent ring. It sounds incredibly vibrant and fresh. You'd expect a horrible tiny sound from something so small, but its a pleasent suprise when you find out its not. Despite its size, it goes fairy loud, though i have to say the bass does distort when on full whack.

----------Customization----------
Okay so theres not a lot to customise, and its only a small thing, but it makes a difference. You can change the backlight of the display, to one of 12 colours including, violet, purple, blue, orange, red & green, i cant remember what the others are, but this makes a difference to the system. It sort of gives it a sense of individuality and you can set it too suit your mood or the colour of the room. It remembers the colour you chose when you turned it off which means when you turn it back on you dont have to reset it. Small things like that make a difference.

----------Remote Controlled---------
Another good, but small feature is the fact that its remote controlled, and unlike other systems, the remote works from quite a distance away. You can pretty much do everything from the remote controll, except the cassette deck. But cassettes arent really important too the majority.

----------Features----------
Obviously being a hifi this can read cd's and cd-rs and all the alike, so it has a cd player, cassette deck, customizable colours, FM Rado, Alarm Clock, Clock, Sleep Timer. The alarm clock is particularly usefull as it allows you to be awoken to either your favourite radio station, or your favourite track on a cd. The sleep timer also allows the unti to shut itself down after a user specified time, which means if you fall asleep listening to it, it wont waste electricity during the night.

The disadvantages are few and far between.

----------Cassette Deck---------
As i said, the cassette deck is of poor quality to touch. It sounds good yes, but the quality present on the rest of the unti just isnt there, which is sort of dissapointing. Luckily though, they have a little cover to cover the cassette buttions, which makes it hidden from view - ideal if you have guests, but its just one of those niggling things that you know will always be there.

----------Mp3 Cd's Unsupported-----------
Okay so its not the biggest thing in the world, but to have the functionality to play 700mb of mp3s would have been nice. Its sort of annoying if you plan to use this for entertaining, It means after about 30 minutes, or whatever length the cd is, you have to go over and change it. Sort of inconvieniet.

----------No Auxillary Inputs---------
This is a big thing for, as i like to plug my ipod or computer into it, unfortunatly this isnt an option on this little unit. Of course its no big deal for my sister. But it means its just a hifi, that cant really be used for anything else. It sort of limits its abilitys because it would definatly be an improvement over any computer speakers.

---------Overview----------
In all, i would say this is a nice little machine. Okay so it has its bad points, but what machine doesnt. Over time you'll learn to forget about them, and its dirt cheap. It sort of makes up for it. If you want a cheap, decent quality hifi, this is the one to get. Would i reccommend it, Yes, but obviously if you can afford more, there are better hifi's out there.