“When Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the new iPod Hi-Fi on Feb. 28 by saying ‘I’m an audiophile. I’ve had stereos costing — well, I won’t say — but a lot, [and] I’m actually getting rid of my stereo,’ he offended the tender sensibilities of audiophiles worldwide. To disappointed, tech-oriented ‘gadget-geeks,’ the iPod Hi-Fi appeared to be nothing more than a bulky, white boom box — and at $349, an expensive one,” Michael Fremer, Stereophile senior contributing editor, writes for The Record.
“Serial ‘Apple haters’ gleefully dismiss it as a new ‘white elephant,’ and the beginning of the end of Apple’s innovative reign. But make no mistake: This device produces glorious sound. The iPod Hi-Fi no more replaces an expensive home stereo system than the Bose Wave Radio ‘fills a room with concert hall sound,’ but Steve Jobs is to be forgiven for being enthusiastic about the iPod Hi-Fi’s sonic performance,” Fremer writes. “The dual-ported box, fitted with a robust 5-inch woofer, outputs surprisingly deep, supple, musical bass. A pair of rich-sounding 3-inch midrange tweeters deftly integrate with the woofer to deliver the rest of the music with equally smooth composure.”
“Unlike its smaller, perhaps more stylish competition, the iPod Hi-Fi doesn’t suffer from ‘boom/tizz syndrome,’ and driven by powerful digital amplification it can play loud and fill a relatively large room without sounding strained or compressed,” Fremer writes. “Like any piece of purpose-driven audio gear, the proof is in the listening. So go listen!”
Full article here.
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Related articles:
Fortune: Apple’s iPod Hi-Fi delivers ‘big sound from a small package’ – March 22, 2006
Pioneer Press: Apple’s iPod Hi-Fi ‘sets a new standard, the iPod speaker setup to beat’ – March 18, 2006
Consumer Reports: iPod Hi-Fi ‘mildly disappointing’ – March 17, 2006
Chicago Tribune writer: ‘Don’t be duped’ by Apple’s iPod Hi-Fi – March 13, 2006
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
I agree, I love mine.
Like I’ve been saying to everyone who doubts it…this device will SELL and sell well. It’s a device to fill a need in many situations. It’s not meant to be portable in the same sense as a boom box…perhaps “transportable” is a better term. It sounds very good if you listen to it in right environment.
There you go. A review doesn’t get any better than that.
What a great review.
a senior contributing editor from Stereophile thinkst the iPod Hi-Fi is worth a listen? hmmmm…. i guess that gives all the audiophile snobs ’round here a reason to take pause… or at least go listen to the darn thing before further comment.
I have to say I was skeptical but after I heard one in real life I was amazed. I’m no expert or anything but I was very impressed by its full range ability.
Oh I don’t dispute it sounds ok, it’s just for the price you might as well add a few hundred more and get yourself a quality 5.1 system which has more features, hookups and abilites.
You see this is the problem, the iPod HiFi introduces the budding audiophile to better sound, but the value for the money spent is a rip off.
You’ll see what I mean in time, especially when you’ll see similar devices for considerably less.
For instance my 5.1 surround sound system, just one satellite speaker, just one, produces 124 db at one meter as compared to the iPod HiFi’s 4 speakers producing 108 db at one meter.
I have 5 satelite speakers at 125 watts each and a 200 watt subwoofer for 800 total watts. When I want to rock, I’ll drown out 5 iPod HiFi’s in a second.
My 5.1 system fills my room with loud powerful sound, the iPod HiFi couldn’t, so it was useless for parities. plus I have two remotes, 5.1 decoding, AM/FM reciever, hookups like crazy for TV’s, DVD players etc etc.
I got all this for only a few hundred dollars more than a iPod HiFi.
So pay attention, I’m trying to give good advice.
Shop around.
Now we know where SJ sent some of the cash from selling his Apple shares.
(joke)
All those naysayers can suckit. I can’t wait to buy mine, (next Fri is my birthday – to the Apple store I go!) and I can’t wait for all my friends to be blown away by the sound quality.
…and comparing the HiFi to a full blown amp/speaker system isn’t fair. It’s all about having it all in one beautiful and simple (and semi-portable) system. The fact is, when I am having a bar-b-q this year, I will take it out into the yard for everyone’s enjoyment. And the bar-b-q will be an iPod invite – everyone bring your iPods with an approx 45 min playlist. Can you do that with your system Mac Dude? Also, my living room is gonna clean up so well with this, I can get rid of a bunch of stereo equip – which I’m moving to the basement, and open up a whole shelf for plants or whatever. Aesthetically the room will be much nicer. As with all things Apple, it’s more than about specs, and if you don’t know that by now, then forget it and buy damned Dell already.
I don’t know when or why you found MDN MacDude the nutter, but we’d really appreciate it if you lost the bookmark…
I have a really expensive setup with many speakers and wires. Whenever I want to move it, I cry.
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“Oh I don’t dispute it sounds ok,… -MacDude
Who gives a rat’s what you think. Who the hell made you the expert.
Pleeze tell us wut to fink mista macdood!
Since when did playing loud become synonymous with high-fidelity sound???
