Apple iPod Hi-Fi

Apple's superhyped February 28 announcement didn't yield a new video iPod, but it did bring a new iPod speaker system to the table. The $349 iPod Hi-Fi is Apple's answer to the many third-party iPod speaker systems available from companies such as Bose, Altec Lansing, and Logitech. The one-piece speaker system has a built-in dock for any dock-connector iPod, it can be powered using six D batteries, and it ships with the simple iPod Remote. There's no doubt that the Hi-Fi outputs excellent sound for its size, though after putting it through a few sonic workouts, we think Apple should have offered a bit more for the price.

The Apple iPod H-Fi is an Apple product through and through. From its white, glossy plastic to its minimal, boxy design, it's destined to become an icon in the living room, the kitchen, or the dorm room, in spite of the fact that some people consider it boring or unimaginative. The Hi-Fi is certainly durable, and it has excellent build quality. Experience with the Hi-Fi is critical before making any claims, though, because it has some great intangibles and some disappointing qualities (more later).

The Apple iPod Hi-Fi measures 17 by 6.9 by 6.6 inches and looks much like a center-channel speaker that one would find with a nice home-theater system, though these speakers have integrated stereo channels, of course. Thanks to its boxiness, the Hi-Fi's footprint is quite a bit larger than that of one of our fave iPod boomboxes, the Altec Lansing iM7 ($250), though it's not bad sitting on a table; plus, it makes an ideal shelf system, as long as you have enough clearance for an upright, docked iPod. Adding to the Hi-Fi's Apple-ness are the two built-in handles that are essential for transport, given the unit's weight of 14.5 pounds (16.7 pounds with batteries installed). Although the Hi-Fi can conveniently operate on six D batteries, it's more ideal in the home than at a picnic, and it certainly shouldn't be carried (actually lugged) ghetto-blaster style--less because of it weight and more because of the way the iPod sits precariously atop the box.

Adding an actual iPod to the mix is easy, though it must have a dock connector to fit in as designed. After selecting the proper dock adapter from the neat little dock-adapter accessories box (very Prada), your iPod will fit snugly onto what is essentially a gigantic dock. This design is convenient in that the iPod's screen is in clear view and accessible, but there's something incongruous about an iPod sticking out and interrupting the smooth line of the Hi-Fi. And although the iPod is powered and recharges when docked, the speakers don't include a dock output for a connection to a computer. Unexplicably, a video output, which is on the standard dock, is missing as well. The only items found on an otherwise clean back of the Hi-Fi are power and audio inputs, as well as a compartment for the batteries. We appreciate the dual analog/digital audio input--for connecting to an AirPort Express digitally, for example--but there should have been more ports, including a headphone jack (activating the iPod's headphone jack doesn't mute the system) and a subwoofer output. An integrated FM tuner would have been a nice bonus.

Directly in front of the iPod are touch-sensitive volume-up and -down buttons, which are amazingly responsive. If you hold the minus (-) button down for a second, the volume dissipates. A thick rubber foot on the Apple iPod Hi-Fi's bottom side keeps the speakers secure on any surface. The power brick normally associated with anything electronic is built into the Hi-Fi, so all you need to deal with to plug it in is a handy 9.5-foot cable.

Removing the front grille exposes two 80mm midrange drivers and a 130mm dual voice-coil woofer. Apple spent some time with an in-house team in creating a durable and well-constructed speaker system, with a sealed, tuned, and double-walled enclosure, plus separate cabinets for each driver. Near the drivers, you'll notice an infrared port, as well as an indicator light that lights up green (also visible through the grille) when you adjust the volume and orange when a command is not recognized.

The indicator light coupled with the bundled iPod Remote creates a unique sense of feedback, making the Apple iPod Hi-Fi the most responsive and even pleasurable iPod speaker system we've used. The simple and supertactile remote is one of the best IR models we've used. In fact, we constantly had the soft Apple Remote in hand, which helped create an organic, interactive relationship with the Hi-Fi. In contrast, the Altec Lansing iM7's remote often needs two or more presses to register.

That said, we were very disappointed that the remote's menu button is all but useless. Although it switches between an iPod and a line-in source, it should have been used to navigate the iPod. Instead, owners will find that they are constantly and awkwardly reaching over to the iPod to switch playlists or adjust tone control. This is the type of feature that Apple normally would have wowed us with, but perhaps the company will build it in soon. The current firmware update gives the 5G iPod and iPod Nanos a new Speakers menu item, which offers a not-so-effective tone control (treble boost, normal, and bass boost), a backlight option, and the cool full-screen album-art option.

We also wondered why a rechargeable battery wasn't used instead of the six D cells. We installed some and played the Apple iPod Hi-Fi at high volumes at an outdoor photo shoot, getting about 6 hours of juice. Apple claims the batteries will last well more than 10 hours at low-to-medium volume levels. Finally, because we think the $350 price tag is a bit high, a built-in AirPort Express, which enables seamless streaming audio from any iTunes computer, would have been brilliant.

The bottom line is sound quality, and the Apple iPod Hi-Fi, given Steve Jobs's hyping of its audiophile quality, disappointed us mildly. But maybe we were expecting too much. We listened to a variety of genres in MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, and CD (via line-in) in a desktop environment, a kitchen, a big living room, and outdoors. Audio quality was good and clean, though some material sounded tinny. The bass isn't overpowering, but it's tight and true. The Hi-Fi is at its best at higher volumes and less apt to vibrate and distort at the highest volumes, like the SoundDock or iM7; at low decibels, it doesn't sound like a set of $350 speakers. We were able to really test the Hi-Fi's volume outdoors--it gets loud, and audio quality is excellent. Overall, the Hi-Fi sounded better than the Bose SoundDock (which doesn't have battery or line-in options) but only marginally better than the Altec Lansing iM7, which was bassier--and lighter, with video-out, as well as $100 less.

Stereo separation is obviously limited, but we felt obliged to compare the Apple iPod Hi-Fi to a home stereo system to see if we'd replace it, and the quick answer was no. Yet, there is decent channel separation, and given the right music (Nouvelle Vague, that is) and correct positioning in a room, the sound stage expands well beyond the 17-inch Hi-Fi façade (which, by the way, looks much better without the grille). The mids can get muddled at times, while the bass benefits from louder volumes. Techno and electronica fared very well, and classical, acoustic, and jazz shined only at higher bit rates. Bob Dylan's live "4th Time Around" (Apple Lossless) was alive and poignant, but a familiar Mozart piano piece, Sonata No. 3 in B-flat, lost some of its character (AAC). For a shelf system, the Hi-Fi lives up to its name, but this product will not replace a decent amp and speaker system. It's far more suited for the dorm room or the kitchen than an audiophile's living room. But remember that you can lug this "music box" pretty much anywhere.

In conclusion, the Apple iPod Hi-Fi is a well-constructed, attractive, and fine-sounding system with excellent controller responsiveness, but it fails to stand out from the pack because it lacks some features, such as additional ports and a menu control, that would have justified its steep price.