Boston Acoustics Duo-i AM/FM Stereo Radio with iPod Dock

"Great sound quality, radio reception, styling and user interface. Runs too hot for my liking in just standby mode. Let down by a faulty ipod docking connector and no mechanical support to the ipod itself. A curious but obvious oversight is that it doesn't display the time when the radio is on? Also found the entire display was backlit (blue) and quite bright which was annoying at night when one is trying to reduce the ambient light level.



A potentially exceptional radio alarm clock which has been let down by poor execution of the important detail."

"As I said in my analysis of the product. Overall it is a very good product for those who want excellent sound. I had compared the best alarm clock units of Sony, IHome, Logitech, JVC and Philips for their sound quality. Now when it came to multifunctional uses the Philips Philips DCM230 took honors because it also had a USB-port that allows for larger hard drive scalability. But it lacked in sound quality and notice higher levels of distortion in the increased volume. Boston Acoustics is worth the money if you want a reliable unit that has excellent sound."

"Impressive unit. Clear, crisp sound. Intuitive controls. Well-made and beefy. (My cat will never knock this off the night stand.) Perfect mate for the Ipod. Handy dandy remote. Have heard other Ipod speaker docking units and none can hold a candle to this. If you're considering buying one, spend a few extra dollars for this. You'll be happy you did. Pure ear candy! Boston Acoustics ROCKS!"

"Use for both radio and iPod. AM/FM reception on par with previous unit used in same location (iHome product). Wish it were better, but it seems like a bad location for good reception.

Fwd/reverse track skipping using a knob is a little bit finicky since every little click/detent skips one track. This sort of function may be best with buttons, but this is being pretty nitpicky.

Great bass, great balance of response overall. I've always liked BA audio quality and this is just more of the same.

This is a bargain compared to $100 system from iHome, just on audio quality alone. The quality of the materials, button and knobs, remote, etc is icing on the cake. The iHome we purchased ~3 years ago had a broken ipod connector after about 18 months and diminished the battery life of the 1G ipod nano severely. The iHome dock is where the ipod stayed 90% of the time and now it won't hold 1/2 hour of charge.

Can't compare reliability yet, but with the disappointments from the iHome unit, anything seems better.

Plenty of adapters for different ipod models. Wish they were more easily swappable since we have 3 different ipod form factors.

Has hookups for external AM antenna, which is a bonus when I want to get creative with reception.

REMOTE CONTROL WILL STICK TO YOUR STEEL SIDED APPLIANCES!! Nifty magnet! We use in the kitchen and this is a great feature. Now when the remote gets lost, we just have to check 3 sides of the fridge and not the entire kitchen floor. remote also has station preset buttons. the ihome we had didn't even have presets. Nice improvement!

For the features, I would prefer this over $300 Bose systems. I have compared audio quality and the differences seem marginal to me (granted, I was demoing them side-by-side in a busy store).

I would prefer a dock which supports more than just the base of the ipod, as some other systems do. This isn't a dealbreaker though. the dock is pretty solid with the nano in it. Wouldn't trust it if the kids could reach, though."

"I purchased this product for use as my main entertainment system in a small living room where I really wanted to save space and do away with wires and racks of components and large speakers. Sound quality is superb and the unit plays very loud without any distortion. Bass response is super strong from such a small unit. I compared with Cambridge Soundworks products, and honestly I don't think the sound quality between the units was noticably different(both sound great), though the Cambridge unit with downfiring subwoofer vibrated anything else on the table or shelve I had the unit on when the volume was higher. This unit uses rear bass ports, so the bass can be further customized based on where the unit is situated in the room. The dual front and rear aux inputs are a real plus for me, as this allows a tv or dvd player to be plugged into the back of the unit, and another device in the front. This was essential for using the unit as a mini home entertainment system. Integrated iPod dock is the clincher, iPod sound is perfect and can be tailored with the unit's bass and treble controls. I haven't used the video out feature on iPod so cannot comment on that. Also don't really have use for the alarm functions. FM radio reception is strong, and again sounds fantastic. I did have some malfunctioning problems with the first unit I ordered and returned it for a refund. I reordered another unit from B&H for a better price! So far the second unit has functioned flawlessly."

