Neon Micro Hi-Fi System with Bluetooth MCB1534D-05 with CD/MP3/FM+RDS for DAB+

When I started looking for a new micro Hi-Fi on Amazon UK, nearly 50 per cent of the reviews for the Neon MCB1534D-05 were from people who had either received one free or at a reduced price so that they would review it. Nevertheless, as its features and dimensions fitted my requirements, I decided to take a chance. I purchased it as a replacement for a 2010-vintage Hitachi AX-M136i micro Hi-Fi which had a similar dual-unit configuration. In fact, although the two manufacturers' models look quite different superficially, the other similarities are such that I wonder if Chinese manufacturer Neon was the OEM of the Hitachi model. My suspicions were reinforced by photographs of the Neon remote for this model on other Web sites, as it looks very similar to the Hitachi remote, although the oval-shaped Neon remote I actually received looks very different. Anyway, unlike the Neon MCB1534D-05 the Hitachi was probably one of my worst purchases, as the mechanical background noise from the Hitachi CD player was noticeable from Day One (a widely-commented unintended 'feature' of that model) and lately had reached such a level that it was no longer bearable. So I looked around for a replacement of similar size and with similar features. My criteria were as follows: a) it had to have a CD player, preferably front-loading rather than top-loading; b) it had to have DAB radio; c) it had to be no taller than 27 cm (including the open CD door, if top-loading), and less than 30 cm deep in order to fit on my shelving unit; d) it had to have separate stereo speakers. The Neon MCB1534D-05 seemed to fit the bill (and, indeed, it does). DAB radio is an absolute 'must' for me, as radio signals are weak where I live and FM radio reception is awful: too much static and fade-outs. Although the DAB signal strength here is weak too, providing a digital signal is not too weak it can be decoded successfully and the resulting sound quality can still be good and free of background noise. The previous Hitachi did a reasonable job with DAB but the weak local signal did cause it to drop-out occasionally. Here is where the Neon MCB1534D-05 scored its first hit with me; it copes better with DAB than the previous Hi-Fi did. The sound of DAB radio from the Neon is crystal clear, with no background noise (even at high volume) and no drop outs. Bear in mind that the antenna supplied with the Neon turned out to be identical to the antenna supplied with the Hitachi. When I first switched on the Neon and selected DAB radio, the unit automatically scanned through all the stations and set everything up. It was then a piece of cake to select stations. Note: The internal circuitry in many makes of LED light bulb create interference at a frequency near the frequency used by DAB radio in the UK. Therefore, if your house has LED light bulbs, you may find DAB reception affected when you turn the lights on! I speak from personal experience. This is not the fault of the Hi-Fi unit, it is the fault of the LED light bulb manufacturer. The Neon comes with Bluetooth connectivity, which was not a factor in my decision to purchase the Hi-Fi. However, within minutes of connecting it up, one of my family had noticed it has Bluetooth capability and had already connected a laptop to it wirelessly and was happily listening to an Internet podcast and music. The younger members of the family assured me that the Bluetooth capability will be handy for connecting their smartphones to the Neon to play mp3s, and they lost little time in doing it. So another tick for the Neon. Unlike my previous Hi-Fi, there is no iPod dock, but the Bluetooth feature more than makes up for that and, in these days of smartphones, is of more use to my family. There is a headphone jack socket on the front of the lower unit, and two pairs of RCA stereo AUX IN sockets on the rear of the upper unit. The upper unit also has a USB socket, useful for playing mp3 tracks on a USB pen drive, but I have not tried that yet. The CD drawer pops out horizontally from the upper unit of the two. You just place a CD in the tray without needing to push it onto a spindle, unlike my previous Hi-Fi and most laptops. The Neon plays CDs without any background noise from its mechanical parts (a relief after my awful previous Hi-Fi), and the sound quality is good. A decent CD player is important to me, as I have a large CD collection and, although I listen to mp3s on my laptop, desktop and smartphone, I do still listen to a lot of music from CDs. The controls are straightforward and simple to use. The instruction booklet explains the functions well enough. There is a slight lag when you rotate the function selector knob (I suppose because the knob signal is being decoded digitally internally). Anyway, it's not an issue. I also like the separate Treble and Bass knobs on the lower of the two units. Treble and bass knobs might be considered by some to be old-fashioned but are very welcome to me, as pre-canned equalizer settings (typically 'flat', 'pop', 'rock', 'classical', 'jazz' and so on) on many devices these days are too restrictive in my opinion and I missed these knobs on the previous Hi-Fi. By the way, the Neon also has pre-canned equalizer settings, only selectable by using the remote, but I do not bother with them as I prefer to use the Treble and Bass controls (I could not use the equalizer for three weeks anyway, as explained further on). One of the problems with my previous micro Hi-Fi was the amount of heat it generated. Although summer has not yet arrived here and the ambient temperature is still low, so far the Neon is producing little to no heat. I suspect this is because the internal electronics are more modern and compact than in my previous Hi-Fi. The housings are brushed aluminium and there are good-sized air vents towards the rear of the units. So I have high hopes that the Hi-Fi will operate at a lower temperature in summer than the old Hitachi, which is important as the room in which I have put the Neon tends to get rather hot during the height of summer. The appearance of the units is functional and uncluttered. Thankfully there are no bright flashing lights or other 'bling'. The overall finish is good, although don't expect the finish you would get on a more-expensive Hi-Fi. Nevertheless, it is perfectly acceptable and looks good. And now to my one negative impression of this Hi-Fi... When I unpacked it and set everything up, I discovered the remote did not work. The two supplied AAA batteries were fine but the remote was dead. As it happens, some of the buttons on the remote of my old Hitachi Hi-Fi worked with the Neon, so I knew the Hi-Fi itself was not the problem. It seemed crazy to ship the whole lot back to Amazon UK just for the sake of a faulty remote, so I contacted Neon via my Amazon UK account's Message Centre and Neon replied quickly, offering me a £20 refund with the suggestion I use it to get the remote repaired in the UK. Now, the chance of getting an unfamiliar model of remote repaired in the UK is probably zero, and, in the highly unlikely event I could actually find someone willing to look at it, it would have cost more than that. Anyway, a brand-new piece of equipment that is defective should be replaced free of charge, no questions asked. So I declined Neon's offer and requested a replacement. Three weeks to the day after I contacted Neon, a replacement arrived from China via DHL, very well padded indeed. And it works fine. My guess is that the original faulty remote was not tested in the factory (I hope Neon do that in future). Neon was courteous and replied quickly to my initial message, and did the right thing. Fortunately, the remote is not required to operate the unit and I had no urgent need for it, so no harm done. I won't say the sound quality is as stellar as e.g. a Denon or an even more-expensive Hi-Fi, but, for the price, it is very acceptable and there are plenty of decibels to be had. You can really crank it up if you have a party, for example, and the sound quality remains good. Given that I am pleased with the Hi-Fi and that Neon replied quickly and replaced the faulty remote satisfactorily, I am still going to award five stars to the Hi-Fi as it does exactly what I want, works well, sounds great and looks good.

