The Audyssey Audio Dock isn’t your average iPod dock. Part of that is the price tag of course: £349 is a lot to stomach. But it’s also down to the accompanying app and impressive customisation options for serious sound freaks. It’s not on sale in the UK until next month, but we got a chance to test it out this week. Read on to see what we made of it in our Audyssey Audio Dock review: First look.
If the name Audyssey rings a bell, it’s because you might have seen its tech in home theatre systems and car audio. It’s now turned its hand to making consumer gear itself, and its first effort is the Audyssey Audio Dock, which perhaps surprisingly is designed for your work desk rather than a living room AV set up.
Looks a bit like Bobba Fett's helmet, doesn't it?
That slim frame houses two 4-inch woofers, and two 0.75 inch tweeters on the inside, and a 30-pin connector for Apple iPods and iPhones on the front – the logo actually acts as the volume and mute buttons, which is a helpful addition you might not know is there. Around the back, there are 3.5mm connections and a USB 2.0 socket also, while the pause/play button on the top is touch sensitive.
You can plug in other audio devices, but really, this bad boy is all about the iPods and iPhones
The Audyssey Audio Dock is surprisingly sturdy for its size, and we came away thoroughly impressed by the deep bass it was capable of pumping out even at low volumes – that’s down to Audyssey’s clever sound processing, its stock in trade.
See our Best iPod dock Top 5 now
We spoke to Audyssey’s vice president of marketing, Rob Mason, about the possibility of AirPlay support for the Audyssey Audio Dock, and while he confirmed that Apple’s streaming tech wouldn’t be supported in this model, he did also say it was a possibility for future models – another dock is planned for next year.
Still, this current Audyssey Audio Dock model is considerate enough to include Bluetooth and front and back mics, so you can have your iPhone 4 playing music, receive a call, and field it from the sofa with a press of the remote.
An Audyssey iPhone app lets you tweak the sound settings
Unusually, the Audyssey Audio Dock comes with its own app (it’s not on the iTunes store yet, but will be before launch, and is free), and it’s not a simple alarm clock, but a way to tweak the settings and EQ curve on the fly. You can adjust with a set of slides and the graph itself, just with a prod of your finger, and then save the settings for different genres, artists and songs.
A thoughtful touch, but of course, given its small size, it could certainly be argued that this level of customisation is overkill, and indeed, £349 is a lot to pay for something which isn’t going to be the centre piece of your lounge, B&W Zeppelin style.
We’ll be chasing down the Audyssey Audio Dock for a full review soon, but it should be going on sale in Apple stores on 17 November, with exclusivity ending in 2011.
