iPod Hi-Fi Introduced

[whee900]

Will People Buy It?

This is disappointing... I expected so much more!! All we get is an ugly, overpriced speaker box out of this whole thing. Sure, the Mac Mini is decent, but a $99 case and a set of speakers? Seriously, what is Apple thinking?

Unless Apple can find a way to differentiate the iPod Hi-Fi from the rest of the competition, it's going to be a failure. I mean, this thing isn't really special; third-party manufacturers have been making these for ages! Because this thing is so mudane, people don't have an actual incentive to buy this... I'm saying that this product won't sell.

 

[reyesmac]

As a college student, 300 or w/e USD is just too much.

Thanks, but no thanks.

You should NEVER expect Apple to deliver on features AND price at the same time ESPECIALLY on a new product. Look how much a 23" LCD was when it first came out. The iPod, iMac LCD, G4 and G5 was the same way when they were introduced.

Its hard not get caught up in the hype though.

 

[macaddict06]

You should NEVER expect Apple to deliver on features AND price at the same time ESPECIALLY on a new product. Look how much a 23" LCD was when it first came out. The iPod, iMac LCD, G4 and G5 was the same way when they were introduced.

Ok, a bit out of context. I'm saying that for the price and the lack of new quality, belgh.
The 23", iPod, iMac LCD, G4, all that had something revolutionary. The only thing that sets this thing apart, mostly, is a big shiny fruit on the front, and a different encasing (albeit a few other things, but hey, close enough). That's the point I was making.

 

[ppnkg]

I think this one deserves all the negative votes it gets. Really. Just bigger speakers for the ipod? No radio? At that price? No way.

 

[freiheit]

Thoroughly uninspiring.

Thoroughly uninspiring. It's just a big speaker box that you sit you iPod on top of (so, like, you can't put this onto a book shelf because the iPod wouldn't fit then) and it costs about $200 more than a good set of computer speakers to listen to your music through iTunes (I mean, if you're sitting at home listening to this, you could just as easily be using iTunes as using your iPod).

 

[Phat_Pat]

I think this one deserves all the negative votes it gets. Really. Just bigger speakers for the ipod? No radio? At that price? No way.

for reals


my iHome does more than that brick. It can play the radio, iPod, anything i want to plug in via the ports in the back. Has a clock on front with the date a remote and an alarm clock that can wake to iPod on random song or specific playlist/song, to the radio, and to that damn beeping noise

its comes with that universal dock and all the things to make it fit and its less than a 1/3 of the price!

Good job apple.... way to "redefine" the stereo


and why would anyone pay $99 for a case thats going straight into your pocket with your keys, phone, wallet, pens, pencils, change ect. It'll just get messed up.

wait... my iHome came with an iPod case too..... thats an apple $450 value for $99!!

 

[MAC411]

New mini

At the media event February 28th, Apple unveiled an iPod stereo for home use, offering crystal clear sound and a built-in universal iPod dock. The new iPod Hi-Fi measures 17" x 6.6" x 6.9" and includes the Apple Remote.

While normally running on A/C power, the box is alternately powered by D-cell batteries, and features integrated handles to make moving the speakers easy.

The iPod Hi-Fi is priced at US $349 and is available immediately from the Apple Store.

How are would it be to turn the mini into a print server/shared hard drive?

 

[kugino]

while its looks and available functions are pretty disappointing, i will hold off on the crapola judgment until i actually hear it. who knows, it may sound very good...i haven't been impressed with any ipod-integrated stereo system yet, so maybe this thing sounds better than those do.

 

[Demon Hunter]

Wow!!! Amazing!!! I must have this amazing new Apple technology... the so-called speaking box!!! Maybe they should call it... a SPEAKER!!! GO APPLE!!! What an incredible invention!!! The speaker!!! Wow!!! I thought it couldn't get any better than the Gramaphone... and then along came the speaker!!! This thing blows my old Gramaphone away!!!

Guilty as charged friend, guilty as charged. I might as well give Steve my bank account #, he's got me for life. But then, he's had me for life, so my consumer slavery is well established.

And apparently, my other posts were deleted. Why all the hate mods?

 

[macidiot]

Perhaps some can hear the difference between 128 kbps MP3, 128 kbps AAC, and 16-bit PCM. Try as I might, I couldn't detect any difference that day with my Etymotic ER-4P headphones. That was weird no that I think about it, since I've even perceived that audio CDs made from 320 kbps MP3s sounded thin in the bass and harsh in the highs.

