Review : iHome iP1 Studio Series Speaker System for iPod and iPhone

Review data :
Rate : 4/5
Price : $299.99 ($199.95 at amazon (33% saved))

This time i want to give you a simple review about ihome ip 1 studio. first i want to share to you about tehnical details and spesification of this great product. i found this detail from amazon.com.

Product Features

  • Supports most iPhone and iPod models with Universal Dock Connector
  • 100-watt Class-D biamplified architecture through twin 4-inch woofers and matched 1-inch dome tweeters
  • Component/Composite video outputs allow you to watch your iPod/iPhone movies on your TV
  • Full-function remote controls unit and iPhone/iPod menu functions
  • Auxiliary input for connecting external audio sources

Technical Details

  • Drivers: Two 4-inch woofers, custom glass-fiber diaphragms; two 1-inch tweeters, high-efficiency silk-dome
  • Amplifier Type: Class-D, patented analog feedback type
  • Power (Total): 100 Watts, RMS
  • Power (Tweeters): 2 x 10 Watts, RMS
  • Power (Woofers): 2 x 40 Watts, RMS
  • Frequency Rresponse: 45-20,000 Hz
  • Bi-amp crossover frequency (active): 8 KHz
  • Signal-to-noise ratio: Greater than 103 dB
  • THD + Noise: 0.006%
  • PSRR: Greater than 80 dB
  • Power Efficiency: Greater than 90%
  • Digital Signal Processor type: 32-bits, floating point
  • Digital Signal Processor program: Bongiovi Acoustics Digital Power Station (DPS)

iHome, by comparison, has never released a $300 iPod or iPhone sound system before, and we had frankly been very concerned that the company might be out of its depth. iP1—also known as iHome Studio Series and formerly called iHome One is very clearly a complete break with that past, sonically and aesthetically. In a laudable move, iHome went outside of its own engineering labs to procure audio assistance from Bongiovi Acoustics, a company with considerable experience in studio session recording and in-car speaker systems. Consequently, iP1 is as aesthetically close to the ideal iPod and iPhone audio system as anyone has yet come, a design that mightn’t be the very first of its kind in the speaker world, but is the first made specifically for iPod and iPhone users. If iP1 has any aesthetic flaws, they’re small and admittedly picky ones. The iPod and iPhone dock is adorned with four buttons—two more than the Sound Dock, one more than On Stage—that provide an white glowing power control, intermittently white illuminated volume controls, and a blue “B” button that is designed to activate and deactivate the Bongiovi Acoustics audio processing feature. Quizzed about why anyone would ever want to deactivate the feature given that iP1’s audio sounds completely flat without it, iHome told us that it provided a clear sense of the benefits offered by Bongiovi’s tuning. To iHome’s substantial credit, almost everything else in iP1 was obviously well thought-out. Though the power and volume buttons mightn’t be necessary on the face of the dock, and Bose has eliminated power buttons entirely from the bodies of its SoundDocks, iP1’s front-mounted position is smarter than JBL’s inconvenient rear power buttons. Additionally, iHome uses lights behind the volume buttons to indicate when the system is receiving bass and treble boost commands from the remote control—functionality and signaling that are completely missing from both the Bose and JBL systems. iHome has kept iP1 simple, but made it more than competitive with its peers.
The system features a 100-Watt, four-channel amplifier and digital signal processing system that’s been tuned by Bongiovi Acoustics to outperform similar DSP-based auto-equalizers found in Bose and JBL products. iP1 analyzes the music that’s about to play through the amplifier and speakers, and makes dynamic adjustments to maximize the quality of the sound, and minimize distortion from the speakers. It’s also significantly wider than both systems, measuring roughly 16” across to Bose’s 12” and JBL’s 14”. Essentially, iP1’s approach seems to have been “pick the right components, give them a nice enclosure, and worry less about the size than the sound.”
iHome iP1 Studio Series Speaker System for iPod and iPhone (Black)The system is also well-shielded against iPhone audio interference and didn’t produce distortion when we flipped EDGE mode on, an improvement on most of the iPhone-ready speakers we’ve tested, including earlier ones from iHome.
Then we whipped out the aforementioned big boys: Bose’s SoundDock Series II, a continuation of what is most likely the top-selling $300 iPod audio system, and JBL’s On Stage 400P, which sells for $50 less yet offers somewhat superior clarity, treble, and bass performance, albeit at a lower peak volume. At moderate levels and at their equivalently dangerously loud peak volume levels, iP1 sounded better, too—actually, much, much cleaner when they were both cranked up high. The SoundDock wasn’t built to produce low-distortion sound at high volumes; iP1’s drivers and amplifier handle power with considerably more grace.
Compared against On Stage, iP1 surprised us a little by doing something that we typically don’t hear in JBL systems: it made On Stage seem just a little too sharp in the treble department. True, iP1 is more expensive than On Stage 400P, but unlike the disappointingly odd JBL design, iHome has come up with a showpiece audio system.
There is, however, one notable and unexpected hiccup in the system’s electronic performance—the primary reason this system rated less than a flat A: its video-out. After all of our audio tests had been completed, and we were suitably impressed by iP1’s sound, we connected it to our test HDTV and checked out the component video output; unfortunately, it wasn’t totally clear. If you’re planning to use iP1 with a TV, expect less than great video performance.