When Bose introduced SoundDock for iPod for
the first time in 2004, it created a crowd of mimickers, which leads to the
vast market today. The first model is told apart by the incredibly excellent
sound quality and interesting design, a tradition which has been continues on
the latest model of Bose – Series III with Lightning connector. That connector
seems to be the only thing that is update from Series II, but Bose never
provides detailed technical specs, so we’re not sure of that.
The
first model is told apart by the incredibly excellent sound quality and
interesting design, a tradition which has been continues on the latest model of
Bose
To those who’re unfamiliar with SoundDock, it’s
a small unit, 30cm wide and 17cm high, made of black plastic but on the front
it has a silver metal grille and dock. There’s no internally-mounted
controller, there’s just an 8-button.
Dock Lightning rotates forward to adapt to
the iPhone and iPad case, but sadly it doesn’t calculate the extra thickness at
the bottom of the case – which means that the male Lightning connector can’t
match your iOS device.
Dock
Lightning rotates forward to adapt to the iPhone and iPad case, but sadly it
doesn’t calculate the extra thickness at the bottom of the case
For example, we use Cygnett AeroGrip Feel case
on iPhone 5 because it’s one of the thinnest cases on the market, but even its 1.3mm
thickness is enough to block the connection from being done.
We have to say that this is somewhat due to
the problem that we can’t find any thinner case and we’re not ready to pry it
open whenever we want to listen to music.
This takes us to the listening experience.
In fact, Series III is worth with the legacy of the predecessor when taking
audio quality into account.
The sound is loud and rich, with the
characterized bass of Bose. There’s a little loss in the clarity of the high
and low and high tones, but in general it’s pretty interesting and will be
suitable for most of the listener.
Ask yourself: do you really want a dock?
In the past year, there’re an aloofness
from the speaker dock in order to prioritize for the wireless sound system by
using Bluetooth or AirPlay; a move has received momentum when Apple rejects its
30-pin dock connector and gradually license the new Lightning connector.
So in the past months, we got used to
having iPhone, iPod touch or iPad in our hands while listening to music, and
therefore, there’s a full control with what we’re listening.
Using SoundDock, we suddenly remember the
pain when having the source device plugged in the speaker on the other side of
the room and having to rely on a simple remote control.
Besides, while we can use Series III with
the new Lightning devices, it leaves behind the iPhone, iPad and iPod devices
using older 30-pin connector or connected through an Audio In jack on the back
of the unit. This is not a problem for a wireless device.
SoundDock
back
Bose has Bluetooth options under the form
of SoundDock 10, but it has old 30-pin dock and has the price of $799.
There’s also a dock-free SoundLink Air provided
at $479.
Key
point
·
While Bose SoundDock Series III provides
excellent sound, like it always did, the lack of wireless connection makes it
pretty superficial from many competitors.
Advantages
·
Lightning connector; excellent sound, still
looking good
Disadvantages
·
Unfit to our iPhone cases, no wireless
|
Tech Specs
·
Speaker Configurations : 2.1
·
Height : 6.625 in./16.83 cm
·
Width : 12 in./30.48 cm
·
Weight : 2,700 g
·
Length : 6.5 in./16.51 cm
|
