Klipsch iGroove SXT iPod Sound System (Black)
by Klipsch
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List Price: Our Price: $29.99 You Save: $139.01 (82%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days 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 Klipsch iGroove SXT iPod Sound System (Black)
Customer Review: Great Little Sound System
Summary: 4 Stars
Okay, after reading through several of the reviews on here, I decided to head over to Best Buy to see this unit in person. At that point I was between the Altec Lansing iM310 and the Klipsch iGroove SXT. To be completely honest, the Altec didn't last for long, due to my own preference for Klipsch products and the similarity in price.
Anyway, I put my 2nd Generation iPod Touch on the display unit and was shocked when the unit DID actually take a charge. I was not terribly concerned with that capability, because when the WIFI is off, the iPod Touch can easily play on a dock uncharged for several hours. Still, it was a pleasant surprise. Because Best Buy (as usual) wanted about $170 (before tax) I made up my mind to go ahead and purchase this one from Amazon. I wasn't sure whether the Amazon version would also charge my iPod, but I deemed the price difference great enough that I didn't take much deliberation about it. I went ahead and purchased the unit with free shipping which was supposed to take between 5-7 days, and I received the shipment 3 days later! I have to give Amazon a lot of credit, dealing with them is always such a pleasure, and I almost always go out of my way to avoid Best Buy due to the awful customer service I always experience there, but that is another story.
This little unit looks awesome out of the box, very small and unassuming. That is until you plug it in. I tested the sound at about mid-range in a large, fully-carpeted room (about 15'x10') and was blown away by the sound put out by such a small speaker system. Now, don't think that this will replace a full Dolby Pro-Logic Surround system- that's not what it's for. But the sound quality is extraordinary for its size, and if you are throwing a party and want high-quality background music, or loud music while you are cleaning up, this is absolutely one you should consider. At the upper-level of the volume range, the Klipsch is completely capable of filling a large room with a wide range of music, and I would have no reservations about using it for a party.
There is also an AUX input for hooking in a separate peripheral to the back. This is actually great because if you are hung-up on the ability to charge your iPod while playing it, you can charge the iPod via a wall charger, and run an aux output from the iPod to the Klipsch. Voila, problem solved!
The controls on the speakers are very minimalistic, with just power and volume buttons on the top, but using the equalizer on my iPod, I am able to get a wide variety of sound qualities to suit my preferences (and I am actually rather picky). Per another reviewer's suggestion, I tried the Treble Booster setting, and agree that that is an optimal setting for most music. The remote also worked very well, right out of the box. I gave four stars just because this is an outdated version of this system that lacks the ability to charge the iPod, but the sound quality for such a small unit is truly top-notch.
One note about the use of this unit as an alarm clock, because that was actually something I was looking forward to- the 2nd Generation iPod Touch DOES NOT support nor have any way of utilizing a song or playlist as an alarm the way the earlier iPods did. That means there is no alarm application you can buy that will allow it. I do not know for the life of me why Apple chose to remove this capability, but I was unaware of it. Thus, if you have an iPod that can play music or a playlist as an alarm, it will work fine on this unit, but the newer ones may not. Note this is purely Apple's fault, and not Klipsch's. I am actually getting fed up with Apple's constant rearrangement of features and functions from one iPod generation to another. Next time I might just opt for a Zune instead.
Customer Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
I use my iGroove at work, and I must say that I am totally satisfied with this purchase; the sound is fabulous for such a small unit. I have owned stereo "boombox" CD players twice the size that don't sound as good as the iGroove. I know that for many users of the newer iPods the lack of the dock charging feature is a major drawback, but these newer 'pods WILL still play when connected through the iGroove's Auxillary 1/8" jack located in the back of the unit (having an Aux jack was one of my speaker deal breakers as I also frequently play music from my cell phone).
