Harman Kardon MAS110

Harman/Kardon MAS110 review

At an attractive price (including loudspeakers, which we didn't include in the review though a brief listen suggests they're decent), the Harman/Kardon MAS110 system looks rather futuristic, with its shiny black finish unspoiled by buttons or other such fripperies. It shows fingerprints, but a quick wipe sees things right. Although quite a lot of functions are in fact banished to the remote, including source selection, the front panel of the CD player does at least have transport controls, touch-sensitive 'buttons' which light up when power is applied, while the amp has a volume control. Actually the 'CD player' is also the preamp part, but no, you can't mix and match the parts as they share a power supply and the only input to the amp is via the multi-way lead. The light weight of the units suggests, correctly, that power supplies are switch-mode, and the power amp is a switching design, too. The CD transport is a slot-loader, while other features include FM and DAB radio (including DAB+, apparently, not that there are any transmissions yet), USB inputs at the rear and the side, digital inputs, and even a phono input, a real rarity on such systems.