So I needed some way of playing tunes in the home office, and I knew I didn't want the computer speaker/sound card route. Mostly because I didn't want to clutter up my desk space but also even good sound cards can be only so-so, plus, I do CG animation and running iTunes or whatever along side can become a problem. So I went looking for an iPod compatible portable/desk-top player (for another desk or book shelf) and thought the Cambridge Soundworks Playdock for iPod looked promising. Reviews were good, and for lower budget gear CSW has been a good bet over the years- similar to the NAD no BS approach.
So as the post says, it's been great! It's about the size of the smaller Blose wave radio, only costs $112 and sounds excellent for what it is.
My biggest issue as you get into entry level gear is that it often seems way skewed into certain regions of the sound. Either too much bass, too bright, the mid-range is murky, etc. This little thing does none of that. It's as balanced a presentation as you can get for it's size and power and the fall-off at the extremes is very subtle. Nothing jumps out, and nothing is disturbingly missing either.
I've been playing lossless tunes through it for a week and I really love it- and how fun is it when something that costs so little? Now it's pretty much only for your iPod- no radio, minimal input jack on the back, etc. Two thumbs up! 
So I needed some way of playing tunes in the home office, and I knew I didn't want the computer speaker/sound card route. Mostly because I didn't want to clutter up my desk space but also even good sound cards can be only so-so, plus, I do CG animation and running iTunes or whatever along side can become a problem. So I went looking for an iPod compatible portable/desk-top player (for another desk or book shelf) and thought the Cambridge Soundworks Playdock for iPod looked promising. Reviews were good, and for lower budget gear CSW has been a good bet over the years- similar to the NAD no BS approach.
So as the post says, it's been great! It's about the size of the smaller Blose wave radio, only costs $112 and sounds excellent for what it is.
My biggest issue as you get into entry level gear is that it often seems way skewed into certain regions of the sound. Either too much bass, too bright, the mid-range is murky, etc. This little thing does none of that. It's as balanced a presentation as you can get for it's size and power and the fall-off at the extremes is very subtle. Nothing jumps out, and nothing is disturbingly missing either.
I've been playing lossless tunes through it for a week and I really love it- and how fun is it when something that costs so little? Now it's pretty much only for your iPod- no radio, minimal input jack on the back, etc. Two thumbs up!