New Gadget 2011

Clad in slick black with metal speaker grilles, the Pure-Fi Elite looks as good as it sounds. It’s wide but surprisingly shallow, and you pop your iPod in the center just above its display. The remote is backlit and features six keys you can program to cue up your favorite iPod playlists or radio-station presets, but you can’t navigate the iPod’s menu system.

Compared with the Bose SoundDock, the Pure-Fi Elite has deeper bass extension. It also sounded smoother and more detailed than the SoundDock in the upper midrange. In fact, the Pure-Fi Elite excelled with just about any type of tune I threw at it.

A minor gripe: My test system didn’t always power on quickly. Sometimes I had to press the button three or four times before it did so, whether I used the remote or the front-panel buttons. I was also disappointed that the set doesn’t have an alarm clock, which, combined with its built-in clock and sleep timer, would have made it the perfect bedroom sound system.

The bottom line is that looks, punch, and price steal the show here. The Logitech Pure-Fi Elite turns heads and pumps out top-notch sound quality at an attractive price.

Logitech Pure-Fi Elite Review
$179 list
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Vestalife Ladybug Review: iPod Dock Wings

iLuv i199 Stereo System for iPod: This Dock is Hard to Love

Griffin Journi: Looks Good, Sounds Bad

At CES 2008 in Las Vegas, they introduce the newest dock for iPod called Vestalife Ladybug. The loudspeaker which gets an award at Audio Components category has cute design and appearance. Its form like a butterfly opening it wings.

Two 1,5 inchs tweeter is looks like wing. When applied, tweeter like unfurl in the left-right of main dock. In off condition, hence tweeter can be folded. Makes dock in circle form and is easier to be kept.

Vestalife guarantees the sound quality which served with digital amplifier system installation. For undertone is produced by one 3 inch subwoofer. As figured in feature, Ladybug compatible with iPod, mini iPod, iPod nano and 4D iPod. As complement, there is USB port for synchronization with computer, AV output, and external jack power which able to be connected to CD player, MP3 player. Remote also figured in to ease the action.

Vestalife Ladybug Review
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iLuv i199 Stereo System for iPod: This Dock is Hard to Love

Griffin Journi: Looks Good, Sounds Bad

Altec Lansing IMV712: Improve your iPod Viewing

The button array across the top does nothing to simplify the way you navigate audio sources, and the included remote seems to respond to your touch only when it feels like it. Then, there are inconsistencies- for example, MP3s played from a USB drive can scroll artist and track info across the screen, while tracks played from CDs show nothing.

Built-in iPod navigation is weak. But the option to use the iPod as an alarm source is handy (you can't choose a specific song, you can only set the volume), and the iPod video-out jack is useful.

No one can accuse the iLuv i199 of being short on tricks, and its audio output doesn’t distort at high volumes. But all things considered, I'd much rather save up for either an Apple Hi-Fi or a Chestnut Hill Sound George, both of which sound better and operate more intuitively.

iLuv i199 Stereo System for iPod: $199.99

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Griffin Journi: Looks Good, Sounds Bad

Altec Lansing IMV712: Improve your iPod Viewing

iSkin Cerulean RX & TX Combo: Remote- Control Your Tunes

The Journi’s design, however, is quite attractive. My favorite touch is the black leather that wraps around the dock when the device is not in use and acts as a kickstand when it’s on. At just 6.5 by 10 by 1.3 inches, the Journi is easy to pack into your suitcase, too also, a remote attaches magnetically to the speaker grilles, so you’ll never lose it.

The rated rechargeable lithium ion battery life per charge is about 8 to 10 hours, but I squeezed 16.5 hours out of it on my tests. Of course, to get the best from the battery your iPod must be fully charged.

Put simply, the Journi looks sexy but sounds bad. Buy it only if you're looking for something stylish and audio performance isn't really a concern.

Griffin Journi: $129.99

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Intellitouch EOS Wireless: A Budget Home Broadcaster

iSkin Cerulean RX & TX Combo: Remote- Control Your Tunes

Altec Lansing IMV712: Improve your iPod Viewing

And yet the iMV712 leaves me feeling a bit blah. The subwoofer lacks the rumble you’d expect for an audio product that costs this much; the remote feels cheap; and the stereo speakers offer up slightly tinny sound-though the dock's screen is adequately sized. YouTube videos converted for the iPod looked pretty good on the 480-by-240 screen, and iTunes store-bought video content looks plenty sharp. The screen, however, did seem a bit dark.

I still question whether anyone really wants to view iPod videos on a slightly bigger display, as opposed to a TV. Ultimately, I think the price is way too high for this average-sounding niche product.