I've encoded some 16-bit PCM into 2-ch 448 kbps AC3 once and used PC ABX, an M-Audio Transit (no, I don't own an $4,000 Apogee), and the same Etymotic headphones to do some double blind testing. Those two formats were perceptually indistinguishable, at least with my hearing that day, my preconditioning/expectation, limits of listener fatigue, and equipment.

Well, I'm not sure what's going on. Maybe I have unusually good ears. However, I think it might have something to do with the source material. It seems to me that low bitrates have problems with denser multitrack music with a lot of dynamic range. 128aac sounds very good with simpler music like chamber music or jazz trio.

I'm not personally familiar with enymotic earphones, and have heard good things about them, but (speculating here) I would think that full over the ear headphones would be better, primarily due to a larger driver. Particularly in bass response.

As an audiophile for 13 years (started when I was 17), I've fallen into the Bose trap formerly, but they get more heat than they should. The new Bose Wave Radio, albeit overpriced, sounds very nice. Good bass response and very nice highs.

Well the Bose system is what came in my car. I'd never actually buy a Bose system for my home. As you said they are usually overpriced. And they don't sound terrible, just a lot of midrange without clarity or strong bass. Usually what happens when you don't use a tweeter and a small enclosure. Kind of like the Apple hifi

I appreciate the suggestion, but a reverberant environment such as one you are suggesting is definitely not ideal for error-free data collection. The numerous reflections and low-frequency room modes may obfuscate results. Let me divulge to you that the current audio system I'm building has dynamic range written all over it. It consists of four 10-inch woofer and two horns. I'm using modified diaphragms (thin aluminum jobs with damping coating) for the compression drivers. This is fed by two amplifiers, about 150 watts for the mids/highs and 350 watts for the bass per side. I plan to use a pair of subwoofers fed with 800 watts. This is fed by a DSP crossover and a DSP equalizer. I have a universal SACD/DVD-Audio player. And yup, SACD does seem to sound better than CD.

Sorry to brag about my pride and joy and go off on a tangent. What I'm trying to say is using quality headphones in a quiet environment is the way to go for detecting to subtle differences in audio.

Well, reflections aren't necessarily a bad thing. And I think would do little to sound quality, though subwoofer placement is soemwhat dependent on room dynamics. It would affect soundstaging more. For example, Magnepan speakers depend on them. And those are some of the best speakers I've ever heard.

Besides, its less a situation of error free data collection. Rather it is a side by side listening to compressed versus source on the identical system. Assuming the system is of good quality with good range, the differences if any should appear.

So are you using klipsch type horn tweeters? And if so, what are you using for midrange and/or high? Or are you using making a 2-way with tweeters and 10" woofers? And are you designing separate enclosures for everything? The amplification you described suggests that. Just for disclosure I am not a fan of the Klipsch sound. If I had the money and space, I'd be using Magnepan or Dynaudio speakers. In fact I may just buy Dynaudios, it just bums me out that I can only afford small bookshelf speakers from them (Dynaudio start at about 1000/pair and go way up from there).

 

[MAC411]

Wanted the video iPod but the new mini will due for now

Love the new mini. iPod-HIFI is cool but would rather just by the new mini and stream video to my TV and audio to my home stereo. The leather case at 99.00 is a joke!

 

[Demon Hunter]

This is why I have my mac to listen to music on. I won't waste any $$ on this product. Why not just save $50 and buy this...
And it's made by Bose, the leader in sound....

My friend, Bose is anything but the leader in sound. They sell the high-end of low-end audio systems.

 

[berkleeboy210]

I wasn't about to read through this entire 16 page thread, so i'm not sure if anyone has posted that CNet currently has two videos up from the Event, one of Jobs Intro'ing the HiFi and another of the Mini. The Mac Mini Video is 12 min and the iPod HiFi Video is 6 min.

 

[Evan_11]

Check out the display photos on engadget. The Hi-Fi is designed to blend in with the environment whether it be a dorm room or in a living room. It's for those people who detest the typical, ugly computer speaker design and dangling wires. It's nothing groundbreaking in design but how else do you fit stereo speakers in a portable shell?

The true test is if it lives up to Steve's promises of it sounding good. You guys beating on it for design just shows that you could care less about how it sounds. Who knew Mac Dweebs were so shallow...

 

[Carl Spackler]

While I really do like the look and I'm sure it sounds perfectly fine, though I question the iPod sitting on the top. I'd want to run up to it on the beach and punt some sucker's iPod into the ocean. If the iPod were enclosed (protected) and this had an AirPort Express built into it, I'd consider buying one. Instead, I'll consider a Griffin TuneCenter, depending on the reviews.

 

[law guy]

A/V cable companies could show off the cheaper (and perhaps much better sounding depending on your gear) alternative of a phono to rca stereo cable, which turns your iPod into another component in your audio gear. Gasp.

