Best iPod Docks
Friday, October 30th, 2009 by Kat
With more and more people ditching bulky CD collections in favour of the music on their computers or MP3 players, the popularity of the traditional Hi Fi is being overtaken by new music gadgets.
If you’ve got money to spare, a killer multi-room music system can be acheived with media streamers by the likes of Sonos and Philips. A more practical solution (and simpler to set up) solution is iPod speakers: just plug your MP3 player in or slot it in the dock, and press play. Another advantage of these devices is their flexibility: friends or family just need to plug in their MP3 players and suddenly you can listen to a whole new range of music.
Everyone’s heard of Bose’s SoundDock and, with regular updates, there’s a lot to like in their range (the Portable, starting at £322, the Original now down to £128, the Mark II from £219 and the top of the line SoundDock 10, at a hefty £699). Here are a range of other MP3 speakers from lesser-known companies that are worth considering.
Student Sound System
If you just want something small enough to fit in a student room and cheaper than a round of drinks, take a look at the Logic 3 iStation Traveller, from £10. This battery powered speaker is light on features, but has surprisingly good sound quality for its size, according to reviews. An average rating of 8.6/10 indicates owners were pretty happy with this pocket-szied device.
If your loan can stretch a little further, consider the Gear4 HouseParty, with nearly 4 times the wattage and a rating of 8.9/10 overall, which costs from £50 upwards.
Style-conscious
Most ipod docks follow a well-worn design track, mainly variations on a theme set by Bose’s classic devices. Of the few to diverge from this pattern, the Gear4 Blackbox does so with most aplomb.
The Blackbox is a sleek, piano-black cube, with a red LED clock face showing through the surface and a dock on the top. Very well-rated for design, it falls down a little on sound quality and ease of use, but still makes a drop dead gorgeous kitchen or bedroom clock/dock.
Audiophile
There’s a bit of a caveat with this category, as any audiophile worth his/her salt will tell you that trying to get great quality music from compressed audio files (like MP3s) is about as likely as.
Having said this, if you just want to get the best sound you can from your MP3 Player, you should look at the Logic 3 Valve80. This classy-looking amplifier/speaker set recharges you iPod while it plays, and comes with a remote that allows you to navigate through your iPod music library. The sound quality garners high praise from owners, scoring 9.0/10. Drawbacks include being on the large size and quite pricey, starting from £277.
If you’re serious about sound quality and happy spending a little more in pursuit of it, you could do little better than combining a Fatman iTube with a pair of high quality Hi Fi speakers.
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