Apple iPod Hi-Fi

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Apple iPod Hi-Fi

Punit Lodaya, Aug 09, 2006 1800 hrs IST

The success of Apple iPod speaks for itself with over 60 Million units sold worldwide.

Excellent build quality, Rich and Warm Sound Quality, Can play on DC batteries, Ability to charge iPod.

No Video Out, Lack of Upper Treble, Bulky to be actually classified as portable, Very Expensive, Lack of Stereo Separation due to one piece design.

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Expert Review

The success of Apple's iPod speaks for itself with over 60 Million units sold worldwide and has a market share of over 75% in US alone. Apple is now taking this portable audio player to new heights; considering it as a format to replace the CD. A single CD can hold around 140 songs (MP3 Format, 5MB/Song). Now compare it to the iPod Video 60 GB, which can hold around 12,000. Apple iPod is a MP3 player itself, where as for CDs, you will need a compatible player. Audio songs can be purchased individually from iTunes Music Store, where as you have to buy the whole album in CD format. iPod is a revolutionary change in terms of format when compared to the existing media i.e. CD. Not only there is change of Media, but the whole system changes. This is very interesting in terms of technological advancement.

This has indeed caused a noise stir in the industry, and many companies have already started working on some technology related to Apple iPod. One of the technologies was the iPod Dock system, where you can dock in your iPod in a music system, and can play it on large room speakers. Bose, Altec Lancing and Logitech have come up with similar speaker systems. Some of them are even portable, with the option of using DC batteries. They were enjoying a lot of popularity and Apple didn t ignore it. They also started working on making a similar system, and who could have made it better than the inventor of iPod itself. The Result is 'iPod Hi-Fi'.

Big White Box

The iPod Hi-Fi is a single piece of equipment integrated with three driver speakers. The middle driver speaker is intended for low frequency sound reproduction, where as the side ones are for mid-high frequencies. It has a glossy white finish on the top, back and on the sides. The bottom consist a single rubber material block for grip purpose. The word 'iPod' has been engraved on the rubber block. The front side has a removable black fabric grille. The speaker cones get exposed on removing this grille. The iPod Hi-Fi is very durable with its excellent build quality. There are two handle on the either side for making it convient to carry aroud.

It includes a dock with ten adapters for every model of iPod that feature the 30-pin iPod dock connector. You place your iPod in the dock, select your preferred song and start blasting away immediately. The iPod Hi-Fi also charges the iPod, when docked in.

The iPod Hi-Fi can run on six D-cell batteries. In DC mode, depending upon the power of the battery, the iPod Hi-Fi adjusts the volume as necessary. I tried it on Eveready Carbon Zinc batteries, which costed me Rs. 81 for 6 (Rs. 13.50/each). It was able to play loudly only for 5 minutes and the next 25 minutes, the volume kept on decreasing until the sound (batteries) went kaput. The case was different with Duracell alkaline batteries which was able to give nearly 3 hours of music at full blast and almost 10 hours of life. Now, that's acceptable. However, different websites have reported different scores, some of them even stating over five hours of music at full volume. Wondering what mAh rated batteries they may be using?

The iPod Hi-Fi features an auxiliary audio input port on the back of the unit to source in any audio input such as sound cards, Potable CD players, etc.

Speakers menu appears only on the latest iPods i.e. fifth-generation Video iPod and nano iPods. Tone Control allows you to choose a Hi-Fi-specific Equalizer setting i.e. Normal, Bass Boost, and Treble Boost; unlike the iPod's Equalizer settings, the tone controls take effect in real time, so you can quickly compare the options as you scroll through them.

The remote was the biggest letdown. It allows you to increase or decrease volume, forward or rewind the track list, and change the input settings i.e. play through iPod or Auxiliary in. The track list still has to be selected from the iPod's control.

The only control on the speakers was the volume increase and decrease. But, it's done the Apple way. There are two touch sensitive buttons on the top of the speaker with '+' and the '-' signs on it. Touching the '+' button will increase the volume, while the other will decrease it.

There is an indicator light, which lights up according to the command given. It will be green, when a command is given such as increase volume. It will turn orange in case of unrecognized commands or volume limitations.