NanoHiFi PNH-2200 Portable Desktop Audio System Review

NanoHiFi PNH-2200 Introduction

It's easy to find a desktop system for your home or office. You can't spit out your gum at one of the big box stores and not hit one. They were all the rage before we had smartphones and iPods, and that hasn't changed. If anything, they've just gotten more popular with the advent of AirPlay (Apple), PlayFi (Android), and Bluetooth (everyone). These wireless solutions make it easy not only easier to playback your content but allow your friends and visitors to use your system without having to own a specific phone or have access to cables.

It is one thing to shop Best Buy or Amazon and sort by price (low to high) and look for the model that has the features you care about. You may get your feature checklist filled, but you won't know what you are getting in the sound department. If you are just looking for something to put in the games room or to provide background music at your office, well, sound quality might not matter. But if you are planning on listening to this system yourself, you know you'll care how it sounds.

NanoHiFi has released not one but three different portable desktop systems. I call them "portable desktop" because they are technically portable (mine came in a duffel bag that fit it perfectly though there is a carrying strap) though I doubt they will make very many trips outside your home or wherever it is you set it up. The differences between the three systems are price and features. The PNH-1000 has a dock, a USB port, and a radio. The PNH-2100 has all that plus a CD slot. Lastly, the PNH-2200 has everything the others had and can connect to your device via Bluetooth. The model under review is the PNH-2200. 

NanoHiFi First Impressions

The PHN-2200 came with its own duffel bag, a slew of cables, a remote, and a few other odds and ends. One thing it didn't come with was an owner's manual. If you go to the NanoHiFi site, you'll find under the "Shop Online" tab, a "Coming Soon" message. When a product is so new that you can't buy it yet, you have to make allowances. Plus, I hate manuals. I avoid them for as long as I can - usually until I run into a problem. It also didn't seem to come with the famed carrying handle but, with the duffel bag, I pretty much gave that a pass as well. Glancing at the picture below, astute Audioholics will recognize an important omission:

Their picture

Right - Cables. There are none. Not only that, there is no way to wrap them up for transport. Lastly, and possibly most importantly, the FM cable is missing. Just above the handle on the right side, there is a small hole. That is where the FM antenna connects and, from what I could tell, can't be removed. They must have cut it off for this picture. In the end, if I have the option between a "functional" handle (that's what they call it which begs the question - what is a non-functional handle?) and a duffel bag - I'll take the duffel bag every time.

Mine

The build quality of the NanaHiFi PNH-2200 is very impressive. The unit has boxy and glossy look that is both industrial and pleasing. It comes in white, maroon, silver, and white and maroon. The review unit came in the dual color option which was white on the front face but maroon everywhere else. The speakers are attached to the sides of the main unit and the overall weight is hefty enough to convey quality but not so much that you wouldn't want to take it with you.

NanoHiFi bottom intake fan

There is a fan exhaust on the back and and intake on the bottom of the main unit. During quit listening sessions you may hear a slight whirr from the NanoHiFi but you'll have to be sitting very close. After longer/louder sessions, the fan does get more prominent. There are an impressive number of speakers (or at least speaker grilles) displayed on the NanoHiFi. On the front of the speaker boxes are midrange/tweeter combo drivers. Once you separate the speakers, you'll find grilles on both sides of the speaker boxes. NanoHiFi calls these multi-yoke drivers and mentions bass radiators. This indicates that the one of the side drivers is powered and the other is a bass radiator. On the sides of the main unit are additional grilles totaling eight speaker grilles on the NanoHiFi PHN-2200. The grilles on the sides of the main unit don't appear to cover speakers and are likely used to allow the side-firing speaker next to it room to breathe. If you think there won't be bass with the NanoHiFi, you're sorely mistaken. With this many drivers, especially side-firing ones aimed at the main unit, there is a bit of rattle when the unit is connected to the speakers. While the metal posts are very industrial and work well, there isn't any sort of dampening to keep the NanoHiFi speakers from vibrating against the main unit at louder volumes. Since most people will want to separate the speakers as soon as they find a place for a NanoHiFi, this shouldn't be an issue.

