“There’s a maxim in the fashion industry that says customers are willing to pay extra for a hot brand name,” Eric Benderoff writes for The Chicago Tribune. “Now Apple Computer Inc. is adopting the fashion strategy by putting a high price tag and its highflying brand on an iPod speaker system that is at best a “me-too” product in an already crowded field. For a price ($349) more expensive than all but the biggest iPod, Apple is promoting these portable speakers as a replacement for traditional home sound systems, which Apple calls ‘a huge stack of speakers’ in sales material. Don’t be duped.”
“To be sure, there is a lot to like about Apple’s speaker system. The iPod Hi-Fi is a model of Apple’s famed design efficiency… It’s all very nice and very Apple. Except for one problem: It sounds lousy. That’s lousy in relative terms. Before any comparison tests, I thought the sound was adequate for a portable speaker system. I knew I was listening to a compressed sound file played through speakers. This is not ideal for enjoying music out loud, and my low expectations were met,” Benderoff writes. “So here’s a better idea. Take the $349 Apple wants for the iPod Hi-Fi and spend some of it on a pair of good headphones. You’ll hear the difference. Then go to Target or RadioShack and buy a cheap set of external speakers to play your music out loud. You won’t hear the difference–and you’ll have money left over.”
Full article here.
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Related articles:
Time Magazine’s Gadget of the Week: Apple iPod Hi-Fi – March 13, 2006
CNET: Apple iPod Hi-Fi is a ‘box of delights’ – March 09, 2006
Detroit Free Press: Apple’s new iPod Hi-Fi delivers ‘powerful, room-filling sound; mighty tempting’ – March 07, 2006
PC Magazine Editor’s Choice: Apple iPod Hi-Fi ‘this one’s a winner’ (4.5 stars out of 5) – March 04, 2006
Review: Apple iPod Hi-Fi – March 03, 2006
The Inquirer reports on attack of Apple cultists, blames MacDailyNews for inciting ’email fatwa’ – March 03, 2006
CSFB: Apple iPod Hi-Fi a harbinger of things to come – March 02, 2006
Inquirer writer: Apple Mac, iPod users are gullible saps – March 02, 2006
Apple iPod Hi-Fi photos from all angles – March 01, 2006
Videos of Steve Jobs introducing Mac mini, iPod Hi-Fi – March 01, 2006
Apple debuts iPod Hi-Fi speaker system, leather cases for 5G iPod, iPod nano – February 28, 2006
… then pug your iPod into your headphones in a vain attempt to charge it up whilst explaining to your friends why you have a shitty looking pair of speakers taking pride of place in your living room.
Wait a sec, I thought MDN only publishes good articles about the Hi-Fi. What gives?!!?
sorry, BUT Apple IS MY WORLD AND I WON´T LEAVE IT
I meant “plug your iPod’ dammit, not pug (which is a small ugly dog also of no use in recharging an iPod)
Here’s a tip for the writer: don’t buy an iPod! Buy a $45 cheap Korean player (crappy sounding headphones included) and you’ll have money left over.
Then borrow your friend’s iPod, compare the difference and jump in the nearest lake!
MDN:”Longer” as in NO LONGER crappy sound in my ears or in my house!
Whoever wrote this is a serious idiot and should stop wasting his time to write the 10 th review on the Hi-fi…most said it’s…great. I have one and I say: it’s great. This guy is just dumb as an ass
Spend some of the money on headphones? My Sennheiser HD650 cost £350 ($605). Not much change left for iPod HiFi.
Dweeb.
I tend to agree, this speaker smacks of ‘conspicuous consumption’, ‘keep up with the Jones’ mentality, I’m lovin my 99.00 dollar Klipschs’, or if they didn’t exist the M-Audio 99.00 studio monitors would propably work just fine. The RDF didn’t, in this case, penetrate my awareness.
Two points
You can tell you are listening to a compressed sound file ONLY on a good quality sound system. You can’t find the flaws easily on a cheap system.
Also, one advantage is that this speaker system will work on Batteries and you can take it to the park or beach with you. He fails to point out that one important detail.
Don’t get me wrong, I personally care for the system, but I don’t like this kind of reporting from someon who claims to be an expert.
Yeah, the LA Times ran a shootout between the various iPod speaker systems, and the iPod Hi-Fi didn’t win more than one of the handful of categories.
I believe the JBL was the one that had the best scoring from the judging panel of the various music sources.
Ah yes, here it is:
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-fi-technopolis5mar05,1,1055877.column?coll=la-news-columns
Anecdotal “gee, that sounds X” reports of sound equipment are always useless. Sound is very subjective and vulnerable to the placebo effect.
No matter who the listener is, it’s necessary for comparative sound tests to be blind. The non-blinded opinion of some random columnist’s wife is doubly irrelevant.
Also, in this case, if he was so worried about compression artifacts, why didn’t he encode the CD in Apple Lossless? This test turned out to be more a review of whatever encoding he used, and has little to do with the quality of the Hifi.
The guy’s right. $349 is way too much money. Plus the market is already flooded with this crap. Too bad, nobodies perfect. Apple blew it on this one. It’s pretty funny watching everyone eat it up though.
I bet this author has never actually played with the HiFi or has really poor hearing or both.
If you’re after a big pile of entertainment sound system, check out how much home theater you can buy at Walmart from big brands like Sony and Panasonic. Giant sub, lots of speakers, cool looking receiver/DVD player, lots of bass whomp…. all for well under $349.
