"A consumer level of DX synth which sounds just like the DX-100, thin and britle." yet later on, you say "It's capable of good string, bass and droney-pad sounds..." Of COURSE it's not going to sound good if you're used to todays synths (or if you're biased)! While I do notice this person has some bad things to say abot this model, it's not ALL bad. Like the mention of the split, chorus, portamento and Unison Mono-Mode, and they do say it IS better than DX-17 or DX-100. They still manage to say despite some personal preferences, it is still better than their other models.

It will not sound professional if not USED in a professional manner. Take any synth with cheap sounds and use it correctly, it will sound fantastic. FM synthesis is a good way to bring in lively tones into any modern style of music, like hip hop and rap.

I can be 100% honest, this synth has the most vibrant sound of any modern keyboard I've ever tried.

I like the comment of Justin Robert. People tend to diss the DX series for being thin and so on. To me, the DX series represented a very good alternative to everything else at that time, that was basically subtractive synthesis. FM is quite amazing actually, once it is understood. The DX7 and D-50, are still my favorite synths, the FM and subtractive synth, respectively. The complement each other very well. And I agree, that a lot of the entry level keyboards today have very poor quality keyboards. Roland D-50 has such a fantastic feel keyboard. Well, the top level keyboards like the Motif also have good keyboards though, because they have little weights attached to the keys underneath.

Well I just picked up one of these and think its actually pretty cool. I wouldn't say that it is exactly thin and brittle sounding, however, it is very different than a subtractive style synth. There are actually quite a few good bass tones in the presets. Programming isn't quite as hard as they say, but takes a little playing to get used to it. Some of the lead sounds totally kick butt and cut like mad. It's not quite a DX7, but really isn't bad for how cheap you can get them. I actually like the weird harshness of it and you can make some really alien sounding tones. It has some pretty good envelopes to make some good pads. The keys [beep] compared to a DX7 which had a very nice feeling keyboard, but these feel rather cheap and springy, but at least they are full sized. The keys are still better than a lot of the garbage that is being produced today. I like it. I think I'll keep it :)

DX21 isn't thin and brittle. That depends on the patch you use. I've created some really fat sounds. Those it comes with aren't all that bad either.

Mystery solved, I think you must have a DX27S as there were DX27 and DX27S with the S version being the one with speakers.
Clyde