Tivoli Audio iYiYi: iPhone/iPod Accessory Review

September 12, 2009 by Cyprian

iPhone/iPod Accessory Review: Tivoli Audio iYiYi
Reviewed by: Cyprian Peters
-Official website
Price: $399.99

Tivoli Audio make all sorts of different speaker systems, from Hi-Fi’s to Table radios and what we have here, iPod speakers. The iYiYi is one of the latter and performs decently. It is expensive, however, and the big question is whether this dock justifies a $400 hole in your wallet.

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The iYiYi comes in 2 colors: glossy black and white. I was sent the white version and it looks pretty good. If I’m honest, I would probably like the black more, but that’s just me. The design of the iYiYi is quite a bit different than most docks too, making it fairly unique. I’m not the biggest fan of the looks, but lots of the other people who have seen it have told me they like it. I think it looks a bit boxy.

It has a fairly large blue display with buttons and knobs on either side of it. The speakers are a little farther down on either side. The dock itself is fairly hefty at over 6 pounds and not the most portable. Probably better for storing on a shelf or table somewhere in the bedroom or living room.

iyiyi_1

This dock does have quite a few features that other docks do not offer. One of those being radio. I’ve tested quite a few iPod/iPhone docks, and there have been very few that have a radio built in. In addition to the radio, it also has the ‘Radio Data System’ built in, which means that you can see the station and song you’re listening to scrolling across the screen. There are 5 preset buttons for AM and FM stations. There is also a seek function built in. The buttons are a rubbery texture and are easy to push.

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One of the best parts about this dock is that you can set your alarm with it. As someone who always has his iPhone plugged in overnight, it is nice to have it in a dock and still be able to wake up on time with it. This will give you a lot more volume in the morning than just your iPhone if you tend to sleep through alarms! There is also a small, thin remote that comes with the iYiYi which has quite a few buttons. You can pretty much do anything with the remote that you could do with the buttons on the dock itself.

If you want to listen to your music a little more quietly, there is a headphone jack on the front of the dock. The only conceivable reason I could think of for using this would be if you need to charge while you’re listening. Otherwise, why not just listen straight from your iPod/iPhone. If you’re one of the unlucky few without an iPod or iPhone, there is an AUX input on the back which you could use for your computer or other MP3 players.

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Finally, we need to talk about the audio quality. To be honest, I was expecting a little more from this dock. It does sound good, just not $400 good for me. There’s not quite enough bass as I would like. I’ve seen smaller docks that fill the room with sound just as good or better than this one. I’ve found other docks in the same price range to sound much better and bigger. Not all of these other docks have the radio/alarm feature and different design though. For me, it just wouldn’t be worth the money.

Score:
7/10

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Tags: Accessory, iPhone, OS, review