Panasonic RX-DX 1

I bought this stereo for myself and the guys at work over two years ago now, and we use it every single day, Monday to Friday for several hours a day, and sometimes people forget to turn it off when they leave so it stays on 24/7. The sheer wear and tear on the components of something this small and inexpensive is incredible but its a tough little thing!

So the main point would be sound, and by home stereo standards, it's poor, tinny bass, and the high hats can barely be heard. By "boom box" standards and to compare it to others in the same price range, fantastic.

I mainly listen to FM radio, specifically Dance, Adult contemporary, and occasionally some 60's and 70's from back in the day, and it has a sound to suit every genre; bass in dance music has a thud, and a vibration, and for the saxophone, there is some slight loss of sound but no distortion or noise, so it can cope well whatever you're listening too - but I think if you really enjoy your music and want to hear it clear as day you might want to look at a mini Hifi, as I don't think this would suit your needs.

The one negative point I have to bring up is the CD player which does not play scratched CD's so well. I have a CD I brought into work and it had a few surface scratches on it. Plays fine in the car and at home it this seems to struggle with the damage, and it skips and creates a couple crackling noises before it clicks around inside. Eventually the disc stops and you can take it out.

Overall, it does exactly what it says on the tin, plays radio and CD and not so bad that you can hear your music so well. It's good value for money, it will last as long as you'd expect a more upmarket one to last, and finally, its an easy to use product. Just put a CD in, and press play or turn it on and the radio starts on whatever station you were listening to last time you used it.

That's all I really need from something like this anyway.
Summary: Good quality budget stereo