"We have had a range of clock radios over the years. Most have had overly complicated controls that seem designed to frustrate tired people running on too little sleep. We've also had a long range of iHome units that we've liked, but have been unacceptably fragile.



We spent more for the Boston Acoustics unit than we wanted to, but it seems very solid and well designed. The controls are wonderful -- simple, intuitive and responsive. The sound's OK. Honestly, we had hoped for better, but it's a definite and clear improvement over the iHome that preceeded it.



We primarily use an iPod to provide a wake-up. That said, the AM and FM radios are much better at picking up stations than we expected. The iPod mount is on the top. Like most such arrangements, it could use a bit more support. That's one place where a front-mount makes sense. Still, we've never trashed either a mount or an iPod in the past, so it should work out OK.



Two other features we though were gimmicks turned out to be really useful. The first is the auto-dimming light. It works surprisingly well. The other is the use of the metal trim around the unit as a touch-sensitive snooze bar. Once you get the hang of it, it's really nice.



It's a lot of money for a iPod clock radio, but we're very pleased. If it lasts twice as long as one of our previous iHomes, then it will have more than made up the price difference."

"I rated this 5 stars, but if possible I would probably give it 4.5 stars, due to a few shortcomings. However, the main thing is that the sound of this radio is stunning. It is far better than anything I demoed at a local electronics store. The sound is very crisp and can fill a room, and it puts out plenty of bass. That's the one thing most of this little stereos cannot do, and this unit can really crank it out. It also looks great and has a nice solid feel to it (pretty heavy for its size, which is good because you know it's packing some serious magnets).



The clock set up is pretty frustrating, as you cannot separately set the hour and minutes, you have to turn the dial and go through all the hours and minutes. The dial is very sensitive, and it takes some getting used to. Other than that, getting through the menus to change the audio settings is fine.



I also wish this unit had an HD tuner, but the regular radio signal still sounds very good, so not a huge complaint there.



The remote is easy to use, but you cannot control iPod menus with it, just skip tracks and volume.



All in all, I bought this radio the play our iPods and listen to some radio, and it does that excellently with its tremendous sound quality. For the price and quality, I don't think this can be beat."

"Very easy to use and set up. Does everything it says and more. Does not matter what you have in terms of MP3 Player, iPOD, iPhone, and everyone else. The Alarm is great as it slowly rises to volume so to wake you a little more naturally. Great. Love it."

"The Duo-i has an aesthetically pleasing and a simple, easy-to-use design. The sound quality is excellent for a radio of this size. The bass and treble adjustments give the listener the ability to effectively tailor the sound to suit their individual liking. I originally bought it thinking my wife would want it to be somewhat portable, however, it is a little large for moving it around. It is primarily used as an iPod dock, however, the radio gets used quite a bit as well. FM reception with the antenna is good. We haven't used the alarm functions so I can't rate them other than to say I know they exist. The unit comes with several I-Pod dock trays allowing you to find a perfect fit for your I-Pod, minimizing stress on the docking port and MP3 player. The instructions were clear and concise. I especially like the remote that allows you to select your source and to skip selections on your iPod. Overall, I am pleased with this unit, the sound is excellent and the features fit well with our use. I have looked at other units but for the price, this one can't be beat!"

"I use this product in my office to play music from my I-pod during the day.

The unit has good sound for its size and is pleasing to look at. It is a sturdy build and appears to be well constructed, the alarm, radio and clock functions are nice features to have too. The unit also comes with several I-Pod dock trays allowing you to find a perfect fit for your I-Pod thus minimizing stress on the docking port and MP3 player. Instruction booklet has a nice reference table to help the consumer find the proper docking tray, a helpful gesture. You can configure the clock in 12 or 24 hour mode and have two alarms that can be set.

If you put the unit on a wood surface elevate it because the transformer in the bottom of the unit puts out quite a bit of heat and could damage the wood under it. I put mine on a wood serving board and solved the problem that way.

I haven't found anything other than the heat output at the bottom of the unit that I don't appreciate about the product, and would definately recommend it to others looking for a quality product with nice sound."