Amazingly, it has been some four years since we last saw a new product from Myryad.

Or maybe not so amazing: one of the things we always liked about Myryad's products was the way they seemed to be a step ahead of the crowd in certain areas, most notably styling and features.

But the world soon catches up and the question then is how to recapture the lead? The answer is the Myryad Mi, or 'Music integrated'.

Versatile system

It's hard to quibble with the 'integrated' part of the name, as few products manage to cram quite so many options into one box. CD, FM and DAB radio, iPod connector, optional Bluetooth input and amplifier – it's a lot in something with an LP-sleeve footprint.

LP is about the only thing not catered for, in fact, but the line inputs could allow for that with an external phono stage.

One other feature the Mi doesn't have is internet connectivity. That may seem perverse to some, but what in the end does the internet offer right now to the music lover?

Internet radio

Downloadable music is provided for in the Mi with the iPod and Bluetooth connections – just download to computer or iPod first, which is likely to be a lot easier than loading direct to audio kit.

For the rest, there's internet radio (plentiful, but very often terrible quality) and database access. But since the Mi plays real CDs rather than 'ripped' versions you've presumably got the sleeve, complete with track listing and artwork.

Anyway, it's got excellent support for CD Text, so many modern CDs will display verbal track titles rather than just track numbers.

Informative display

'Display' – ah, now we're getting warm. You see that nice-looking display on the right of the unit? It's one of the most attractive features we've seen on any audio kit in quite a while.

A full colour graphic display is a very flexible device and Myryad has made the most of it, giving not only track number or title but beautifully legible indications of what buttons do in menu mode (no obsure and fiddly icons) and a 'thermometer' indication of how far into a track one is.

Using the remote, you can scroll down a list of tracks, viewing four to one screen and buttons on the remote or front panel are acknowledged clearly and informatively.

We're slowly getting used to iPods and suchlike and whatever one thinks of their sound – of which more in a moment – their user interface is typically more informative than that of CD.

The Mi reflects that interface on said screen and as a result one ends up with something of a 'dream team' – iPod information and convenience with hi-fi sound and loudspeaker output. All right, other well-designed iPod docks exist, but few are quite so sleek in this department.

Uncompressed storage

It's easy to dismiss portable music players as low-fi because they are so closely associated with data-reduced systems such as MP3. Most, however, can store uncompressed data (WAV files) which contain the same bits as a CD.

When connected digitally to a device like this, the portable device is pretty much a 'bit bucket' without a sound of its own and the explosion of storage capacity in recent years (16GB micro-SD card, for example) has made uncompressed storage perfectly feasible.