- iPod Universal Dock for iPod and iPhone
- FM radio with digital tuner with presets
- High fidelity 2-channel sound with digital signal processor, bass enhancement and Embracing Sound to enhance compressed audio
- Powerful amplifier that is also award winning for energy efficiency
- Clock with programmable alarm
- 30 pin dock that will work with iPhone 4S and earlier.
Each of these dock speakers/systems in the house is from a different manufacturer, so I have quite a bit of listening experience with many brands, not only from the units I own or have owned, but also from demos I've done at Apple retail stores and many Consumer Electronics Shows. I'd also like to think I have a pretty discriminating ear, but that's just my opinion.
The GenevaSound S by Swiss company Geneva Lab is hands-down the best iPhone/iPod dock speaker system in its size and price range that I've ever heard. I currently own Klipsch, Bose, Logitech, and Cambridge Soundworks units, and it blows them all away. Surprisingly, the Klipsch iGroove SXT comes closest to the Geneva and that's at half the price (if you're paying full retail). If you need a great sounding iPod speaker dock without a radio or alarm functions it's my solid recommendation. The Bose Sounddock is the product that's most comparably priced to the Geneva S, but based on the sound quality (or lack thereof) I've heard that thing produce I wouldn't take one home if you gave it to me. Plus--no radio, no alarm--it's not even a comparable unit even though it sells at retail for the same price as the Geneva S. The unit I'm replacing with my Geneva, a Bose Wave clock radio/CD player, sounds so bad in comparison that it went right to the trash after I set the Geneva up and listened to it.
First, the sound. Full, decent stereo separation, great low end (for its size anyway), clear highs. It's perfect for a bedroom, which as an alarm clock is what it's designed for, but I wouldn't recommend it for any room larger than that. I think based on the volume level you would need to fill a large room you would probably get some rattle and distortion in the cabinet. But again, it should give you more than enough output in your bedroom, the space for which it was designed.
Also, I've read in some online reviews of the product that the tone controls (separate bass and treble) on the remote control have no audible effect on the sound. I don't agree. While their effect on the sound is definitely more subtle than the tone controls on a full sized home audio system, they did change the sound noticeably when I bumped them up or down.
The looks. It's a stunning-looking unit, and very well designed from an aesthetic aspect. Reminds me somewhat of the Bang & Olufson line a little, but much cleaner and simpler. And definitely sturdier. Based on the weight of the unit and the build quality, I doubt you'll have any reliability issues. I bought the black lacquer version, and it looks as good if not better than advertised. I do have a bit of a beef with the included stand though...not sure why they didn't make it in a color matching the cabinet. The gray metal looks a little cheap holding up the unit, and I imagine it would look equally cheesy with the white and red versions. But despite how the stand detracts from its overall beauty, I would never use the unit without it. You will definitely get better sound from the Geneva if it's raised off of the surface a few inches, plus using it with the stand does give you a little more room on your nightstand.
The features have been detailed pretty thoroughly on the product's Amazon page here, so I won't go over them again. It's a pretty stripped down product, without the number of bells and whistles I would have preferred for the price. Two things I DID like about the Bose Wave's clock radio was the way the alarm would very gradually increase in volume until it reached your preset level, and the way the LED display would dim or brighten automatically based on the light in the room. But hey--the Swiss are known for their minimalism aren't they? And besides, the sound quality is far more important to me than those small innovations.
The unit is far from perfect, in spite of its great sound quality. Here are my quibbles, beefs, and cons:
--The clock. Military time only. Yeah I can do the math in my head after Noon, but c'mon Geneva! It's just a simple 4-digit LED display. How hard would it have been to program the units shipped to the US differently? Not a deal-breaker though.
