Review: inMotion iPod Speakers (updated)

EverLurking writes "Well, I'm a sucker for slick-looking new toys. The Altec Lansing inMotion speakers did look like they would fill a need I had for compact portable speakers to go with my iPod while traveling. Below is a review, but in summary: I'd give it a 7/10, mainly because it's a bit overpriced at $149 (it'd be an 8 if it was, let's say, $75). Pros: Surprisingly loud and full sound reproduction (with the right EQ settings), its looks compliment the iPod, good battery life, sturdy, compact and travels well. Cons: Distortion when turned up too loud, poor stereo separation, requires 2 different AC adapters, a bit overpriced." Read on for EverLurking's more detailed impressions. Update: 11/13 00:57 GMT by T : Turns out, the AC adapter issue was overstated; details below.

Audio: First of all, understand that you are not going to get fantastic full-range audio from a speaker system that uses 2 pairs of 1" drivers. It's just not physically possible. This is not for audiophiles; it is just for travel/convenience listening. However, the inMotions use an interesting trick to make up for the lack of low frequency/bass response: they reproduce the higher frequency harmonics (which the little speakers can reproduce) that the lower bass registers would produce in real life if played over larger speakers. The resulting bass can sound a bit hollow and artificial at times, but it is impressive the degree I perceive it to be present is given how small the drivers are. You do distinctly perceive a fair amount of bass without any actual low-frequency thumping or movement of large amounts of air -- pretty cool.

The high-end response is good, as expected from the small drivers, and the midrange response is better than most small micro/travel speakers that use only one pair of 1" (or smaller) drivers. The simulated bass is surprisingly effective but subject to noticeable distortion if your EQ settings over-amplify the lower frequencies or if the unit is turned up too loud. I have found the "Acoustic" EQ settings seem to work well for the inMotions, luckily, on the iPod you have many EQ settings to play around with.

This bass-enhancement circuitry and/or the built in amplifier does add a bit of noise. You can hear it when you max out the volume w/o the iPod connected. It is not really noticeable at normal listening levels, though.

Because the speakers are located close together and cannot be angled outwards, stereo separation is limited, and music sounds somewhat "mono" and clock radio-like. However, putting a hotel menu or hard cover book opened to 90 degrees with the apex pointed at the midpoint between the speakers helped to spread the audio out a little.

Overall a good sounding set of speakers for less "bassy" music (great for guitar rock, jazz, acoustic and vocal pieces; not so good for techno/dance) at moderate to quiet listening levels. These would be great for Audio Books. Distortion becomes a problem when you turn the speakers up beyond what is reasonable for such small drivers, but you can provide surprisingly full and loud sound to fill a good-sized hotel room (try using the Bass Reducer EQ setting if you have to turn them up really loud).

Hardware/Build: The base station and speaker assembly are fairly well built, but still a bit cheap feeling for something that costs $149. The whole thing folds open/closed much like an oversized audio tape case to protect the drivers. The side arms are made of a brushed aluminum complementing the look of the iPod.

The docking connector for 3G iPods is exposed, and could use a cover of some sort. However, I have one from the firewire cable that came with the iPod that will do just fine, assuming it doesn't fall off and get lost too fast. There is a spacer that comes with the inMotion that is supposed to give a better fit with the 10 and 15/20GB models, as the slot has been made to fit the thicker 30/40GB iPods. I found that the spacer wasn't needed for the thinner iPod to fit well, so I suspect the thicker iPods will have a rather tight fit.

The volume buttons are a -/+ affair to the left of the iPod with a slider switch for power on the right and a power indicator. There is no volume level indicator and since the audio signal is taken from the line-out pins on the 3G connector, you cannot use the iPod's on-board volume selector/indicator. Not really a problem -- the non-amplified line-out's on the iPod reduce distortion to the signal that the inMotions have to work with anyhow.

Connections: On the back of the inMotions are line-in and line-out connections, both 1/8" headphone jack connectors. The line-in port is used for 1G and 2G iPods which don't have the new connectors to dock with. A short dual-male 1/8" cable is included for hooking up the iPod's headphone jack to the line-in port. There is also a little rubber platform that covers the 3G dock connector and recess so that an older iPod has a place to sit between the speakers. The little rubber thing didn't stay in too well, but it was a nice thought.

There is a connector for the included DC 9V/1.6A wall-wart power supply. Unfortunately, the sucker is a bit large and it would have been nicer if the prongs on the AC adapter collapsed for better stowing. Also present is a connector for the special firewire cable that came with the iPod, so you can recharge the iPod while it is still sitting in the inMotion.

However, plugging in the firewire cable with Apple's 12V/1A AC adapter (which is nice and small, and has collapsable prongs) does not also power the inMotion. It would have been a cleaner solution if the inMotion could have been powered off the Apple AC adapter so you wouldn't have to carry around 2 AC adapters, and it would also have meant less of a cable mess behind the thing.

