“Earlier this week, we gave you our First Look at Apple’s new ‘home stereo system’ for the iPod, the iPod Hi-Fi. At the same time, the public began weighing in with their first impressions—mostly from afar—and I admit to being more than a little surprised by the negative response. It seems many people are opposed to the very idea of the iPod Hi-Fi; more than once I heard or read the phrase ‘Why would anyone waste $350 on this thing?’ (Of course, nearly all of these comments were made by people who had never even seen the Hi-Fi in person.) Granted, Apple set themselves up for a measure of such abuse by introducing the Hi-Fi as an “audiophile”-grade system that will “redefine” the home stereo system, when it’s really a bookshelf-style speaker system—albeit one that can run off batteries—that attempts to improve on some of the more popular existing systems on the market,” Dan Frakes writes for Playlist.
Frakes writes, “what really sets the Hi-Fi apart from other transportable speaker systems are a number of interesting playback features. For example, a new Speakers menu appears on fifth-generation and nano iPods when you dock them with the Hi-Fi. This menu—actually present, but hidden, in these models since they were released, and updated via January’s iPod Software 1.1—provides several options specific to Hi-Fi-docking. Tone Control allows you to choose a Hi-Fi-specific EQ setting: Normal, Bass Boost, and Treble Boost; unlike the iPod’s EQ settings, the tone controls take effect in real time, so you can quickly compare the options as you scroll through them. (Note that the iPod’s standard EQ settings also appear to affect the iPod’s output when docked with the Hi-Fi; however, the Tone Control setting doesn’t affect audio output when docked with a different speaker system, nor does it affect headphone output.)”
“A few things immediately jump out at you when listening to the Hi-Fi. The first is that it has a rich, warm sound that doesn’t grate or offend like many lesser iPod speakers. The second is that despite its relatively small size, the Hi-Fi has actual bass. (Don’t let frequency-response snobs tell you that 53 Hertz—the official low-end of the Hi-Fi’s stated frequency range—isn’t “real” bass; unless you’re listening to pipe organs or putting together a home theater system, a relatively flat response down to ~50 Hertz is going to give you more bass than you’re probably used to.) Finally, the Hi-Fi can play loud. Incredibly loud, in fact, given the size of the system,” Frakes writes. “Although I’m sure a few iPod owners will get rid of a larger home stereo system—especially an older one—for the convenience and compact size of the Hi-Fi, I don’t see people with true high-end stereo systems trading them in. Rather, the Hi-Fi is going to be an attractive option for people looking for good, room-filling sound in a compact package: It’s a bookshelf system for the iPod generation, and one that can even be taken with you in a pinch.”
Much, much more in the very comprehensive full review here.
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I’m still waiting to read something that would justify the price.
Finally, a review.
Either this will fuel the flames or extinguish them. Now that I think about it, probably neither.
Where did they hide the TV screen?
a very very well written article, albeit a bit long
i must admit – it is growing on me.
Saddam wants to purchase a ipod wi-fi for every iraqi citizen.
http://www.saddam.com
This guy has something of an answer for those idiots here who have posted that, unless a system plays 20-20k, it’s not audiophile; those guys just have no clue what they are talking about. It is the accuracy of a speaker system across its capable range that defines whether it is audiophile quality or not. A speaker could have a range of 60-15k, and still be audiophile grade, just as the wonderful Quad ESL was. I used to own a set of Strathearn ribbon transducers in a 6-foot tall column. Wonderful, beautiful, sound incredibly fast transient response. Clearly audiophile grade. But without the Dynaudio subs beneath them, they lacked any low end whatsoever. They were still audiophile grade. I am looking forward to hearing the iPodHiFi. it probably won’t come close to what is in my living room, but it will probably sound great in the bedroom and den.
as always, a knock-off of the much better, and earlier review from ilounge.
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/comments/ipod-hi-fi-high-fidelity-speaker-system-for-ipod/
still think it’s just not what the company should be doing. Unless it’s part of a grand scheme (which I doubt), it’s just not what we need. Stockholders like me want to see Apple doing great stuff with the OS and the personal computing line.
Let the music buffs keep playing and spinning their own business, which they know best anyway. With so many enterprises dependant on the iPod, Apple never HAD to get into the fray. What a waste.
Time slipping away that should be spent fanning the enthusiasm for the new OS, new laptops, and the whole Intel-Inside thing. And why’s Intel not doing so well, stock-wise? Is there something we need to know that made them want to sucker-bait Apple in? Just saying. Radio guys like us wanna know.
I listened to it and…
Hi-Fi it isn’t
well made, heavy pleasant midrange sound. no clean highs
I have a feeling Apple will be introducing a pair of L & R speakers with proper tweeters to match this.
I think it is meant to ne a center channel so expect 4 more to come
imagine that, it’s priced right and kicks butt, with beautiful little features that only Apple would think to put in. I dunno ’bout you guys, but to me having a system that delivers rich warm sound and has killer bass is better than one that doesn’t have great bass but has more distinctive treble. Baby, gimme some thump!
I think that’s it’s probably fair to say the the sound is impressive, rather than natural. From a strict audiophile point of view, that ought to be a bad thing, but in the real world, customers will be happier buying impressive stuff rather than natural stuff, so it will be more of a commercial success.
The audiophile experts speak no more sense than Apple analysts do, so I never pay any regard to their opinions. Most of their comments and observations don’t hold up to any informed scrutiny. This is clearly a consumer product and will sell as such. HiFi aficionados might insist that the speaker should reproduce down to 20Hz, but I don’t think that many of those enthusiasts will have $350 speakers that can do that.
