Apple iPod Hi-Fi Speaker System
- UPC: 885909081745
- Brand: Apple
- Compatible Devices: Apple iPod
- Type: Speaker System
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nice design, average sound
Pros
good sound for a small box, portable
Cons
a mite expensive, missing some connections
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
A bit expensive, but if you want the final word in portable Ipod sound, this is it
I love audio gear. There I said it. I love browsing speakers, amps, pre/pros, transports, you name it, I've previewed it at some audio shop. But I'm also a technology oriented person per my profession. Its why I really enjoy the portability of a device like an Ipod where I can take all my albums and take it with me anywhere (I have a 4g 20gigger). Eventually, these two hobbies would take a collision course and I'd be knee deep in the alternate reality known as Ipod accessories where white plastic prevails over wood patterned vinyl.
There are some who say the Ipod will never give you hi fidelity sound to which I'll disagree. I for one can't tell the difference between a well encoded MP3 (say LAME VBR) and the original CD. As to the Ipod itself, although the bass seems a bit thin at times, I personally don't have any problem with the Ipod and its very nice Wolfson DAC. With that out of the way let's get to the heart of the matter.
The Apple Hi-Fi dockable boombox. A friend of mine, an admittant Ipod-aholic, couldn't resist this product. He'd been salivating over the Bose Sounddock for awhile now but couldn't quite pull the trigger. But when this officially sanctioned home stereo system came out, out came his credit card! So I had the fortune of spending many good hours at his pool room enjoying his new Apple system.
Apple was certainly late to the game, being beaten by companies such as Bose and Altec Lansing. But this one sports the silvery fruit logo so it attracts more attention than the rest. I won't spend too much time on features, you can get those elsewhere. Suffice to say its dockable, its portable, and no it doesn't have a screen or video out. I found the design a bit bland actually for an Apple design. Maybe I expected a bit more than the white and black rectangle I saw before me.
But to the important part... how does it sound? In a word, pretty good with some caveats. Apple's tagline is "Home stereo reinvented" and to that end, these types of systems are definately an improvement over most mini-systems adorning the shelves of Circuit City and Best Buy. For the majority of folks out there, this system will easily be their best sound gear.
Taking a glance at this unit, we see we have a 2-way ported design. A knuckle rap revealed decent thickness to the panels. Like many systems of this size, it uses a class D amplifier internally, which when implemented well can sound fantastic. Into the playlist went a multitude of varying music from my own Ipod. We throw everything we could think of at it: Norah Jones, Kraftwerk, Christian Death, Frank Sinatra, Mozart's Carmen, DMX, Waylon Jennings, Miles Davis (think we have almost every genre covered!). The first thing I noticed was it had a decent amount of SPL capability. It filled up his game room nicely (about 22x16x8). But I always say, my clock radio can also fill up a room. Its a matter of how well the soundstage and imaging holds up at the other end of the room. Its one reason why someone would take a floorstanding speaker over a smaller bookshelf. As with any unit like these, the problem is there is not much stereo imaging. The drivers are simply too close together. So while the amount of sound was impressive, mids became muddled as you got farther from the unit. The other characteristic I noticed was that it sounded laid back and possibly missing detail. Generally speaking, I like laid back fabric dome type tweeters, but this didn't seem the same. I looked at the unit again and realized, there is no dedicated tweeter! This could very well be the reason why. Closer to the unit, the imaging held up nicely. Off-axis response was respectable, though nowhere close to an separate speakers. Bass was also very respectable for its size, though it did start to sound very busy and muddled as the volume went up and the farther you went from it. Another phenomenon I noticed was a bit of port turbulance as the drivers pushed harder. Criticism aside, it sounded very good for a unit of its size. One can't expect too much from box this small. In a small to medium room, I suspect the entire room would be pressurized nicely. Mids were lush and full. Treble was decent, though a tweeter would of been very helpful. All in all, average sound in its price range, but very good sound once you factor in the size.