--The radio. You have to use an old-school, chrome, telescoping metal radio antenna (included) to get any reception whatsoever. There's a good reason you won't see it in any of the product images: it completely ruins the aesthetic of the unit. UGLY. Good thing you can unplug it or retract it when not in use. And even with the ugly antenna plugged in, I still get pretty poor reception no matter which direction I place it in. I live in a densely populated part of the LA metro area too, so my distance from radio towers isn't an issue. My Bose and Cambridge units (both clock radios) do a far better job of radio reception in the exact same location. Also, the GenevaSound S is FM only. But seriously--if you're going to listen to garbage quality AM on your clock radio this unit probably isn't for you. I'm sure you can pick up a hotel-grade radio for $10 or so at your local drug store for that. Overall these radio issues are not deal-breakers for me. I didn't buy a device that plays music this beautifully to listen to FM, and since I use it with my iPhone I have plenty of apps installed that allow me to stream radio anyway, and in much better quality.
--Mode switching. A little bothersome quirk I noticed: when you pull your iPhone/iPod out of the dock, it automatically switches to the FM radio. It wouldn't be such a big deal, except in my case since my FM reception is so horrible it ends up going from music to loud static. Why doesn't it just turn off? Not sure why they designed it that way, but not a good idea in my opinion. Geneva does warn you about this feature in the manual, but that still doesn't excuse it from being a bad idea. Not a deal-breaker, and you may get better FM reception than me so this may not be an issue for you anyway.
--Alarm. Just one alarm. Both of my other clock radios have two, which is great for cohabiting couples. Do all Swiss people sleep alone? I also wish you could listen to one source and wake to another, a feature on my other two clock radios. With the Geneva, it will only wake you to whatever source you were listening to when you fell asleep. I'd prefer to sleep to music and wake to the radio, but no can do. Also not a deal-breaker, but worth noting. If you're an iPhone user like me, I've actually found a workaround for this: turn off the GenevaSound S's alarm completely and use the iPhone's built-in alarm in its Clock app (included with every iPhone). That way you can still fall asleep to the music of your choice and then wake to either one of the iPhone's 25 standard alarm sounds or to one of your ring tones instead of the one GevevaSound S's own unimaginative "beep". Another benefit of my method is that in the unlikely event you lose power at home overnight you'll still be awakened by the alarm on the iPhone played through its own little speaker. Geneva claims in the manual "the clock remains valid for up to 1 hour of power loss." In my experience "up to" usually refers to a best case scenario, so if you work in a critical job that you can not afford to show up late for I'm not sure I'd put my trust in Geneva Labs on this one.
--Sleep timer. Or rather lack thereof. That's right, for some reason Geneva Labs decided to leave off this one simple feature that EVERY CLOCK RADIO I'VE EVER OWNED had. So if you're gonna fall asleep to music you're pretty much gonna have to hear the whole album or playlist. Good use for the iPhone/iPod's "On The Go" playlist feature, by the way. And forget about falling asleep listening to the radio, because it will play all night long AND you'll never wake up to an alarm (remember--the GenevaSound S will only wake you to the last source you had on). This is actually the biggest design flaw I see in the unit, and could be a dealbreaker for some if you use it in the bedroom mostly as a clock radio. It wasn't for me--the unit allows you to play an iPhone/iPod through the dock and another through the Line In simultaneously, so I'm working around this by using my iPhone's built-in alarm while listening to music on a separate iPod through the line input. Did I mention I'm a geek?
But none of these issues are serious enough to make me return the GenevaSound S or replace it, and in the end it's all about the sound quality, which is phenomenal. I've found myself going to bed a little earlier and laying in bed a little later in the morning just to stay in the bedroom and listen to music. It sounds that good.
And in my experience, when an audio product makes you want to listen to music more often you've got a winner on your hands.