For me, the first and last word on "portable" speakers is the sound, and I'd like to think that I did some fairly exhaustive research on which unit (Bose, JBL, Altec, Creative, etc.) would get the best bang for my buck. By the way, please know that I use the term "portable" loosely as the this Klipsch unit is not actually classified as such, but it can be- more on that in a bit. I settled on the SXT unit after seeing and listening to many of the current speaker offerings on display at Best Buy and a couple of other retailers. I must admit that the Bose Sounddock Portable is a very sexy unit in nearly every way, but unfortunately Bose continues to price point their products out of the range of most of the market- and who wants to tote around $400 worth of speaker investment to possibly break, lose, or have stolen? Having said that, and assuming that you like the Bose "sound"- because Bose speakers very definitely have a specific sound from their speakers to their headphones- the Bose unit is divine; by all means pick one up if you have the means. The JBL speakers (specifically the "OnTour" models) sounded OK, but had weird quirks about design and were also fairly expensive, pound-for-pound. Most of the Altec models felt sort of flimsy, and sounded even more so, especially in comparison to the Klipsch and Bose units.
Finally, though this Klipsch unit retails in the $165 - $175 range, you can easily find it all over the internet for half that or slightly more. Even at full retail price, it is still the top choice when compared to the sound and functionality of the similarly priced units (Altec and JBL)- but when you can get it for $80 - $100? No contest.
Again, pound for pound this Klipsch iGroove SXT is not only the best value, but truly one of the two best models available for sound quality and functionality. The tone is even handed, and the bass is present and clear- you can actually feel the low notes!
Here are the improvements that I would like to see Klipsch make to future models / updates of the iGroove:
- Update the software / docking station to charge the newest iPods.
- Upgrade the remote to fully-functional iPod menu controls.
- Within the confines of maintaining the excellent sound output of the unit, improve its portability. This means make the unit slightly thinner (it's about 1/2 - 3/4" too deep from front to back for backpack travel) and make the unit lighter, if possible.
Cheers, and happy speaker hunting.
Customer Review: Great system for a bedroom, den or small office
Summary: 5 Stars
Take Away: Great device for the bedroom or den. Terrific warm tones and, with only the necessary features, it feels like your spending money on the features that improve listening. If you are looking for something for a larger room or busy office (where some of those extra features might be welcome) keep looking.
First a confession: I'm no audiophile. I pride myself on still having the same Sony receiver (albeit demoted from home theater play in favor of one that can handle surround sound) used daily in the living room. But I like music and I want it to sound warm, recognizable, and with at least some of the richness of tones I associate with live performances.
We were buying this system for our bedroom and so we didn't want to spend more than $200 dollars, and we wanted something that would look nice in our modern style room. And we wanted our music to sound like, well, music.
We tested a variety of models in the busy and loud warehouse space of Best Buy -- not at all like our bedroom, by the way -- using songs loaded onto my iPhone.
The Klipsch won. And not just because it looks nice (which it does) and because we could turn it up (which we could) but because the overall tone and the ability to hear the different components of music -- including the silence in some Chet Baker jazz pieces -- felt superior to the other systems we listened to. We did like the Bose SoundDock but it felt like overkill for our intended purpose. If we'd be going for are larger room or looking to replace that only Sony receiver, we might have gone with it.
At home, we love the iGroove. It fills the room nicely and our bed, about 7 feet from the speakers, seems right in the sweet spot of the music. We also love the low frills. Frankly, we have plenty of alarm clocks. I don't need to play CDs if I can access my iPod. And I would never want to interrupt evening music listening to take a call over the speaker phone.
Two caveats:
1. The video capability is only good for older video enabled iPods. Don't expect to watch any downloaded movies using this and your TV (which makes so little sense to me I almost took a star away).
2. The remote leaves a little to be desired. It can move forward and back in your current playlist, change the volume and turn the device on or off, but you can't back up and choose another playlist. While it feels like I'd want that feature, realistically, I can't see the iPod menu until within an arms length of the Klipsch Groove SXT anyway.
Customer Review: Nothing in this price range comes close
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all I will verify my 3rd Gen Nanos will recharge on the device and our 4th Gen Nano will not charge on the unit I received 2-23-09 from Amazon. Many people will use this device to listen AND expect this to recharge (Or at least keep your Ipod charged while playing) I agree with that expectation. This problem is caused by Apple and not Klipsh's fault. Apple changed the 30 pin layout on the 4th Gen Nano, so while it will play on this device it won't recharge.
