JVC NXPN7 Portable Audio System with Dual iPod Dock

• Dual Dock Design for iPod / iPhone compatible
• AM/FM Tuner
• Dual Alarm
• Multi-Color Illumination
• iPod Video Output

First let me say that the dual dock is awesome. I use this unit with my 3g iPhone and iPod Color. This unit has great sound, and good functionality. for instance, from standby, pressing the play button once, not only wakes up the unit, but also starts playing the last song played on the iPod, nice and easy!

However here are two critical flaws that no one else has mentioned.

1. There is no "Snooze" function! What kind of clock radio has no snooze????

2. Even worse, to use the wake up timer, you have to and I quote the users manual, " Turn off the unit (on standby)". On Standby the unit displays nothing but a blueish glow, THE TIME DOESN'T DISPLAY and can't display if you have a wake up time set. What???????

So just to make sure that you understand, when setting a wake up timer, (which this unit has 3 of) you cannot have the ability to display the time and have a wake up setting active. So rolling over in the middle of the night to glance at the time is not an option with this thing. How lame!!

Other than these 2 (in my opinion) huge functional missteps, this would be the perfect dual ipod AM/FM clock radio.

Buy JVC NXPN7 Portable Audio System with Dual iPod Dock Now

I bought this because I wanted to reduce the clutter of multiple chargers and cords and docks, and I wanted the convenience of a set of powered speakers for my iPhone 3G and clock radio all in one. While I can say that my basic needs were met with this, I can't give it a ringing endorsement for a number of reasons. But before I get into those reasons, a quick basic overview;

The JVC Dual Dock is a fairly compact unit, and the overall quality is fine. Not what I'd expect at this price, but no different than most clock radios. The glossy finish does come off as a bit cheap actually, but overall the unit is handsome. The buttons are clearly labeled and simple to operate, which is nice for those features that can be accessed with the buttons on the unit (more about that later). I'm irked that one of the few buttons on the unit is dedicated to the rather silly and pointless color LED function, but I can't weight that too heavily in the review. The one real downside of the design of the JVC Dual Dock is the power brick; it is absolutely huge. Bigger than I've seen for almost any electronic device ever. Maybe that won't matter for some folks, but in my case I put the unit on my bookshelf and am not able to put the power brick on the floor because I have to run the cable through the back of the bookcase. The power cords do not detach from the unit, so that means I have to have the power brick hidden behind the unit on the bookshelf. Though not removable, the power cord is plenty long from both plug to brick and brick to unit, so hiding the brick somewhere shouldn't be too much trouble for most.

The sound quality is adequate. I would compare the sound quality to a $20-$30 set of computer speakers. But for a bedroom system where high audio quality isn't a necessity, this unit is just fine. It does have a bass enhancement feature, but I found that this decreased audio quality. The radio has good reception with the two included antenna (one FM and one AM).

The clock features are just a little better than your average $20 clock radio. Up to three alarms can be set, each with its own setting of daily, everyday or weekday. And each can be set with its own source for alarm, iPod (#1 or #2) or radio. This is pretty handy for couples, for instance, who have separate wakeup times (which I imagine is the primary audience for this device). While this sounds great, it falls a little short of what it could have been, since having 5 or even 10 alarms would have been just as easy, but added a lot of flexibility to those with more complicated schedules. And when it comes to clock/alarm integration with the iPod, there are some real problems. For example, the alarm function does not work when the unit is left "on" at night. So if you like to listen to your iPod when you're drifting off to sleep, and like to wake to the radio, you can't do it unless you take extra care to set up the sleep timer on the clock radio.

When an iPod is used as an alarm, the unit wakes and presses "play" for you, then fades the music in from 0 to whatever volume is set under the alarm function (nice detail, that you don't have to wake to the same volume that you last used). But if you want to wake to a particular song on the iPod you'll have to leave that song playing on the iPod or set the alarm on the iPod seperately to have it play. The alarm on the iPod will not wake the JVC only the JVC can wake the iPod. This makes sense, but is somewhat complicated for those that like to wake to particular music. Of course, you can just leave the JVC unit on and set the iPod itself to be the alarm, but this would only work with one of the iPods because the source would have to be set the night before.

All functions are handled through a small, one line monochrome LCD on the unit. The interface is done through hierarchical menus that, once you understand, are fairly easy to navigate. But there is nothing graphical to suggest that the menus are hierarchical, so it does take a bit of practice to understand exactly what is going on, especially when setting alarms.

