[kugino]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRSpeed85 Well it is a company selling a $300~400 mp3 player with the crappiest headphones on the market.... How can this even compete with their own ipod dock integrated mac mini?

there is no dock integrated mac mini...

it's nice that this thing has optical inputs, at least. if you have an air express you could stream your music wirelessly to this boombox via the air express optical out...not that you couldn't do that with any other player. just sayin'...

i want to see what DAC they have in there for optical input part...

 

[splodinjoe]

Personally, I could never understand buying this, as you could put together a really nice T-amp system for like the same amount of money, but I guess if it sounds not horrible then whatever. The Bose dock sounds like ass. $349 is pretty steep too.

 

[kaxixi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman The configuration of the amp pretty much explains what I'd been wondering all along when I found a Wolfson codec in the Universal Dock. The 5G/Nano is capable of outputting a (non-SPDIF) digital signal.

Bangraman, why do think this is interesting? Just curious.

 

[Dark_Archon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRSpeed85 Well it is a company selling a $300~400 mp3 player with the crappiest headphones on the market.... How can this even compete with their own ipod dock integrated mac mini?

Have you even listened to other pack-ins? While the iPod headphones are awful, they are nowhere near the worst. It doesn't matter what you get. You will need to get a decent pair of headphones separately. Choosing a pair of headphones is a very personal decision. Sure, Apple could throw in a pair of, say Sure E2c's, but just as many people (possibly more because of fit) wouldn't be satisfied with them and it would raise production costs by a lot. Different people have different tastes when it comes to headphones, and the fact of the matter is most people are fine with the cheap pack-ins.

Some people in this thread have hit the nail on the head. These speakers are marketed to compete with BOSE speakers and other comparable products.

The leather case does look pretty nice, but $30-$40 would be a more reasonable price. It isn't as some people are describing it, a $2 product. If it was cheaper, I'd get one.

 

[LFC_SL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark_Archon The leather case does look pretty nice, but $30-$40 would be a more reasonable price. It isn't as some people are describing it, a $2 product. If it was cheaper, I'd get one.

Unless it's some super soft plush leather from an endangered species (my bad) I ain't paying double figures for a leather condom...if I had an iPod 5G that is...or for any DAP for that matter

 

[austonia]

well, there were a couple of people that liked it.

http://dapreview.net/comment.php?comment.poll.215

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaxixi Bangraman, why do think this is interesting? Just curious.

Because the nature of the DAC/amping can be left up to external systems. I would imagine most companies would opt for a single-ASIC digital amp to do it, but it leaves some interesting possibilities for some genuine work in increasing sound quality. I was never fully convinced by what came out of the TOSlink port of the iRiver 1xx, which fared worse IMO than even the same company's CD players. This does present possibly another option. Due to the men with expensive watches and thin briefcases, I doubt anyone will come up with an SPDIF output for the iPod. But we can all live in hope I guess. It shouldn't stop manufacturers from releasing DAC/amps though.

 

[]|[ GorE]

Dont diss it so early.Provided Apples using some hefty equalization and good material drivers,theres no reason why it cant sound better than most other small sized speakers.

 

[austonia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ]|[ GorE Dont diss it so early.Provided Apples using some hefty equalization and good material drivers,theres no reason why it cant sound better than most other small sized speakers.

It probably does sound good. For $150 I would be tempted. But $350? Hell no. They must have a 600% profit margin on that thing.

 

[giovanni]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFC_SL Special mention to Apple for having the audacity charging $99 for a $2 leather case with an Apple stamp on it. It doesn't even have a top cover....surely another $1 wouldn't be too much? R-e-s-p-e-c-t Mr Jobs. Thats capitalism for you

you as well as others, see it completely from the opposite side. The shock, audacity is not Apple's, it is the fact that people will indeed pay $99 for that thing. Apple is simply satisfying demand, they know people will. That is what's incredible about it.

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlanY It's subdued and stylish -- the exact opposite of all those boomboxes you see at the big box stores with molded plastic front baffles, shiny cones, and flashy, bright LEDs. Not a single LED!

With you on that, it is designed to blend in, not to stand out. Try find a good quality active speaker at this price, one that does not use an external PS. I would have to hear this thing of course, but say if I was the person with a lot of house to play music in, and it sounded good, I'd be all over it and buy a healthy number. Not as the main system, but as the background / party system. Coupled with an Airport Express each & iTunes new ability to stream to multiple APX stations simultaneously... pretty nifty.

Now that slipcase... well... no.

 

[Sparky191]

Boombox? Did we revert to the early 80's or something?

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

[sarcasm]Wow! 2 3" tweeters and a 5" shared "woofer". That thing must Rock!.[/sarcasm]

You could buy a Dock connector and a stereo shelf system with real stereo (two seperate speakers) for the same price at Best Buy.

 

[austonia]

http://www.dapreview.net/comment.php?comment.poll.215

get your vote in. no registration required. poll closes in 2 hours (24 hours total)

 

[tattoou2]

I am surprised Apple is not offering a $350 vinyl cover for it which would double as a small iPod coffee table.