Ample boom, in just a little room

Speaker docks are a tricky proposition. Build them big enough to boom, and they’re hard to fit on your desk or kitchen counter. Build them small, and they usually lack the bass that helps us feel our favorite jams. Scoshe’s BassDOCK manages to pack a punch, securely perching your iPad above a compact speaker that fits almost anywhere.

Considering the big sound, the BassDOCK is surprisingly svelte. A rounded squashed cube, the BassDOCK only takes up a 7x7-inch footprint. It works on a desktop, nightstand, dresser, or anywhere else you’re looking to make a lot of noise in a relatively small space.

Your iPad can be mounted in portrait or landscape orientation, but adjusting the angle is a little finicky.

Controls are simple, with blue backlit volume controls flanking a power button--that’s it. The back-to-basics aesthetic is continued in the black speaker grille, aluminum accents, and shiny black finish. The overall design is clean, although it quickly attracts fingerprints. Around the back, there’s a connection for AC power, and a single 3.5mm line-in jack for connecting another device.

The iPad dock works well, and adapters are included to fit all the members of the iPad family. The dock rotates 90 degrees for easy switching between portrait and landscape orientation. The arm also tilts back for better viewing, but it’s quite stiff. It was hard to tilt the iPad without moving the entire BassDOCK--we had to hold the speaker in place with one hand while tilting with the other.

While unpacking the BassDOCK, we were skeptical that the speaker would live up to its name, but this was one time we were happy to be wrong. We discovered that the BassDOCK had no problem producing deep, loud sound, thanks to its dual 1.6-inch tweeters and a 3-inch subwoofer. Speaker docks in this price range are notorious for thin, treble-filled sound, but Scosche has gone in a different direction. If anything, the BassDOCK is guilty of maybe a bit too much bass, at the expense of some midrange tones.

The bottom line. For music fans looking for a little “oomph” in a small package, the BassDOCK is a solid performer.