Sony SRS-GD50iP 2.1 speaker system review

Sony’s SRS-GD50iP has a compact subwoofer, but it’s the satellites that really catch the eye – they’re small enough to easily fit inside a mug. A separate wired iPod dock is included. Music played by a connected iPod is played through the speakers, and you can even synchronise your player with iTunes on your PC if you connect the USB cable.

The dock also doubles as a wired remote. There are buttons for adjusting the bass and choosing between your computer and iPod as audio input sources. There’s also an illuminated volume dial. A separate wireless remote is also included, which has the same controls as the dock as well as iPod menu navigation and playback controls. However, since most iPod screens are fairly small, you’ll have to stand fairly close to it when using the wireless remote to see which track you’re selecting.

In addition to its already long list of abilities, the iPod dock also acts as the hub for all the cabling connections. Although the included 3.5mm stereo cable for connecting your computer is a fairly long 1.5m, the cable connecting the satellites to the dock is a ridiculously short 1m. This severely limits where you can place the satellites and how far apart they can be. Although the cables can be extended they use a proprietary Sony connector, making it hard and expensive to do so.

Almost as restrictive as the cabling is the unbalanced sound quality, which copes with some types of music better than others. The subwoofer produces a boomy and unfocussed bass that sounds overpowering and can obscure other details, such as subtle backing vocals and instruments. Jazz and blues tracks sound clear and reasonably detailed, if lacking in warmth, but pop and rock music sounded unbalanced with instruments overwhelming vocals in some tracks and vice versa in others. Electronic music fared little better with distortion creeping in at the high end.

We wanted to like the SRS-GD50iP with its impressively small satellites and feature-packed iPod dock. Unfortunately, all its fancy remotes can’t hide the uneven and disappointing sound quality, which is unacceptable in a set of speakers at this price. Combined with some proprietary cabling that’s so short as to be impractical, we just can’t recommend the SRS-GD50iP.