Sony DAVIS10 review

Even after two weeks of testing we still find it hard to get over the size of the DAVIS10's speakers. These miniature marvels can be hidden around your living room easily, and guests will wonder where the sound is coming from.

The speakers do have some disadvantages. They can't play lower mid-range tones, so these have to be picked up by the powered subwoofer and amplifier unit. It was usually impossible to tell which sounds were coming from the sub and not the satellites, but we sometimes found that lower-frequency directional sounds came from the subwoofer rather than the other speakers. Because of this we found it was best to keep the subwoofer in front of us, but we were limited by the 2m captive cable that connects the DVD unit to the subwoofer. A calibration microphone is provided to get everything set up optimally.

The chunky DVD unit is a beautiful piece of design. Its curved edges, touch-sensitive buttons and slot-loading drive make it the most desirable piece of kit here. The remote is also excellent, with flat buttons that click as you push them. Some commands are only registered on the DVD unit's LCD display rather than onscreen, though, which can be confusing.

The DAVIS10 has no SCART output, so it's certainly not suited for those with CRT TVs. Surprisingly it won't output a resolution of 1080p from its HDMI output either, though picture quality from an upscaled DVD at 720p and 1080i was as good as we've seen.

There are optical and coaxial S/PDIF inputs for plugging in other devices, such as a games console or media centre PC. There's no USB2 port, but you can play DivX and XviD MPEG4 video and MP3 and WMA audio from optical media. A Digital Media port lets you attach Sony-branded accessories like MP3 docks.

Sony's DAVIS10 is far more expensive than any of the other home cinema kits in the group, but if you want surround sound and don't want to see your speakers you won't find any smaller than these.