The price does seem rather high, but that’s exactly what everybody said about the original iPod and also about the iPod mini. They managed to sell a hell of a lot of those, so I reckon they’ll be shifting loads of these too.
It’s a piece of overpriced garbage
Heck a equally priced Bose Wave Radio with cd player and a clock is a overpriced piece of garbage.
You would do better getting a REAL HiFi system, like a quality 5.1 surround sound system.
If you buy a iPod HiFi you’ll be the laughing stock of everyone who see’s it.
Sorry Steve, but your putting out a piece of $hit and passing it off as something better.
I have a feeling Apple will be introducing a pair of L & R speakers with proper tweeters to match this.
Not going to happen, apparantly you haven’t looked at the back of this thing, it has no external connections at all.
Steve Jobs must think we Mac users are complete idiots.
Like someone said before, I think Apple has made out it’s user base to be cows to be milked to death.
I know we all trashed this thing, without ever actually seeing or hearing it, the day Steve released it to the press…but I just got this feeling…this is going to have great sales and be a nice product for Apple.
Poppycock:
This guy has answered nothing. If it isn’t audiophile, than what justifies the price?
Is it the plastic handles? Is it the Apple Logo?
The iPod is no longer a niche product. Tens of millions of these devices are out there. Yet, people lazily accept that when it comes to pricing iPod peripherals and accessories, 3x to 4x to 5x the value of the product is acceptable.
Well, its not. This universal practice of price gouging iPod peripherals has got to stop.
Go ahead Apple, make 40% on your efforts. but 300% is going to get you severely criticized. Even by your most ardent fans.
Apple screwed the pooch on the iPod Hi-Fi. Sure, it looks all sleek and such, but it’s priced WAY too high. $349 will get you a “home theater in a box” that will sound quite a bit better and give you a ton more flexibility, not to mention the ever-elusive AM/FM radio (not that people listen to it anyway). This thing is really no different from a $99 “boom box” type stereo with an AUX input, except that it charges your iPod, and costs $250 more.
Anyone who throws their stereo away for the Ipod Hifi is a complete moron.
Did any of you actually take the time to read the entire review or are you just commenting on MDN’s snippet? The author did a great job of answering all of the questions that y’all seem to be dumbfounded by.
The iPod Hi-Fi isn’t for everyone. Some of us have component stereo systems which we plug our Macs into. The iPod HiFi is worthless to me because I’ve got something that suits my needs better. But I don’t purport to claim that my needs are anywhere similar to anyone else’s needs.
I was in an Apple store this afternoon, and spent several minutes listening to the HiFi as well as a couple of the other similar units from other companies. The HiFi had the strongest bass response, clearly better than the other products on display. I thought the sound quality was good.
The HiFi would be a nice product for a den, bedroom, home office, kitchen, etc. Somewhere that a component stereo would be too large or intrusive. It’s elegant in that other than a power cord, there’s no wires or clutter.
Yes, $349 will get you into a cheap home theatre in a box 5.1 setup, however, would you put a 5.1 setup in your kitchen? on your dresser? your home office?
I do think that Steve Jobs over excitedly positioned this to replace your living room component stereo, when he should have positioned it as a great product for the other rooms in the house.
Oh sure “Felix” from Cupertino HQ.
The fact is Apple sells absolute cr@p audio accessories in the Apple Stores, not added to that list is their own overpriced overhyped piece of Cr@p™ HiFi with no cd player, no AM/FM and no clock. Sure it’s going to sound “better” than the other crap there.
It’s a utterly frigging worthless device that one can get with a regular $99 Boombox and a stereo mini to RCA breakout cable.
Apple should be ashamed of itself for insulting the Mac user base who usually has better tastes and more money to buy their products than cheap PC’s.
I guess it’s all part of getting us used to a further cheaping Apple experience.
Get a Bose Wave Radio and a RCA cable if your in that market Felix.
Sorry, no amount of fanboi rethoric can overcome the fact that Apple released a lemon.
Shall we go on about the $99 leather case you can get online for under $20?
So how much do you think Steve actually paid for his home stereo setup? (see the C⎮net video if you don’t know what I’m talking about)
My guess is north of $10,000.
Yeah, you can get a Bose Wave, or anything else with RCA out – but the dock connection offers better sound. Whether through the Hi-Fi or another speaker system with dock connectivity. You’ll always get better sound from the docking end as opposed to the RCA end. That being the case, I don’t understand some of the comparisons. Sure the Hi-Fi is expensive. It isn’t quite audiophile quality, and you can’t even play audiophile quality audio from AAC files anyhow. But I think this product will find a market for those that appreciate great speakers in a compact area without resorting to a component system. Personally, I’d consider it if it weren’t so damn pricey. And I’ll reserve any more judgement for after I’ve actually seen one in person. I’ll admit I’m a bit disappointed, but they can’t get everything perfect, everytime. And if I remember correctly, the original iPod was supposed to bomb as well, right? Wasn’t it overpriced? People didn’t see the market? Creative already had 20GB mp3 players on the market, what was Apple doing with a 5GB player? I say, just let it play out. While we’d all be more comfortable if Apple stuck to computers, it just isn’t going to happen. Their markets are expanding and they’re trying to capitalize on new opportunities. I’m not saying I agree with all of it, but I’m not immediately going to judge any product a failure or a piece of shit until I’ve seen it in person and had a chance to see how consumers react to it after it’s been on the market for a while.