Firstly, delivered within 2 days, cant say fairer than that. Surprised by the quality feel on the hifi. I replaced a Sony micro hifi that was essentially a plastic box with buttons, but this has a surprising solid feel being brushed aluminium front and controls and a metal case on all the other sides. I was worried about the speakers as they looked like black plastic online, but they also have a quality feel and appearance to them, plus you have the option of removing the speaker grill's (if that's your thing), they look really good either way. Impressed with the number of inputs and playback options on the amp, USB, CD, Bluetooth, Optical, DAB+, FM, NFC, AUX1 and AUX2, not many hifi's have so many options, and none in this price range. Some people may have noticed that Curry's/PC World in the UK have the same hifi in black and badged as JVC for twice the price, and that one doesn't have optical in too. Although it does look like it has different speakers so to be fair, that may affect the price. On to the sound. OK it's no Denon or Bose, but when you pump up the bass control and up the volume a bit I think you would be surprised of how good this little system sounds. I'm pretty picky with my audio, I'm no hifi nerd, but I like my music to be clear with a good bit of bass and a powerful sound and I'm happy with how this sounds. On the down sides: Firstly, I had a fault with the source selector on the amp (it didnt work basically), but NeonUK resolved the issue immediately. Faults can happen on anything, its how the company respond thats important, and the responded promptly and effectively. Next fault. The DAB reception is pretty poor. Despite the fact I have several DAB radios that have never had any issues, the reception on this is not good. There does seem to be a firmware issue when saving radio stations, it seems completely random, sometimes it saves, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it saves in the wrong location. DAB issues are not a problem for me. In the UK a lot of DAB radio stations are low bit rate and even mono, so its not something I care that much about. The remote is a bit of a strange design, but it works OK and does what its supposed to. Update: OK, trying to play MP3's from USB (not tried CD yet) was driving me crazy. There are 2 problems. Firstly, trying to get ID3 tags to work correctly is really difficult. Track names, Album titles and Album artist mostly did not display properly if at all. Secondly, many tracks refused to play in the correct order, regardless of the filename, Track name or Track order number in the ID3 tag. Firstly, the only way I could get the ID3 tags to work correctly was to use a program called AudioRanger (probably others work too, but this was free and the first app I tried). Using the app I deleted all the existing tags on the file and saved new tags. You can convert the filename to the track name in the app, so you dont usually have to type them all in. Secondly, getting tracks to play in the correct order took a lot of research and trial and error to find out what is going on. Bizarrely, the play order of files in a folder is based on the order the files were written into the table of contents on the USB drive. So essentially it is the order windows copied the files onto the USB, So you have to prefix each track name with a number and also if you have more than 9 tracks tracks 10 , 11 , 12 will come in numeric order before track 2 so the order would be 1,11,12,13,2,3,4,5,6 etc. In order to fix this name the tracks with a leading zero 01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,09,10,11,12 etc this will give you up to 99 tracks in a single folder. Note you have to rename the files BEFORE you copy them to the USB, so if you have the files already on the USB and rename them it wont change the play order. Move the folder to the PC, Rename the files as shown above, and copy them back to the USB, and they should play in the correct order. You may have to do the same if you burn MP3's to CD too. I hope this help, took me a while to find out.