But if you want a compact system that sounds great, supports the iPod, is easy to use and runs on batteries or AC, the HiFi is very nice. I’ve listened to it several times at our local Apple store and I want one but I don’t need one.
I have a compact pair of eight inch two way monitors that sound fantastic. You can get similar LOOKING speakers that sound very good for a much lower price but I wanted these, they cost $5000 a pair and are made by a small company called Meyer Sound. I could have bought over 12 pairs of M-Audio monitors for the price of my HD-1’s.
Some people hear things differently. Value is in the ears of the beholder.
The author of this article probably needs to get a hearing test asap.
G Spank:
MDN posts only the poorly-researched or poorly-written negative Apple coverage. Stuff that the sheep can tear apart even their dull wits.
iHiFi is an OVERPRICED PAIR OF NOT-QUITE-STEREO SPEAKERS. That’s it. If they sound great, they’re overpriced. If they sound okay, they’re EXTREMELY overpriced.
Despite Steve’s inexplicable references to the handles and “just pop 6 D-Cells in there and take it to the cabana,” this thing is not portable. It’s 15-17 fricking pounds. You need a cabana boy to carry it to the cabana, and you have to drop $30+ (the price of a cheap pair of actually portable speakers) on batteries.
I said it before, but it bears repeating: BOO APPLE. WEAK PRODUCT. DOESN’T DESERVE YOUR LOGO. THIS IS THE REALM OF THIRD PARTY MANUFACTURERS. UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMETHING REALLY UNIQUE TO CONTRIBUTE, PLEASE STAY OUT. YOU’RE JUST EMBARRASSING YOURSELF. PEOPLE ARE JUST GONNA FEEL SORRY FOR YOU. I MEAN, I DO.
AWidgetIHaveNot,
I hope you aren’t listening to MP3 or AAC files, but losslesssly compressed music at a minimum.
Otherwise, what a waste of good headphones!
If Apple were to market this as “Portable stereo. Reinvented.” I would agree. But calling it “Home stereo. Reinvented.” is making this more into the iPod Hype-Fi. I wouldn’t mind owning an iPod Hi Fi, but there’s no way I would pay $349 for one. The Klipsch iFi is now going for $199, has better stereo seperation, a powered sub, and sounds much better in my opinion.
The Hi Fi’s portability is nice, but very limited. I could see myself hauling this out in the backyard or into the garage, but definitely not to the beach or even out on a picnic. The way the iPod docks to it is much to precarious for my tastes. I would prefer my iPod be fully enclosed ala Altec Lansing’s iM7. The Hi Fi does sound much better than the iM7, but I prefer the docking solution of the iM7 for portable applications.
To each their own.
zupchuck
“I hope you aren’t listening to MP3 or AAC files, but losslesssly compressed music at a minimum.”
Thankfully I am listening to CD/SACD through the HD650’s, through a Valve headphone amp. The way to go IMHO.
By the way, they have HD650’s connected to the iPod’s at the Apple Store, Regent Street, London. Talk about the best way to improve iPod sound!
I would like to apologise for PC Apologist. He’s an idiot and should just be ignored. He has been told to not post here again until he learns how to use his caps lock key judiciously.
Sorry for any inconvenience. We now return to our regularly scheduled forum.
AWidgetIHaveNot,
Interesting about the Regent Street store. I wonder how the music is encoded on that iPod with the HD650’s?…
zupchuck
Would the folks at Apple Regent Street know to encode it lossless? If they did encode lossless wouldn’t they have to make that known? Sounded compressed to me, without a doubt it was compressed.
The thing is that Apple is a business. They want to make money. If they can sell a product and make a chunk of change off it, why wouldn’t they do it?
We are all consumers, we look at products with a set of criteria we want out of them. If we find one we like we buy it. If you like the iPod HiFi then buy it. If you think it sounds or looks like crap, then don’t.
Why do people get so empassioned about things like this?
And for the people complaining about price its a stupid irrelevant argument. Not all of us are poor. I could easily spend that amount on a jacket. A suit costs way more. So if I want it and I can afford it, I will buy it. When they actually get some in the UK so I can go have a look I probably will get one. I think it looks slick and most review say the sound is pretty good. Not audiophile, but good.
Stop whinging.
Tim Coughlin
Right.. sorry about the caps, then. I typed that through the iHiFi with the volume turned up all the way and you didn’t lose any sound quality at all!
TOTALLY (caps!) worth $350.
Why does that idiot Benderoff compare headphones with the iPod HiFi ? They are used for entirely different purposes and a pair of headphones will sound better than any speaker system of twice the price.
Presumably when the Chicago Tribune reviews high performance sports cars, they also advise readers to spend the money on a motor cycle instead as it will have a higher top speed, use less fuel and accelerate quicker.
Or do they only reserve illogical comparisons of that type for their comments about Apple products ?
Tim – “And for the people complaining about price its a stupid irrelevant argument”
What argument are you talking about?
Tim – “if I want it and I can afford it, I will buy it. “
I can afford a $20 candybar too. And if I wanted it, I might even buy it. Am I paying too much for that candy bar?
“The guy’s right. $349 is way too much money. Plus the market is already flooded with this crap. Too bad, nobodies perfect. Apple blew it on this one. It’s pretty funny watching everyone eat it up though.”
Apple is a company. They exist to make a profit. If people are “eating it up” then they didn’t “blow it.” If they “blew it” then I guess people aren’t “eating it up.”
Pick one or the other.