Polk Audio I-Sonic Entertainment System 2

Other products by Polk Audio

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 14.2 x 9.5 x 4.9 inches ; 8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0014HS938
• Item model number: AM1195-A
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,085 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Electronics > Home Audio & Theater > Compact Stereos > Shelf Stereo Systems
  #19 in	Electronics > Home Audio & Theater > CD Players & Recorders

• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 22, 2008

Product Description

Product Description

The new I-Sonic® ES2 includes a second generation HD Radio tuner with full multicasting. With its advanced acoustical system, Digital Signal Processing, and new HD Radio tuner technology, the I-Sonic ES2 is the highest performing self-contained HD Radio product on the market. The I-Sonic ES2 accepts all iPod models with dock connectors in its top-mounted iPod dock hidden beneath a sliding door. S-Video and composite video outputs allow the user to connect a television or video monitor to the IES2 for viewing video content stored on a video iPod. The I-Sonic ES2 introduces a new music discovery feature from Apple® called iTunes Tagging which makes it simple to buy songs you hear on HD Radio stations. The iTunes Tag button on the I-Sonic ES2's front panel and remote control allows you to "tag" songs broadcast by HD Radio stations. The I-Sonic ES2 stores information about the tagged songs to its memory and transfers the tags to an iPod* when docked. When you sync your iPod with your computer, iTunes automatically presents the songs in a new Tagged play-list for the you to preview, buy, and download. iTunes Tagging is a great way to discover new music and add it to one's collection.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!! Truely A High Performance System, April 23, 2008

By	j krismer - See all my reviews

I got the I-Sonic 2 just about a month ago and I am still amazed at how good this thing sounds. I got a Bose and a Cambridge at the same time, niether come close and are going back. It was great to do a comparision in my own home.

I read a lot of reviews on the first I-Sonic; best I can tell Polk has fixed all of the issues. It doesn't get hot, the display is easy to read, and the controls are so simple I have yet to open the manual.

The iPod dock works with my iPhone and my video iPod and my iPod has never sounded better. Really, you will be blown away by how good this system sounds. I have the unit in my bedroom and it is a perfect place to store my iPod when I get home; keeps it charged all the time.

The HD Radio works well with the single wire antenna provided with the system. I have tagged a bunch of sounds and bought a few from iTunes; very very cool feature even if you just use it to remeber a song.

I am very satisfied with the system and would highly recommend it to any iPod owner, its a perfect match.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great system, November 30, 2008

By	M. Waite - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I enjoy this system tremendously. Sounds great for such a small package. The firmware was outdated when I received it, and I quickly found out that Polk Audio no longer provides the firmware on their website for download. It seems too many people were having issues flashing the ROM. Basically because 1) they didn't read the directions and use a memory stick < 1Gb, and 2) if they had other files on the memory stick the I-Sonic would get a bit confused. I called Polk Audio and insisted they email me the firmware (They wanted to mail me a memory stick). I performed the upgrade without any problems using an old 128Mb stick I had lying around (made sure nothing else was on it). So you should be able to request the same from Polk Audio.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Superior sound; questionable HD/FM/AM performance, January 23, 2009

By	Eric (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

You'll have to look very hard to find a shelf unit with better sound than the iSonic ES2...I was blown away by the richness and depth of sound. When you hear companies use the words "room filling" when describing small stereos, you can believe it where this one is concerned. It can easily deliver high-quality sound to multiple rooms, and is helped by the separate bass/treble settings...that's a real plus compared to similar units that do not have them.

However, I was disappointed in the HD/FM/AM radio functions of this product. Despite multiple attempts and antenna placements, I did not have much luck in acheiving consistently clear sound from the FM band, even less luck with AM and the HD signal was only sporadic. One minute it produced fantastic sound just as advertised, but in the next it would revert to the standard FM signal making the iTunes tagging function useless (iTunes tagging only works in the HD mode). This flip back and forth from HD to FM on the same station was an annoyance, to say the least.

iPod playback was wonderful. The iSonic ES2 delivered a very clean transfer and I was impressed at the lack of noticeable volume loss between the HD radio and iPod audio (I had read about that complaint in other online reviews). That said, Polk needs to add a playlist toggling capability to the remote. As it stands, switching playlists requires manual adjustment on the iPod itself.

Finally, the clock function did not work. It allowed the time to be set, but upon hitting the time button to end the set function and begin clock operation, it stayed at the time that was entered.

Overall, I was as impressed as I could be with the sound quality of this unit...it's unsurpassed in this genre and exceeds the Bose Wave. But the shortcomings of its other features and functions left it a disappointment and $500 is simply way too much money to spend on nothing but superior iPod speakers. Polk would be smart to get rid of the HD radio and iTunes tagging and put the CD/DVD player back on the unit (the original iSonic had a CD/DVD drive but for some reason it was removed for the ES2 model).