Battery Life: The manufacturer claims 12 hours, this will be very dependent on the volume levels you select. I have not run the 4 AA's down completely yet, but it has lasted as long as the iPod's internal batteries have so far. And no, it does not re-charge the iPod from its 9V AC adapter when docked, nor does it charge the iPod from the 4 AA batteries it uses. That would have been nice too.

Summary: Actually pretty good sound reproduction for such little speakers, certainly much better than my TiBook's speakers. No more hotel clock radios for me, but bring a good pair of headphones/in-ear monitors for really critical listening. If you're willing to run on batteries alone, it is a nice compact way to go.

The inMotions are a bit overpriced and could use larger speaker drivers (it looks like there is still enough room to mount larger speakers) that better yet could be angled outwards for better stereo dispersion. Also, there could be better integration of the Apple AC adapter (maybe someone out there is handy with a soldering iron? :) ) so you wouldn't need to carry around quite so many cables/AC adapters.

I'm glad I got these, as they'll make my already indispensable iPod more useful when traveling.

An update from EverLurking:

I noticed that another review of the inMotions stated that the power adapter that comes with it does in fact recharge the iPod. I went and checked it out, and Yes, the included power adapter will power the speakers and recharge the iPod at the same time. My mistake; I guess my iPod was fully charged at the time I first briefly tested the inMotion's adapter, and I didn't notice that the iPod was drawing power from the inMotion. It does not recharge the iPod while running off of the batteries (which is reasonable, as this would drastically shorten the life of the batteries for driving the speakers).

So you only have to carry around one adapter -- Good. I still think using Apple's little white iPod adapter would have been nicer though. The sucker now gets a 7.5 rating in my book, 8.5 if it was priced near $75.

Comments

Re:Price too high?

[piecewise]

The American rich? Flamebait.

They're cheap? So everyone. You don't like things to be cheaper? Your logic basically says rich people like cheap stuff, and homeless people prefer much more expensive items.

Also, to the person who said $149 shouldn't be "bitched about" when you spend $500 for an MP3 player. First, *I* didn't spend 500, I spent $299. Which means an "accessory" is suddenly 1/2 the value of my iPod. No thanks.

Now, granted, I don't make much money, so I am in the market for something more expensive.

Re:Price too high?

[PD]

Time for another bus on our computers: a power bus. Sure would be nice if the only thing we needed to plug into the wall was the main computer. Inside the computer would be a voltage converter and rectifier. That would go out to some jacks on the outside of the computer case.

Voltage would be perhaps 16-24 volts DC. The connectors would be small, and impossible to plug in backwards. Every external device on the system - LCD monitor, USB hard drives, Linksys routers, scanners, maybe inkjet printers, would have two jacks and allow a daisy chain of the power from one device to the next. So, you could plug the power from your scanner into the power from your USB hard drive which would be plugged into the power from the main computer.

Each device would have a circuit breaker, not a fuse, so the total capacity could not be exceeded.

If you wanted to use your little device without a computer to convert the power for you, you could get a little cheap wall wart. Each device would have a flexible range in input voltage that it would accept, so the wall wart would not have to be highly regulated. Just make it 18 volts +- 1 volt and that should be good enough. All you'd have to think about is what the device needs for watts, and how many watts the wall wart can supply.

This is so easy, I don't know why nobody has implemented it yet.

A correction on the issue of Power Adapters and $$

[EverLurking]

Well, I noticed that another review of the inMotions stated that the power adapter that comes with it does in fact re-charge the iPod. I went and checked it out and yes, the included power adapter will power the speakers AND recharge the iPod at the same time. My mistake, I guess my iPod was fully charged at the time I first briefly tested the inMotion's adapter and I didn't notice that the iPod was drawing power from the inMotion. It does not recharge the iPod while running off of the batte ries (which is reasonable as this would drastically shorten the life of the batteries for driving the speakers).

So you only have to carry around 1 adapter. Good. Still think using Apple's little white iPod adapter would have been nicer though. The sucker now gets a 7.5 rating in my book, 8.5 if it was priced near $75.

As to the issue of price, well, I'm looking at the price based on how well the speakers perform as a percentage of the overall cost of the iPod. I paid $399 for my 15 GB iPod which wasn't cheap, but I knew I was getting a dammed good mp3/AAC/WAV player. Relative to the aggregrate cost of the 400 odd CD's worth of songs I've put on the thing that are now completely portable and at my fingertips, the $399 was a bargain.

At $149, the inMotions are 37% the cost of an iPod. I'd be fine with this if there was better stereo separation and slightly better drivers, but given it's limitations as listed in my review above, I'd say that the $75 (18%) price point is much more attractive/reasonable IMHO. Now don't go calling me a big cheapstake ($75 bucks does buy quite a bit of good beer), I did after all, go buy the thing and give you guys a free review : )

DaveC