Edifier iF350 iPod dock

This portable, battery-powered iPod dock has great sound quality

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The Edifier iF350 is a portable iPod dock with an internal rechargeable battery. It has great sound quality for its small size and a long battery life, making it a great choice for taking on a picnic or weekend getaway.

Pros

  • Great sound quality for a portable iPod dock, reasonably long playback time using internal battery

Cons

  • Poor radio reception, bass resonance at high volumes

Bottom Line

The Edifier iF350 is an admirable dock for your iPod or iPhone, whether you're at home or on a picnic outing. Radio reception isn't the best we've seen from a portable unit, but the sound quality is excellent even at high volumes.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 199.00 (AUD)

We've seen the Edifier iF350's design before in the form of the Altec Lansing im600. It's a good size and is just the right dimensions to slip into an almost-full backpack or picnic basket. A backlit LCD screen shows volume and current input selection. Edifier bundles a neoprene pouch with the iF350 that should provide a small amount of protection against weather and accidental drops.

The Edifier iF350 comes with a power adapter which plugs into the unit's rear next to a 3.5mm auxiliary audio jack. To access the Edifier iF350's iPod dock and these ports, a button on the back must be pushed — this flips down the iPod dock as well as a rear stand that allows the system to stay upright. Pushing the iPod dock back up locks it away for transport. Plenty of plastic adapters are supplied for connecting all varieties of iPods that use dock connectors.

In addition to the iPod dock, the Edifier iF350 has an FM radio tuner. Tuning the radio is easy using either the bundled credit-card style remote or the top-mounted buttons. We found sound quality to be good when reception was strong, but the lack of an external aerial means reception quickly drops off indoors.

Sound quality from the Edifier iF350 is impressive given its small size and thin profile. Treble frequencies are well weighted and detailed, rolling off at higher volumes before becoming harsh or scratchy. A controlled and equally detailed mid-range means the Edifier iF350 is well suited to acoustic music and vocals, as we found when listening to Good Riddance by Green Day.

The system also has surprising amounts of mid-bass. It's not going to shake any tables, but at moderate volumes it provides a welcome low-frequency accompaniment to your music. We started our testing with Massive Attack's Teardrop and The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army and were suitably impressed. There is a small amount of excessive bass resonance at high volumes, but this doesn't stop the Edifier iF350 from sounding great. Edifier rates the iF350's battery life at 15 hours — we'd say this is slightly optimistic. It survived for just under 14 hours of testing at moderate volume levels.

The Edifier iF350 has a thin soundstage — this is a result of two speakers facing directly forward. Off-axis listening is still possible, but volume and clarity drops off significantly. Similarly, the iF350 has poor stereo imaging as a result of both speakers being so close to each other. Thankfully this doesn't impede sound quality.

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Read more on these topics: ipod dock, ipods, Edifier

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