I initially had a problem with the DAB radio when the unit arrived, and after exchanging a few emails with the seller it was clear that the unit was faulty. This was replaced very quickly, without any hassle, and the new unit is working very well. Although this is a small 'bookshelf' hifi, the quality is excellent, and the speakers handle the power from the amplifier very well, without any buzzing or distortion. The inclusion of an Optical input is also very useful. I have been looking for a soundbar for the TV for a while, but when I saw the Neon hifi I thought it would be perfect for my needs. It's size allows me to have it in the TV cabinet unit, and utilizing the optical input I get great sound when I need it for films etc. There are also two AUX inputs, using phono/RCA connectors, so the unit can be connected to external equipment. The two main units are very light, and at first they don't give the impression of having great quality, so my first impression was that they were probably "cheap and cheerful". Well, I can honestly say that they are definitely cheap and cheerful, but in a good way, and I can recommend them to anybody looking for a small hifi with big performance. The DAB and FM radio reception is excellent. I have a dedicated DAB/FM aerial in the loft, but even with the aerial supplied the unit picked all all the usual stations in my area without any problem. The single CD player performs well, with clear sound reproduction. The separate bass and treble controls are useful, and although they don't have a massive range, they are totally adequate. There is enough volume to annoy the deafest neighbours, if that's your thing, but for the rest of us, the unit performs very well at all volume levels, without distortion. I would recommend the Neon to anybody looking for a small, versatile bookshelf hifi with great performance and features.

