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3
Altec
Lansing M602 review, and we compare with
the Bose SoundDock & Apple iPod Hi-Fi
by the Tech Lab staff, written by Keith
Benicek,
Editor
12 November 2006 (click
on images for enlargements)
So
Lets Start The “High End Hi-Fi” iPod Speaker System Shootout
and Comparisons
So you've already
read the testing and review of the Altec
Lansing M602, in a nut shell it so far ranks high on our list.
Now lets look at the two other well advertised and promoted competitiors
- the Bose SoundDock and the Apple iPod Hi-Fi.
Bose
SoundDock,
retail - $299.
The Bose® SoundDock® looks like it is built to deliver a wall
of sound. It’s design shares nothing like the familiar home Bose
Acoustic Wave® units you are used to seeing advertised on TV and
in the publication ads. And, perhaps that was the first mistake Bose
made, because those Bose® Wave® music system have a much fuller
and flatter sound than the SoundDock has.
This is the Bose
SoundDock box contents less 3 inserts
But by contrast to the Altec Lansing M602 and the Apple iPod Hi-Fi,
the Bose SoundDock feels more flimsy in construction and far less
substantial for the price they are asking.
The SoundDock is in fact lighter than either the Altec lansing or the Apple iPod Hi-Fi, at only 4.56 lbs (2.1 kg). Because it is ;ighter and a more "flimsy" construction", we've heard it rattle on the desktop at very high volumes.
The physical size
is:
• 6.65" H x 11.91” W x 6.48” D
or
• 16.89
x 30.26 x 16.47 cm
No Sync or any Aux Audio
ports to be found back here
Like the Apple iPod Hi-Fi, the Bose SoundDock’s speaker
enclosure puts the speakers right in contact with the
table or shelf it must
be placed on. Hence the speakers are also right at tabletop
level, which can cause noisy vibrations and the dreaded canceling
reflective
sound waves which results in muddy low frequency sound. The
bass end on the Bose is definitely the most limited of the
three.
Mids and High
are very good though and pleasant to listen to, but not as
bright and exciting as the Altec Lansing M602.
The Bose interchangeable adapters securely hold most
models of recent iPods, with a big exception; there is
no adapter
for the iPod Photo.
You can use the 3rd Gen iPod adapter, but it’s a bit
too tight a fit in our estimation.
The Bose SoundDock also
comes in Black just for Bono
Controlling the Bose with it’s credit card sized IR Remote is
much like the Altec Lansing’s M602, except that there are no
LED’s to indicated levels and shockingly, NO control
of the tone (bass and treble, like the M602)! There is also
no place
to store
the remote when not being used. Like the M602, the AC power
supply brick is not too big and obtrusive.
The SoundDocks IR remote lacks enough
sound controls
While the Bose SoundDock will charge your iPod, it is missing four
(4) big features that are on the Altec Lansing M602 – the USB 2.0 Sync port,
an auxiliary Stereo input port for pre-docking iPods, a composite video output
for Video iPods and control of Bass and Treble tone. That’s pretty disappointing
for a $300 iPod Speaker system.
One
last note, we noticed an insxplicablely large number of negative owner
comments about the Bose SoundDock on sites like CNet. Some regarding
sound quality and some regarding very poor customer service from Bose.
Apple iPod
Hi-Fi, retail
price $399 (recently reduced to $349)
Of the three units the Apple iPod Hi-Fi is the greatest disappointment.
You would think that the company that brought you the iPod would do a better
job of fulfilling the need for a high-end Hi-Fi speaker unit; especially
since Apple has the nerve to claim the iPod Hi-Fi is “Home stereo.
Reinvented”. With a single speaker enclosure only measuring
17-inches wide, there is no Stereo effect.
Anyone thinking that these types of systems are going to
replace a good component stereo are smoking some bad stuff.
Apple has no years of experience designing speaker systems; in fact they
have no experience at all. Every Macintosh speaker system over the years,
were designed and made by others such as JBL. Well in fact ,Apple actually
hasn’t actually “made” anything they sell since the
days of the early Apple II’s and really the only designing they
do, is pretty enclosures – the esthetic thing. That goes from Macs
to the iPod.
It’s a pretty good bet that Apple wrote some general specs for
a speaker box, maybe did a concept of the look of the enclosure and then
found someone in Taiwan, probably China, to design it and manufacture
it.
Behind the wide door is a place for batteries, there is
no Sync, Video or Stereo output ports. This is "innovative"?
In a single word, the iPod Hi-Fi looks …. bland. Essentially it is merely a white plastic rectangle with handle cutouts and a pop-off black grill cloth. It measures just 17.0" x 6.6" x 6.9." Why does it have handles? Believe it or not, Apple believes that you’ll use this as a portable boom box, it can run off of D-Cell batteries accessible from the back.
So maybe that’s the best way to describe it too. Like a “ghetto blaster”, the Apple iPod Hi-Fi is all bass and very thin mids and highs, in fact our tests reveal that the frequency drops off radically around 11kHz and disappears by 18kHz. The Bose delivered up to 20kHz in our tests and the Altec Lansing M602 up to 25kHz.
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