Polk Audio's miDock 10 fits all dockable 'Pods and will fill any room with potent, well-defined sound.

 

Polk Audio has been around for 35 years, and over that time they've learned how to do audio right. Now that they've released three entries in the iPod speaker-stand free-for-all, I jumped at the chance to take a first look at their middle-range model, the miDock 10. Roman will put together a thoroughly researched, full-scale review of this compact, lightweight boombox in the next month or so, but after one Sunday morning playing with it, I can wholeheartedly give it my own personal one-word review: "DAMN!"

 

Yup, that's my overall first-look assessment. The miDock 10 sounds that good - leave it to a first-class company to come up with an iPod speaker that has first-class sound. As I said, this is a quick first look, but if more-extensive testing results in a thoroughly objective assessment that's anywhere near as positive as my cursory subjective one, this $179.99 'box will take its place near the top of the pack.

 

Setting up the miDock 10 was a bit wonkier than I had hoped, however, but the final result was more than worth it. Follow along through this quick overview of a top-notch compact music machine:

 

I've always had a bit of a thing for simple, clean, straightforward packaging - it inspires a feeling of security, as if you know that manufacturer isn't trying to distract you with flash and dash.

 

Although the miDock 10's packaging indicates that it was made in China - well, "Hecho: En China," to be exact - you can call it either "a portable audio solution for your iPod," "una solucion de audio portatil su iPod," or "une solution audio portable pour votre iPod."

 

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Packaging doesn't get a whole lot more straightforward than this.

 

People tell me that "unboxing" shots are all the rage on the Web - I've seem my share, myself - but if all packaging were as utilitarian as that of the miDock 10's, unboxing would be one fad that'd die a swift death.

 

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Stuffed into the right-hand styrofoam endcap of the miDock's packaging are the requisite power cables, docking cradle adapters, and a tiny remote.

 

Althought the miDock supports syncing and charging your iPod, and although it does have an auxiliary port if you'd like to connect it to a CD player or other audio device, you're on your own when it comes to those cables.

 

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Despite its multilingual outer box, the miDock we were sent had a monolingual manual and registration card.

 

We all have our pet peeves when it comes to consumer electronics, and mine is manuals that have muddy photos, poorly written instructions, and missing information. The miDock 10, unfortunately, achieves this trifecta of owners-manual annoyances.

 

More...

 

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Yes, it's dark in the iPod cradle area, and yes, you do have to squint to figure out what you're doing.

 

According to Polk Audio, the miDock 10 accommodates all dockable iPods in the depths of its cradle area, which gently opens on oil-dampened hinges when a chrome-plated, easily fingerprintable eject button is pressed. Different sized 'Pods are accommodated by using one of three different "Docking Cradle Adapters" for nanos and minis, or a simple slab of plastic designed to slide into slots in the sides of the cradle area for full-sized iPods. Unfortunately, those slots are labled (above) in a squint-inducing fashion, and the instructions for inserting the adapters are cursory, at best. Trial and error were my installation buddies, but eventually they helped me get the miDock 10 set up to accept my fifth-generation 60GB iPod video.

 

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The miDock 10's ports are dead-center on its back, and clearly labled.

 

As I mentioned above, the miDock 10 will allow you to connect your Mac for syncing your tunes, to other devices for playback, and to headphones for listening - but you'll need to supply your own cables. The "open - close" slider in the photo above gives you access to the miDock 10's battery compartment, which will gobble up eight C-cell batteries for a total of 12 volts of power. That's a lot of batteries, to be sure, but that much power helps the miDock 10 achieve its high-quality output.

 

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Simple and effective - and the remote's battery is included.

 

The miDock 10's remote is small, unobtrusive, and straightforward. Being an infrared remote, it does require a line-of-sight path to the miDock, but we found it to work well even at 10 feet or more. No big deal - it just works.

 

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The Shaggs never sounded quite so good on any affordable iPod bookbox that I've ever listened to.

 

After the mildly annoying setup song-and-dance, and with my iPod finally snuggled comfortably in the miDock 10's cradle, I turned off my iPod's EQ as requested by the manual, pressed the power switch at the top of the unit (which lit up red when switched on), pumped up some bass-heavy rock - and was, quite simply, blown away.

 

This little box sounds great! Althought the miDock is relatively small for a boombox - it's 6-by-16-by-4 inches - and weighs almost nothing without batteries, its side-ported 3.5-inch speakers provide truly impressive sound. I played ska, rock, funk, jazz, string quartets, symphony orchestras, and even a baroque solo violin, and was consistently impressed by the clarity and definition of the overall sound, the precision and separation of the bass, and the crispness of the higher registers. My daughter Roxanne, an Official Teenager™ and thus a highly experienced listener to all things new, also gives it an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

 

I look forward to Roman giving this little guy a full-on review, listening to it in direct comparison with some other well-regarded (and not-so-well-regarded) iPod speaker stands. All on it's lonesome, though, the miDock 10 is a fine little music machine.

 

Points to Consider:

> Small and lightweight

> Great sound - capable of being pretty damn loud, as well

> Effective remote

> About half the price of an Apple iPod Hi-Fi