I bought the Sony DHC-MD555 shelf system for $400 from Crutchfield, and overall, I am happy with it. At the same time Crutchfield was offering it for $400, a store in my area had it for $700. At $400, I couldn't pass up a unit with both 5-CD and 5-MD changers. My main concern was whether the quality of the unit would match the features. Basically, I was wondering if Sony packed in a lot of features, but skimped on quality to keep the price down. My concerns going in were also attributed to the fact that I was not too familiar with shelf systems. I had questions about the sound and build quality for a small unit. I have found that many of the shelf units and boomboxes today look and sound cheesy. The DHC-MD555 is solid all around. Construction is solid, and the elevator changers work very well. The sound is good, but not great. Again, I am not used to shelf systems, and am probably spoiled by my home theater set-up in the main room by now.

The speakers are decent. At times, the speakers don't seem to handle the highs as well as I would like. For example, cymbals seem to dominant in certain songs more than they ought to. There is a certain shrill sound to the highs at times. Unfortunately, the unit does not have an adjustable equalizer, but only pre-set soundtypes (i.e., Rock, Jazz, etc.). I have found that the Rock sound works well, and there are bass enhancement features that help in certain situations. I might consider getting a decent pair of bookshelf speakers to replace the ones that came with the unit.

I haven't used the unit for recording to MD yet. However, it has the same recording features from CD as my Sony MXD-D3 component, so recording on the DHC-MD555 should be a piece of cake. The DHC- MD555 allows you to record from sources other than CD, such as tape, radio, etc. Also, you can hook up a portable MD player to record from MD to MD.

All in all, I am happy with the DHC-MD555. I don't think you can beat the quality and features of the unit for the price. A major draw for me was the 5-MD changer. I look at the 5-CD changer as a bonus. Both changers work quite well. As stated, my only complaint lies in the speakers. Again, one must remember that this is a shelf system and is not intended to crank at high volumes to fill large rooms. I find that setting the volume at 15-17 (I haven't cranked it, but you can go to at least 30) is plenty loud in my bedroom. If you are in the market for a secondary unit, get this one for $400. With two changers and recording capability, you can't beat it. I purchased this 5 cd/5 minidisc unit for 350.00 US dollars from Crutchfield. I purchased it solely for it's minidisc relay recording capability. Relay recording of long radio programs, multiple cd's, long analog recordings from an external source, timer recordings and so on. Having owned the unit for about two weeks I can say I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality of the minidisc recordings - every bit as good as two other recorders I have and more convenient to use. It would take too long to go into all the features. Suffice to say that it is hugely feature packed and has only two shortcomings I can think of - no spdif out and two of the worst sounding speakers I've ever had the misfortune of listening to. If you buy this unit the first thing to do is lose the speakers. Give them to a kid, throw them out, whatever. I replaced mine with a pair of Optimus LX5 Pro's I had laying around. The difference in sound quality was immediate and dramatic. The built in amplifier in the DHC-MD555 is more than adequate to drive 6-8 ohm bookshelf speakers to high levels. So far so good - very satisfied. The Sony DHC-MD555 is pretty much the best mini system you can buy these days. I bought it mostly to record the MP3s I download to MDs since I don't have a CD burner. the more I researched this unit online the more I NEEDED to get it and I must say I'm very happy with it. On the downside are the speakers, they're 2 way affairs and while good, they're not the best things out there, a 3rd intermediate speaker would improve things quite a bit. You can't set the equalizer manually and entering MD tracks is a little tedious, however there is a sony package that retails for about 150 dollars called the PCLK-PX1 designed expressly for this unit which allows you to connect it to a PC (no mac, sorry) and control it from there, this includes playlist programming and MD title entering thru the computer! it's a little expensive but for the gadget conscious it's the ultimate unit. The PCLK-PX1 was created FOR the MD555 but now also works with the MD777.

There is no digital input or output, I don't have digital equipment however so I don't miss it. Internal CD to MD recording is digital and it comes with SCMC so you can't copy from an MD created with this unit. There is the MD walkman interface with the included cable which allows you copy from the MD (mine was a display unit and didn't come with it but was at an incredible discount) The ability to record tracks from all 5 CDs inserted to one MD is a big bonus too.

I can't recommend this unit more, just look around on the net and you'll see that there are few shelf units with more features than this little thing... and with a price tag of $300 USD at crutchfield (and it just keeps getting cheaper and cheaper), this unit is worth every single penny. The MD777 is it's succesor but it's more expensive, yet includes digital in and out and support for surround sound. keep in mind it's a shelf unit while the 777 is more of a deck type unit.