Home > Consumer Reviews > Polk Audio I-Sonic Entertainment System 2

The radio is excellent. Audio is perfect and I thinks it is as good as the Bose and the price is excellent. I am enjoying the radio everyday and I would not hesitate to recommend it to other buyers.

This device is, well, unusual. I have a lot of feelings about it, both positive and negative.

Pos. Has HD radio - something you can't get with Bose. HD sounds GREAT, mostly because the signal is not generally "processed" like the analog FM signal is. HD is noticeably cleaner with better dynamic range.

Con. The HD is pretty marginal. It seems reluctant to "lock up" with the HD signal. It has a a unreliable, unpredictable feel to the HD function. I have a not-very-expensive JVC HD radio in my car, and the HD works a LOT more reliably and transparently than in the Polk.

Pro. FM without HD sounds good. Tuning ease is acceptable.

Con. FM reception seems weak. I had to use a C.Crane Reflect antenna to get reasonable reception. I use the radio at work, on an outside wall, near a window, and about 7 miles from the major broadcast antenna farm for the area. This should provide very strong signals with virtually any or no antenna, but no such luck. I tried several antennas and the C. Crane works the best, but it has to be carefully positioned, and cost another $35 to boot.

Pro. Sound is good. It seems to be comparable to my Bose Wave Radio and Bose Wave Radio II. (The II is clearly the better sounding of the two.) The bass and treble controls on the Polk are nice to have. Bose seems to have a very, umm, arrogant attitude of "We know what you need, so don't even consider that you need controls."

Cons. The sound isn't maybe as well defined as on the Bose Wave Radio II, although the HD reception pushes the Polk ahead of the Bose in my book.

Pro. Nice feature set at a good price point. The HD radio and iPod dock (works fine with iPhone 3G) and AUX inputs are nice. There is no CD, but then, that is pretty much '80s tech. At price in the low $300 range, the price is attractive.

Cons. There are some clever features, but the overall build quality is no where near the Bose stuff, and feels like it should be at least a hundred bucks cheaper.

SUMMARY. There is a lot to like in this radio. The feature set is really slick. The problem is that much of the stuff feels like it could have been executed better. Like other reviewers have said, it seems like the thing snuck out the door to production before all the engineering work was done. The price is attractive, but at $300+, it isn't cheap. I would have considered paying $100 more to have all of the features work better (especially HD) and have the build quality of a Bose. I have had mine for about 6 months, and I wouldn't want to send it back, but I would like it to work better and have fewer aggravations. As always, Amazon service was excellent.

I am typically not a review writer, but felt compelled to write a review after being so pleased with this purchase.

Polk continues to put out a great product far superior to anything out there. This product is no exception. I purchased this for my office but after I heard the exceptional quality I am putting this in my bedroom and seriously considering buying a second to put in my office as origianlly intended.

The sound is so crisp and clear and the bass is perfect. The highs, lows and midranges are true. The set-up is simple and the operation is intuitive. I could not be happier with this product. The ipod sounds awesome when played through this. Crystal clear. I was very impressed with th HD radio sound quality as well. This sounds as good at quiet volumes as it does turned up. Not quite as good as the Ipod, but close. This has to be the most power and quality that you can put into something this size. This is the best $350 I have spent in a long time and I would highly recommend this purchase. Like I said, I am seriously considering buying a second one so that I can have one at the home and office. Definately worth it!

Great job Polk and Amazon!

We use this unit as a bed-side clock radio. It has great sound and receives HD stations. The iPod dock is handy. The alarm is easy to set and has the nifty feature of being able to program the alarm volume level. We have a very large MBR and BA and when we crank up the radio to hear it in the shower, the sound quality is just as good as at lower volumes. The unit arrived without a remote, but we telephone Polk and one arrived in a couple of days, no hassles. The only negative we've found is that the backlighting (what makes the display blue) is bright. At it's lowest setting it is more of a beacon than we'd prefer for sleeping. Not negative enough to return to unit, but something to consider when using in a bedroom application. When the backlight feature is turned completely off, the display cannot be seen. Were it not for the backlight having to be on to see the display, we'd give the I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 a score of 5+ stars.

Truly great sound and stunning looks- which you would expect from any stereo in this price range ($$). It has HD radio, iTunes tagging, and will play songs from the iPhone- just can't make or receive calls when it is docked (interference). The clock radio has a great dimmer so the light at night is not too bright. Includes remote- would be nice if the remote was lighted.