An old-time speaker and a fresh new iPod dock walk into a plastic surgeon’s office. They emerge as conjoined twins, modernized in perfect harmony.
What exactly is this half-speaker, half-dock? A spock? No, Sierra Sound calls the product of its nip/tuck session the iN Studio 5.0, a powered stereo system matching the speaker-dock with a second, anatomically correct, speaker.
That’s it. Two speakers, a power cord, a nine-foot umbilical cord connecting the speakers and, naturally, your resident iPod.
Let the music begin.
Once the music starts, you’ll know this is not the usual one-piece, speaker dock of the month. With two speakers, Sierra Sound has brought actual stereo sound to the iPod. For $399, the iN Studio 5.0 sounds like a pair of decent $200 bookshelf speakers in a traditional system with a stereo receiver. That’s better than all but the best one-box systems I’ve heard.
When docked, the iPod looks as if it’s popping out of the left speaker’s cranium (ouch!). The speakers, in dull iPod white, black or Ferrari red, have rounded edges but not quite the Apple elegance of other iPod systems like the Mondo Mint. With metal grilles covering each speaker’s 1-inch silk-dome tweeter (for highs) and 5-inch paper woofer (for lows), they could pass for industrialized, outdoor speakers.
Spill water on these, though, and you’re in trouble. The left speaker is loaded with a 20-watt amplifier and, on the back panel, assorted on-off and master volume controls, a USB port to connect to your iTunes music library on your computer and connections for various audio and video equipment. And, yes, you can stream music wirelessly from your computer with Apple’s Airport Express, though, unfortunately, via an analog-only minijack connection.
To activate the docked iPod, all you do is reach for the iN Studio 5.0’s tiny remote and press the … wait, a minute, where’s the “on” button? There is none.
Doctor!
Turns out you must press, and hold, the play-pause button for a couple of seconds. That awakens the iPod — as long as the Sierra Sound’s master control on the left speaker’s back panel is in “on” or “auto” mode. Sierra Sound, with a background in custom-design audio installations and in-wall home-theater speakers, is only now joining iPod nation.
Sometimes, tradition (here, a simple on-off button) instead of Apple-like ingenuity works best.
Sierra Sound makes another risky move with its take-it-or-leave-it sound. It omits tone controls, so the user cannot adjust bass or treble. Sierra Sound counters that, like a studio monitor, the speakers don’t need tonal adjustments. True, the iN Studio 5.0 sounds smooth as its silk-dome tweeters, with very little high-frequency glare and adequate, but not overwhelming, bass for its size. Want to fine-tune the sound? Use the iPod’s own elementary tone controls.
If the iPod user can get through some initial brain cramps, he will be rewarded with supple, high-quality sound that deserves the highest-quality music files (like Apple Lossless, not mp3).
– – –
Sierra Sound IN Studio 5.0 iPod Speaker Dock
$399 at sierrasound.com, with free shipping and 30-day free trial; amazon.com
Hot: Real stereo sound.
Not: No tone controls, no dedicated “on/off” button on remote.
