iHome iH80 Speaker System for iPod (Black)
by Sound Design, Inc.
|
List Price: Our Price: $32.00 You Save: $87.99 (73%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of iHome iH80 Speaker System for iPod (Black)
Customer Review: love it love it love it
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this item when it went on special in the "Today's Deals" email. (which if you haven't subscribed to that, it is a MUST DO!) Because it was such an unbelievable deal, I couldn't pass it up. I put one on my desk at my office and one in a bedroom. I have an 80 GB iPod, 30 GB iPod, and an iPhone. They give you a small plastic piece to put around the plug to fit the different size iPods, but I have found that it is just as easy to leave that off. The plug is a nice snug fit. I use my iPhone in it the most. Right when I plug it in, if I was previously listening to a podcast, it will automatically turn on the machine and put me back to the place I left off last. It also automatically asks me (everytime I plug in my phone) if I would like to have my phone disabled during playback to prevent that annoying interference you get when a cell phone is too close to a speaker or radio. You still have the ability to scroll through your phone while playback is taking place. Also, the remote that comes with it works perfectly with all my gadgets. If you hit the MENU button it will bring up the list screen that allows you to choose video, music, podcast...and you use the arrow buttons to navigate, and then the ENTER button to select things. If you press the PLAY button it will automatically take you to the next song on your playlist, no matter what screen you are on. It took me a while to figure out why my music kept playing when I was scrolling through my podcasts, but it was because i kept pushing PLAY in the center instead of ENTER. the MUTE button works great, as does the PAUSE. When you hit the POWER button, it doesn't turn off my iPhone, it just turns the speaker off/on. The quality of sound is pretty good. I haven't cranked it up, but in an office environment, it is very loud, and the sound is great for my needs. I guess if you are trying to watch something in Dolby Digital Surround, this is NOT the item for you, but quite frankly, it sounds as good or better than most radios I hear. It is pretty compact, not so much in a portable sense, but it fits nicely on my desk and takes up little space. It is very light weight. Oh, and I also like that the remote also has a base and treble adjustment too. The buttons on the top of the speaker are lit in Blue and when you adjust the volume, it blinks so you know it is doing something. Also it blinks when you are muted. I don't know how it works with other brand name items, but it seems to work PERFECTLY with "iAnything!"Customer Review: Decent sound, but power saving "features" ruin it for me
Summary: 2 Stars
I wanted to use the iH80B not only as a charging station and speaker for my iPod, but also as the primary speaker system for my computer (via the included 3.5" aux in jack). It's compact and the attractive form factor make this a natural use for it. The problem is that this device was designed with portability in mind, and as a result it contains battery saving features that cannot be disabled.
For example, even when the unit is plugged into an AC adapter it will turn itself off after a short period if it does not receive any audio input. This is problematic for me because I have it connected to my computer as a speaker system. So every time I fire up iTunes or some other audio application, I have to manually turn the thing on.
The other problem is that the 3.5" jack has a sensor in it that is not very accurate. Audio will only be enabled when it detects an incoming signal, and that signal has to be fairly strong. Almost every time I need to listen to something from my computer, I have to go into the settings and turn up the sound just to get it to realize that it needs to enable audio out.
On the back of the unit there is a switch that allows you to turn off the remote to save power. So, why didn't they just have a switch for setting the thing to AC or DC? Or, better yet, make the thing automatically turn off the the power saving features when it was plugged into the adapter? It's a terrible design flaw.
All that being said, the sound is decent and if you intend to use it only as an iPod speaker, and you need portability, you may find the iH80B entirely adequate. I own two other iHome systems and I can never say enough good things about them. It's a shame that this one does not meet my expectations.
Customer Review: Exactly what I needed
Summary: 5 Stars
I had been looking for a speaker I could plug my ipod into for a while when I saw this at the Gold Box deals in Amazon. The price was so low I dind't think twice and ordered it.
I have owned it for a couple months now and I am very happy with this product, it has a very decent sound, you can plug the different Ipod models available, it is small and elegant.
I used to have a stereo system in my living room so I could play music while having lunch, doing the house chores or simply wanting to listen to music in any of the nearby rooms. I started looking for an Ipod speaker as I did not want to be changing discs and the like having an Ipod already.
This speaker is great, it is small and elegant, which allows me to place it in one of the living room tables without it looking out of place (it matches some our decoration actually); the sound, while not very powerful, is quite decent for my needs. I can have guests at home and plug my Ipod, hit shuffle and have background music. Being this compact size it's also very easy to carry it to other places. It has remote control also that allows you to equalize the sound, move through the Ipod menus and to decide whether you want it to shuffle through songs or not.
I have used this a lot since I got it and I can strongly recommend it. If you are looking for superior sound quality this may not be the best product for you (though you can expand it by purchasing additional speakers that can be connected to one another) If you need something like I described, don't think twice and grab this one, the price they have right now is a great deal.
Customer Review: Nice, but depends on the price...
Summary: 4 Stars
If you can get this unit for $30-40, it's a solid deal. The unit plays loud enough for casual listening in a medium sized room, with good (for what it is) bass output. Bass/treble controls allow to dial in a little extra treble, which the unit needs because it's a bit muddy.
Remote is handy and works as expected. Comprehensive package includes several dock adapters and a nice, compact AC adapter. Built-in amp has the ability to run an expansion speaker, which so long as you use an RCA adapter, can be just about any 4 ohm speaker. This opens up a lot of additional sound output options and is probably a grossly underutilized feature.
This is not the best unit for highly portable duty. C batteries should provide decent battery life, but the unit isn't very handily shaped for carrying, and I don't think docks that support the ipod in such an standout upright position are the best choice for mobile use.
Pricing on the units is dropping because they don't include 3rd gen nano or "classic" regular adapters. Still works fine, but you'll have to hack/fabricate/not use an adapter with a 3rd gen. Trade off is fine by me given the savings, and I suppose Ihome probably makes adapters by now you can buy. I don't know, and won't bother.
If the unit braced the ipod better when docked and included an FM tuner, it'd be a home run.
Customer Review: OK sound once treble is adjusted
Summary: 3 Stars
I picked up this from amazon for $40. I was concerned about sound quality b/c some reviews noted it sounded muddled. But I really just wanted a deal and had a pretty limited purpose in mind (put in bathroom to use while getting ready in the morning/in the shower).
The truth is out of the box the sound is pretty bad. It sounds muddled like you put a pillow over it. Guitars, vocals, all just sounded, well, muffled. But luckily it allows you to adjust the bass and treble--by putting the treble up a few clicks I found the sound was a lot more clear. I also adusted my source audio equalizer to increase the high ranges and that helped too. After these adjustments, it actually sounds good. Like a normal speaker should. I wouldn't say the sound is super sharp or finely textured, but it's good enough. I don't know why it comes out of the box with such unusual settings.
The problem is that once you unplug the thing for a while the treble reverts back to the original settings. So now i keep the remote right on top to increase it every day (you can only adjust bass and treble by the remote). But for my limited purposes it's fine. It's small and cheap.
Overall, if you are in the market for a single mp3 speaker system for your home, I don't think this would be your choice.