Best for The Living Room
Philips Fidelio DS8550 £198
The iPad has a weedy mono speaker, and the iPad 2’s is no better, so a speaker dock is a worthwhile buy. Every dock on test, except the Logitech, will also recharge your tablet. The Fidelio’s advantage over most rivals is that it can use Bluetooth to pick up streamed sound from the tablet, so you can listen to music while using the iPad for, say, surfing the net. It’s the only one with a separate stand, for watching films in landscape mode away from the dock. On batteries it runs for up to five hours, while a free app makes adjusting the sound easy. Audio is great, with a rich tone and good detail — that’s why it’s our best buy, albeit the most expensive. If you want to save money at the expense of sound quality, buy one of our four-star options.
Verdict Good looks and sound, lots of connection options.
*****
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philips.co.uk
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Best for hi-fi styling
iLuv Audio Cube IMM747 £89
Of all the docks on test, the iLuv looks the most like a traditional piece of hi-fi kit, with speakers either side and a cradle cum base station in the middle. There are handy playback controls in front of the dock connector, although the small, padded rest doesn’t hold the tablet as securely as the Philips and Altec Lansing did. The iLuv also lacks a landscape option and wireless connectivity, so is no good for watching a film. Despite having three separate drivers in each speaker unit, bass is muddy and there’s not enough range and definition to handle classical music or guitar-heavy rock. There is a good sense of stereo and it’s fast to recharge the iPad, but there’s nothing here to wow the ears and it’s not cheap, either.
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Verdict It’s hard to give the iLuv much love.
**
i-luv.com
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Best for Travel
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Logitech Z515 £70
Being less than 10in long and weighing less than 3lb,the Logitech Z515 is a good choice for use on the move. The well-built unit sits back on a pull-out stand and connects to the iPad via Bluetooth. It’s easy to pair the two, and once done you can use your iPad from a good 30ft away if in line of sight, or 15ft if there are obstacles in the way. Music lacked the deep bass and high-end clarity of the best of the Logitech’s rivals, but it went surprisingly loud for its small size, and had more than enough power to make action-packed films and arcade games come alive. Battery life was excellent at between eight and 10 hours — enough for a day’s use before an overnight recharge.
Verdict Planning an iPad holiday? Pack one of these.
****
logitech.com
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Best for affordability
Logic3 iStation Podium £60
This quirky-looking stand/speaker dock holds the tablet securely. Like the Philips, it has its own free app to help fine-tune the unit’s sound and bring together alarm clock, photo viewer and internet radio functions in one place. Without it, you would have to launch and close separate apps on the iPad. The speakers are built into a cylinder at the base of the stand, and while you could hardly describe the output as lush or powerful, it’s perfectly acceptable at low volume. The part of the dock that grips the iPad can be easily rotated to hold it firmly in landscape format, although we found it hard to get the tablet in and out of the dock connector. However, if you want an affordable iPad stand with built-in sound, this is a good choice.
Verdict Sounds better than it looks.
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***
logic3.com
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Best for Desktop use
Altec Lansing Octiv 450 £110
The Octiv 450 is a compact dock only slightly wider than the iPad itself, with an ingenious flip-up stand that holds the tablet upright when you’re playing music or browsing the web, and in a landscape position when you’d rather play a game or watch a film. It’s solidly built and easy to use, with just three buttons at the front and a compact remote control. While it hasn’t got the power to provide the soundtrack for a party it’s easily loud enough for everyday use. The audio isn’t as good as that of the Philips but the Altec has a wider, more panoramic sound than most small speakers can deliver. It’s also a great little dock for games and movies, dishing out dialogue and effects with vigour.
Verdict Small, practical, but with audio compromises.
****
alteclansing.com
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Making a connection
The 30-pin connector The standard physical interface for iPads, iPods and iPhones. The connector features hi-fi-quality left and right stereo outputs, ensuring that the speaker system gets the best signal. The downside? Your iPad is stuck in the speaker dock — bad news if you want to play games that use tilt controls.
Bluetooth The iPad supports the A2DP Bluetooth standard, developed for sending audio over a wireless connection. Of the docks on test, only the Logitech and Philips were Bluetooth-compatible. As well as the convenience of being able to use your iPad for, say, surfing the net while playing music, Bluetooth compatibility means the docks will work with most mobile phones and other brands of tablet. However, A2DP compresses the audio signal, so music won’t sound as good as it does through a 30-pin connector.
AirPlay
This is Apple’s wireless music streaming technology, which piggybacks on your home wi-fi network. AirPlay offers higher audio quality than Bluetooth plus the ability to stream music to more than one speaker system at a time, complete with song information and album art. This will be displayed on the screens that AirPlay systems will include. AirPlay is built into the most recent software for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch (available as a free update). The first hardware to support AirPlay is going on sale; Bowers & Wilkins has a compatible version of its Zeppelin dock, and there are systems coming from Denon, iHome, JBL and Marantz.