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 September 1, 2006 Accessorize Your iPod While in college, I worked at an electronics store, where I was told that accessories, or "add-ons," were the single easiest way to increase my sales commissions. Making sure to offer the customer batteries, better headphones, protective gear, or an extended warranty for that $50 Sony Walkman guaranteed me higher margins and, ultimately, more money in my pocket. Much of that money went immediately back into the coffers of electronics manufacturers. At the time, I owned Sony Studio MDR-V headphones and a very nice Sony Walkman cassette player. Fifteen years later, Sony’s groundbreaking Walkman has been displaced by Apple Computer’s beautifully designed iPod. Aside from the obvious differences between the analog and digital formats, both products are personal music players. Whereas the Walkman’s success was due to its groundbreaking portability, the iPod’s popularity stems from its inspired design and distinct personality. With the iPod, Apple has delivered a device that eases the customer’s acquisition and playback of music, either by ripping CDs or by downloading songs from Apple’s Music Store onto an iPod, using Apple’s iTunes Jukebox software. No other music player offers this level of seamless integration and access to music in a single package, plus a healthy dose of "Apple personality." The iPod’s sales figures have been staggering, and include income from me: I own a 2GB iPod Nano. Statistics published this year by the Consumer Electronics Association indicated that sales of MP3 players accounted for almost 40% of the $10 billion spent on audio in 2005. The CEA didn’t single out individual brands, but figures published a year earlier by the NPD Group, a market-research company that uses consumer information and point-of-sale statistics to forecast market trends, alleged that the iPod made up 92% of MP3 player sales in 2004.
I’ve sampled a couple of these desktop systems, and their sound quality has varied from hollow and shrill to full and involving. The Teac SR-L200i favored the latter category. I didn’t think this clock-radio design would sound very good, but after a few days in my office it had convinced me otherwise. The tabletop Teac’s warm, surprisingly robust sound competently covered up the artifacts of MP3 compression, while its stout, credit-card-sized remote provided enough control to make it a cool office companion. The Teac won’t give you hard-hitting bass or extended highs, but it will provide smooth, enjoyable background sound. Its build quality is lightweight but very well finished; my sample came in the same pearlescent black the iPod is available in. If you own a Video iPod, the SR-LXi includes a video output for connection to a TV.
It’s little details like this that make the difference between a product that’s excellent and one that’s merely acceptable. During my stint as a salesman it was easy to separate the good accessories from the cheap knockoffs. Good accessories were designed to integrate and operate seamlessly with a product, while lesser samples felt tacked-together and unintuitive. Designed by committee and manufactured by the lowest bidder, poorly made accessories ultimately ended up in the junk drawer or trash. Conversely, some extremely well made products held questionable value in the eyes and ears of penny-wise consumers because they couldn’t assess the benefit of the additional cost. Cables are such an area. While I’ve heard differences among cables, I was skeptical about whether upgrading the cable on my iPod Nano would make a difference in the sound -- especially when listening in locations where the ambient noise exceeds the noise floor of the portable audio system. According to AudioLineOut’s Ken Ball, the iPod Dock cables he offers are typically paired with portable headphone amplifiers such as the Portaphile. I used my HeadRoom Total AirHead and a pair of Sennheiser HD 580 headphones during my evaluation of the Dock cables.
As with most audio tweaks, I heard the biggest payoff when I sat in the comfort of a quiet room, in the dark, my eyes closed, listening through high-quality headphones and a dedicated amp. Listening only to my iPod, the biggest difference was between compression algorithms. For noncritical listening I prefer Apple’s excellent AAC because, even at 192kbps, MP3s sound a bit thin to me. With a higher-resolution amp and headphones, the high-frequency softening of AAC is apparent. For critical listening, Apple Lossless differs little from a CD. Unfortunately, lossless files eat up about 10MB per song, which is a lot of space in a 2GB Nano. I no longer have my Sony headphones or Walkman, and I don’t miss them. The combination of my iPod Nano and a pair of Etymotic ER6i headphones sound better, in a much more compact and manageable package. As long as manufacturers continue to offer high-quality accessories like the ones mentioned here, the Apple iPod will continue to grow in popularity, and continue to drive manufacturers to create products that will give it yet more flexibility and integration with our increasingly active lifestyles. ...Anthony Di Marco
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These impressive numbers have
prompted manufacturers to jump on Apple’s coattails. Since its release in November
2001, the iPod has spawned more than 1000 accessories from manufacturers looking to
capitalize on its success. In addition to headphones and protective gear, one of the
largest markets has been the sale of mini music systems for playing songs in smaller
rooms, such as an office or bedroom. The majority of these "amplified speakers,"
such as the Teac SR-L200i ($179.99 USD, shown right) and the recently released SR-LXi
($179.99), incorporate a 30-pin interface into which an iPod can be plugged. No additional
cables are required. The result is an attractive integrated music system small enough to
unassumingly fit almost any room’s décor.
If you like having tunes at the beach or
out in the middle of nowhere, the Zvox Mini ($199.99, shown right) delivers full,
open sound with good extension in the highs. The Mini’s nicest features are its
optional battery power ($49.99) and PortaParty carrying bag ($49.99). Handling the
Mini revealed a solid, well-built enclosure with a soft-touch finish that gives it an
upscale feel. Other than portability, what separates the Mini from its competition is
PhaseCue, a proprietary Zvox technology that enables the 13"W x 3.3"H x
10"D enclosure to sound much larger by using out-of-phase signals to improve the
soundstage’s width and depth. I found that PhaseCue worked best when I listened from
directly in front of the speaker. The biggest issue I had with the Zvox was its battery --
the heavy rechargeable cell didn’t seem durable enough for a portable product. The
soldered connections between the battery and power cable looked as if they’d come
apart with little effort. Zvox’s Thomas Hannaher tells me that they’ll consider
revising the battery system once they’ve gauged demand for the option. Currently,
they find that most people prefer plugging the Mini into the wall. 
One benefit of using the 30-pin compatible iPod connection is that it bypasses
noise from the iPod’s own volume-control pot. This feature alone increased the
dynamic headroom and reduced the noise floor as I listened to Dido’s Life for Rent
[Arista 50137] and the Pet Shop Boys’ newest wry confection, Fundamental
[Rhino 79525]. Hooking up the HeadRoom amp to the Nano’s headphone out using
AudioLineOut’s Standard LineOutDock ($38) instead of a mini-to-mini connector
made a difference even when I listened through the Zvox Mini. The bass seemed tighter,
while the sparkle of cymbals was less grainy. Hooking up the more expensive iPod Dock
cables such as the Bling Bling Dock, Silver ($45, shown right) and Ultra Thin
Copper ($45) offered no discernible improvement through the Zvox. The Bling Bling and
Copper did make a difference through the HeadRoom-Sennheiser setup, however. The Silver
conductor sounded more open and smooth, while the Copper sounded warmer in the vocals and
bass, with snappier dynamics. Despite what you may hear with these connectors, all
AudioLineOut products are handmade and of very high quality.