Philips MCi5000 Streamium - finally, a good-looking affordable Wi-Fi Hi-fi

Philips have announced the Philips MCi5000 Streamium, a brand new Wi-Fi Hi-Fi from Philips’s famous Streamium line. Unlike other Streamium Hi-Fis, this one’s not actually not overpriced - it’s just £500, and should come down to £400 just before Christmas.

The Philips Streamium range is a series of Hi-Fis that wirelessly stream music from your PC and also from other Streamium Hi-Fis. This is a great idea, as it enables your tunes to be stored on your PC and then played on your Hi-Fi in much better sound quality than your PC’s soundcard. The only problem with this idea in the past has been that Philips Streamiums have been rather expensive, they’re not exactly lookers, and Philips aren’t exactly known as leaders in the Hi-Fi field.

In other words, you get a nifty Wi-Fi Hi-Fi, but not a particularly good one for the money.

Now, though, with the Philips MCi5000, all that may about to change.

The first thing you note about the MCi5000 is that it looks quite different from previous Streamium units. In fact, it looks almost like a set of two Hi-Fi separates, which is no bad thing. Looks can be deceptive though, as it’s actually one complete unit made to look two seaprates. The space between the two “separates” contains the CD player, which is completely hidden - a nice feature.

The MCi5000 also comes with a 160GB hard disk, will play music from Internet radio and a USB key, and a full colour screen. Having USB support is ideal for transferring your music to and from your MP3 player without requiring your PC, while the addition of the hard disk means you can store your tunes from your PC (transferring them wirelessly, of course), and then replay without having to fire up your OC.

In short, it might just be the perfect solution for those of you looking for a way to play your tunes in much better quality than your PC offers, from a Hi-Fi that’ll look rather good in your lounge - and all for just £400 (which, let’s face it, is about the same price as a litre of petrol!)

[Source: T3]