JBL On Stage Micro Portable Speaker Dock for iPod (Black)
by Harman Kardon
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List Price: Our Price: $79.99 You Save: $19.96 (20%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $30.01 (click here) Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of JBL On Stage Micro Portable Speaker Dock for iPod (Black)
Customer Review: Excellent piece of technology
Summary: 5 Stars
There's a lot of reviews floating around there trying to compare this JBL portable to other portable ipod speakers. The one thing you have to understand about these speakers is that they are small, ridiculously small, and for their size - the sound is beyond fantastic.
I'm not sure how JBL managed to fit such great sound into such a tiny unit. Vocals and instruments on this unit SHINE. It's that kind of "easy listening" sound that makes any song sound awesome and rich. Yes, the bass is low, but not lacking. For example, if you play "boom boom pow" from black eyed peas, you will not hear the deep pounding bass that you would get from a 2.1 speaker system, however, you can tell how the unit is processing the sound if you listen closely to it. It will take away certain low frequencies in the song to avoid distortion, like when they actually sing boom boom pow and theres this constant thumping in the back, it keeps the thumping, but you hear it as a sharper, quick sound, basically it decreases the bass. But then there are portions of the song where the deeper bass notes hit that are vital to the song and you can see the processor allows that to go through and there is a low rumble - but the rumble is very accurate and not at all unpleasant. I have listened to a lot of units in the market, and nothing this size comes even close to the quality of sound this unit can produce. Some of this stingy iLive units that are portable run for a similar price, albeit, they include an alarm clock, but unless that alarm clock is worth 50 bux, they have no reason to even charge as much as they do.
I would try these out in store, just so you can be amazed. The sound spectrum is great. The only tip I have is, if you feel like the units distorting, put the volume down on your ipod and then increase the volume on the unit itself (by pressing the silver buttons on the front).
I have yet to try it with batteries, however it states that it can run 24 HOURS on a few AAAs. That's unheard of! I'll test it out and get back, but for now this unit deserves 5 stars for how much work probably went into developing it.
Thanks JBL!
Customer Review: Flawed design!
Summary: 1 Stars
I had great hopes for this, but it fails on interfacing with a PC over USB.
My expectations were as follows. I'd like to:
A) Have a way to quickly dock my iPod Nano 3G and listen to music without a lot of hassle -- PASSED
B) Charge my iPod when I dock it overnight -- PASSED
C) Ability to interface with my stereo for room-filling sound when I choose to -- NOT TESTED YET
D) Easily sync with my PC -- FAILED!!!
So here's the deal...
SOUND
The sound from the two 1.5-inch speakers is great for 1.5-inch speakers, but poor otherwise. It hisses when on. It significantly distorts bass. It has a tin sound, almost like a loud speaker (the kind the cops use). This is NOT your Bose Wave!
INTERFACE
Good. It has a nice remote that replicates the functionality of the controls on an iPod (volume, next, previous, menu, select, etc.). You also have easy access to the shuttle wheel on the face of the iPod
USB CONNECTION
This is where this thing is HORRIBLE in design. So, as it turns out, the only way it connects to a PC is if its power cable is disconnected! If it has power, it won't sync with a PC. Without power, it will sync with a PC, but not play music. This makes it USELESS!!!
Also, the mini-USB connector is recessed into a small round hole. Mini-USB cables don't fit into the small round hole. It literally is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole -- no joke! I had to use a razor-sharp box cutter to whittle away the square corners of my USB connector to get it to fit.
If the price for this device was <$50, then I'd say it's a fair deal. But at $70-$100 for this, it is a waste of money! I usually don't give 1-star reviews unless I am really disappointed with a product... I am really disappointed with this thing.
I am returning it today and will keep shopping for something that actually works!
