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Bose's iPod SoundDock Reviewed
LabRat007 writes "Playlist has a review of the Bose SoundDock, the desktop speaker system for the iPod that Bose has lately been promoting the holy hell out of. The long and the short is that it sounds great--better than any other iPod-specific speaker system--but for $300 is lacking in many features even cheaper setups have, like the ability to actually use the SoundDock as a syncing dock. Oh, and it has no line-in, so you can't use the SoundDock as output for anything else, like a PC or laptop, for instance." It's not quite as cute, but I like my Cambridge Soundworks Model 88 (now superseded by the Model 730) as a laptop loudspeaker system.
Most of what you are paying for when buying Bose is the marketing.
Not quite as bad as Monster Cable, but close.
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isn't it a bit of a waste to spend to much on a set of speakers almost in vain to reproduced already degraded music...? why not buy a simple stereo and play the original CD on it if you really needed good sound quality?
i guess there's the convenience factor... but for $300, i'd probably just buy a very large HD, rip music in lossless formats and use Airport Express to stream those to an existing nice set of speakers?
Get yourself a set of Roland MA-8 Powered Studio Monitors. They are small and simple, with a big sound for such a small speaker. They're meant to be reference monitors so they have a nice clean sound; I haven't heard the Bose but I can almost guarantee you'll like the Rolands at least as well if not better. Only slightly less portable than the Bose. And you can plug anything into them that has an RCA-style adapter.
I stopped by the Mac store to buy the Altec Lansing inMotion speakers after reading a good review of them. They had the the JBL OnStage and it has better bass and nicer controls. The donut shape seems to fill a room better than the flat inMotion speakers. It synchs and charges newer iPods and will accept output from a headphone jack. I'd rate it higher than my Harman Kardon soundsticks and it takes up way less room.
Looks like it's--let's say "inspired by"--the Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 1, which is itself no paragon of hifi value.
Cambridge also has a model 740
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(http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/store/categ
for $300 that has a cd player that can also play mp3 cds.
This is the Constitution.This is the Constitution under the Bush administration. Any questions?
(I'll answer the question for home audio, not pro audio, because Bose makes home audio equipment.) There is no predominate brand, but here are a few that are generally highly-regarded and reasonably priced: Paradigm Magnepan Martan Logan NHT And two brands that audio snobs might look down on, but actually produce a few decent speakers: Polk Infinity In particular, the Polk RTi28/RTi38 is considered one of the best low-priced speaker sets around. I think you can get a pair for $200 or so, and a center channel (for home theater) for $150. Great sound and great construction. I have run the Polk RT series for about 5 years, and I've been happy with them (though I now have the itch for something in the $1000+ range...). Hope this helps.
Anyone who recommends Monster cables (or any other cables) over generic wires, has ears that are far better than the ordinary person.
I don't take exception to that but I do have a problem with super-audiophiles like yourself trying to give advice to regular people. You guys end up telling us to spend too much money on the wrong things.
10% on cables!! Ha! If you're only spending $500-1000 on a system, just use the cables that come with the speakers... I've never met anyone that can tell the difference between cables on a mid-range system.
For #300, you could buy an apple dock, some used entry level B&W speakers, and an amp. And it would sound good. Bose thrives on marketing and a catchy tagline, but inevitably their products underperform and are overpriced.
Bose is also well-known for suing anyone who gives them a bad review. Hence, no one reviews Bose without a kickback, and any review you find that is favorable is by either a shill or an ignoramus. But that's just what I hear.
I've heard the KRKs - don't remember which ones but they were about $400 for the pair - and they were great. I recommend the ones I use, the M-Audio BX5 which are $300 a pair. Not mobile and light like the MA-8s but for your price range they have terrific sound and put out 75 watts as opposed to the DM-20s 20 watts. I also have the SP-5Bs on my turntables and they are basically the same as the bx5s but they allow you to adjust the direction of the tweeter which can be useful in critical listening environments. If you're recording these are nice monitors for the price. I've listened to $1000+ Event monitors and they do sound much nicer; if I had the money and wanted a recording studio I would probably spend it on those, but for $300 a pair these suit my needs fine.
as always, ipodlounge's review debunks the bose myth. http://www.ipodlounge.com/reviews.php?id=P5445
I stopped by the Mac store to buy the Altec Lansing inMotion speakers after reading a good review of them. They had the the JBL OnStage and it has better bass and nicer controls. The donut shape seems to fill a room better than the flat inMotion speakers. It synchs and charges newer iPods and will accept output from a headphone jack. I'd rate it higher than my Harman Kardon soundsticks and it takes up way less room.
I'm pretty happy with the inMotion speakers that I got as a birthday present. While they are on the pricey side, the sound is impressive (especially) for such a small package. They don't take up much room, they charge/sync, and they accept line in and headphones out. However, their big advantage is portability - they collapse to a small size, come with a soft case and are battery-operated. I've taken them on canoe trips, to bbqs and on the road. The rest of the time they take up a small amount of room on my dresser.
If you're never going to move the speakers you might want something else, but in terms of sound quality/ruggedness/portability they are tough to beat.
When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
Playlist's review process always involves testing audio products with both compressed and uncompressed music files. And as we stated in the review, a similarly priced set of quality sub/sat computer speakers offers better sound. So a decent home stereo will obviously sound better, as well.
Although I appreciate the desire for quantitative information -- I'm as much an audio geek as anyone, personally -- the fact is that none of these small, one-piece speaker systems offers high-end sound. Whether you're talking about the SoundDock, JBL's On Stage or On Tour, Altec Lansing's inMotion models, or any other small, one-piece speaker system, the measured performance would be poor when compared to a good set of hi-fi speakers. (Which is to be expected, given their form factor.) But people aren't buying them for their measurements -- they're buying them for their size, convenience, and design. The demographics buying these systems don't really care, in general, about measurements. They just want to know "how it sounds."