Sony SRSGU10IP 2 Ch iPod & iPhone Compatible Docking Speaker

The secret which the Amazon listing doesn't tell you is that this compact, simple and good looking unit has 20 watts of output. This compares with 10 watts or less for other speakers of similar size - in fact, much bulkier midi hi fi systems will often have not more than 30 watts of output. This is the secret of both the amazing sound quality and also the terrific power (loudness) it can deliver without distortion.

We use this for classical music as well as jazz and pop and that is very challenging for any speaker. But this unit copes easily and well. It is good throughout the range, including bass (and there is a bass booster option).

It looks neat and small so you can put it pretty much anywhere - in the kitchen, in the bedroom, or in the living room. Wherever it is, it will fill the room with sound, although not taking up any space. The design which angles the speaker off the ground on a base makes it look even smaller.

The remote is very versatile. It will operate every function on the iPod (not just volume etc) and the power button will turn off both the speaker and also the iPod. The iPod then goes into recharge mode.

This is a complete solution for iPod docking, and is small enough to be portable too. It only has one wire (for power) which makes moving it around even easier. The power cable is shortish. If you wanted a longer one, however, any power cable from any applicance would have the same standard plug setting so you could simply swap them around. The short cable is all part of the neatness, however, and is best as long as you do not want to place it too far from a power point.

There is no radio on this. It is just for iPod.

We bought ours after trying out many other models and the difference in sound quality was what did it for us. PC World and Currys were both (in August 2009) charging £99 for this and that looked like excellent value. But Amazon are offering it for just £76 which is incredible value. It is as good as units costing twice the price.

Look no further. If you want a speaker to dock, play and charge your iPod, you won't do better than this at any price.

The decision to purchase the Sony SRSGU10IP was the result of a huge amount of research into iPod speaker docks costing from £10 - £200. Within this price range the market is flooded with speaker docks that claim to offer great sound and must-have features. However, if you are at all interested in listening to decent sounding music then the reality is that most of the speakers available will only end up offending your ears and ultimately hurting your wallet when it comes to buying the replacement. I purchased and tested a variety of speaker docks before settling for the Sony SRSGU10IP and found the Sony to offer the best combination of sound quality, visual design and iPod/iPhone focused features.

The Sony SRSGU10IP is for playing music and nothing else. It does not feature built in radio, an alarm clock or the ability to dock the iPod horizontally for movie watching. But, what it does offer is crisp, clean, warm and semi-authentic sound reproduction from it's twin speaker base ported cabinet. Unlike most of the speakers I tested in and around this price range, the Sony interprets treble, mid and bass effectively, outputting a sound that is close to that recorded - extremely well considering its amazingly low price. Many iPod/iPhone speakers I tested were incapable of successfully handling mid-range and bass notes together, and those manufacturers that boasted deep bass often seemed to provide it at the cost of a weak mid-range delivery. Not so with the Sony who's clever cabinet design outputs punchy bass tones alongside pleasing mid range and treble. The Sony also boasts a Bass Boosting feature that works well in increasing the delivery of bass heavy notes. It is worth mentioning that the Sony SRSGU10IP is not massively loud at full volume, but certainly loud enough to fill a standard sized room for any party that doesn't require a disk-spinning DJ, and more importantly at full volume it still provides well presented delivery of all music types without any unpleasant distortion. It also provides a 3.5mm headphone/aux jack input to hook up other devices other than iPod's/iPhones.

A fully functional remote control is included in the box, which allows for easy navigation of the iPod'iPhone's iTunes folders and playlists alongside volume and bass boost alterations. The face of the remote control is kept clear of all but the essential buttons making it simple to operate. It fits comfortably into your hand and provides an impressive response time between the press of a button and the iPod/iPhone responding (a problematic issue with many other iPod speaker dock remote control units). As might be expected, the Sony overrides the iPod/iPhone's sleep settings to continually display the iTunes album artwork etc. whilst the device is in use, but dimming the brightness after a few seconds without user interaction in order to consume less power and protect the iPod/iPhone display. And when the Sony is switched on at the plug, whether the device is playing music or in standby mode, the iPod/iPhone will have it's charge kept topped up.

Visual quality is important to me too, and the Sony SRSGU10IP does not disappoint in the looks department. The design is modern and minimalist, featuring a single rectangular speaker cabinet that sits firmly on a flat-plated base. The edges of the cabinet are rounded and it is covered in a deep gloss black paint that looks impressive in all lights. The base plate has a satin charcoal-grey finish and incorporates the iPod/iPhone dock, a power button, plus and minus volume keys and an 'Input' button that switches between the docked iPod/iPhone and the auxiliary 3.5mm jack port. Simplicity is the key with the Sony SRSGU10IP. Sony provide a set of docking adaptors* in the box for the majority of recent years iPod's and iPhones so that the MP3 devices sit snugly in position without putting excess stresses on the devices docking connectors.

As previously mentioned, I purchased a variety of iPod/iPhone speaker docks to test and compare and the Sony SRSGU10IP stood out as the best provider of quality music from MP3 devices. It didn't have the funky digital display of the Gear4 HouseParty4 (which was also an impressive unit, but concentrated on a louder sound delivery at the expense of authentic music reproduction), or the cool good looks of the JBL offerings (which lacked bass depth and volume in spades), but it did provide the best quality sound output across the wide range of music genres I listen to. From Dance to Rock, Hip Hop to Easy Listening, the Sony SRSGU10IP outputs a strong and well balanced delivery that is capable of suiting almost all styles of musical preference.

Nobody would expect sound quality rivaling a top-end component Hi-Fi rack for anywhere near this price range, but If you care about your music and want to enjoy it day-in, day-out, the Sony SRSGU10IP is the best of a very big bunch. Given the very low price for something offering this level of quality it is easy to crown the Sony SRSGU10IP the ultimate iPod/iPhone docking speaker within this price range. In fact I think you will be hard pushed to find anything to beat it at less than £200.

As it is not stated on the packaging, it is also worth mentioning that the Sony SRSGU10IP does work flawlessly with the Apple iPhone 4, and should therefore work with the new iPod Touch that has just been launched (September 2010).

*One of the provided docking connector adaptors fits the new iPhone 4 perfectly.

This has great bass and the speakers really pack a punch considering how small it is. The treble and mid range are both clear and the sound produced easily fills a small/medium room and there is little distortion when turned up to full volume. Bought this after returning my Logitech Pure-Fi Anytime which has an unreliable alarm when used with my iPhone 3g. The Logitech, even though "works with iphone" does have some major glitches and the sound produced is inferior to the Sony. I am very pleased with the Sony and it also "works with iPhone" and is compatible with the 3g. I have no problem with the dock though occasionally the message appears about putting it in flight mode, I ignore it and it works perfectly. It charges the iPhone whilst docked too. I use an app called "night stand" which works well as a clock/alarm so not missing that function at all. You can use the remote to access the ipod functions from the iPhone which is an added bonus. No screen but I don't think that really matters. It looks much more refined than the Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere v2 Black for iPod and iPhone and has a wooden cabinet with piano black finish - very smart and looks much more expensive than it is.

Altogether I am very pleased with this buy and would really recommend it, it's great value for money.