Check out the cool connection points. Too bad they rattle if connected

NanoHiFi PNH-2200 Features

What you'll want to know before you order a NanoHiFi unit is how you plan to connect to it. Oddly, NanoHiFi went with a 30-pin connector for their dock for your iDevices that predate the iPhone5's lightning connector. Yes, that's two iGenerations ago. While there are still many people out there running around with iPhones and iPods with the 30-pin connector, it seems like NanoHiFi is coming out the gate with ancient technology - not the best message to send to consumers. As a person with a number of iDevices in my home, all of which have the 30-pin connector, I have to say that I was just fine with the 30-pin connection. I have an iPod Touch (4th generation), iPad (first gen), and an iPod shuffle (who knows what generation but it has a 30-pin connector). As such, I had plenty of options.

For people that want to upgrade their sound but not their phone

All of the NanoHiFi units have a front USB port for portable music. There is a 3.5mm port on the back for piping in music from your portable device as well a 3.5mm jack for outputting music. There are a few other ports (all 3.5mm) labeled Y/Pb/Pr, coax, and sub. The Y/Pb/Pr is for outputting component video to your display (a pretty cool thing especially since NanoHiFi included a cable), the coax is for composite video and stereo audio (also cable included), and the subwoofer is for adding a sub. This gives the NanoHiFi the ability to stretch beyond a "boombox" or desktop system and become the mini-hub for a secondary system. It's a secondary system powered off your portable device but, honestly, sometimes that is all you need. Adding a sub is a huge advantage especially for those of use that just happen to have older subs lying around waiting for a use.

Headphone and USB port conveniently located on the front

You know they ones. The sub you thought was a "great deal" based on the glowing reviews on Amazon. The hard lesson is that $100 subs, no matter how great they are for the money, often are substandard for home theater. But in an office or small bedroom, connected to the NanoHiFi they can find new life.

All the NanoHiFis have an FM radio receiver but no AM. As you step up you can get a CD player and Bluetooth (one and then both but not just Bluetooth). I know that the base unit is $350 and the high end unit is $480 but we don't have pricing on the CD but no Bluetooth unit. We're guessing around $400-$425.

NanoHiFi Remote and Interface

The remote for the NanoHiFi is about as basic as it gets. It is white, plastic, rectangular with uniform (for the most part) buttons labeled with text so small you'll have to squint. One pet peeve of mine is a lack of discrete input buttons. On smaller remotes (those credit card sized ones), I can almost forgive it. But on a remote with this many buttons, I have to believe they had room for specific inputs and not forcing the user to scroll through the different inputs by pressing the "Mode" button). While there is nothing inherently wrong with the NanoHiFi remote, it isn't intuitive, the layout is barely acceptable, and there are buttons that don't seem to do anything. Case in point - the Rec/Rip button. That seems pretty self-explanatory. But when I inserted a USB key or a blank CD-R, all I got was a "Not Supported" error message. I imagine this feature is supported in other countries.

The LED screen on the front of the NanoHiFi is sparse but gives you the information you need. While it will let you know what track you are on, it didn't display any meta-data, something I'm used to seeing. There is a clock included with the NanoHiFi but you have to set it manually, there is no battery to remember the time when the power goes out, and there is no alarm (something I was hoping to find). The really irksome thing about the NanoHiFi clock was that it was nearly impossible to display the time. The only way I could reliably do it was to press "Go To" and then "Timer" on the remote. It would display for a few seconds and then go back to the input-specific information. There was also a lack of volume knob. While I'm not such a stickler for volume pots, they are awful convenient when you need to turn the volume down quickly.

Simple layout but not very intuitive

There were other oddities with the remote and interface which I chalk up to trying to OEM a remote (like having both "Settings" and "Menu" buttons - only Setting worked). In the settings, you can turn on/off the sub (enabling a crossover I hope), turn on/off bass boost (called Bazzoke), set the timer (this has a button on the remote as well), and set the EQ. There are a number of EQ settings including Flat, Jazz, Rock, and more. The most interesting was User which allowed you to adjust up or down 12dB at 80Hz, 300Hz, 1kHz, 3kHz, and 8kHz. This should give you an idea of what the low-end output of the NanoHiFi is (around 80Hz). I put in a test disc and found that I was getting usable output down to the low 70Hz, high 60Hz region. That's pretty impressive for a desktop system.

NanoHiFi Bluetooth and CD

If you bump up to the highest cost NanoHiFi, the PNH-2200, you're doing so because of Bluetooth. Since the difference in price is pretty significant, you'll want to make sure your money is well spent. I found the NanoHiFi's implementation of Bluetooth to be problematic. While it connected without a problem the first time, if you lost that connection, I would often have to cycle on and off my phone and the NanoHiFi multiple times to get it to reconnect. I'd get all sorts of errors from the NanoHiFi not showing up to cryptic "Can't communicate with device" messages. If you've used Bluetooth in the past, you'll be familiar with this experience.