Customer Review: Interesting, compact, good sound but very ungreen, and not for my Ipod
Summary: 2 Stars
I was pretty taken by the sound of this JBL product and respect the quality that accompanied once upon a time the company's old name. I found the sound to be crisp and clear, and as another review says not overly bass heavy and very sensitive to all the parts of music choices i listen to, without focusing only on the bass! So I really looked forward to using it with my new/used ipod. But first I had to hack the product out of its so non-green plastic clam shell packaging, work through the English part of a thick paper manual, and found just one tiny adapter...that in the end did not fit my 3rd gen ipod nano. It does say on the back of the package in tiny type that it works for 4th gen ipod onwards...so my mistake. But I had a heck of a time learning that it wasn't the right product for me, so tried out the features...loading the AAA batteries (also very non-green) rather than rechargeable. Getting the batteries in, and then prying them out when i decided to return this product, was really difficult, resorting to a fork to dig out...and their storage area lives under a cheezy plastic turnstyle cover. For $100, I didn't think it was really worth the $$...and it took me 3 tries to get everything back into the clam shell plastic in some orderliness to return. In those frustrating moments i vowed i will never buy a product that lives within that kind of plastic again! For such a good name i am surprised at the lack of awareness for the environment...and i bought the Altec Lansing IM620 in a box with recyclable packing material, rechargeable batteries, downloadable manual on-line, a carrying handle/kickstand, and good styling. I believe the Altec folks have met all my requirements for a player/docking station with sound being the first criterion, but all the "green" awareness an extra bonus, so worth a bit more $$.Customer Review: Small but mighty!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this product based on its high number of positive reviews and good price point. It's used mainly for playing classical in the office and soft yoga/spa music for my massage clients.
This dock has a good range of sound: nice clear treble, full mid-range, and decent bass. Very deep or loud bass does cause it to rattle a bit. Another reviewer had an idea to dampen it underneath with a mousepad (something cushion-y, but not overly so), and that works perfectly to solve the rattle issue.
It's very light and portable, though I wish it came with its own carry bag like some of the other JBL products do. Although the remote does work well, it's really only useful for pausing/ff/rew songs and for volume control. The menu functions definitely work with my nano but I can't see the benefit of browsing menus if the speaker is across the room where I can't read the menu text anyway.
I have only 2 worries:
1) When I connect my ipod into to dock, as I've found that with things of this nature (flash drives, other docks and ipod/phone cords), you can never get it *perfectly* aligned. Also, if there is dust or other matter on the dock, sometimes you get a little crunching sound as you connect it. While this in no way affects how it plays, I do worry about it damaging the connector and wearing down over time.
2) I used to play the radio using my nano, which requires a headphone jack to be plugged in. Docking the ipod does NOT allow for radio to be used. I can definitely connect a male-to-male headphone cable from ipod jack to JBL speaker to play the radio, but it's definitely not as convenient. This isn't enough of a big deal for me to be truly unhappy with it, I just simply don't use the radio function anymore.
Customer Review: Concern About WorldWide Distributors
Summary: 1 Stars
The speaker may be good but you will not get what you order.
The product discription says, "What's in the Box
JBL On Stage Micro Portable Speaker Dock for iPod (Black), remote control, auxiliary audio input cable "
The auxiliary audio input cable is not included. I emailed and asked for one to be sent as that was the contract we made and the email I got back was "Unfortunately it looks like Amazon made a mistake on the description of this item.
We would have gladly send you the cord, but unfortunately we don't have any.
Have a great day"
I think this may be the most unhelpful, flippant reply I have ever had to a complaint. To clarify, I did not ask for a refund or money, simply for the company to do as they said. This was a gift so I am unable to return it.
Due to this event I think that it may be unwise to buy from this company as in this instance they broke the contract they made and made no bones about the fact that they did not care or feel any responsibility for that. I am still working on resolving this issue. I think any company that cared at all about its customers would have offered to send a cable. (Hint- they could order one from Amazon.)
I have asked Amazon for help with this issue.
They have dealt with it wonderfully and to my total satisfaction.