Boston Acoustics HDUOIMIST Horizon Duo-I System For Ipod(R) With Am/Fm Radio (Mist)

I have been looking for a new clock radio that I could use my iPod with and have decent sound. Boston Acoustics has done an outstanding job with this unit. It easy to operate, has great sound and features. No complaints at all.

First the good news, The "Duo I" has very good sound for a compact unit. Its general appearance is sleek and the controls are simple and intuitive. Also, I would complement the customer service staff both at Electronics Expo (where I purchased the unit) and Boston Acoustics (where a second unit was sent back because of a malfunction).

That leads me to the bad news. The first unit I received did not function with my iPod in it. I spoke to both BA and EE and they were agreed there was a problem and EE was very accommodating about sending a second unit to me. The second unit had the same problem (all the controls 'froze up' once the iPod was selected). Given it was the same problem as the first unit, I tried a friend's newer iPod. Same results. This time when I called BA, I asked to speak to a tech. representative and he informed me that he had heard of this type of problem with the iPod Touch and assumed it was the "mother board" which needed to be re-programmed. Once again, customer service (this time BA) was very accommodating about picking up the non-functional unit. What they sent back, however, was a third unit with a note informing me that they re-programmed the one they picked up but it still didn't work.

The third unit works fine however; it's hard to recommend something that requires you to go through three units to get one that works.

Now that I have finally got the controls understood, I am very pleased with the rich sound. It is worth the price.

I use the Duo-i in my office, and it's the best sounding iPod and FM radio speakers I can recall ever hearing, at any price. I don't use the alarm clock functions, so can't comment on that, but the most important feature for me is audio quality - and Duo-i supremely succeeds! The clarity and warmth is impressive at low and high volumes, and the Duo-i has bass and treble controls which you can use to fine tune the sound to your taste. The remote works well and I use the Duo-i with an 80GB iPod and iPhone 3G. The units charges both, and I also use the Aux 2 input on the back to play music from my Macbook. Compared to the Bose Soundock, the Duo-i sounds much better, far less "canned", has bass and treble controls and costs less! I've tried several other iPod speakers, and the Duo-i is a fantastic-sounding unit and a good value. You won't be disappointed.

EDIT - After a few days, I was disappointed to learn that the Duo-i doesn't fully support the iPhone. I didn't have the "buzzing" sound, and airplane mode made no difference, but when listening at low volumes, or during the silence between songs, there's a "fluttering" kind of sound. It exists whenever there's an iPhone in the dock, and you can hear it when listening to any source. It comes and goes, and if the volume's up a moderate amount, you can't hear it. I heard it when listening to FM radio, and it went away when I removed the iPhone mid-song. It bummed me out, and bothered me enough to return it for a JBL 200ID. I stand my my review above for FM and iPod playback, and it really does sound fantastic.

I set out to replace an aging and boring alarm clock radio with a true audio component. I also wanted another iPod dock for the house, though not necessarily for waking up. I spent considerable time web-shopping for just the right gadget -- looked at Bose, Klipsch, Polk, KEF, you name it -- read all the reviews -- changed my mind ten times. For whatever reason, I settled on the Boston Acoustics Horizon Duo-I ([...]) and I'm not the least bit disappointed. It has a full rich sound and all the features you'd want. Took just a few minutes to master the mode knob, making all settings simple and foolproof. Great great sound with FM signals and the iPod too. The little remote control is OK, but I'll probably not use it too much. Overall, I'm pleased and this truly heavy device should live on my nightstand for a long long time.