Comments on: Which sound system iPod Hifi or Bose Sounddock?

Question: Which sound system iPod Hifi or Bose Sounddock?

jeremias — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 18:18:32 -0800

Which sound system: iPod Hifi or Bose Sounddock?

Small apartment, no stereo system. The iPod Hifi is purty expensive at $350, the Bose Sounddock is also expensive at $299 but I might be able to get a discount to bring it down to $250. So is the iPod Hifi worth the extra $100?

By: interrobang

interrobang — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 18:25:23 -0800

I'm always hearing Bose ads on Christian Fundamentalist radio, and hocked by right-wing talk show hosts, so I'd spend the extra hundred bucks just so the money doesn't go to them.

By: kcm

kcm — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 18:30:41 -0800

They're both way overpriced if you don't value the somewhat boring design over performance - neither sounds that great. If you want decent sound AND care about looks/design, try the Tivoli systems. If design isn't such a big deal, Cambridge Soundworks makes something fairly equivalent and supposedly has very good bang for the buck.

By: kcm

kcm — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 18:32:40 -0800

Tivoli

Cambridge SoundWorks Radio CD 740

By: Señor Pantalones

Señor Pantalones — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 18:33:36 -0800

yes, it is worth the money. This comment on digg.com summarizes it well. If you don't want to read it all, here's a good paragraph:

"Apple's design choices make for a much smoother amplitude and time-delay characteristic across the critical middle and higher frequencies. Many people are (understandably) a bit clueless about speakers, and think simply in terms of how strong the bass or highs are. But preserving subtle time delay uniformity gives a speaker system another important quality. Listening to good recordings on a well designed speaker system with the eyes closed, one gets a sense of the different locations of individual instruments. From what I can see of the design, I expect the Apple iPod Hi-Fi will perform far better than most speakers in this regard."

By: baltimore

baltimore — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:02:39 -0800

But Señor,

Granted, I am clueless about sepakers, but how does the Apple speaker get decent stereo separation from one speaker?

Or is that the wrong question?

By: twiggy

twiggy — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:06:30 -0800

I would personally recommend against both.

If you're willing to spend $300, look at some of the budget mid-end home theater packages out there, and plug your iPod into those. The sounddock, etc don't offer you anything all that ipod-special. They may have a remote, but are you really going to get good use out of a remote when you're too far away from the ipod's screen to read it?

I picked up the Onkyo HTS-660 for $299 after rebate after watching slickdeals for a while -- it's a 6.1 surround system and includes a relatively nice receiver. The thing sounds absolutely amazing, and my iPod plugs into it just fine. The speakers are reasonably small (though not tiny), so I had no problem with the small space I was living in at the time.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:12:01 -0800

Read the bad Bose reviews (low stars) at Amazon. I was scared off buying one based on them. Can't speak for the Apple.

By: toddshot

toddshot — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:15:59 -0800

Head to an Apple store and listen to them both. Buy the one you think sounds better.

By: meta87

meta87 — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:21:43 -0800

I second the Tivoli recommendation. I have a tivoli pal ($150) and it sounds excellent. It also runs off its internal batteries so it's great near the pool.

By: mzurer

mzurer — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:25:45 -0800

I would second twiggy here - Just get a stereo. Some day you won't live in an apartment and you'll be able to crank it. You can probably get a nice pair of bookshelf speaker and an amp for $150. Then you can buy the iPod dock w/remote with the rest of the money. And I bet it will sound better then the Apple or Bose stereo-to-mono conversion systems.

By: yqxnflld

yqxnflld — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:45:26 -0800

I've been using these with my iPod for a while. Not bad for the size and the price is right.

By: mattholomew

mattholomew — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 20:21:52 -0800

Offbeat suggestion, but I think my setup equals if not exceeds the Bose sounddock: a Sonic Impact T-Amp (about $35, shop around) plus a universal AC adaptor ($6 from Wal-Mart) plus a pair of used Infinity bookshelf speakers ($50 from Craigslist). I keep it in a milk crate to lug around the house, out by the pool, etc. Ugly as sin? Yes. But the sound is fantastic and I don't worry about anything breaking because it can be cheaply replaced.

By: sourwookie

sourwookie — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 20:46:55 -0800

If you have an existing stereo that sounds good, get one of these at half the price. Remote, on-screen navigation (to your TV), video playback if you have a 5G model, and recharges your unit.

I dig my the sound of my current hi-fi and this is the way I'm going.

It is not, however, a portable solution. Certainly more for the living room than the bedroom.

But toss one of these in for under $100 and you have two rooms covered for less than your intended budget!

By: kickingtheground

kickingtheground — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 22:27:12 -0800

Consider these. Then, if you're still considering Bose or AppleHiFi, consider them again.

By: Orb2069

Orb2069 — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 22:28:24 -0800

I have a friend who's on his third warranty repair of his iPod, and dreading the day when his warranty runs out: He's got the Bose unit, and is sticking with Apple products because he spent a fortune on it.

I'd agree with everybody else about buying a real stereo and a dock - If nothing else, you can hide the stereo junk off somewhere and just leave the dock accessable.

PS: I've heard his model and I'm really not impressed. It sounded maybe marginally better than a good pair of PC speakers - It really dosen't hold a candle to either of my home setups.

By: wfrgms

wfrgms — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:03:08 -0800

I third and fourth the recommendations for a real stereo. You can get into really nice equipment second hand via Craig's List or eBay. Check out the Klipsch store on eBay for good as new, factory refurbished speakers. Throw in a good used amp (maybe a Harmon Kardon?) and you've got a budget system that will leave these crappy little over hyped dealies from Apple & Bose in the dust. $300 is a great budget to work with...

By: gmarceau

gmarceau — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 09:00:00 -0800

Never buy Bose. They are first a marketing company, before being a speaker company:

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

By: gmarceau

gmarceau — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 09:04:39 -0800

By: ganseki

ganseki — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 09:55:17 -0800

I use an Aego M with my iPod. it really does sound fantastic and is available in both black and white, so you can match whichever flavour of iPod you have. Their stereo imaging is very good and they're flexible enough to situate anywhere.

They look to be about $199 in the US.

Reviews here and here.

By: rileyray3000

rileyray3000 — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 13:37:34 -0800

I'm really happy with my Altec Lansing IM7 Portable Audio System for iPod. It's a great little boombox for the price. And i got a ben's bargains deal on it for like 160 a while ago. You can do similar for refurbished right now.

RR-