An off-the-cuff, uninformed iPod Hi-Fi review
Don’t get me wrong — I love Apple and I love my iPod. The interface is beautiful, simplistic and powerful all in one. And as MP3 players go, the sound is right up there with the best of them.
But I am wary about Apple’s latest iPod product: the iPod Hi-Fi. The Hi-Fi is a big rectangular speaker system, housed in one box 17 inches long by around 7 inches wide and high. You slide the iPod in, and it supposedly fills the room with “crystal-clear, audiophile-quality sound.”
I find this difficult to believe. Apple is known for a lot of things: mainly, brilliant interfaces and elegance in design. What they are not known for is audiophile-quality audio. Regarding their iPods, Apple doesn’t seem to put much care into delivering high-quality audio out-of-the-box — the included white earbuds cost less than $10 and are adequate for little more than gym and subway use.
And now Apple is releasing an easy speaker setup for its iPods. There is no additional interface to speak of. I’m wary because not only is Apple not an audiophile company, but mainly because this has all been done before. Klipsch, Bose and countless other companies with more speaker experience than Apple have already put out this exact product, and I don’t know if Apple can justify the $349 cost for a product that does nothing new.
