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- Bose® SoundDock® Portable digital music system - Gloss Black
Bose® SoundDock® Portable digital music system - Gloss Black- Average Rating:
  - List Price:
-
$399.95
- Our Price:
- $359.95
- You Save:
- $40.00 (10%)
Product Info- Brand: Bose
- EAN: 0017817417778
- Manufacturer: BOSE
Features- More efficient and higher quality audio reproduction than other battery-powered iPod® speakers.
- Works with iPhoneTM and any iPod featuring a click wheel, including all nano, mini, photo and video models. Also plays music with iPhoneTM.
- Rechargeable Li-ion battery gives more playing time per charge than other types of rechargeables
- Built-in carry handle and rotating dock enable quick and easy transport from place to place
- Auxiliary input for playing other audio sources, like a portable DVD, CD or other MP3 player.
Editorial Reviews:High-quality sound from your iPod® - now made portable. Enjoy acclaimed SoundDock® performance almost anywhere. The SoundDock Portable digital music system reproduces music with fullness and clarity unmatched by other battery-powered iPod speakers, from a design even slimmer than our original. Proprietary Bose® technologies let you enjoy your iPod out loud in more locations-without compromising sound quality.A rechargeable lithium-ion battery (included) provides more power and longer playing time than most other rechargeable batteries. The rotating dock disappears for storage and protection during transit. And a molded handle makes it easy to carry the system from place to place. Just dock and play iPhone and iPod models featuring a click wheel, including all nano, mini, photo, and video models. The iPod charges as it plays for uninterrupted music enjoyment. A custom remote easily controls the system and basic iPod functions, including playlist navigation. Auxiliary input lets you play other portable sources, too. The SoundDock Portable digital music system. Unsurpassed performance and portability for the serious iPod listener-from the most respected name in sound.
Spotlight customer reviews:- Customer Rating:
- Summary: Great product
- Comment: I had high expectations for this product based on the reviews I read, and this it has met those expectations.
- Customer Rating:
- Summary: Head To Head With The BEST..
- Comment: Let me start with telling you, I am a total toy fanatic. I love my music and the way it is reproduced for my listening pleasure. I was given an iKick for Christmas 2 years ago. I like this quite a bit. I then bought both Klipsch docking stations for my 160GB iPod classic. I also have a few of the JBL iPod docking stations. All of these have good sound and I enjoy all of these placed around different areas of my home. I recently bought the Bose portable iPod docking station along with all of the accessories which help make my Bose into an incredible sound making toy !! I love the total beautiful sound it makes. I also like being able to carry my Bose along with my iPod anywhere I want. This L'il cutie ROCKS. It has a very rich and full sound about it. I listen to it while in the shower, the garage, the back yard etc. The iKick has a comparable sound to the Bose however, I cannot carry it around like I can the Bose. All things considered, my Bose wins hands down. I will keep all of my docking stations as they all have their own little niche to fill. The Bose has great sound along with its portability, it's a Big Time winner and a keeper. "Try it, you'll like it".
- Customer Rating:
 - Summary: Best portable listening solution
- Comment: i have tried them all: tivoli pal, the old discontinued virgin boomtube ex, various portable logitech and jbl speakers, harman kardon, altec lansing... but the bose sounddock portable just is the best compromise regarding size/sound quality. and you won't believe it but it even sounds better than the highly rated harman kardon go&play, although others claim differently.
the harman kardon go&play is indeed an impressive piece it has a very bass-heavy sound without sounding too boomy. i really like it, its looks and sound, but only if it is plugged in. if you put in 8 expensive D-cells the sound quality is suddenly cut by half, the sound becomes a bit tinny because bass is lacking and treble is still on the harsher side. now put a bose sounddock portable next to the harman kardon go&play running from battery and you will notice that despite the smaller size the bose produces a fuller bodied sound with slightly more rolled off treble but overall more consistent sound, pleasant to listen to for hours without fatigue. for portable use the bose is just much easier to carry and weights about half of the harman kardon with batteries inside. i have both units at home, and i even compared them to the altec lansing im7, which i sold again though, as it sounded worse than the harman kardon plugged in and was much bigger and more complicated to carry than the bose. at home i still prefer the harman kardon of course and rarely turn on my hifi-stereo, but for the garden or at the beach i only use the sounddock portable. for me there needs to be some certain volume, some base, some power in the music in order to make listening satisfying. others might be even happy with the built-in iphone speakers, well i am not, and for the given size the sound quality coming out from the sounddock portable is just impressive, you can crank it up to quite high levels and if you want to have some party-fun outside you even have to crank it up louder and it'll still sound pretty good. there are some limits though, at extreme levels you will of course be able to hear some distortion, but most of the time you will never be in need for such high volumes, except if you really want to annoy your neighbors. at lower listening levels it sounds quite bass-heavy, if you like bass this shouldn't be a problem, if not you need to use some EQ on your ipod, as there are no controls for bass and treble on the bose.
