[photopress:2297941649_5b4c534052_o.jpg,full,pp_image]
We first saw Tannoy’s i30 iPod dock back in January at CES and now we’ve been able to play with it for an extended period of time. Yeah, I know you’re thinking it’s just another iPod dock among the sea of thousands of iPod docks available now, but this UK-engineered dock is much different. It’s leaps and bounds above the rest. Miley Cyrus never sounded so good.
We compared the i30 to Bose’s SoundDock and it beat out the Bose hands down. The SoundDock was more akin to a cheap $20 iPod dock than the grandiose experience people are expected to have with Bose products. The i30’s sound was crisp, unmuffled and undistorted on all levels. It hit lows, mids, and highs with nary an issue. Even with the volume mid-way the sound resonating from the two 4-inch iCT drivers caused others to come over and tell me to turn the volume down. To them I stuck out my tongue and cranked it up.
The sound quality is fantastic. A few peers have told me they’ve put it up against that Zeppelin doodad and they’ve enjoyed the Tannoy much better. It’s a simple design that isn’t so brash and out there. It’s very unassuming until you turn it on. You can plug in other devices including your computer in case you want better speakers. There’s also a video output so that you can watch your iPod videos on a larger screen. A USB port allows you to sync with iTunes from the dock and the included IR remote lets you control everything from the couch or kitchen or wherever you might be.
I’m sad to have to part ways with the i30 because the music on my iPod never sounded so good. The price may deter some of you, but it’s not worth it to be cheap if you don’t have a booming audio system to begin with. I need a smaller setup because of my living situation and the i30 is ideal. I don’t have CDs or any mp3 files on my computer anymore. Everything resides on my iPod and sometimes I like to crank it up and rock out in my apartment. The i30 lets me do that without any distortion or craptastic audio once the volume is turned up. You will want this dock and nothing else. Trust me.
[photopress:2298737100_f176c64841_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2297944847_b7c1534be2_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2297947263_d021d506c4_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2298742714_88ae0f35a9_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image]