A small cove of Apple products...

So I went nuts over the past few months and for some odd reason I wanted a PPC iBook before they got the axe. (Mainly cos I like the form factor.)

I must admit that the Hi-Fi is a mixed bag. It really caters to certain styles of music. The bass is quite heavy and the midrange is okay but the highs somewhat lost in translation. Not to mention the bit-rate you use will have an effect on how well it sounds. It goes back to the old saying... "Garbage in, garbage out". At $349 I expect quality and I was a bit disappointed but I really wanted a solution that was better than the iPod speaker systems designed simply for a small office or desk area. The Hi-Fi is LOUD!!!... It just falls short of perfect. A couple examples is when listening to Blue Man Group or Pink Floyd. Both sound simply awesome with deep bass and sharp response on percussion. (Both were encoded at 320kbps) Listening to classical / instrumental however, the Hi-Fi seems to sound a bit flat. (Also encoded at 320kbps) The albums in question I used here were Time Warp (Sci-Fi movie soundtrack compilation from Telarc) and "The Planets" from Gustav Holst (performed by the New York Philharmonic from Warner New Media. This is a CD+G) I'm not sure why this is but Perhaps it may be an issue of how iTunes encodes or it may simply just not be in the Hi-Fi's "sweet spot" for a command performance. Another minor gripe would be that the included remote for the Hi-Fi (on my iBook's palm rest) is a standard Apple remote. The annoyance here is that you would expect the menu button on the remote to allow navigation on your iPod but it does nothing other than change inputs on the Hi-Fi from your iPod to the audio input jack on the rear. In short, if you're into rock or hip-hop, the iPod Hi-Fi sounds incredible but for some kinds of music it just doesn't compare to a good set of headphones. It will fill a room with sound and I assume it is comparable to one of those Bose Wave Radio systems. (a friend of mine has one but I have yet to really put that thing thru it's paces.) Edit: Fixed a few typos...

It remains one of my favourite albums and always bring it with me when shopping for audio equipment. This was the first CD that I ever seen with a warning that it could damage amplifiers.

His & Hers.