Bose in the dock

Does this docking audio system have the depth and range expected of it? Read to find out.

news

Design
Bose's design always reflects serious R&D. The look of the system is very futuristic with curved edges at the top and bottom. The dock sits in the centre of a jutting out arc, while the chassis is aluminum. The top flat surface is black matte. The Bose logo is embossed on the bottom strip in the front.

The product is heavy. The heavy duty electronics under the hood all have a specialised purpose. The main weight comes from the woofer, a proprietary Bose driver with a "larger magnet", encapsulated in between the Waveguide, another researched design. There are two Twiddlers, the name given to Bose's mid- and high- frequency drivers.

Features
There's no radio and clock, and the device is not portable, as there's no battery slot. In any case, the dock is too heavy to lug around. In fact, Bose has another Dock that is meant to be portable, called the Sound Dock Portable.

There is a composite-video output for iPod/iPhone images or videos and a mini USB slot for updating firmware. An optional Bluetooth dock is available, but it's not free.With Bose everything comes at a price, even though the model itself costs a hefty price. Bose doesn't give out specifications about max power output or audio.

Performance
The sound is impressively loud. And it's very clean at high levels of amplitude. We played Debussy, and then Prodigy and both contrasting genres of music sounded great, with pounding beats.

The lows of the system go till 40 Hz on our sine sweeps, while the high frequencies go till the point our ears can take. The bass is not too tight though, it's just low reaching and warm. Transients could be better too.

The highs have a sharp clarity, and though it's a bit forward, it's still very much in control. There's no issue of piercing and uncomfortable treble. But we have an issue with the sound not being too open and wide. It is lacks depth, which is a common issue with docking audio systems.