What Hi-Fi? Verdict
It's unsubtle, but not without its charms and a big bass sound.
Pros
- +
Reasonably well-equipped and good-sounding for the money
- +
multidisc CD changer
- +
USB input
Cons
- -
Rather bass-heavy sound
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From the look and feel of the 'AK270, you might assume it to be rather brutish and immature in its sonic delivery. To an extent it is, but it's not without charm.
The first thing you notice when playing a CD is the sheer quantity of bass. Luckily, you can turn the D.Bass feature off, and click the bass down a couple of notches to something more reasonable. Still, the quality of low-notes through this system is on the fat and woolly side.
Shuffle the pack
The midrange, though, is nicely detailed and smooth. True, the treble isn't as detailed as it could be, but the Panasonic admirably avoids harshness in the high notes.
CD changers might seem a bit old-hat now, but it's still quite nice to have one, and you can shuffle all five-discs. There's no DAB tuner, but FM/AM is clear and detailed. There's also a USB input for playing back MP3 files.
So all-in-all it's a fairly well equipped and reasonable-sounding machine for the money. The styling and bass-heavy delivery won't be for everyone, but get past those things and you have a decent, if chunky system.
