Small player promising stereo sound from one speaker
The promise of the Orbitsound T4 is that its so-called 'Airsound' system can deliver stereo sound through a single speaker (which keeps its size down). This is what's supposed to make the Orbitsound stand out, but sadly it didn’t live up to that billing.
In our tests we weren’t able to make out separate stereo sounds so we were left with what is an ordinary speaker system at a pretty hefty price.
The menus on the T4 are quite basic and, while this makes them simple to understand, at times it also made them awkward to use. The function of each button differs depending on what’s on the front screen, which made it confusing.
It can tune into both FM and DAB (digital) radio stations, which worked well. The DAB station list was easy to scroll through and the FM tuner works similarly to old-fashioned radios using the left/right buttons to select a frequency or using ‘seek’ to automatically tune in.
In addition to radio the T4 has an iPod dock on its top. It began to play our iPod as soon as we placed it in the slot, and you can control playback using either the iPod itself or the buttons on the T4.
It can tune in to internet radio stations too, by connecting to your home wireless network. This procedure was easy enough, but it was made trickier by the need to type in the key for the network using the fiddly on-screen keyboard and the arrow buttons on the T4.
Sound quality was reasonable given the unit’s size (around 6in tall) if a little on the tinny side.
Overall the Orbitsound T4 is a pretty good system, but at £180 it is too expensive: other devices offer better value.
