iHome iP1

Introduction

If the iHome brand seems familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen or heard their products at your favorite large-scale retailer. In 2005 iHome began making affordable clock radios for the iPod and since then has expanded their product line to include a dizzying array of portable speakers, home stereo systems, earbuds and even more clock radios. iHome, though very successful and popular, is not what we’d characterize as a “high end” brand, but with the introduction of the iP1, the company aims to change that perception.



Decked out with powerful digital amplifiers, individually enclosed speakers and a proprietary DSP chip that promises to improve sound by “adding back what the MP3 took away” the iHome iP1 certainly looks and reads like a high-end iPod speaker dock. In this review, we’ll put the iP1 through its paces and see if its sound measures up to the all of the company’s hype.
Out of the Box

The first thing we noticed about the iP1 was its weight. At a little over 8 lbs, the iP1 is one of the heavier iPod speaker systems we’ve tested and certainly on par with the weight of many of the high-end brands we’ve seen. But as soon as we removed the iP1 from its box, our attention was stolen by the iP1’s striking appearance. The iP1 doesn’t have a cabinet or case, per se. Instead, each speaker is backed by a cylindrical enclosure and mounted into a ½” thick slab of smoked Plexiglas.

Included with the iP1 is a power adapter stout enough to run your laptop (which we do not recommend trying, by the way), an ultra-thin remote control and an extra pair of grill-less speaker bezels that allow the user to show off the slick looking 4” speakers.

Read Full Article