The real question one would ask is, however, how does it hold up against its competitors? And to that end, the best a normal person can do is visit their local Apple store. Time is limited and placement is subpar, but audio memory is known to be short. The units I found at my particular store were the Bose SoundDock, the Altec IM7, and the Klipsch iFi. Out of these systems, I would pick out the iFi to be the best of breed, however, it's not a totally fair comparison since the other systems are 1 piece units and the iFi gets the advantage of separate stereo satellites with superior stereo imaging and a rather large capable subwoofer. It also isn't very portable. That leaves the Bose, the Altec, and the Apple. In terms of treble, I felt the Bose was a bit sibulent and somewhat fatiguing. This isn't all that different than Bose's philosophy on audio reproduction. The Apple sounded again overly laid back. That leaves the Altec unit. Of the three, this unit had the most balanced treble. In terms of midrange, the Apple took honors. Both the Altec and Bose were fairly close, but the Apple maintained a more coherent soundstage when the volume went up. Basswise, the Apple wins again. None of these units had the depth or speed of a good subwoofer, but the small forms of these units don't allow that. The Apple held up better when the sound went louder where as the other two did not.
Now the real test. Is it really the "Home Stereo Reinvented?" My friend brought over his Hi-Fi to compete with my reference system. But it wouldn't be fair to compare it to my main theater, but I had a nice bedroom system setup for $300. I am generally am a research-a-holic and dealhunter. This system was composed of a blowout receiver (Yamaha RX-V450) and an inventory clearing bookshelf from a high value brand (Rocket RS150). The Yamaha had a respectable Class AB 85w x 2 amp at 8 ohms and an excellent preamp section (probably higher than 85w in reserve power). It is an excellent entry level receiver. The speakers are an amazing piece of audio design with 1" MDF, rear ported, silk/aluminum drivers, heavy cast high excursion woofer, and very nicely braced at near 20 lbs each. We switched audio back and forth and listened. It was no contest; the component blew away the Hi-Fi at nearly the same price. At quiet to sane volume levels, the Apple unit could somewhat hold its own. As the SPL's went to moderate and then ear bleeding, the component system took over. This wasn't entirely unexpected, but it was interesting to see what buying clearance or used gear can yield you if you are willing and knowledgable to.
Now, with this in mind, what are we to say about this system? Clearly of the dock, single unit systems, the Hi-Fi held it own and went straight to the top of the heap. However if I were to choose from a price perspective, the much cheaper Altec would be my choice. It's sound is not as good but good enough. If I were not encumbered by a portable boombox unit, I would probably look into separate speaker systems like the Klipsch. I've also seen a very nice system reviewed called the AudioEngine 5 that is composed of 2 bookshelf speakers and an internal class AB made for Ipods. This is the only Ipod speaker of its kind that I've found and has gotten great reviews. For myself, I'd get used audio equipment and use the line-out for the dock.
But that's not what this unit is geared toward. If one wants the best sound in portable audio, this is the speaker system to get. In terms of value, however, it does seem to lag behind others. Overall, I'm neutral with a recommendation.
There are some who say the Ipod will never give you hi fidelity sound to which I'll disagree. I for one can't tell the difference between a well encoded MP3 (say LAME VBR) and the original CD. As to the Ipod itself, although the bass seems a bit thin at times, I personally don't have any problem with the Ipod and its very nice Wolfson DAC. With that out of the way let's get to the heart of the matter.
The Apple Hi-Fi dockable boombox. A friend of mine, an admittant Ipod-aholic, couldn't resist this product. He'd been salivating over the Bose Sounddock for awhile now but couldn't quite pull the trigger. But when this officially sanctioned home stereo system came out, out came his credit card! So I had the fortune of spending many good hours at his pool room enjoying his new Apple system.
Apple was certainly late to the game, being beaten by companies such as Bose and Altec Lansing. But this one sports the silvery fruit logo so it attracts more attention than the rest. I won't spend too much time on features, you can get those elsewhere. Suffice to say its dockable, its portable, and no it doesn't have a screen or video out. I found the design a bit bland actually for an Apple design. Maybe I expected a bit more than the white and black rectangle I saw before me.
But to the important part... how does it sound? In a word, pretty good with some caveats. Apple's tagline is "Home stereo reinvented" and to that end, these types of systems are definately an improvement over most mini-systems adorning the shelves of Circuit City and Best Buy. For the majority of folks out there, this system will easily be their best sound gear.
