I just got one of these last month (same price on an eBay 1-day sale).
I can give a positive review overall, with a few caveats and comments:
It’s odd that this is sold as a “speaker dock” rather than an alarm clock, which is really what it is. (I guess maybe the reason these are white elephants is that everyone who has an iPod/iPhone uses that for alarms now?)
The grille is far more opaque and black than it appears in the main picture. You can see where the speakers are but in normal lighting it looks much more like the other pictures here.
These are 2-inch speakers plus some sort of tuned port on each side. It won’t replace your 5.1 system, but the sound is quite good for what it is.
The whole thing is sturdy, weighty, and of much better quality and feel vs. your typical cheapie clock-dock.
in case you are wondering, you can’t put an iPad on here.
The brightness control is step-wise, three steps plus off. Even on the lowest setting it can be a bit much if you like a very dark room while you sleep. I miss the analog brightness dial on my old, old clock.
Overall this is a great value if you need a clock-radio with a dock.
The FM tuner seems very good to me, crystal-clear on a couple of stations that my previous clock had trouble with. There is an external AM antenna loop-thingy which I have not connected; without it I get no AM at all so cannot comment there.
You can put an iPad on here, it’s just not stable.
I put my phone with a Speck case on it all the time.
I have also used a 3G, 3GS, iPod Touch, and all three versions of iPad on it (I’m a developer, not an addict).
The sound is good.
The speakers are not visible.
Even the iPad will charge on this.
There’s an app for this device that lets you configure the radio and alarms. When you plug your device in, it will prompt you to download it (it sucks, though; D-Sappli or something like that).
My biggest complaint about this device is that after using it for some weeks/months it starts to get hard to get it to recognize my phone and other devices. While they charge, I find I have to tilt the device to and fro a lot to get the alarm to pick up that it’s there, and the slightest nudge and it disappears again. Given Sony’s 90-day warranty, you’re SOL by the time this happens.
Otherwise, it’s really good. The radio is nice, there are dual alarms that can be radio presets or the iDevice, and I use it everyday.
Pick it up cheap while you can if you have 30-pin devices that you want to keep using in the future, even as “backup” devices or home audio toys.
Oh, and for the new devices: it has an AUX in on the back, too.
Watching frustrated tech wannabes rushing to the “discuss this deal” button about iphone speakers so they can be the first to say “But it won’t work with an iphone 5, see how cool I am I know things that everyone else also knows” and then defend themselves as a slew of other frustrated tech wannabes argue over categorically incorrect statements about items that aren’t even released yet is my new favorite thing on woot
Theoretically this is true (the connector is the same) but mechanically it is nearly impossible to line up the angles and actually dock an iPad (iPad 2, anyway).
I would not recommend buying this for use with an iPad.
Ipad works fine and sits fairly well because of the swivel 30 pin connector, also has a rubber piece on the back which helps stabilize your device with our without a case.
Im very tempted in buying one but I don’t need two of them in my home.
Have had the product for 6+ months now and no problems. Payed $80 Retail for this bad boy.
I use this as a speaker dock (not alarm clock) in my dining room to listen to music while I cook in the kitchen (or do other chores in the house) It’s nice to be able to pause or skip songs without having to go all the way back across the house. If you use it as an alarm clock next to your bed only…then yeah, the remote is probably useless to you.
Also, I’ve had the two previous models and both of them had the connectors break/come loose (they stopped reading the ipod/iphones to play music but would still charge) after only a few months. Can anyone confirm that the swivel connection of this newer model actually corrects this design flaw? If so then it’s worth the money for me!
Prices of 30-pin accessories are only going to be depressed from here on out. I would wait until the precise compatibility issues with iPhone 5 are clear before buying anything.
I saw that someone asked this question, but it wasn’t answered. Does it come with a power cord or is this strictly battery operated? Thanks in advance.
I’m not quite familiar with this product, but judging by the specs and this type of speaker, I would guess it’s only powered by an outlet and not via batteries.
But please don’t take my answer as definite, just an educated guess
