With only two products under their built, you might be forgiven in thinking that Palo Alto are fairly juvenile as far as audio design goes, but what this Californian company lacks in product range, it certainly makes up for in quality. Case in point: The Cubik speakers.

The first thing to strike you when you take these speakers out of the box, or even if you take a glimpse at them on Apple’s store, is the form factor. Perfectly cubed and almost floating on their axis thanks to those somewhat inconspicuous feet they come bundled with. The press shots put the Cubiks next to a MacBook Pro, and it’s not hard to see why, they’re certainly designed with Apple in mind. In short, they look stunning.

Set-up admittedly takes a little longer than it ought to, and you need to have a flat-head screwdriver or small coin to hand for attaching those stands to the bottoms of the speakers. It’s a little bit tedious and it does make you wonder why Palo Alto couldn’t made better use of the packaging to have them pre-assembled, but at the same time it does give you the choice of whether you want to use the stands at all. Let’s be honest though, who doesn’t want a set of floating cubes on their desk?

Palo Alto boast that, because of the USB audio connection and full digital amplification, these speakers are reproducing your music note-perfect. Apparently normal speakers would convert a digital audio signal to analogue before amplification, thus losing and potentially distorting the sound. The Cubiks, however, are packing some clever chipsets that mean that nothing is converted to analogue until it hits those 2.5″ Danish-designed drivers. For the less technically-minded, this basically means that these speakers are meant to sound crisp, loud, and as close to real life as if your favourite artist was playing right in front of your Mac.

The reality? Well, that’s a little different. Whilst we haven’t really put the Cubik’s through their paces just yet, we’re unsure if they fully live up to the hype. Don’t get us wrong, they sound great – they delivery a clean and crisp sound, much clearer than a lot of analogue systems we’ve tried, but they lack a little in the bass department, and get ever-so-slightly distorted when you crank the volume. That said, they’re still a cut above most of the speakers of this size on the market.

Maybe we’re expecting too much though. We’re still nowhere near finished putting these through their paces, and for the most part we’re really impressed, but our main issue with these speakers is their price tag. At £179.99/$199.95 they’re certainly not the cheapest speakers on the market, and whilst their build quality is impeccable and certainly justifies the price tag, we’re not 100% sure (yet) if the sound quality does. Watch this space though, we’ll test them some more and keep you updated with our thoughts. We reckon they might well be growers.

The Cubik speakers are available at Apple Stores in Covent Garden and Regent Street as well as from Amazon, scan.co.uk and PCbuyIT.com.

There’s not a lot that you can say about TRON to those who haven’t seen it, but if you have seen it you’ll know exactly what I mean when I say it’s a geek’s dream. The recent remake, starring a disturbingly animated Jeff Bridges, brought the then-out-of-date franchise right up into the 21st century, with updated graphics, a new set of fantastic tools and weapons, and a thumping soundtrack from Daft Punk.

The glow of the dock in a dark room will make you feel like you’re sitting in The End of the Line Club

Now, you can enjoy that soundtrack in your own home, but feel like you’re living inside the Grid, thanks to this ridiculously awesome-looking dock from Monster. It houses speakers in the shape and design of a TRON Identity Disc from the recent TRON: Legacy movie; you can switch the lights on around the disc and they will glow a fantastic blue, and, even more excitingly, if you download the TRON app, the lights will flash and flicker in time with your music.

Even in daylight the dock will be the coolest thing in a room

Even the Hexagonal-buttoned remote looks exceptional, and thanks to the four 1.5″ Stereo High-Throw Drivers and the 3.5″ Long-Throw Woofer, the dock should manage to perform pretty well with your tunes as well. Touch sensitive controls on the front of the dock give you control over your music, with a button on the rear allowing you to change the blue glow level.

We admit, it’s very expensive for what it is, and other speakers will produce the same sound or better for less cash. But those speakers aren’t shaped like an Identity Disc, and they don’t glow blue. So why would you want them?

Company: iLuv
Price: £129.99/$129.99
Compatibility: iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch/iPods (with audio-out cable)
Available from: Argos

With several million iPads now in the hands of consumers and estimates that suggest 20-40 million more (depending on who you ask) being sold this year, it’s understandable that companies are working hard to create docks for Apple’s money-making machine. iLuv is just one of these accessory designers, and they’ve had a lot of hit products in the past here at iCreate.

The ArtStation is compact but powerful speaker dock that works with both your iPad and iPhone, holding both tightly in a rubberized grip and allowing you to rotate your device to view in either mode. The dock is, however, clearly geared towards the iPad user, as the centre of the pivot is located at the central point of an iPad. Placing an iPhone into the holder and rotating it will cause it to sit oddly out to the side of the device rather than in the centre.

