In this article I will offer some shopping advice for iPod speaker docks. Speaker docks have seen a tremendous growth recently. In fact often you can see a whole section of an audio retailer such as BestBuy or Fry’s Electronics dedicated to speaker docks. That may or may not be surprising. However, the fact is that Apple has dominated the portable audio market for over a decade now.
Speaker docks are great for listening to the iPod or iPhone. In fact some speaker docks are also compatible with iPads and some other devices. If you purchase a dock that has a line-level audio input then you can also connect any 3rd-party MP3 player which doesn’t have the Apple docking port. Some docks such as Amphony’s iFinity docking station also have speaker-level inputs. Such inputs are great in case you want to use the speaker dock to play music from an amplified source.
When shopping for a docking station for your iPod, it is best to bring your iPod to the store. That way you can rest assured that the dock will be compatible with the particular iPod model that you own. Sadly, there are many generations of iPods on the market. As a result, not all docks are compatible with each model and each generation of Apple’s products. In fact just recently Apple has changed the docking port from the previous 30-pin port to a new 8-pin port named “lightning connector”. That has caused most of today’s available docks not to be compatible with Apple’s newest generation of iPhones and iPods. As a remedy you can use a converter. Again, try out everything in the store to make sure everything works as it should.
Make sure you do a listening test to evaluate the quality of the built-in speakers. Many docks are stylish but have poor sound quality. Pick a song that has both low and high frequencies when you do the listening test. Put that song on your iPod and bring it to the store for testing. If you are not fully satisfied with the sound quality then just keep looking for another model.