The remote is where we start running into the fatal flaws of this unit. Sadly, JVC made the choice to have some functions almost all functions, actually, accessible only from the remote. Philosophically I have a big problem with this, since remotes can be lost or broken and then you're left with a big expensive paperweight. To add insult to injury, JVC decided that of the limited buttons on the unit itself, one of them is dedicated to the color LEDs, which is just stupid. But what's most egregious is that the remote is one of the worst remotes I've ever used. The buttons are the sealed sort all under a common piece of plastic. Very cheap feeling with almost no tactile response. Half the time or more, the buttons don't even respond, which makes setting alarms or tuning the radio station incredibly tedious and frustrating.

So overall the unit is pretty good at providing an easy way to get rid of clutter and bring iPod music into the bedroom, and it throws in some nice clock features. But its reliance on the poorly designed remote kills this unit dead. Until that is fixed I would not recommend anyone buy this at any price. And speaking of price this should be closer to $80-$90, better reflecting the value of a $20 clock radio combined with a $20 set of speakers with a pair of $30 docks.

Read Best Reviews of JVC NXPN7 Portable Audio System with Dual iPod Dock Here

Do I like this product? yes and no.

I bought this for the purpose of having a nice alarm clock and charging station for my iphone and ipod touch. It does that. I'm an engineer... I have several complaints. JVC designers didn't do a very good job on several area's, although the overall look, sound, and dual nature is fantastic.

Complaints:

1) Bright display is too bright at night. Wrong color too. It should be red... you can turn off the display (ECO mode) sort of, but then, the ipod charging quits too... so you wake up with ipods not charged. That sucks. There is not a good reason why the display couldn't be fixed. I know, because I've done it myself in commercial products which I've designed.

2) The remote was obviously created by a retarded chimp throwing darts at a chalkboard. The locations of the buttons make no sense whatsoever (ZIPPO!), and there is an ipod looking silkscreen on the front of the membrane of the remote, made to simulate and look like an ipod, but it doesn't behave at all like an ipod. The folks at JVC messed this up greatly; next time JVC, you can hire my cat... she can do better than your dart-tossing monkey. Great main unit JVC, so why did you stop when it came to the remote?

3) I have yet to find a use for the colored lights. It would be cool if they would work like the color organ lights of the 60's and 70's...throbbing in sync to magical mystery tour music, but they don't. They just sort of sit there... doing nothing. They're useless. I would make them pulsate to the music... make the remote double as a bong, and you'd really have something.

4) The time clock, and the AM radio... hard to tell the AM radio from the clock display, because they both have "AM" in them. Again, dumb dumb dumb.

On the plus side, the sound is great for a bedside radio... the aux input is nice (I have an ipod shuffle too). And, the best thing... it has two docks. Docks are nice. They have doors to cover the dock when not in use which is a nice touch.

Most of the functionality is built into the remote. Too bad the remote stinks. Nice radio though.

JVC managers shot the engineer too soon on this product. It could have been so much better; still could be saved. Fix the display brightness problem, make a new remote, and I will overlook the useless lights and AM radio/clock issue. I would have given this 4.5 stars.... but with crappy remote and brightness issue, I give it only 2.5 or 3 stars.

Want JVC NXPN7 Portable Audio System with Dual iPod Dock Discount?

... JVC alarm. I see some folk aren't happy with the alarm feature?

It's really not a problem because you just set the alarm on the iPod instead. The iPods nice wake sound is outputted thru the JVC.

I think this system is geared for the iPod touch and classic. It does have wonderful sound on it's own with line-in , FM etc, but incorporates so many iPod features on both the unit and remote some may think twice if they didn't own an iPod. I would still purchase it though even if I didn't own a couple of iPods solely because of the sound this JVC produces.

The sound really is very good. I'm no audiophile however I believe I can differentiate between products that sound nice and products that are just plain lame (the ones that specialise in distortion and interference yuck). The JVC has lovely sound, no horrible 'tinny' treble, nice midrange and for the size, rather a smooth base.

It looks great, charges two iPods at the same time, colours are cool (the LED lights gimmicks, I know, and easily turned off). Love it.

It does have a timer and other clock type features.

I like the audio-in, FM/AM features, haven't used the video out feature. It receives all FM stations with ease.

I would buy this product again based solely on the sound quality.

Very highly recommended.

Enjoy.

I love the sound and quality of this Audio System, setting it up was a little frustrating at first because you have to do it with the remote control but once you get the hang of it, it is easy.