I suppose part of my reaction to this toy is that it's marketed as a great home stereo instead of a boom box, and that it seems to solve problems that don't exist despite Steve's picture of frustrated iPod owners trying to figure out how to get their iTunes music on a good sounding system... as if the simple cable alternative (or streaming to your multi-thousand dollar, Stereophile-praised speakers via an airport express) was just too unworkable. But as a boombox it seems subpar as well - with the iPod unit sticking up out of the top like that.

 

[PharmD]

Is There A Video Of Today's Event?!?!?!?!?!?!

Cnet has some exerpts.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Apple's_new_goodies/4661-10619_7-6455177.html?autoplay=true&tag=cnetfd.vid

 

[builtLordtough@]

my take on this

maybe apple is releasing a new ipod with wireless capabilities on april 1; and they intend for *that* to make the ipod hi-fi a good idea? i mean, everybody wants the newest one; especially if it will be a touchscreen as well... i think that if they unveiled something like that on april first it would make this a much more viable product.

that said... what they SHOULD have done is had the ipod hi-fi be an ipod all on its own. put a shuffle in it. 512 megs, 1 gig- whatever. you can fill it up with some of your songs; it would let people with no ipods still get to use it; plus you can risk taking the ipod hifi into the wild, without simultaneously risking your ipod. it would be much handier if it could hold some songs as well.

maybe next revision... if there is one... after today, i wouldn't expect to see these much longer.

 

[PharmD]

maybe apple is releasing a new ipod with wireless capabilities on april 1; and they intend for *that* to make the ipod hi-fi a good idea? i mean, everybody wants the newest one; especially if it will be a touchscreen as well... i think that if they unveiled something like that on april first it would make this a much more viable product.

that said... what they SHOULD have done is had the ipod hi-fi be an ipod all on its own. put a shuffle in it. 512 megs, 1 gig- whatever. you can fill it up with some of your songs; it would let people with no ipods still get to use it; plus you can risk taking the ipod hifi into the wild, without simultaneously risking your ipod. it would be much handier if it could hold some songs as well.

maybe next revision... if there is one... after today, i wouldn't expect to see these much longer.

I think Shuffle owners could really use this out in the wild. I'm very disappointed that they didn't put an AM/FM tuner in it though. That would make it a very viable product imo.

 

[Demon Hunter]

If the iPod were enclosed (protected) and this had an AirPort Express built into it, I'd consider buying one, especially if I ha.

Yeah, that would have been great too. I'm really optimistic about the thing, but it does seem like someone forgot to photocopy the last production page, i.e, "Where our R&D dollars went."

 

[HiRez]

This was the most dispointing event ever from Apple. I think it is very imbressing.

I completely agree with you, even if you did mangle a word worse than I've ever seen in my life!

I have a question about the mini, how can you connect it to a tv?

Because it seems that only if you have an LCD display with a dvi input you can do that

Is there any other way?

Like the iMac and Mac Book Pro, I'm pretty sure the Mini can output alternate video formats through it's mini-DVI connector with inexpensive adapters. I believe it's capable of DVI, VGA, componsite, or s-video. Pity there does not seem to be any analog component (Y/R-Y/B-Y) adapter.

 

[pimentoLoaf]

Compared to my JBL Creature Speakers, the hiFi is truly ugly.

 

[beatle888]

its hard to believe apple. they seemed to of lots touch with the pulse of their audience with this one. it reminds me of president bush senior not knowing how much a loaf of bread was, or the "let them eat cake" comment by Marie-Theres.

all show the lack of connection with their masses. im embarrassed, people know me as an apple user. now i feel silly. and they even invited people to commute all the way to infinite loop....shakes head. what a joke, steves ego......

 

[Clix Pix]

I'm perfectly happy with my iGroove in the living room and my iHome in the bedroom. The iHome is great because it's not only a speaker system for my iPod, it's an alarm clock and AM/FM radio as well. The clock is always electronically tuned in to the correct time, another plus. The iHome fits what I need in my life!

I can see where it might be nice for some people to have the Apple "boombox" for portability and such, as those batteries would definitely make it easy to cart around with you or to put in places where there's no convenient electric source.

 

[beatle888]

I think Steve is abusing his power over the media. Calling the media next time won't be so easy, after this dramatic fiasco!

Cinch

here here! can you imagine sitting there waiting for something innovative and inspiring and the all the sudden, "ladies and gentlemen, i give you (dramatic pause before the dramatic verbal flare similair to "the SHHUFFLE") the boombox..er..a..iPod Hi-Fi!!"

i wonder how silent the theater was and how fast he started talking after that announcement.