Surround-sound is great for what it was designed for—movie soundtracks. No self-respecting audio enthusiast would expect genuine high-end stereo sound from ANY consumer-level stereo product, no matter how wonderful it sounds compared to its competition. VW’s are great, but let’s not delude ourselves that a VW is a “budget Mercedes.”
Macdude claims to be an audiophile, an expert in high fidelity electronics devices, and an authority in consumer spending. No one cares about your self-described credentials but you, Macdude.
Okay, good quote:
“But make no mistake: This device produces glorious sound. The iPod Hi-Fi no more replaces an expensive home stereo system than the Bose Wave Radio ‘fills a room with concert hall sound.”
Exactly. As a self-contained shelf system, it would be great in a small office or bedroom or study, maybe even as a center channel for an A/V system (does Apple have a plan here?). It certainly could NOT replace a “real” hi-fi system.
I could see having one at my desk and running a cable from my PowerBook. Sorry, but I won’t trade in my office hi-fi system (Creek integrated amp, Proceed CD player or Linn speakers) anytime soon.
As for MacDude claiming “a few hundred more and get yourself a quality 5.1 system “. He can’t be serious. It all depends on what his idea of “quality” is. “Quality” mid-fi, perhaps. But clearly, as one of the major trolls on this site, whatever he says has a stick in the eye quality.
Right on R!
And GSpank, the guest playlist idea is great. I wonder if you could run the thing using a solar panel?
http://www.globalsolar.com/consumer.htm
https://www.earthmicro.com/products/global_solar.html
1) Can you really buy a high-quality home cinema system including speakers for $549.00 Can you even buy a decent home cinema receiver (by which I mean a Denon or a Rotel or somesuch) for $549.00.
2) And how many home cinema systems weigh 15 pounds.
Seriously, Macdude is fsckwit…
It’s funny how a magazine for audiophiles can say the iPod Hi Fi produces “glorious sound,” yet a magazine like Consumer Reports will claim the sounds is just so-so.
“Apple haters” is right. Some people are so convinced that any new product from Apple must suck, that they decide first the sound must not be great and then reach that “conclusion” after hearing it. Not surprising, given how Consumer Reports decided “Hybrid Hype” made a better cover story than, say, actually calculating the cost of hybrid ownership accurately in the first place (in this case, “hybrid haters” would be the cause).
Frankly, when compared to the other dock-type speaker systems in the Apple Store, I found the Hi-Fi produced stunningly better sound, and reviews from audiophile magazines seem to bear this out. Hi-Fi is never going to replace a 5.1 system that costs $2000, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a great product just because certain people seem philosophically opposed to the very idea of the Hi-Fi.
Consumer Reports, just like Microsoft, has given into the gluttony and bewilderment of old age. Any sense of idealism or doing “what’s right” has given way to suckling George Washington’s left tit. Much like these Neo-Republican’s if I do say so myself.
MW: Moral – no shit!!
MacDude
You’re confusing the term Audiophile with AUDIO PILE.
I bet you’ve got a loud car stereo too!
Stereophile likes Apple gear, they rated the iPod a few years back as their 2nd-best product of the year, after some $30,000 SACD player, or something like that.
2 points macdude.
1.) It is not the Quantity of sound, but rather the Quality of it. Having a higher SPL, does not mean that the sound being produced is better, just that there is more of it.
2.) Commercial CD’s are a 2 track media. They are incapable of supporting a 5.1 mix, so the benefits of that are lost unless your music collection consists of SACDs or DVD-Audio discs.
It can sound better than anything and will still be the butt-ugliest thing I’ve ever seen come from Apple. I would never put anything like that in my house. How Apple can miss like this is beyond me. What a shame.
MacDude today claims that his speaker is producing 124dB at a distance of 1 metre, but on Wednesday he claimed it was producing 124dB at point blank range. He can’t make his mind up.
But on Wednesday he claimed to have measured it as producing 100dB in the centre of his room. If he understood anything about how sound worked, he would realise that all these statements contradict, at least two out of those three ‘measurements’ must be wrong as they contradict the laws of physics. He previously claimed it measured 150 dB in the middle of his room – that’s laughably absurd.
He’s inventing fantasy figures again because he doesn’t have the slightest understanding of what he’s talking about and doesn’t have enough knowledge to invent plausible figures.
He’s quite unfamiliar with the iPod HiFi too, despite his claims about how he thinks it sounds. He keeps saying that it has four speakers, but anybody who has seen one, or even a picture of one would know that it only has three speakers. Clearly, he skipped school the day they were teaching counting up to three.
I said on the day of the announcement that the complainers may have valid points, but Apple would sell a ton of these. The audiophile hype was just that, but the form factors and efficiency make the Hi-Fi ideal for kitchens, garages, small offices, dorms, etc. I’ve got $10K+ in my living room sound system, but it is just as impractical for the places that the Hi-Fi shines as the Hi-Fi is impractical as a true audiophile sound system. In short, Apple’s Hi-Fi fills a large niche nicely. I still don’t own one, but I have heard it, and I’m thinking about it for the new small office I’m moving to.