Wired on iHog iPod Docking Station Speaker System “Perfect for kids who like to take their tunes outdoors, to a friend’s house or even to another room, without having to worry about lugging along a power brick and finding a free outlet,” by Brad Moon
 

By Brad Moon, Wired

"iHog...Speaker Docks Worth Considering For Your Music Loving Kid"
By Brad Moon November 28, 2011 | 7:45 am | Categories: Electronic Geek, Everything Else

 

Speaker docks are one of the more popular accessories for portable gadgets, especially those that are capable of playing music. The market for iPod, iPad, and iPhone speaker docks in particular has grown exponentially in the past decade. One side effect of this ever expanding offering is that there is now an incredible range of speaker docks available for iOS devices (and others — although the reality of the situation is that the majority of these products ship with Apple dock connectors, using an AUX/headphone jack combo to accommodate everything else), so getting a reasonably-priced, compact speaker dock for the kids, for example, doesn’t have to mean giving up on decent sound capability. There are also a wide variety of form factors available as well, many of which appeal more to the whimsical side. Today, I’m looking at two inexpensive speaker docks that would make great gifts for the tween or teen in your life...an iHog system from Speakal.
 

iHog From Speakal

iHog in white from Speakal
My tween daughter is a big fan of this system. I have a sizable collection of audio gear lying around the house, including a number of speaker docks, not to mention a steady parade of review products. For the most part her reaction to even the most impressive of these is a pretty solid “meh” even though she’s getting pretty into music — which is probably a good thing, because I’m not forking over $500 for a sound system for her room. The iHog, however, made an impression. She really liked the funky white pig with the glowing green mouth.

In terms of specs, the iHog is pretty good value for the money. The 4.2 pound white plastic unit sports a 20 Watt subwoofer (there is a manual bass adjustment for the subwoofer to move between “solid” and “booming”) and four other speakers giving it a decent range and volume capability for something so compact. The total power output is 28 Watts, more than sufficient to fill a child’s bedroom. The iOS dock allows the iHog to charge supported Apple devices and it does offer a 3.5mm AUX input to hook up anything from a non-Apple smart phone to a TV or portable gaming system. Combined with the included remote, controlling my daughter’s iPod Touch from across the room was easy. For manual control, the iHog’s “ears” double as touch sensitive volume buttons, while there are touch sensitive controls on the front of the unit for controlling play functions. The iHog also packs a rechargeable battery, good for 6 hours or more of portable music. Perfect for kids who like to take their tunes outdoors, to a friend’s house or even to another room, without having to worry about lugging along a power brick and finding a free outlet.

I only had two quibbles with the system. The dock connector blocks the iPod Touch/iPhone Home button, making it difficult to switch functions while the device is docked. The other issue was bass and treble controls, which are accessible only with the remote — lose the remote and and you’ll have to rely on your device’s built-in EQ settings to tailor the sound.

Available in White or Pink, iHog retails for $149.99 through Speakal, although at the time of writing, they were available through Amazon for $118.29.

Wired: Pretty good sound for the price, built-in rechargeable battery a big bonus, glowing green mouth adds to the funky appeal, touch sensitive controls make it easy to clean (fewer nooks and crevices), dock holds iOS devices snugly and recharges them.

Tired: Would be nice to have manual bass and treble controls, dock blocks iPhone/iPod Touch Home button.




 

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