Japan’s home to some pretty impressive shelf audio systems given the preponderance of well-mannered neighbors living side-by-side in tiny urban apartments. The two new stereo systems from JVC are the NX-TC5 and NX-TC3 models, which carry out pretty much the same set of functions and provide more or less the same features, with one main difference: only one of the two (namely the NX-TC5) is able to rip MDs to an external device (flash drive, music player, etc.) via the USB port.

Unfortunately, while the unit sports an iPod dock and 4.3-inch LCD, video playback is limited to its integrated 1Seg digital TV tuner or WMV video stored on USB media — not from Apple’s beloved.

It does feature a swiveling front-panel for optimal viewing angle and motion-activated display in addition to 512MB of on-board storage for photos, an AM/FM tuner, and CD player with the ability to rip audio to MD or attached USB stick at 4x speeds.

The TC5 is expected to hit Japan in late August for ¥62,000 (about $655) and ¥52,000 (about $549) as model NX-TC3 if you’ve finally kicked the MD habit. Looking pretty in white after the break.

[ Source: Engadget ]