Since we are living the dock age:

from your own personal experience and the hype generated by some manufacturers (webpages/magazines/consumers); what's according to your opinion one of the most overrated/underrated docks for iPod and in general any digital portable player?

My list:

Overrated: SoundLink by Bose: looks cools, nice wireless capabilities but sounds too tinny for the price tag.

Underrated: Anything Altic Lansing, especially the imt620 I'm using these days. Rivals a mini stereo. Price currently (in black and from J&R) $69.

sat in the garden with the sun out my aiwa 600 performs better than various ipod docks ive purchased,indoors i do mp3/4 through an amp.

I appreciate your feedback and while we all love our old skool boxes for various reasons I'd like to discuss docks in particular.

While many boom boxes of yesteryear are remarkable in their sonic qualities, there's also docks around that smoke many old skool boxes. So, please stick to the topic. It's not a war between boxes or dock. Just comparing docks. Thanks.

a friend of mine has a bose unit thats portable in its own holdall bag,bit too much for the obvious advantages in sound quality etc in my opinion,

ive never really thought about buying a true digital portable stereo that wasnt personal,although the current lasonics on offer would turn a few heads.

For all their glory: aren't the recent Lasonics ipod boxes overrated???

built like toys so im told

well, that'd be true Lasonic, wudn't it?

i agree..i thought they were cheap in the late eighties,but ive recently bought one 

the last digital player i nearly hit the buy button on was a yamaha,cant remember the model it wasnt portable,it had an eighties look to it and came in different colors.

so, how does that Lasonic remake fair???

couldnt tell you i dont have one,

good enough to some sixteen year old.. i guess trying to impress the females out and about

You bought one and you don't have one? Tell, me, please, you aren't smoking anyhing!!!???

your talking ipod docks on a portable website...crank...,i was talking first generation lasonics/crowns...your a wind up merchant,

sling it mate and your mp3 sales pitch

Sorry mate, my bad, thought you were hyping the LASONIC iPod box of recent years....your bad for trying to push analogue on a pure digital thread

*pulls up chair*

*offering popcorn* salted or with sugar?

i see,

please excuse my thread ettiquette...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

no worries, I love *lively* and controversial discussions......

Well, you see, I'm a hybrid, son of the analogue boom box age...but adjusting to the digital advances slowly.....

For the record, I love vinyl, hate CDs, survided thanks God tapes.........enjoying digital/internet radio and "taping" lately....

I like sweet and salty together

ah, the Brits.....

@ Claret Badger....since you drive the same car  I used to with an awesome minidisc system.....feel entitled to give your opinion on docks; some of them are more or less boxes now....

sorry - I have no opinion on docks

as they seem to be aimed at people who deem convenience over quality - I am more vice versa

I do however have a Lasonic i935 - but have never used it

For home use I "dock" my iphone into my Technics SU-VX800 amp and Kef Reference model 1 speakers

I find the 100watts RMS per channel very invigorating

I also sold my beetle around 20 years ago - a vile thing

I'm still regretting selling the Beetle of mine......sometimes I dream and it pops up.....

Hence my thread.......I do believe docks are underrated...while some, especially int the US BOSE are overrated......

If you are all for cassettes and a 80s boom box....great.. luve them....you are right....convenience made me a believe of the recent iPod/Zune age. I only could dream of enjoying so much different music on one device back then.....

But really - I ask you - is the convenience a blessing or a hinderance?

Yes you can carry your ENTIRE music collection

But I put it to you - if you remember the days of A-B playing (because you were too scared to waste batteries fast fwding)  this convenience is wasted on the young

Current "youngsters" afflicted with ADD no longer KNOW their entire collection and only know the "HITS".

I'd rather a fine C90 mixtape - or a classic album

It is with certainty that the album as a concept may die - as people ony want to hear/download tracks.

I removed the CD player from my new car - to fit a tape deck

Rite now, I'm listening to Marillion on my dock.....and you need to be sure to turn that shuffle off....

There are instances where nothing beats an ordinary record....for the sake of artistic integration.......and sound.....

Cassettes used to be only second choice for me..... any audiophile of old days would have snubbed you using cassettes.....

I do find that an iPod and dock (decent one) doesn't sound worse than an old skool box with tape.....and offers more convenience....

If you look at cassettes: they were a product of convenience.......easy to carry everywhere....small players.....you could record your own mixtapes....

So, cassettes never were about sound but always about convenience compared to vinyl....

not true

otherwise this hi end Naks would never have been built

(or sold)

Burn the mp3 and smash your ipods.......just the word grrrr

bummer....

This is why radio stations and music studios hardly if ever use(d) tapes?

you're mistaking prosumer with audiophile

Cassette although a flawed medium - can also be very rewarding despite it's limitations.

Mp3's I find tiring - but I can listen to cassettes for hours

ah ok. How does the prosumer differ from the latter? Genuine question. Haven't thought about it. 

No doubt, cassettes do have their own charme, so does vinyl, CDs, mp3s, AAcs......to each their own. I used to sit on Sundays in front of my dad's Denon tape deck hoping the station would play they song(s) I was after. Later had my own Sony stereo with a nice deck. And then, the long drives during the holidays...backseat, Walkman....or school excursions....on train or bus...double speaker line out...listening with a chick to her or mine mixed tape......

Okay, enough retromotions.....

Digital (distribution) hasn't ruined music for me....instead broadened my horizon of what I missed back then.

Don't know if you can call it under or overrated but the baddest ipod dock I have ever heard is the Beatbox by Beats Audio. It costs $400 but the bass pounds extremely hard and has awesome overall sound and clarity....as for the music debate, I am thankful for mp3 audio because it has allowed me to find so much music that would be lost otherwise because it is out of print in any other format. For purity of sound I prefer albums over cassettes...for audiophile clarity nothing beats a flac download, it allows you to hear every detail of the music.

i also like the docks but too expensive and with out a face, rather buy a nice m70 with 400 bucks,  i can plug in my ipod, use cassettes, radio, a turn table, or even a computer and get it going thru the boombox, i dont know how many inputs the docks have but they seem boring and plain, i would like to own a dock but not at those prices.

Haven't had the pleasure yet to listen to a BB since my local BB has it on display but not connected somehow.

I'd also like to try the new pod from skullcandy and the iHome boom box. Both are said to come with some good bass. And lot cheaper....

the Vandal sets you back around $150.

The Altec imt620 (last pics) can be had for $69 currently. Sound rocks for a such portable device. Sound is full, clear, crisp with enough bottom bass to be happy at your desk/bed/pool/shop. I'd say it even could deliver for a small house party as background. No, I'm not affiliated with Altec or the place that sells it for 69 bucks....I'm just happy with its performance.

The Vandal is said to have your neighbors call the police....