Glossy and pretty - plus it sounds great

The thing that I found confusing is that the NanoHiFi wouldn't remember your connection when you switched inputs. So if you were streaming from your phone and wanted to check the local radio station to hear the weather, you'd lose your Bluetooth pairing. This would make for at least five to ten minutes of messing with it to get it to re-pair. Similarly, when you were listening to a CD, if you switched off the CD it wouldn't remember your place and would restart the CD from the beginning when you switched back. The same was true when you powered the unit on and off. I can't remember the last time I experienced a CD player that behaved in this manner.

NanoHiFi PNH-220 In-Use and Sound Quality Tests

While the fit and finish of the actual NanoHiFi unit was fantastic, in use it was even more impressive. I may not of liked how the menus worked or some of the other functionality, but I loved how it responded to me. When you switched to an input, or turned the NanoHiFi on, it didn't blast you with the last volume. Instead, it slowly raised the volume to the last setting. While it didn't give you a lot of time to stop something that was going to be very loud, it felt very polished. The same would happen when you powered down the unit. The volume would turn down as it displayed a "Good Bye" message.

While the Bluetooth was finicky to re-pair, when it was connected it worked great. The FM antenna was powerful enough to pick up stations even when I had it deep in a room and behind a dresser. The USB interface was basic (Track 1, Track 2, etc. with no meta data) but worked. Same with the CD. When I docked my iPod Touch, I could use the remote to skip songs and navigate playlists. Oddly, the NanoHiFi had to be on to charge the iPod. Most docks will charge even when the unit isn't on (as long as it has power).

Grilles as far as the eye can see

Sound

None of this makes a bit of difference unless the NanoHiFi sounds good. And it does. With bass that belies it size, the NanoHiFi will fill your office or bedroom with sound. At volume level 12 or so. Why is that important? It maxes out at 30! Do you have a great room with some room on top of your cabinets? The NanoHiFi can fill it. Do you have a two-car garage converted into a game room (and if so, why?), the NanoHiFi will eat it for breakfast with headroom to spare. Does it hit down to 80Hz cleanly? Yes. Will you be happy with how it sounds not only for the time being but for the foreseeable future? I think so.

I tested the NanoHiFi with a variety of music. I listened to Rock, Jazz, Showtunes (don't judge me), Rap, and much more. There were definitely some low notes that weren't coming through but, realistically, I didn't expect them to on a unit this size. What I did expect was distortion and clipping at higher volumes (and sometimes lower volumes). I experienced none of that. My ears ran out of headroom long before the NanoHiFi.

If I had to pick a word to describe the sound of the NanoHiFi it would be "rich". Lush would also work. The sound quality was stunning out of such a small system and I quickly found myself immersed in the music. With a desktop system like this, I'm not so worried about strict linearity. Sure, that's important, but with a system that is likely to be non-optimally placed, I'm more concerned with how well it performs regardless of placement. I put the NanoHiFi in large, open rooms. I had it on the floor, on a counter, and on a desk. I stuck it in an alcove in a bedroom with the speakers shoved into the corners (technically my wife did that but whatever). Basically, I tried in a lot of different placements and the result was always the same - the NanoHiFi sounded great. The midrange, in particular, was very smooth and pleasant. With the different modes you could boost the highs or the bass to offset placement issues. All in all, however, I kept the NanoHiFi set to 'Flat' and would occasionally engage the bass boost. This is a system that is going to sound good no matter where you place it.

I much prefer the bag - keeps the cables in and plenty of storage

Conclusion

I may have my quips with the interface and remote of the NanoHiFi, but it is clear they got the most important thing right - how it sounds. Rarely have I been so impressed with a product. At $480, the NanoHiFi PNH-2200 isn't cheap and at this price it is hard to give it a very high value rating. I question the inclusion of the older, 30-pin connector for their dock. But with Bluetooth, it doesn't really matter - as long as you can get it to pair. The fit and finish of the box may be great but interacting with the NanoHiFi is more frustrating than it should be. When it is playing, however, you're going to forget all that. You'll be far too busy wondering how NanoHiFi got such good sound in such a small package.

NanoHiFi PNH-2200

MSRP (as tested): $479

www.nanohifi.com

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Network Features
Build Quality
Fit and Finish
Ergonomics & Usability
Ease of Setup
Features
Remote Control
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Soundstage
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value