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 It's not quite as cute, but I like my Cambridge Soundworks Model 88 (now superseded by the Model 730) as a laptop loudspeaker system.

Comments

In the professional audio world

[Mononoke]

Bose is an acronym for Buy Other Sound Equipment.

Most of what you are paying for when buying Bose is the marketing.

Not quite as bad as Monster Cable, but close.

Re:In the professional audio world

[UnknownSoldier]

> Bose is an acronym for Buy Other Sound Equipment.
> Most of what you are paying for when buying Bose is the marketing.

Hehe. What's that tagline that us audiophiles use:

"All the highs, none of the lows, must be Bose!"

Gee, I wonder why they NEVER give tech specs on any of their speakers. Not anything fancy like SN ratio, but even the BASIC info such as frequency range! Maybe because they are CRAP and OVER_RATED speakers.
See the speaker forumforum at avsforum if you want MULTIPLE confirmations on how bad they sound.

Monster cable isn't THAT bad.... the rule of thumb is to spend 10% of your Home Theater / Speaker cost on cables... so MC is'n't that over-inflated. It's not great, but it's better that Rat Shack.

BTW, if anyone is serious about GOOD video cable quality, check out the Nordost line.

Peace
--
While killing all the lawyers would make many people EXCEEDINGLY HAPPY (myself included)
it would NOT _SOLVE_ the problem -- because the problem is the face in the mirror.
If you don't like the laws, then DO something about it, or shut up,
because simply bitching accomplishes absolutely nothing.

Re:In the professional audio world

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, pro audio is about the "maker" side (as opposed to the "user" side), which creates equipment that allows you to judge whether a recording "translates" well to a wider range of different usage scenarios, like home hifis, car stereos, radio clocks etc.

These studio monitors basically show as many flaws of your music as possible. It's quite funny to listen to your favorite recordings on such things only to sometimes hear all kinds of badly mixed elements etc. :-)

The predominant brand here is Genelec. Get some 1030A,1031A or 1032A (only depending on room size) and have some fun. Or go with the Mackie HR824, which can be found in virtually every big studio just because they always sound the same, are not as expensive, easier on the ears, and it's just a standard on their own.

Cheers!

isn't it kind of wasteful?

[jxyama]

iPod, by design, holds a lot of compressed music...

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?

Re:isn't it kind of wasteful?

[SuperBanana]

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...?

It's a bit of a waste to spend money on Bose equipment. Usually audiophiles are stuck up pontificating snobs, but on Bose, they're right- Bose's technique is to use cheaply made speakers and EQ the hell out of them. Why make a $20 driver, when you can buy a $2 driver and for 50 cents of electronics, make it boom and squeak enough to fool a casual listener?

Buy a set of decent headphones like Grado's SR-60s, or pick up some CSW speakers on clearance. The older brands made by Henry Kloss's companies prior to CSW are often a steal as well, though you'll need an amp of course.

Re:isn't it kind of wasteful?

[ballpoint]

Speakers are the weakest part, by far. The distortion imparted by even top of the line speakers simply dwarfs all the other factors in the audio chain, as long as these are of reasonable quality.

So playing compressed music through an iPod and speakers with quality A is going to sound better than an original CD through speakers with quality B, if A > B.

Of course, if you use a crappy amplifier, loose wires, badly compressed material etc. all bets are off.

For $100

[commodoresloat]

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.

JBL OnStage

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Cambridge Bose

[mjc_w]

Cambridge also has a model 740

(http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/store/catego ry .cgi?category=aud_radio&item=c174rczzz)

for $300 that has a cd player that can also play mp3 cds.

In home audio...

[downward dog]

(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.

It's called mid-range...

[SilentJ_PDX]

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.

Re:It's called mid-range...

[dgatwood]

Depends on what came with the speakers. I can trivially put together a system that will show a huge difference in sound between a pair of cables. Take a 10 AWG super-heavy-duty extension cord, cut the ends off and hook it up to one set of speakers. Take a puny piece of 22 AWG speaker cable (typical of some inexpensive home stereo systems with small speakers) and hook it up to an identical pair of speakers. Switch between the two. :-D

As a general rule, for speaker cables, bigger is better. The bigger the cable, the greater the distance at which you can drive a given load without a voltage drop. Because voltage drop causes a disproportionately large drop in the lower frequencies, the smaller the cable, the thinner the sound. The difference between 10-12 AWG and 18-24 AWG is noticeable over a sufficient distance.

Monster cable comes in at 14 AWG, which is heavier than average for a speaker cable, so I'm not surprised if someone can tell a difference between that and a smaller cable. That said, the audible difference is likely the gauge, not the construction.

Some related reading material....

Frankly, if you're measuring the distortion of a speaker cable, you have way too much money and should give me some of it. :-)

better review on ipodlounge

[Anonymous Coward]

as always, ipodlounge's review debunks the bose myth. http://www.ipodlounge.com/reviews.php?id=P5445