I bought this to replace an old Sony unit that had developed a faulty speaker output. In terms of sound it works fine for the room it is in, and has a choice of pre-programmed equaliser settings for taste (pop, rock, jazz, etc). The main problem is the DAB radio. The memories for the radio keep randomly changing the saved station to something else, which completely defeats the purpose of the memories! Also the display is a somewhat retro 8 character 14-segment LED display, meaning it only displays the initial 8 letters of the station name until it starts scrolling, which makes it difficult to find the right channel for some of the bigger broadcasting organisations that have multiple channels starting with the same 8 letters (Absolute, BBC, etc). The radio (both on FM and DAB) only receives the stronger signals here, even with an indoor DAB aerial replacing the supplied wire. The remote control only seems to work if it is directly in front of the unit. This is with the supplied batteries. Maybe this will improve with fresh batteries, I haven't tired yet. It is also quite easy to pick up the remote the wrong way around and not realise, due to the shape, and try pressing the wrong buttons! Positives: Bluetooth, 2 pairs of phono sockets for older auxiliaries like a turntable, overall sound Negatives: DAB memories, display, remote control

After being overjoyed by a Bluetooth speaker by Neon I thought I'd take the plunge and buy this unit by the same company. I was also drawn to it for a much sought after feature for me; an optical input for my 60 inch television. However, once plugged in and working to its full glory, that feature, as appreciated as it is, became one of many for me to adore. I am a very very fussy audiophile and this feature-packed system greatly surpassed my expectations. I am beyond thrilled! The treble is crisp, the mids full, and the bass is solid and engaging. The sound nuances are fully adjustable to my liking, and I am ecstatic to find separate bass and treble controls at my eager finger tips; call me old fashioned, but these controls are essential for my personal listening pleasure. Aesthetically, the design of the system looks totally gorgeous, with an almost industrial but slick hint to it. The options for sound input sources are endless; CD, DAB, FM, Bluetooth, USB, as well as the opportunity for aux cable input. The included remote comes with batteries thrown in and allows for armchair manipulation of all the key features. I shouldn't forget to mention that system is capable of considerable volume that is easily loud enough for a party in a decent sized room. That said, it would be just as appealing in a bedroom, kitchen, or anywhere where beautiful audio is a must. Perfectly priced, forget the Sony's, Samsung's and other pricey products out there; this is the system to get and for all the right reasons. It's my new house buddy; I absolutely love it!!! Highly, highly recommended!

Brilliant little hi-fi, easy to install, great sound, the only bad issue, is that when connected the Turntable from my old Sony hi-fi, to AUX 1 -2, could only hear very little sound coming out from the speakers, despite turn up the volume, I guess the turntable is not compatible. I will buy a more recent unit, and see how it goes.

Perfection. I bought based on two 5 star reviews risking a bit with less known name, but it was the best decision! Beautiful sound. Takes little space. Looks nice. Very handy ergonomic remote. And the range of functions/connectivity is just what I desired in modern era. Couldn't be happier. Works great with Bluetooth (whether iPod, iPhone, android or wiresless headphones), USB sticks for MP3, DAB and fm radios, optical, nfc and good old cd. Wired headphones port too. And at the back you can connect two devices. Loving the bonus of sleep function which I wanted but forgot to check before buying. It's there! Treble and bass dials can give just the right modification. Nice equaliser too. Whether pop, deep house or classical (listening as I write this), the detail is gorgeous. Great delivery and service as well. A must have and it doesn't wreck the pocket considering how packed with functions it is.

I had been looking for some time for a budget priced micro Hi-Fi with an Optical input,Bluetooth,and Dab,there are some available but at at least 3 times the price of this unit so thank you John Ryan for your helpful review.Having set up this unit I can only say I am extremely pleased with the unit.The optical link gives a welcome boost to the sound from my TV,the DAB and Bluetooth streaming work faultlessly.Its powerful 2x45 Watt but the speakers can handle it with minimal distortion at max volume. The sound is crisp and clear and the speaker connections just use standard speaker wire so you can get some distance between them to more appreciate the stereo channel separation.The remote is excellent with simple well laid out buttons.The Retro look will not please everybody but its what's under the bonnet that counts with me, the only thing missing which I would have liked to see would be a sub out connection but at this price point this is an excellent buy.

Excellent rapport qualité-prix: belle présentation, boitiers et façades métalliques, enceintes laquées. Utilisation aisée, nombreuses fonctions, il ne lui manque que la connexion. La puissance est suffisante pour une pièce moyenne et la qualité du son peut être qualifiée de Hifi. Elle peut alimenter de grandes enceintes et sa consommation est très faible.

