Audiovox A-DUO-101-AVW User Manual download pdf (Page 36)

BILL MACHRONE

56 PC MAGAZINE MAY 9, 2006

Dogg’s neckwear. Most other speakers equipped with

docks nestle or partially envelop the iPod in a protec-

tive nook. Not so the iPod Hi-Fi, which leaves it dan-

gerously exposed.

Real Home Stereo

If you really want to use your iPod with your home

stereo, you should get a good dock such as the Xitel

HiFi-Link iPod dock. We have one and will probably

get a second one. The unit is sometimes hooked up

to the stereo in the kitchen, the home theater in the

family room, or the boom box in the basement shop.

And when it’s not playing music, it’s charging my son’s

iPod or mine.

The Xitel unit has its own remote control, which

comes in handy for tasks such as adjusting the volume

from across the room or skipping that song that you

didn’t want to hear. Of course, you can always use a

generic

/8-inch stereo cable with suitable adapters to

hook the iPod up to anything that has an auxiliary port.

But the charger, the remote control, and the stand-up

dock all make the Xitel dock worthwhile. It also has

video-out, but we haven’t taken the iPod video plunge

yet. My son likes the Xitel dock’s SRS TruBass bass

boost, but I don’t—I suspect that it’s one of those gen-

erational things.

Real Portability

If you really want to share your tunes with a small

crowd, we have an ideal do-it-yourself project for you,

which we are featuring in the next issue. I converted

an old stereo cassette player–radio (it’s not quite big

enough to break into the boom box category) so that

it stealthily conceals an iPod inside the cassette com-

partment. You can control the iPod by using the cas-

sette buttons. It won’t rattle the windows like the iPod

Hi-Fi, but it’s loud enough to make itself heard. And

it’s ratty enough that no one will think about stealing

it, even if you leave it on your beach towel while you

take a dip.

F YOU HAVE EVEN A SHRED OF INTEREST IN

audio devices, you have probably checked

out the iPod Hi-Fi, that shiny white boom

box with the iPod dock on top. It garnered

an Editors’ Choice here in PC Magazine

and has been well reviewed elsewhere.

Everyone agrees that it sounds good and

that it’s loud. No one disputes that it has

visual appeal. Apple didn’t cut corners on construc-

tion quality, magnet weight in the speakers, or ampli-

ﬁ er power, although the company is coy about citing

wattage.

I think it’s silly.

Real Hassles

First of all, if you look around the average home or

apartment, you will ﬁ nd an abundance of Things That

Play Music: these may include home theaters, high-

end and midrange stereo systems, bookshelf systems,

Bose and Bose-like table or shelf radios, even upscale

clock radios with CD players. Which of them will you

displace to make room for an iPod Hi-Fi, which has no

radio and only an inconveniently located input jack at

the rear?

In an ideal location—say, on a credenza located

against an uncluttered wall and placed equidistant

from the side walls—the iPod Hi-Fi sounds very

good for its size, but it is somewhat midrangey for my

tastes and unable to create a true stereo sound stage.

Other locations further compromise stereo imaging.

Granted, imaging isn’t important if you’re just ﬁ lling

the room with sound, but Apple advertises this thing as

a replacement for an audiophile system. Audiophiles

care about imaging.

Second, there’s the blindingly white case. I jok-

ingly coined the phrase “mug-me white” to describe

the iPod earbuds, but the phrase has been all too ac-

curate in some locales. So where will you take the iPod

Hi-Fi so it won’t attract the wrong kind of attention? A

picnic in a state park? The beach? Sure, if you’re going

to hire security for the day. Perhaps a more appropriate

venue would be the fenced patio in your gated com-

munity. Seriously, when you look at the iPod Hi-Fi,

you have to wonder why Apple bothered to put in a

battery capability at all—it deﬁ nitely looks like a stay-

at-home.

Finally, consider the iPod itself, waving idiot ically

from the top of the unit, in the most blatant bit of

hey-look-at-me style self-consciousness since Snoop

Steal-Me White

Where will you take the iPod Hi-Fi so it

won’t attract the wrong kind of attention?

A picnic in a state park? The beach? Sure,

if you’re going to hire security for the day.

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Audiovox A-DUO-101-AVW User Manual Page 36

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