Sound quality: Sony's MHC-V71 had Fair overall sound quality - this model has sonic shortcomings that leave a lot to be desired when listening to music but don't rule it out for dialog. With the Equalizer settings set to produce the most even sound using the Sony Music Center app, bass has good impact, but is somewhat boomy and prominent, and deep bass is lacking. Midrange is somewhat muffled, grainy, grating, hazy, has a very noticeable plastic resonance, and is somewhat overwhelmed by the bass. Treble is fairly extended, but very irregular with small peaks and large gaps; the overall quality is a bit subdued, generally smeared and slightly sizzly. Does a good job of recovering room ambience, but the muffled quality of the midrange covers up some of the resonance in the program material, and the overall sound is somewhat congested. Provides a decent volume level in a large sized room. No significant difference between Bluetooth, USB, and aux input sound quality; the CD sound quality is similar, but the midrange does not have the grating quality of the other inputs.
Ease of use: We found the Sony MHC-V71 ease of use to be Very Good overall. Bluetooth pairing requires the press of a high contrast button; then discover with your device. There is an indication when unit is in pairing mode and when it has paired. It is also NFC capable. Volume control is a labeled, non persistent, high contrast numerical display, that is easily repeatable. Source selector is a button labeled Function that has a non-persistent display, which indicates with words which source has been selected.
