A *Real* Apple iPod Hi-Fi Review

Apple iPod Hi-Fi review by PC Magazine
Amazing to me how so many people have given their opinion of the iPod HiFi without ever hearing it. It’s somewhat like those who disliked the video playback on the iPod without seeing it. Anyway here is what PC Magazine thought . . .

"Listening to the iPod Hi-Fi, I could clearly hear that Apple paid a lot of attention to sound quality. I put on some music I had encoded in Apple Lossless format, including tracks by Stevie Wonder, A Tribe Called Quest, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Maurice Andre, Yo-Yo Ma, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Zakir Hussain. The first thing I noticed is that Apple had the presence of mind to shield the dock well, so there is no audible digital noise during play back. On all tracks, the bass was tight and punchy with virtually no muddiness. Mids are prominent but not overwhelming, and highs are very crisp. Detail and articulation are very good, and the stereo imaging is impressive if you have the speaker properly placed (with side walls equidistant). If you've got the speaker in a bookshelf, though, you'll still get very good sound thanks to the double-walled airtight enclosure, which keeps sound from leaking out in all directions. The Hi-Fi definitely deserves its name.


I cranked up the volume a few notches below maximum and I could feel the wind coming out of the two bass ports from several feet away—not to mention the remarkably low-distortion aural assault on my ears. In fact, since it had no problem filling up our 20-by-20-foot audio lab with clear, crisp sound, I took it into one of our carpeted "Town Center" meeting rooms, which can seat a couple hundred people and has acoustical tile on the walls and ceiling. I put Stevie Wonder's Sir Duke on, cranked the volume all the way, and realized that this thing is capable of powering a serious party in just about any size room without appreciable distortion. (The remote, however, stopped working once I got about 40 feet away from the speaker.) On AC power, the Hi-Fi puts out 108dB at 1meter; on alkaline batteries, the output is a bit less at 102dB, but that's still impressive. The output power also doesn't appear to be affected whether you're using the auxiliary input or the dock connector."

The iPod HiFi would be awesome for parties and get-togethers. Instead of getting all the decks, speakers, stands, amps and stuff down there, just take this. Excellent.