Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPod Hi-Fi Introduced

mattalici said:
OK, what I want to know is:

1. If it can be positioned anywhere, does that mean that it can fake surround sound? (Like that new Sony speaker that is one speaker and does 5.1?)
2. Is that what Steve meant by he's replacing his home stereo?
3. To all the haters: How can you guys know if it sucks when you've never heard it?
4. Can you play multiple HiFi's all over your house at the same time?

I LOVE THIS THING. SO COOL. GIMME THREE. :eek:
Click to expand...

I think you'll be dissapointed to learn that this is NOT a wireless (ie, Airport) device. It's a standalone boombox. So can you play multiple hifis around the house? Sure, if you've got multiple iPods.
 
The Red Wolf said:
It's not just a speaker it's a Subwoofer and high end speakers with NO AUDIBLE DISTORTION.
Click to expand...

"hi-end speakers" they are not. The Genelecs I linked to are hi-end in that size-range (they have bigger and beefier speakers with pricetags to match). I really fail to see how this box could compete with two separate (instead of a single box with all the speakers crammed in there) studio-grade speakers.

This box costs about half as much as the Genelecs do. Yet it apparently has subwoofer, iPod-dock and other gizmos. I can't help but think that they have cut corners somewhere. There is NO WAY they can compete in sound-quality, period. How can you have proper stereo-field when the speakers are right next to each other? Maybe for mp3's and the like it would be suitable. But then we are not talking about hi-end, now are we ;)?

BOSE sells one for $300 you can dock a pod to it.
Click to expand...

Too bad that Bose is crap.
 
That is a major piece of crap!..........that is not HiFi! The soundstage will suck!
Don't buy this lame excuse for innovation. I want to see this molded box make a trip to the junkyard of no return! :eek: :D

It really does suck as a HiFi system replacement. It might go nice in a bedroom, a bathroom, or maybe outdoors.

iPod Boombox Locations
hidden in a bathroom
hidden in a bedroom
hidden in a walk-in closet
hidden by the pool
hidden by the deck
hidden in the garage
 
Maybe I'm missing something, but what's the point of having "audiophile-quality sound" and amazing specs if you're plugging in your iPod full of low qualty 128 kbps MP3s, or even AAC files from iTMS. Won't this system just bring out the quality deficiencies from encoding even more? :confused:
 
For somethign that goes with the iPod, it's not very "iPod like". Big, bulky, exspensive!!!!!! and UGLY. Plus, they put the dock on top, so you need a lot of top clearence! They should have put the dock in the middle like the Altec Lansing inMotion iM7. I was at a church function and a guy brought his iPod and the Altec Lansing inMotion iM7. It filled up a whole room that seats 120 people at tables. This is no small room. It sounds great and costs $100 less.
My wife's aunt bougth a $180 sony surround sound system fro her living room. SOunds great! i bet if I plug an ipod into it, it would rock! So, Apple is trying to sel me 3 less speakers and adding iPod conectivity but charging me $170 more? No dice! iPod Hi-Fi... what a JOKE!

PS: I like the new Mini. Today wasnt a total lose, but nothing really stood out to me as "fun and new". The Hi-Fi may be new, but not very fun.
 
Hm, the iPod Hi-Fi looks good (a bit 70s... without the colours), but the sound quality? For $350 I expect pretty good sound quality, and I just don't see it coming with all speakers in one enclosure. And for that price you can get the BOSE set (although I have yet to hear a good sounding BOSE speaker, the Lifestyle 48 was rather bad sounding, considering the price (for around $100-200 it would have been good)), or the Monitor Audio iDeck (which will probably sound good... AreaDVD says so at least, and they are also testing speakers costing $5000... for one. http://www.areadvd.de/hardware/2005/monitor_audio_ideck.shtml if you understand German). Or the Teufel iTeufel, from which I expect good quality aswell, as Teufel, like Monitor Audio, should know what they are doing. Or for more money the new Nubert 2.1 speaker set, although that one is not specially intended for the iPod.
There is too much competition I think. From companies who know what they are doing.
 
I don't want THIS!

I already have two very nice stereos, each with an Airport Express connected for streaming tunes. What I WANT is a jam box with a built-in WIFI so I can stream to it in my garage, on my deck, etc.

Missed the mark, Apple. $400 for a glorified speaker? Please.
 
Bill is promising Vista with streaming video ummm...digital hub.

Steve wants to breakdance:D

Meh to the tenth power...where's the digital hub Steve...oops! blu-ray thats right. Take your betamax technology back with your boombox Steve :D
 
~Shard~ said:
Maybe I'm missing something, but what's the point of having "audiophile-quality sound" and amazing specs if you're plugging in your iPod full of low qualty 128 kbps MP3s, or even AAC files from iTMS. Won't this system just bring out the quality deficiencies from encoding even more? :confused:
Click to expand...


