Better than systems three times the price (I Want It IW900 2.1 iPod)

Member Name: The Arch Bishop

Product:	I Want It IW900 2.1 iPod
Date:	28/08/09 (444 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sound quality, build quality, price, features, packaging, everything really!

Disadvantages: Possibly some reliability problems, gloss black scratches easily, unknown brand.

Having spent a very revealing hour testing various iPod speakers in PC World with the missus, this came away the runaway winner. I'd read a few reviews and this looked to be the front runner before we hit the shops but when we heard it in the shop for the first time, we were crushingly disappointed. However, further inspection showed that the bass speaker had died on the demonstrater. So some possible quality issues (and it was pretty scratched up). However, with a new one unpackaged and plugged in, we were frankly blown away. Compared with the other ten or so we tried (all of which were at least £20 more expensive), it was leagues ahead.

Now it's home, we've tried everything from Eva Cassidy's Songbird to such sonically impossible tracks as Ulrich Schnauss's 'Stars' and it's coped utterly with all of them.

It's a heavy unit but it's heavy for a reason. Firstly, the case is made from wood (an extremely thick MDF) which gives the unit a very open and mellow sound unlike others which are entirely plastic and can sound slightly artificial. Secondly, whilst other units boast more compact and lightweight footprints, this ends up masking the fact that they have a very heavy external power-pack which is difficult to hide behind a book case or side board. The transformer in this unit is housed in the main casing with a simple wire and plug being the only external power supply.

Final nice touches include a line-in and cable (so you can use mp3 players other than an iPod or plug in a DAB radio, your PC or even your TV), a credit card style remote that controls the iPod entirely (rather than just the volume and on/off), a video out (so you can hook it up to the TV and play any videos you have on the iPod) and about 8 dock converters (one for all the different series of iPod).

All in all, for a third of the price, it blows away the Bose sound stations and indeed anything else on the market. You will not be disappointed!

Summary: The best £70 you'll spend on audio.

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