Auf den ersten Blick ist die Anlage ein echter Schnapper. Auffällig ist die Ausstattung bzw. Anschlussvielfalt: CD, Radio (FM und DAB+), Bluetooth, 2 x AUX via Cinch und - in der Preisklasse geradezu eine Rarität - ein optischer Digitaleingang. Der DAB+ Empfang funktioniert mit der beigelegten Antenne tadellos, und überhaupt ist alles schnell angeschlossen und betriebsbereit. Das schlichte und unaufdringliche Design der Komponenten in Aluminiumoptik finde ich durchaus angenehm. Ist zwar kein "Hingucker", aber eben auch kein hässliches Entlein. Über den Klang der Anlage kann man auch nicht meckern - inbesondere wenn man sich die Größe und den Preis nochmal vor Augen hällt. Mein wichtigsten Kriterien für eine neue Anlage waren u.a. ein guter CD Player, DAB+, und Bluetooth. In den ersten beiden Punkten kann die Anlage wirklich überzeugen... und dann spielte ich ein paar CDs ab. Dabei viel mir folgendes auf: 1. Der CD Player kann keine "gapless" Wiedergabe. Live Konzerte auf CD, Hörspiele, oder solche CDs, die gapless produziert wurden, sind damit zwar grundsätzlich immernoch abspielbar, aber eben mit einer "Zwangspause" zwischen den einzelnen Titeln, die einfach stört. 2. Das Abspielen eines bestimmten Titels nach Nummer ist nicht möglich, weil weder am Gerät noch auf der Fernbedienung eine Nummerneingabe existiert. Man muss also immer X mal vorwärts drücken, um ein bestimmtes Lied abzuspielen. 3. Der CD Player ist übermässig empfindlich und springt selbst bei CDs, denen man keinerlei Kratzer oder ähnliche Schäden ansehen kann. Das mag aber auch an meinem Exemplar gelegen haben. 4. Der Wechsel zur CD Wiedergabe muss explizit erfolgen: Wenn gerade ein anderer Eingang (Radio, AUX, usw) aktiviert ist, und man eine CD einlegt, dann reicht es nicht aus, am CD Player auf "Play" zu drücken. Vorher muss man erstmal den CD Player als neuen Eingang anwählen. Auch erwähnenswert ist, dass die Bedienung sich insgesamt träge anfühlt: In der Regel reicht es nicht aus, einen Knopf an der Anlage kurz anzutippen. Statt dessen muss dieser irgendwo zwischen einer halben Sekunde und einer Sekunde gedrückt gehalten werden. Fazit: Ich habe die Anlage zurück gesandt, da CD Wiedergabe für mich einen hohen Stellenwert hat, und die genannten Mankos eben doch gehörig den Spass verderben. Wer hingegen schon nicht mehr weiß, wie eine CD eigentlich aussieht, der kann mit dieser Anlage wenig falsch machen.