Taking a glance at this unit, we see we have a 2-way ported design. A knuckle rap revealed decent thickness to the panels. Like many systems of this size, it uses a class D amplifier internally, which when implemented well can sound fantastic. Into the playlist went a multitude of varying music from my own Ipod. We throw everything we could think of at it: Norah Jones, Kraftwerk, Christian Death, Frank Sinatra, Mozart's Carmen, DMX, Waylon Jennings, Miles Davis (think we have almost every genre covered!). The first thing I noticed was it had a decent amount of SPL capability. It filled up his game room nicely (about 22x16x8). But I always say, my clock radio can also fill up a room. Its a matter of how well the soundstage and imaging holds up at the other end of the room. Its one reason why someone would take a floorstanding speaker over a smaller bookshelf. As with any unit like these, the problem is there is not much stereo imaging. The drivers are simply too close together. So while the amount of sound was impressive, mids became muddled as you got farther from the unit. The other characteristic I noticed was that it sounded laid back and possibly missing detail. Generally speaking, I like laid back fabric dome type tweeters, but this didn't seem the same. I looked at the unit again and realized, there is no dedicated tweeter! This could very well be the reason why. Closer to the unit, the imaging held up nicely. Off-axis response was respectable, though nowhere close to an separate speakers. Bass was also very respectable for its size, though it did start to sound very busy and muddled as the volume went up and the farther you went from it. Another phenomenon I noticed was a bit of port turbulance as the drivers pushed harder. Criticism aside, it sounded very good for a unit of its size. One can't expect too much from box this small. In a small to medium room, I suspect the entire room would be pressurized nicely. Mids were lush and full. Treble was decent, though a tweeter would of been very helpful. All in all, average sound in its price range, but very good sound once you factor in the size.
The real question one would ask is, however, how does it hold up against its competitors? And to that end, the best a normal person can do is visit their local Apple store. Time is limited and placement is subpar, but audio memory is known to be short. The units I found at my particular store were the Bose SoundDock, the Altec IM7, and the Klipsch iFi. Out of these systems, I would pick out the iFi to be the best of breed, however, it's not a totally fair comparison since the other systems are 1 piece units and the iFi gets the advantage of separate stereo satellites with superior stereo imaging and a rather large capable subwoofer. It also isn't very portable. That leaves the Bose, the Altec, and the Apple. In terms of treble, I felt the Bose was a bit sibulent and somewhat fatiguing. This isn't all that different than Bose's philosophy on audio reproduction. The Apple sounded again overly laid back. That leaves the Altec unit. Of the three, this unit had the most balanced treble. In terms of midrange, the Apple took honors. Both the Altec and Bose were fairly close, but the Apple maintained a more coherent soundstage when the volume went up. Basswise, the Apple wins again. None of these units had the depth or speed of a good subwoofer, but the small forms of these units don't allow that. The Apple held up better when the sound went louder where as the other two did not.
Now the real test. Is it really the "Home Stereo Reinvented?" My friend brought over his Hi-Fi to compete with my reference system. But it wouldn't be fair to compare it to my main theater, but I had a nice bedroom system setup for $300. I am generally am a research-a-holic and dealhunter. This system was composed of a blowout receiver (Yamaha RX-V450) and an inventory clearing bookshelf from a high value brand (Rocket RS150). The Yamaha had a respectable Class AB 85w x 2 amp at 8 ohms and an excellent preamp section (probably higher than 85w in reserve power). It is an excellent entry level receiver. The speakers are an amazing piece of audio design with 1" MDF, rear ported, silk/aluminum drivers, heavy cast high excursion woofer, and very nicely braced at near 20 lbs each. We switched audio back and forth and listened. It was no contest; the component blew away the Hi-Fi at nearly the same price. At quiet to sane volume levels, the Apple unit could somewhat hold its own. As the SPL's went to moderate and then ear bleeding, the component system took over. This wasn't entirely unexpected, but it was interesting to see what buying clearance or used gear can yield you if you are willing and knowledgable to.
Now, with this in mind, what are we to say about this system? Clearly of the dock, single unit systems, the Hi-Fi held it own and went straight to the top of the heap. However if I were to choose from a price perspective, the much cheaper Altec would be my choice. It's sound is not as good but good enough. If I were not encumbered by a portable boombox unit, I would probably look into separate speaker systems like the Klipsch. I've also seen a very nice system reviewed called the AudioEngine 5 that is composed of 2 bookshelf speakers and an internal class AB made for Ipods. This is the only Ipod speaker of its kind that I've found and has gotten great reviews. For myself, I'd get used audio equipment and use the line-out for the dock.
But that's not what this unit is geared toward. If one wants the best sound in portable audio, this is the speaker system to get. In terms of value, however, it does seem to lag behind others. Overall, I'm neutral with a recommendation.
