Audyssey Audio Dock

Audyssey's Audio Dock is pretty versatile. It's a Bluetooth speaker system with a docking area for iPhones and iPods, which means just about any modern mobile device can wirelessly stream to it, and several Apple gadgets can play through it directly. At high volumes, the Audio Dock manipulates the frequency response with some signal processing to avoid distortion issues, which will irk many purists, but generally, audio performance is solid. At $399.95 (direct), the speaker system is a bit more affordable than most docks this size that offer wireless playback. The ability to take calls through the speaker system itself is another thoughtful extra, making the Audio Dock, despite some flaws, a wireless option worth considering.

Design
The 9-by-5-by-11-inch (HWD) Audio Dock's overall design is simple and sleek. It's all black plastic and black metallic speaker grille, with a narrow front panel and two deep side panels that house the speakers. Under each grille is a 0.75-inch tweeter and a 4-inch woofer, and all four drivers are individually amplified. An under-lit button on the top panel controls playback?we found it sometimes required repeated taps to do the trick.

On the front panel, a narrow, under-lit vertical sliver displays the Volume level. But the actual Volume controls are cleverly hidden behind the Audyssey logo on the iPhone docking area, near the bottom of the front panel. Pressing the left side of the logo lowers volume, while the right side raises it; press and hold the middle of the logo briefly, and it mutes the audio. A rubber bumper to support the backs of docked iPhones or iPods is also situated on the front panel.

Beneath the volume indicator, there's a microphone for taking calls through the speaker system?you answer using the remote control. The back panel houses another microphone (they work together for better voice processing and clarity), as well as a Bluetooth pairing button, the Power switch, a 3.5mm microphone output (for sending your voice through your computer for VoIP calls), a 3.5mm aux input, and a mini USB port. A USB cable is included, allowing you to sync docked iPhones and iPods with connected computers, and there's an "autosync disable" button on the back panel?when pressed, it defeats the connected USB and stops a docked iPhone from syncing to iTunes.

The Audio dock ships with the aforementioned USB cable, two 3.5mm cables for connecting to the rear ports, and a power cable. Also included is a frustrating remote control. It's actually got a bunch of useful features?standard Volume controls, Play/Pause, Track Skip Forward/Backward, as well as Mic Mute and Audio Mute buttons. The best feature is the Phone button, which allows you to answer calls via the speakers, but the frustration comes from the remote's need for a very precise angle to actually work. If you don't aim at just the right spot on the dock, it simply doesn't register at all. Once you get past that, however, the remote is above average, and the system's inclusion of all the necessary cables is also a nice plus.

The system supports Bluetooth (A2DP) streaming, and a free app is available for adjusting the EQ if you wish, though we recommend skipping this pretty unnecessary feature?the system sounds better without any EQ adjustments.

Performance
The Audyssey Audio Dock offers a powerful audio experience, but as mentioned earlier, it's not for purists or audiophiles. The reason for this is twofold: It employs digital signal processing at top volumes to prevent distortion from deep bass, and its speakers are angled in opposing directions, which certainly fills a room, but also obliterates the stereo balance and the concept of a "sweet spot" for listening.

This isn't entirely without merit: The alternatives to digital signal processing are either to let the speakers distort, which sounds just as bad or worse than the gradual volume lowering of deep frequencies when the system is at top volume, or to build more powerful speakers, which would probably cost substantially more. The Audio Dock isn't alone in its use of DSP?the Bowers & Wilkins MM-1 ($499.95, 4 stars) and the Audyssey Audio Dock Air ($399.99, 3.5 stars), an Apple AirPlay dock from Audyssey, both employ similar processing.

As a result of the DSP, tracks with deep bass, like the Knife's "Silent Shout," don't really distort at top volumes (when both the volume on your streaming phone and the dock itself are maxed out), or if they do, it's only momentarily until the processing fixes things. But as the volume rises, the deep bass presence gets dialed back and the overall response sounds noticeably thinner. Big electronic bass drum hits are reduced more or less to their treble-heavy attack, minus the sub-bass resonance behind them, and stringed instruments lose much of their low-end resonance.

In other words, this system can get loud, but it's probably not the best choice for your party if you want to blast loud electronic music or hip hop?it shouldn't really distort all that much, if at all, but it will not sound terribly balanced and full, either. At slightly less intense volumes, however, the Audio Dock offers plenty of low frequency response?and can still do so at fairly loud volumes, just not as much so at top volumes.

At moderate volumes, everything sounds better?not just "The Knife," but also instrumental music like John Adams' modern classic piece, "The Chairman Dances." On this recording, the Audio Dock showcases a pleasant overall balance, with the lower register strings and percussion neither disappearing into the mix (which is entirely possible with more subtle pieces like this) nor overstepping their place in it. The mids and highs are clear and precise, allowing wood percussion and higher register stringed instruments to shine without ever sounding harsh or overly crisp.

As mentioned earlier though, this is not a system for critical listening?few phone dock systems are, to be fair. It still can sound great, and the Audio Dock fills a room admirably for a system this size. But with the angling of the high frequency drivers upwards and away from each other, as well as the low frequency drivers at near exact opposite angles from each other and differing angles from their corresponding high frequency drivers, there is no hope of finding a "sweet spot" to listen from.

On the plus side, the difference between audio performance when an iPhone is docked and when the same iPhone is streaming the same song via Bluetooth is negligible. The pairing process is simple and quick, but we did have occasional issues with playback?it seemed as if the docked iPhone was being controlled by another nearby remote control, as it would occasionally pause playback without any prompting. The stream was not disrupted, the iPhone simply paused the audio. It's entirely possible that the PCMag Labs was the culprit?there can be a lot going on in here and even on the floor below us, but if you if you live in a large apartment building or in a home with several remotes being used, the same may be true for you.

Overall, the Audio Dock offers a high quality stream, as long as you keep the volume at reasonable levels. If you'd rather have a more traditional stereo image, but still want a wireless Bluetooth system, our current Editors' Choice is the excellent JBL OnBeat Xtreme ($499.95, 4.5 stars). Its offbeat design likely alters the stereo image slightly, too, but everything's generally pointed in the right direction and the speakers are quite powerful. There are some AirPlay docks that are also excellent choices, if you'd rather use Apple's Wi-Fi based streaming audio feature rather than Bluetooth, though they are all more expensive, such as the Klipsch Gallery G-17 Air ($549.99, 4 stars). Audyssey's Audio Dock, however, is slightly less expensive than much of the serious wireless dock competition, and at moderate volumes you get quality output, and some nice extra features.?

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