For that reason I strongly suggest 4th Gen Nano owners look elsewhere for a speaker.
On with the review.
Pros:
1. Comes with remote that controls Ipod to some extent (pause, play, forward and backward within playlist) also controls volume, Mute and power
2.Sound quality for this price point is unmatched with anything I have seen. Ihome is in this price range and that is total junk compared to this.
3. Compact Package.
4. Auxiliary Input
5. Well known audiophile brand name. Many will not know anything about Klipsh. Trust me, they have been around a long time. My first experience with Klipsh was in the '80s when I saw two speakers the size of a VW that would blow you away. (They have been around for over 60 years) their big claim to fame was Horn loaded Tweeters (Still is, and in fact THIS speaker has two horn loaded tweeters) Many concert speakers are horn loaded to make them louder, others like soft dome are not as harsh. Klipsh have been making these for many years and these are far from harsh in case my description scares anyone. The highs are loud and clear and the horn loaded tweeters are the reason why. The bass is limited by the small woofers while the bass ported structure does a fine job at low to medium levels. you may in fact have heard Klipsh and never knew it. Many higher end Theaters have Klipsh speakers hanging on the wall. A well known audio company crutchfield sells the Klipsh home theater speakers. Nothing crutchfield sells is junk.
Cons:
I hate to list any cons, for one reason I have seen some listed here as unrealistic. If you expect 2 tiny woofers and two horn loaded tweeters to blow the windows out and shake the room with bass, then no, this will not do it.
I think you have to be realistic and look at what you are buying. Small speakers that sound clear and have reasonable bass at mid to low levels. Package includes functional remote and aux input (S-video output too) that can recharge 3rd Gen Nano and older I don't think you need to look any further.
Customer Review: Not enough features for the price, consider others
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm gonna get on a soapbox and start out by saying that we, as consumers, have GOT to stop accepting these kinds of prices for products like this. This thing MSRPs for $150, and you can get it for about as low as $120. What do you get? 2 speakers and a remote that does nothing more than volume and back/next. Looking around amazon at other iPod/iPhone docks, I see that ALL of them are grossly overpriced. Just think about other kinds of products you can get for about $150. You can get another Ipod! A Wii costs only $50 more! I saw $200 netbooks with 3G and Wifi at my ATT store yesterday, and they had a $25 rebate!
The sound quality is very average. Don't believe any reviewer that says it has "great sound". It has "great sound" compared to cheap computer speakers. It has "great sound" compared to a low-end car audio system. The sound quality is only a little better than some of the cheaper (think iLive or iHome) docks that cost 1/3 as much. This thing weighs a couple of pounds max! You can't have good speakers that are that light. Bass is non-existent. The highs are overblown an tinny. Midrange is flat and weak. At higher volumes it's downright painful to listen to.
The remote does not even include a "menu" type of function where you can select your playlist. The $90 iHome IP9, which is a fully featured clock radio with dock, FM, etc. even has that! The sound quality of the IP9, by the way, is not much worse than the SXT. This dock does not accept batteries, either, so it can't be made to be "portable".
For $150, I would expect these additional features on this device:
1. Internal rechargeable battery to make this thing "portable" (Could use 4/8 AA NiMH rechargeables and they wouldn't have to be included)
2. More remote functions, like the ability to choose playlists
3. An HDMI output so that it could be connected to a real stereo system (it has s-video only) and no audio outputs
4. Better speakers (they don't have to be that much better)
5. A microphone so that it can be used as a speakerphone for incoming calls.
With the features and sound quality that the SXT currently has, I would not pay more than $75 for it.
For those looking for a non-portable dock, consider the Sony CMTBX20i, which is a fully featured small stereo system with a dock on top. The speakers are substantial and can actually be listened to a higher volume, it has a radio and CD player, and is really small and fits neatly on a dresser or even an end table.