Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I spent many weeks researching high-end iPod speakers, including Monster/Beats, Bose, Kicker, B&W, Chestnut Hill, Polk, Audyssey, Cambridge Soundworks, Boston Acoustics, Sonos, and Altec Lansing. When I started the process, I had a simple goal: find the best sounding iPhone/iPod speaker available, with the best quality, for the lowest price possible. I had been warned that many of the more expensive systems justify the extra cost by adding a bunch of rarely-used features (video out, alarm clocks, HD radio, instrument jacks, internet radio, etc.) instead of better speaker quality. Sure enough, when I started looking at the different models, I was quickly overwhelmed by a bunch of features that had absolutely nothing to do with how good the thing actually sounds. So I spent some time asking a few friends, vendors, and online forums about all of these new capabilities. In the end, I learned that sound quality is (by far) the most important buying criteria, and other than that, there are really only two other features you need to care about. They are (a) Battery capability and (b) Bluetooth. And those two features only matter in specific cases. Here they are:
1) Battery - if you spend a lot of time at the beach, camping, or at a park and want to be able to play your music there, you'll need something with a battery. If you plan on listening to this at home or on your deck, the battery really doesn't matter.
2) Bluetooth - if you use an iPhone to store and play music and you also like to keep your phone in your hands for texting, e-mail, apps, or calls, OR if you change your music a lot (skip songs, change artists, etc.) then you'll want something with Bluetooth. This allows you to keep your iPhone in your hand (for texting, skipping songs, changing artists, etc.) and wirelessly stream music to the speaker. Bluetooth also gives you more possibilities for music storage devices (iPod & iPad & Zune & laptop, etc.)...not just an iPod. The downside of connecting with Bluetooth is that since you are not docked, your iPhone isn't charging. This could cause battery issues if you are playing music for a long period of time without being docked.
Other than those two features...ignore everything else that comes with these things. You already have an alarm clock, your iPhone already has Pandora and internet radio, you have other A/V gear in your house for watching/downloading TV, your phone already has a speakerphone, and you can probably get your favorite AM/FM radio station content over the internet anyway. It's also worth noting that if you're looking for something that could double as a sound system for your TV, you're actually better off getting a good TV surround sound system for the same price and buying a cheaper iPod speaker. You'll get a better speaker system for the TV, you won't have a big speaker sitting on your TV set, and you won't have the hassle of reconnecting/disconnecting a big iPod speaker every time you want to use it in another room.
Okay - now that we have that out of the way, that leaves the main criteria, sound quality. If you read enough reviews and talk to enough audiophiles, you'll learn that there is general agreement that the four best iPod speakers out there now for sound quality are:
1) B&W Zeppelin
2) Beats by Dre Beatbox
3) Bose SoundDock Portable (NOT SoundDock Series II!)
4) Audyssey Audio Dock
If you ask people who handle audio for a living, they'll say that the B&W Zeppelin has the best sound/sonics. Unfortunately, it isn't as loud as others in this category, costs a ton of money, and unless you're an audio engineer, you won't really notice a difference between the Zeppelin sound and the three others. Add the fact that many people have reported quality issues and poor customer service...and you quickly realize that the Zeppelin isn't worth the money. So we take that off the list as too expense without much additional value. That leaves us with the Beatbox, the SoundDock, and the Audyssey Audio Dock. Here's how to pick between them.
- If you don't care about bluetooth or battery, get the Beats by Dre Beatbox. It's the best sounding (and loudest) system of the three and the quality is fantastic. But it doesn't have bluetooth or a battery. It's just a REALLY good speaker.
- If you want a battery, get the Bose SoundDock Portable. It sounds great and the battery works well (buy an extra battery if you can!)
- If you want bluetooth, get the Audyssey Audio Dock. It sounds incredible (almost as good as the beatbox) and the bluetooth capability works perfect.
In the end I realized I don't care about Bluetooth or a Battery, so I bought the beatbox by Dre....and I couldn't be happier. This thing really sounds unbelievable with rap, classical and everything in between...and an incredible sounding speaker is really all I was looking for in the first place.
I should also note...if you get this far and decide this is just too much to spend, then buy either the Logitech S715i or the Altec Lansing iM600. Those are both great systems for the price.
Hope this helps others!
Click Here to see more reviews about: Beats by Dr. Dre Beatbox iPod® Dock High Performance iPod® Dock
No comments:
Post a Comment