iDeck
I bought an iPod Video to replace my aging 2G iPod (well, officially I stole the 2G from my wife after my 1G broke the firewire port...) and to be able to carry my photos of my kid with me: grandmothers love that part.
Anyway, when I arrive at home in the evening, I like to listen to music and usually what I did was start iTunes and use the built-in TiBook speakers. It should be obvious that it's not a very good experience.
Given that this home is not my main residence, just the place I spend the night when I'm working in Lisbon, I don't want to spend a lot of money buying some audio system, so after talking a bit with Pedro, I decided to buy an iDeck.
The first week was great: excellent quality of sound (for my amateur standards), the remote control worked very well, and as a side benefit, the iPod gets a full charge and I have my sync cable always ready.
Then one night, the remote stopped working, and the sound was super-loud, I could not control the volume. Then the left speaker stopped working. Not good. I changed batteries on the remote, checked all cables, looked at the documentation (printed and online) and nothing I could find was able to solve this problem.
I took the system back to the local dealer, DelAudio, and they replaced my set with a new one after checking that indeed the system was not working properly.
Tonight I did the setup again, and right now I'm enjoying the sound and all the niceties that this system provides.
It's a great speaker set, a bit pricey, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. I like the fact that I can leave my sync cable connected in the back of the amplifier, so that I can just connect in the evening to sync up. I also like the fact that the iPod gets charged while I'm using it. And finally, the sound quality is excellent.
The thing I don't like in the iDeck is the fact that if you plug a cable to the back of the amplifier, to the aux in line, the system immediately switches to it, and silences the iPod. I would prefer a switch on the remote or on the amplifier to make that switch between input lines. This would allow me to connect the iDeck to a Aiport Express at all times and switch to a remote iTunes easily.
Apart from that, I can't find any flaws. Even with the problem I had with my first set, which was solved rapidly and without any fuss by my local dealer, I would recommend this system to anyone looking for a good set of speakers to connect their iPod.
BTW, Apple has the iPod HiFi system now, but from reports I've heard, I think the iDeck is still superior. At least, from what I've seen, you cannot sync the iPod with it, and thats a major issue for me.