Altec Lansing IMV712: $350

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iSkin Cerulean RX & TX Combo: Remote- Control Your Tunes

Intellitouch EOS Wireless: A Budget Home Broadcaster

Viewsonic PJ258d Viewdock: project your ipods videos

The real allure of the Cerulean is that the iPod now becomes its own remote, and you can avoid the lousy, screen-less controllers that come with so many docks. Navigate and play tracks as you normally would, but now music will pump out of your speakers wirelessly. The trade-off, as is usual with tunes over Bluetooth, is mediocre audio that distorts in the high frequencies. On a positive note, the Cerulean is not jut for iPod- an included USB Cable lets you stream music from your computer to the iPod speaker dock, as well. Setup is a piece of cake.

Is this the easiest way to navigate your iPod during your backyard BBQ? You bet, if you and your guests can live with less-than-stellar sound.

iSkin Cerulean RX & TX Combo: $149.99

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iKaraoke Everywhere
iLoad: Feeds iPods Sans PC
VIEWSONIC PJ258D VIEWDOCK: PROJECT YOUR IPODS VIDEOS

The Eos Wireless setup ships with an iPod dock armed with a membrane-button remote and a single wireless stereo speaker unit. You can purchase additional speakers for $150 apiece. Keep in mind that there's a 20-ms delay between the music originating at the dock and the receiving speakers. When a Range Ex switch is activated, that delay becomes 64 ms, allowing the receiving units more time to pick up dropped bits of information.

With a rated range of 150 feet using GigaWave technology, the Eos sounds like an excellent deal, but design flaws, a very limited remote and a decidedly bass- free audio performance will leave many listeners frustrated. Strangely, the receiving unit sounds better than the dock itself. In both scenarios, however, the bass is sorely lacking.

In its defense, the Eos will surely rock your next outdoor party. I just don’t recommend having it as your default home audio system.

Intellitouch EOS Wireless:
$300 – core speaker system;
$150 for additional speakers.

The PJ258D is rated at 2,000 lumens, enough to throw a good-sized image that can stand up to ambient light. Sadly, it suffers from a rainbow effect in white areas. Though seen with many single DLP- chip projectors, the effect seemed particularly bad with this one. The PJ258D did poorly on our standard-resolution TV video test, but much better when tested with DVD-resolution video. It has an excellent contrast ratio of 374:1. Even as a standalone projector, the PJ258D does a decent job. But if you own an iPod, despite flaws
such as the rainbow effect, its something special.

ViewSonic PJ258D ViewDock: $1,000

The concept is simple. Just load CDs directly onto the iLoad and it will transfer them to your iPod, eliminating that pesky middleman, the PC (and i Tunes). During setup, the iLoad requires you to install software onto your iPod. It takes just 6 minutes to do so from the provided CD, but for some reason the software rearranged my iPod's artist menu. Now I can no longer find The Knife under K; all artist names that begin with the word The reside under T.

Loading is easy. Insert a CD into the iLoad and follow the instructions on the device's LCD screen. An Ethernet port on the back can be used to retrieve song information from the internet (if none is embedded in the CD files), but you'll need a connection that requires no password authentication.

Though the iLoad works pretty well, it’s worth buying only for someone who doesn't own a computer.
iLoad: $299

It comes with a four-foot cord that connects to an adapter to be attached to the button of the iPod.

This adapter has its own line-out jack for connecting to a stereo or your earphones. Another option is to use the iKaraoke's FM transmitter to broadcast your tunes through your radio.

Now here's the nifty part. The iKaraoke microphone- in principle- allows you to isolate the lead vocal track, lowering the volume so your voice can stand out. While vocal removers have become quite common-such as those of Winamp and DirectX-iKaraoke's easy plug and play setup doesn't require additional plug-ins.

But here's the rub. As with many vocal removers, iKaraoke doesn't work all the time. For instance, the Wall Street Journal was slightly disappointed that Justin Timberlake's tinny vocals on "Rock Your Body" couldn't be excesed at all, but the technology worked fine with Bob Dylan's "Like a rolling Stone".

Another possible downer is that it doesn't come with built-in lyrics; you have to manually enter the words using iTunes on your computer.

Of course, serious karaoke singers know their stuff better than most of the American Idol train wrecks, and many of us went through the "multiplex" phase, which essentially also removes the lead vocals.

But at least you don't have to sing along to some cheesy keyboard renditions of popular songs and are spared from watching videos of exotic beauties in pensive moments.

Despite the shortcomings, the iKaraoke is a indeed a fin accessory-much more than the drives you crazy iDog.