bose claims up to 3 hours of playing time from one charge at full volume. well, usually at normal listening levels you should expect about 8 up to 12 hours of playing time, depending on how much the ipod drains the battery because the ipod itself also gets charged from the sounddock, even when run from batteries. at first i though what a stupid feature that was, because an ipod doesn't need that much charge as the speakers, usually an ipod can play for more than 20 hours. but then i started to actually welcome this feature especially when used with an ipod touch or iphone during wireless streaming. without permanent recharging the iphone battery would just die after 2-3 hours if you listen to some internet radio or stream some other wireless media like last.fm, jukefly etc. but because it gets a permanent recharge inside the sounddock you should be able to listen to 6-8 hours of wireless internet radio until the iphone sucks out the whole sounddock battery, at least the iphone battery is still fully charged then haha...
i don't know of any other system that lets you listen to webradio for 8 hours on the way at this sound quality! although there are plenty of different internet-radio units available, none of them is really portable or able to run from batteries, besides neither ipod-dock i know does recharge the ipod when itself is running from batteries.
a big plus is that the battery is replaceable. you can even have 2 or 3 of them and if you run out of juice, you just attach another one and have some more listening fun. the batteries are not cheap though. they are usually going for 89.-
although i personally have the black one, i would suggest the white one if you are going to use it outside in the sun more often. the black one gets hot pretty quick, i have not experienced any problem or damage so far, but i don't feel comfortable using it in bright sun. the white one should be less of a problem. best solution would of course be a silver one from brushed aluminium, but i doubt bose could really create one, and if, it would cost double, despite the already too high price!
i would give all 5 or even 6 stars, but there are some quirks i would also like to mention. first of all the price, it is much too high. here in europe it costs even quite more than in the states as bose converts US$ = Euro and adds some additional virtual tax, so it isn't really a bargain.
the glossy finish is too sensitive for portable use. mine got heavily scratched after only some weeks of use, if you often wipe off dust, dirt or sand, you will certainly scratch the surface as well. i would have preferred a matte sturdy surface, similar to that one that bose used for their roommate series. in reality they were actually bose sounddocks, without the ipod-dock, but with a different finish.
there should also be a place where you can store the remote control. the altec lansing im7 had an extra compartment, the harman kardon go&play also has a pocket for the remote, not so the bose. i sometimes run through the whole house in order to find the remote. you also cannot turn off the sounddock without the remote. although it should turn off automatically if nothing is playing you never know if it is actually on or off and it can happen that you want to listen to some music but realize that the battery isn't charged at all. a simple on/off button shouldn't be such a problem.
the touchless volume-buttons are sometimes too sensitive, other times they don't react at all, i really would have preferred some "real" buttons. therefore i usually use the remote, as i know that when i press a button, it will work as it should
although there is a special bag available from bose, i don't really like it as it is too big and not practical. i would have preferred some simple shoulder harness, where you can leave the sounddock inside when playing. this way it would also be better protected against scratches.
another thing is that the sounddock sounds best if it is put in front of you at ear height. the treble is quite directional and putting the sounddock somewhere beside you leads to a bit muddy sound. i also noticed that the bass is sometimes heard much stronger from some distance than if listened close. maybe this is because it is emitting to the back out of the grip-opening, the original sounddock has the bass reflex hole at the front.
although the sounddock portable is smaller than most of the competition (harman kardon, altec lansing etc.) while providing similar sound quality, i find it still a bit too big sometimes. i would even prefer something a bit smaller, maybe the size of a tivoli pal, but with this typical bose sound. I have heard the bose computer music monitor speakers, which are really tiny, but have an impressive sound for their size. something like this but battery-driven would be even more suitable for always carry around as you could even put it inside a jacket pocket. please don't suggest something the altec lansing orbit, they are nice for sure and of similar size, but they just don't compare to the music monitors soundwise!
despite of all the quirks i would still recommend the sounddock portable to everyone who is looking for a perfect portable listening solution. if price doesn't matter take it, as there is no real alternative on the market yet. of course you cannot compare the bose to a b&w zeppelin or some geneva sound speakers, as they are all different beasts. also the altec lansing imt800 (mix) is in another class as it is heavier and much bigger than the sounddock portable. i doubt you will be able to put the altec lansing mix inside a backpack and go out for a picknick with it. although the mix is a real party machine (i will be getting mine tomorrow btw) the sounddock will remain the real portable solution!
ps. sorry for my english as i am not a native speaker, but nevertheless i hope this little review can help you a bit on your decision.
- Customer Rating:
- Summary: Bose is still nice quality
- Comment: What convinced me that the Bose SoundDock Portable system was the way to go was hearing the quality of sound while on the docks in Jersey . In tracing the source of the music, we found a guy sitting at a bar. On the side table was the Bose SoundDock Portable system. (It was so amazing that we had to ask!) Each afternoon, we benefited from his music arsenal--180 songs loaded on this system. So, upon return to the mainland, both my sister and I got our own! The portable music system is great! It is easy to set up and operate, flexible in that I can move it anywhere with ease, and has an excellent quality of sound. Now, I have the music I want wherever I go!
- Customer Rating:
- Summary: Very Good
- Comment: Excellent Sound quality and loudness.
Control of iPod not good enough, just volume and playlist control.
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