Buy Geneva Sound Systems Model S: Hi-Fi Docking Station for iPod/iPhone with FM & Alarm, Black Now
Geneva Lab is known for setting an early high fidelity sound standard for iPod docking speaker systems, and their latest little tabletop device does not disappoint. It offers a surprisingly rich sound from such a small box, and it has a very simple and elegant design that balances nicely with the aesthetics of the iPods it is designed for -I've got a couple of nanos and an iPod touch, and it works great with all of them. It's about 5 inches tall, nearly double that wide and 7 inches deep, and comes in white, black or red. Just the size for a desk or a dresser -it would fit nicely and look good in an office or a bedroom or kitchen. I've got the white one and I like the way it looks on my dresser. It's almost an insult to call it a "dock" -it is much more elegant than almost anything on the market, and unlike most of the docks available at the big chains it has a solid heft to it (it's about 7 pounds), clearly designed with quality in mind. What I like even more is the way that it fills the room with sound -I've had a couple of iPod docks before and neither nearly as nice as this one, and none came close to the range and depth of sound as this one delivers easily. Admittedly, neither cost this much either, but with GenevaSound you're paying for what seems to me a nice balance of form and function. The reason to buy an iPod (over cheaper mp3 players) is that you value simplicity, elegance, and great sound -and if you value those things, the Geneva S delivers, and while it's not inexpensive it's not cheap either.
Speaking of functions, it's not just an iPod dock. Like any dock it can play from and charge your iPod. But it's also an FM radio with a digital tuner; plus it doubles as an alarm clock that you can set to wake you up to your favorite song on the iPod; there's also a stereo mini plug for auxiliary input. One minor oddity -owing probably to the fact that these things were designed in Switzerland -is that the clock won't do standard 12 hour time it's set to 24 hour military and can't be changed. Another minor annoyance is that it comes with just a single adapter, for iPhones, and while the dock will take most standard adapters for various iPod sizes, it's a bit of a pain to seat them and to remove them once you've seated them. The manual says just to click them in gently, but I find that when I tried to seat my adapter the mount kept trying to flip over, and it took a bit of doing to get it to click in there. Still that's a fairly minor thing, since once you have it in you're not likely to need to bother again. Since I've got a few different kinds of iPods I decided just to take off my adapter and mount things directly without them. That means there's a bit more wiggle room for the iPod, but since most iPod functions can be controlled from the remote or on the system panel, there's no need to touch it once it's mounted. The dock itself swivels closed when not in use but swivels open when you hit the mode button. The system as a whole can be set directly on a flat surface, on its four little rubber pads, or can be attached to an included silvery stand that elevates it about 3 more inches.
There's a metallic grating that covers the dual speaker system in the box, and a red LCD display shows through the grating on the upper right hand of the box. The display shows the time, or the radio station, whether the alarm is set or not; it indicates the volume when you change it on a scale from 1 to 100 and indicates treble and bass values that range from -6.0 to +6.0; it also indicates which function you've switched to when you change, say, from the radio to the iPod as source for your sound. The coolest feature, though, is the touch sensitive controls on the top of the box. When you touch the region in the upper right hand corner of the top, it lights up to look just like an older generation iPod, complete with back and forward and menu buttons, a power button, and a scroll wheel for volume. These buttons actually control the iPod itself when you have it docked. All of these functions and more (e.g. bass and treble control, programmable radio stations) can be controlled through the remote, but since I tend to misplace my remotes I find it comforting that most of what you need to do with this dock can be done with buttons on the unit itself one of my pet peeves is dvd players and other devices that can't be properly controlled from the player itself without the remote, but in this case most everything can be done from the touch controls on the device.
But what about the sound? Obviously this is the most important feature, and the GenevaSound S performs well here -I was kind of hoping for a more expansive, deeper, sound but it is better than anything of this size that I've tried. The basic design of the Geneva speakers is built around what they call "Embracing Sound" which means, basically that there is a closely spaced set of dual speakers, and that manages to fill the room with a stereo sound. In this case there are two 3" full range woofers, each with a capacity of 15 watts. I was surprised to notice that there is a genuine left to right depth to the sound, and I didn't expect that out of such a small system. The levels are quite good, too -at least in a small room, and especially if you're not the kind to "blow it out." You're not going to be able to run a house party with this little box and I find that the sound it delivers is at its highest quality when you have the volume up to about 60 on a scale of 1 to 100. Much higher than that and I began to detect minor imperfections, and an occasional rattle. At 100 it is extremely loud, but for most types of music I've listened to the speakers seem to show their limits at that level. After a few tests, I decided to keep it more in its medium range. Still, for my bedroom and my office, which is where I've mostly had a chance to try this out, it delivers more than enough sound. At 60 it is quite loud enough in my room and I wouldn't dream of going louder than about 40 in my office. Even in my living room, the medium level is more than adequate for ambient music.
