With iThings the main music source for many households, there’s a real trend away from cheap and nasty speaker docks towards more premium offerings, the latest addition to this crowd being from new British marque, Conran Audio.
Styled by the UK’s Studio Conran, whose principal, Terence Conran, has leant his expertise to the interior looks of restaurants and hotels (as well as products ranging from lights to spectacles, cutlery, cars, carpets, cups, bathroom fittings and cookware) for more than 50 years, the Conran Audio speaker dock allows for horizontal or vertical placement of your iThing and integrates a recessed home for the remote control, which is held in place magnetically.
The Conran is, however, more than a pretty chassis, with sound credentials provided by British (again) company, Q Acoustics. These include 2 x 15 watt amplifiers, 2 x 75mm midrange drivers, 2 x 25mm soft dome tweeters, and six EQ settings, each described by the room the dock is likely to be located in (kitchen, bedroom, living room). All docked iThings are supported, plus there is a mini USB for connection to a PC, and stereo RCA and 3.5mm plugs for connecting to other devices. Wireless playback is supported by A2DP Bluetooth and, with apt-x support you can expect to enjoy CD-quality streaming over Bluetooth when paired with other apt-x devices. This includes iPods, iPhones and MacBooks, plus the next generation of smartphones, laptops and MP3 players.
Available in black or white, the Conran Audio speaker dock go onsale from March and cost $549.