Cercavo un sistema micro hifi per la cameretta di mia figlia. Giusto per stare al passo con i tempi, lo cercavo con connettività completa e radio DAB+. Dunque mi imbatto in vari modelli, molti dei quali visti anche dal vivo in vari centri commerciali. Inutile dire che molti di questi oggetti sono insulsi cubetti plasticosi dal suono discutibile. Comunque, cominciamo col dire che questo impiantino, marcato NEON, è identico al JVC UX-D750. Ergo la Neon lo costruisce per JVC, che non è decisamente un marchio di serie B. COSTRUZIONE: A differenza degli impianti omologhi per prezzo e categoria, questo è composto da due parti separate: ampli e tuner/cd. Questo gli conferisce un aspetto più "serio" rispetto ai concorrenti. I meteriali usati sono ottimi. I corpi sono in metallo e i frontali in alluminio spazzolato. La presenza dei knob vecchio stile conferisce un aspetto leggermente retrò che non guasta affatto. La parte inferiore ha la manopola del volume (digitale, non è un potenziometro), manopola di selezione dell'input (aux 1/2 - ha due ingressi via cavo! - BT, NFC, CD, FM, DAB), manopole di bassi e alti (sempre digitali e abbastanza inutili, si). La parte superiore è decisamente fatta più in economia, con pulsanti rasi che si trovano e spingono con un po' di fatica. Troviamo i classici comandi per il CD, che svolgono funzione di tuning e selezione delle stazioni FM/DAB. Il cassetto del CD, e probabilmente anche la meccanica interna, è fatto in economia. Le casse acustiche, in tecnologia bass reflex, hanno due coni. Uno mid/bass e l'altro per gli alti. COME SUONA: La sorgente audio conta molto. La sorgente CD rende meglio delle altre. Le radio FM e DAB vengono enfatizzate sui bassi. Non male il BT, ma molto dipende dalla qualità del sorgente digitale mandato in esecuzione e da eventuali equalizzazioni apportate dal telefono connesso. Senza alcuna equalizzazione impostata ("flat", le altre opzioni sono "rock", "pop", "classic" e "jazz") il suono è abbastanza orribile. Veramente piatto. Per avere un suono godibile, l'equalizzazione preimpostata "rock" è la migliore. L'uso delle manopole bass e treble peggiorano l'audio. La dinamica dell'ampli è un po' particolare. A volume basso e a parità di settings, i bassi vengono enfatizzati e il suono è lievemente ovattato. Alzando il volume la dinamica trova il suo equilibrio e l'ascolto diventa gradevole. FUNZIONI: Non starò a descrivere il CD, AUX e BT. Tutto elementare e semplice. La connessione BT è molto rapida. La nota dolente di questo apparecchio è sul DAB. Purtroppo, dopo aver fatto la sintonia, non è possibile memorizzare le stazioni nei canali (se poi ci riuscirò in qualche maniera, aggiornerò la recensione). *** EDIT *** Ieri mi sono messo di impegno a cercare di capire come poteva essere possibile che le stazioni DAB non potessero essere memorizzate. Ebbene, è possibile. La mia valutazione, quindi, sale a 5 stelle piene. Ottimo prodotto. In altre parole i canali DAB trovati vengono memorizzati su delle memorie sequenziali alle quali si accede con i pulsanti SU/GIU'. Non è possibile mettere sul canale 1 una stazione preferita, sul 2 un'altra e via discorrendo. La radio FM, invece, consente la memorizzazione. IL TELECOMANDO molto semplice e basico. Meglio usare il telecomando che i pulsanti sul pannello. Ci sono alcune funzioni esplicite sui tasti che compromettono la serenità mentale dell'utilizzatore. E' presente, infatti, il pulsante per la sintonia automatica della radio. Il che significa che per errore ci si può trovare con tutte le stazioni modificate... vabbè. CONCLUSIONE Per poco più di cento euro, ci si porta a casa un discreto impiantino, che va comunque preso per quello che è. Molto ben fatto,con qualche funzionalità che avrebbe potuto essere sviluppata meglio, ma complessivamente un buon prodotto. Altre marche molto più blasonate offrono meno, costano di più e suonano alla stessa maniera. Do solo quattro stelle per la mancanza delle memorie preimpostate sulle stazioni DAB. Peccato. Tuttavia, lo suggerisco. Ultima nota va al cavo di alimentazione: è solidale al corpo dell'ampli (quindi non può essere sostituito) e ha la spina UK. Bisogna quindi armarsi di un adattatore o cambiare la spina (con eventuale perdita di garanzia).

-La empresa de transporte SEUR pésima.... -Este modelo es el mismo que se fabrica con la marca HITACHI. -He tenido otros equipos de gama media-alta (Onkyo, Technics, etc) y la calidad del sonido es buena -¡OJO! Distorsiona el sonido a bajo volumen (1 ó 2) si la iluminacion del panel no está al maximo (DIM) es un bug a tener en cuenta... -Permite varios modos de equalización (punto a favor) -No dispone de radio AM (punto negativo)

Consegna nei termini. Il Micro HI-Fi funzuona correttamente. Segnalo che mi è stato consegnato con nessuna pellicola protettiva sul diplay e pertanto questo risultava rigato in più punti .... vedi immagini allegate !!!!!. La lettura del diplay perciò è scarsa. Inoltre il cavo di alimentazione è con la spina UK, sono stato costretto ad acquistare un adattatore.