About the video: I created a little stop motion animation of the process of opening the box, to show what it comes with and how it's packaged, and after that I have a brief video demonstration of a few of its major features. Most of my review is here, and the video is intended as just a quick illustration. Obviously, there's no way to give any real sense for the sound of this device in a video review since it would only sound as good as YOUR speakers.
To sum up: the GenevaSound S looks great, and sounds good for such a small system; highly recommended for those who want a compact and elegant sound solution for a small to medium-sized room, and especially for those who subscribe to William Morris's principle that you should "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." If you need it really loud and immersive, though, with soul shaking bass and immersive sound, you should probably look elsewhere (or get a bigger one, like the GenevaSound L).I'm a professional mastering engineer for 16 years now and must admit I have developed a level of snobbery about good audio that most would have trouble rivaling.......and I LOVE the way this little guy sounds. Smokes the bose, ihome and sony dock/radio set-ups you see in most hotel rooms etc. Room filling sound that still maintains some semblance of imaging.....just righteous. The controls are fast and responsive and the look is sleek and sexy. SInce buying this one I've started at a new gym that has one each of the next two larger models they sound amazing too! Nt sure what Geneva is doing inside there but they're definitely on to something.
Oh yeah it goes loud too!My fiance and I decided to swap gifts a few days early this year since we're traveling from relatives' house to another.
Luckily for me, she discovered my Amazon wish list (I was secretly praying that sooner or later she would) and she picked this fantastic unit up for me because of it.
As soon as I saw the box, my eyes lit up. Based on everyone else's reviews, I knew it was going to be good. But my god, it is even better than I expected it to be.
First off, the styling is impeccable. It sits atop my case study nightstand, next to my case study bed (mid-century modern style bedroom furniture from modernica in LA) and it fits right in. The brilliant white color, the terminator-esque front display and the iPod-esque top controls are simple, understated and gorgeous.
Once you get past the visual joy of it and get it set up, you realize this is no iHome junk. As others have said, this is one solid unit and the sound it produces is truly stunning given its small footprint. Once I set the bass to +2 and the treble to +5 (both are adjustable from -6 to +6), the sound was exactly where I wanted it. As soon as that was done, I sat there for 3 hours listening to all manner of music from my iPhone 4 (which fits perfectly and gets charged by the unit while it plays).
My musical tastes are varied, if you were to put my iPod on shuffle, you're equally likely to hear the Ode to Joy as some Pantera or Outkast and it handles them all brilliantly. Is it better than a great home stereo? No, I certainly won't be getting rid of my B&Ws anytime soon, but for in the bedroom it is absolutely perfect. I like to listen to music while I'm getting ready in the morning and it handles that task absolutely amazingly. I can turn it on and it's loud enough to be heard in any of the rooms of my (admittedly small at 1200 sqft) house.
If you like subtle, beautiful, well-made pieces and appreciate aural pleasure this is the unit for you. I can guarantee you will not be disappointed.
Save 2% Off
Much better than Boze! I listened to Boze with my iPod and it sounded hollow and flat. Then I listened to the Geneva and very noticeable difference in sound quality, full and crisp. I am a singer and listen to a lot of music and this one makes a difference for the price. Like the other reviewer says, it will rattle a bit if you turn it up very loud, which is really too loud for the space for which it is designed. I highly recommend if you are looking for a unit for a small to medium size room. My studio is about 550 sq. ft. and it's perfect!
0 comments:
Post a Comment