The idea of portable music has been around for a long time. First perfected by Sony’s legendary Walkman, then followed by the CD-based Discman, the current and best incarnation is the MP3 player. MP3 is simply an encoding method for music, which takes a CD-quality track and compresses it – at the cost of a small loss in quality – into a much, much smaller space. This makes it possible to record hundreds of tracks in the same amount of digital storage as a single CD-quality album.
Digital music has completely changed the way many people view hi-fi equipment, demanding that we re-think our preconceived ideas of size, shape, function and flexibility. The remarkable thing is that the biggest changes in this arena have been caused by one of the smallest devices: Apple’s iPod.
Harman Kardon Portable Speakers System with Dock for iPod
When considering external loudspeakers for an MP3 player, it’s tempting to imagine cheap little speakers connected through the earphone socket, producing tinny sound at barely audible volume. Well, that’s a very long way from reality. Since the size of the device now has little to do with the quality of music it stores, an iPod can in fact be used as the basis for an entire hi-fi system. Not only that, but it’ll play video, too.
With that in mind, there are a lot of options available to consumers. Starting at the lower end there’s the small speaker set designed for travel. These are generally very light and small, often fitting in the palm of a hand. They’re designed to use minimal power, so that they can run off four or six AAA batteries, but they usually come with a mains adaptor for use in hotel rooms or at home. Connection is via the headphone socket, though some work with Bluetooth as well. Most of these little systems have carrying pouches and pack away very neatly.
The Creative TravelSound range, for example, provides up to 30 hours of music from one set of batteries, at the cost of having very little bass. If quality is more important than battery life, there’s the Philips SBA290/05 which will run for around 10 hours, but gets consistently good reviews from buyers, most notably on the sound quality question. Combining battery life and sound quality is also possible – but it costs more. A good example is the JBL On Tour portable system which is frequently at the top of reviewers’ lists: small, light, 24 hours of play and sound that doesn’t distort even when it’s turned right up.
Altec Lansing iM207 Orbit-MP3 Speakers for iPod and MP3 Players
Around the middle of the range of available systems are larger speakers and docking stations which give much better quality sound and volume, but are less portable. They’re designed to be mains-powered, though at a push could be considered for battery-based use. Obviously, this kind of quality and flexibility comes at a price, with most systems costing two to three times as much as a purely portable system.
A great example in this range is Gear4’s Duo system: specifically designed as an iPod docking system, it comprises two speakers. Clipped together, they make a 38W system for home use on mains power. What’s clever is that one of the speakers recharges itself while plugged in, then detaches and becomes a portable, battery-powered 18W speaker for travel use.
At the other extreme, there are very high quality, powerful, non-portable docking stations: these are effectively hi-fi systems without any playback device. The iPod is inserted directly into the system (“docked”) and becomes the heart. Sound quality and volume can be truly impressive, much the same as with traditional systems.
Home-based docking stations range enormously in price. Toward the lower end are devices like the JBL Radio Micro: it adds powerful speakers, allows the connection of any stereo device via a standard headphone-sized jack, has an RCA output for video, a remote control and can charge a docked iPod.
Up at the other end of the spectrum are full-blown home stereos, like the JVC UX-DM9DB, a made-for-iPod system that contains not only a docking station, but a CD player, 500-track memory and DAB tuner.
JVC NXPS1 Audio System with iPod Connect
Regardless of which type of external speaker system interests you, it’s definitely worth doing a little research before a purchase: there are so many on the market – in every price range – that consumers are spoilt for choice.
Read more MP3 player and speaker reviews on MP3 player speaker site. Also read about portable MP3 speakers.