Exactly! low bit rate mp3's tend to get the "chingy" sound...where a crisp highhat begins to sound like a tambourine sample from a cheap beat machine.
 
If This Is The Best They Can Do...

...it may be time to sell my Apple stock, because I saw nothing "new" or "fun" today from this announcement.
 
Apple's Web Site

Apple's Web Site seems in such a disarray. One page is all black, one page light blue, this page white. There is no consistency. Does anyone else notice this? Do you think they are redesigning the site?
 
At half the price the leather cases would have been merely excessively extravagent. However at $99 I find them insultingly priced. They badly missed the mark here. They offer no functionality and taking an ipod in and out as you must to use it will end up scuffing it. This is possibly the worst product Apple has ever offered.
 
April 1

This Ipod Hifi looks like a joke. It costs more than the ipod itself.
I hope that Apple omes out with better products on April 1. If they come out with a new video iPod, increased music store and an Intel iBook. If those new iPod cases only ship the middle of March, does that mean the new IPod video wont be introduced April 1?
 
I remember....

I remember my first reaction to the first generation iMacs. YUCK

Over time, somehow, they grew on me.

I'd like to think the new Hi-Fi system will grow on me over time too... unfortunately, I don't think so. That is a BUTT UGLY boom box. :-( I guess the next products will come in different colors... woo! Now - maybe if they GLOWED different colors, and had something akin to an iTunes Visualizer skin - MAYBE you'd have something COOL. Currently it looks like a VERY ROUGH prototype. :(

Apple stock is down today too. :(

I hope Jobs gets out in front of this and admits his mistake.

Steve... please stick to overpriced, top shelf products, not overpriced mediocre (or worse) products.

A loyal, but worried Apple supporter.
 
UWF404 said:
hosting these buzz generating private media events and only to release mediocre products will end up hurting Apple. Like the boy that cried wolf one too many times.

Such hype over a speaker box, a $99 scrap of leather and a mac mini bump with integrated graphics? what a joke these events have turned into.
Click to expand...

I completely agree there. If you hold a special media event. The products better WOW the audience. Otherwise, you are just asking for trouble.

iPod HiFi - Cool - if it sounds better than the Bose and if you can really crank it with out distortion. But, nothing that different from what already exists.

Mac Mini - Nice that you can connect to TV, but where is the DVR?? I already pay for all the shows iTunes offers in my expensive cable bill. Let me record them instead of paying for them again!
 
not very attractive

I cannot believe how BIG it is

EXPENSIVE

No expandablility

AAPL stock down ~$2.50
 
Would I think about purchasing this

Maybe... if it was a new iPod wave player full of 24Bit waves 96k audio tracks.
Apple should have released a new touchscreen HiFi iPod.
 
this is kind of random.. i would not expect a boom box speaker setup from apple.. so i don't know how to understand this move from them... yo soy perplexed..:confused: :p
 
Yuk, yuk, yuk! My toaster is sexier!

advocate said:
h2feb.jpg


I think that's about the ugliest thing I have ever seen.
Click to expand...

Yeah, not what I expected of the famous Apple design :(
 
The Red Wolf said:
Yea, and no one bought a Nano or a iPod Gen 3, 4 or 5... Or a shuffle for that matter. Optical Audio out... It's not just a speaker it's a Subwoofer and high end speakers with NO AUDIBLE DISTORTION. This is very very important. BOSE sells one for $300 you can dock a pod to it. It's not portable, it doesn't have optical out, it's not compatible with a shuffle or G1 or G2 ipod and... You can't AirTunes to it as it only has a Dock connecter... $49 and more? You can take it with you with DCells... It's far superior... It has an Apple Logo...

But then again you're one of those Meh people aren't you...

So until they release a .17 Cent 1800Watt 48 channel Omnisound 16.1 Surround sound that doesn't take up any space and cloaks when installed so you don't see it you won't be happy... Will you. No. 17 cents for that? What I wouldn't pay apple 16 cents for that piece of ugly Meh...

I don't have a Stereo. I have a Gen 2 iPod and a Shuffle which aren't compatible with a "Comparable" BOSS system. This is good. If it were $99 you would complain... Why? Because you can.

~The Red Wolf~
Click to expand...

You apparently agree with me that the market for this item is only people who don't own stereos already or who have older generation iPods. It's a rather small market. You're the only person I've ever heard of who doesn't own a stereo. I mean seriously, and I'm asking this respectfully, do you really care about music? Anyone who replaces their stereo with one of these that can't play a CD or radio, could pay $200 less to stream their music from the computer over airport express. Seems like a no brainer to me.

If you're buying it for Apple style or whatever, then it's obviously a different story. And for the record, I don't normally complain, just the opposite. I think my message history speaks to that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back