Audio systems

There’s a fun idea behind the Mighty Dwarf Speaker — it’s a large USB-powered speaker driver that works by vibrating whatever surface it’s affixed to. It’s an interesting gimmick, with different surfaces producing varying qualities of audio, but most outputting a lot more volume than you’d expect from a device about half the size of a can of soft drink.

The Logitech Wireless Speaker for iPad Z515 isn’t terribly iPad-specific, despite the name. In reality, it’s an A2DP-compliant Bluetooth stereo speaker, so it should connect to anything with standard compliance. During our testing we paired it with an iPad 2, iPhone 3GS and Samsung Galaxy S II with no problems. The Z515 uses a rechargeable battery with a 10-hour operating life, which should be enough for most needs.

The Grundig IPS01 is the bigger brother of the IPD02 we reviewed recently, but it’s otherwise an iPhone dock built around the same basic premise: to use Grundig’s own marketing spiel, it’s ‘app-driven’ via a free application that’s downloadable through iTunes. Unlike the IPD02, however, the IPS01 is large enough that it encompasses its own LED clock and a number of function buttons — you’re not limited to just the app to run some of the dock’s functions.

Sonos has offered a variety of wireless music systems (made to stream music either from online services or your PC) typically aimed at the high-end, high-spend market. The Play:3 subverts that a little, although not a lot, with each Play:3 component coming in at A$419. It’s possible to pair two Play:3 systems for true stereo sound, but the audio output from even one is exceptionally good. You’ll also need to get a single A$79 Sonos Bridge to set it up wirelessly.

Apple’s iPod continues to be the music player of choice, albeit increasingly in the guise of an iPhone, ensuring iPod speaker docks remain broadly appealing. They've become much more diverse in recent times and you couldn't get much more different than Grundig's budget IPD02 and JVC's '80s-inspired BoomBlaster RV-NB70B. Here we review both.

Eighty bucks typically won’t buy you a particularly good iPod dock, but we're impressed with the features that Grundig has crammed into its ‘app driven’ dock. App-driven in this context means there are no controls on the dock itself, save for volume and snooze. All other functions are handled by a free-to-download Grundig iOS application.

The idea of wirelessly-connected computer speakers is an intruiging one. It’ll potentially allow you to play music from your notebook while your roam around your home or office, for example. Microlab’s new H12W wireless speakers use a proprietary USB wireless dongle, so they’re PC-only. Setting up wireless is still a snap: just plug in the included USB dongle and then pair it with the speakers by pressing a button at each end — it takes less than 30 seconds all up.

Soundbar-style speakers are a fairly rapidly growing product segment and while you can theoretically plug any audio device into them, they're probably most useful as replacement speakers for a big-screen LCD or plasma TV. The TEAC SB04T is definitely targeting at the budget market — it’s comparatively cheap at around $100 and uses a 2.1-channel configuration, with two 8W RMS stereo speakers and a 15W subwoofer sandwiched in between them. That’s just enough power to pack a bit of punch at moderate volumes and up, and a tad better than the speakers in your average TV.

The Pure One Flow is yet another DAB+ radio with a distinctly retro external style, which fits in with Pure’s research that suggests that older listeners are gravitating towards digital radio in larger numbers than their younger counterparts. Two dials control basic selection and volume beneath a four-line display that offers up five selection buttons.

Ignore the name’s implications — this stereo speaker set is anything but micro, delivering a big, punchy sound from two huge, twin-driver enclosures that are 20cm across and 35cm high. The Microlab SOLO6C is admittedly low-fi in terms of features: there are a couple of stereo RCA inputs; a basic remote for controlling main, bass and treble volumes; but no subwoofer (though they really don’t need one) or fancy-pants equaliser effects.