The remote we got with the review unit had more buttons than this one,
but the speaker’s good looks remained the same

Still, the dock manages to comfortably fit an iPad 2 between its soft claws and we were comfortable with rotating the arm thanks to the smooth motion and stiff hold. If you have an original iPad you can still use the ArtStation, but you’ll lose the protective grip of the rubber and be stuck with the plastic. It still works well and holds the iPad tightly enough, but we felt more comfortable docking our iPad 2 because of the added padding. The arm that holds the iPad or iPhone can also be pulled up and down from the base of the unit, giving you an upright display for viewing movies and TV shows, or folding flatter to allow for typing. However, we’re not sure how much we’d use the typing angle – while the iPad is held at a good angle for it, it’s still a good few centimetres from your desk, and the speaker gets in the way a little too much for it to be comfortable for long.

The design is actually surprisingly nice, with smooth black plastic and cloth-covered speakers giving a clean look to the dock. The shape is also pleasingly angular; the speakers come to a point at the back, making the bottom of the dock seem tiny but being held by a foot at the back. The controls on the unit itself are simple – a power button and volume controls are all you get here – but that’s what we expected. If you’re close enough to touch the controls on the dock, you’re close enough to touch and control the iPad, so these are really all the ArtStation needed.

The remote for the device is less minimalistic, but avoids the pitfall of many a dock remote by limiting the number of buttons to just 11. Sadly, while it doesn’t look bad by any means, the remote feels cheap thanks to the plastic used around the edges of the casing and the overall lightness of the gadget. Perhaps we’ve been spoiled by the weighty simplicity of Apple’s own remote, but we really couldn’t see ourselves using the remote too often.

The rear of the dock houses two of the coolest features, however – the first is a magnetic system that allows you to clip the remote onto the back of the dock when not in use. Ever since the demise of the iMac G5 we’ve mourned the loss of the magnetic remote-holder, so its inclusion here is welcome, both for keeping your remote safe and for the sheer glee of storing the remote using physics.

Secondly is the ability to sync your device to your Mac while it is sitting in the dock. There is a MiniUSB port on the back of the dock, and while you cannot play songs or charge your iPad while syncing to your machine, it’s nice to know that you won’t have to remove it and plug it in separately to get everything in sync. Sadly, with the dawn of iOS 5 in a few months the need for wired syncing will be gone, but the dock will still be of use as your iPad will automatically sync to your computer when charging in the ArtStation. For now we question whether the dock will be close enough to your Mac to easily use this feature, but it’s nice that it was included.

In terms of sound, the dock performs surprisingly well, managing a fair amount of bass with little distortion. There are two bass-boosting pads on the back of the speakers that manage to create a nice, deep tone, and while it certainly won’t give enough audio power to fill a large room, it’s great if you want to add a little oomph to a movie or even if you’re chilling out at home.

Pros

+ Looks great
+ Sounds as good as you expect
+ Simple to control and adjustable
+ Syncing while docked

Cons

- Isn’t perfect if you want to put an iPhone in the dock
- Cheap feeling remote
- Quite pricey
- You lose the rubberised grips when docking an iPad 1

Manufacturer: Logic 3
Website: www.logic3.com.com
Price: £300

If you are in the market for a stereo system to use with your iPod and you’ve got a few quid to throw around then you should take a look at the Valve80. This is an extremely sweet sounding valve-powered system that will help you fall back in love with your music collection. The use of valves helps create astonishing warmth of sound and the included speakers enhance this further. Spec-wise the amp offers 40 watts per channel, has a frequency response of 20Hz to 20KHz, offers a dock for iPod connectivity and 2x audio inputs and  speaker outputs. There’s also an option for video out, so a docked iPod can supply images through the unit.  The piano black speakers can handle up to 50 watts per channel and offer a frequency response of 60-22kHz through one-inch silk shielded dome tweeters and four-inch Kevlar shielded bass/mid range cones. In terms of looks the Valve80 opts for silver styling with the dock sitting on the right, the valves well protected in the middle and the other electronics tucked into a black box. Although the design is quirky it still looks very cool. The most important thing about this system is the sheer quality it offers. On top of coming with great speakers (unlike other similar systems), all the connecters come with gold plating and well-protected cables, there are two channels for auxiliary outputs and the remote allows for full iPod control. This system sounds great and oozes class. If you want a serious system then this is it.

Practicality: 7.5

Design: 9.5

Value for money: 8.0

Features: 8.0

Durability: 9.0

Kung Fu Verdict: 9.0

Manufacturer: s-Jays
Website: www.jaysearphones.co.uk
Price: £60

Every time a new set of JAYS earphones arrives at iPhoneKungFu HQ,  we pick them up and think, “There’s no way they can be as good as the last pair they sent us”. And, in typical JAYS fashion, they are as good – if not better – than the last pair we tested. This time around it’s the s-JAYS Siren that have been adorning our ears, which are noise-isolating earbuds with a very peculiar shape. They look as though a couple of grubs have managed to attach themselves to an earphone cable! Once you get over the unusual design and get into the spec list you will discover that these earphones are extremely well crafted. They feature SIREN armature drivers, a frequency response of 20Hz-20kHz and weigh just ten grams. You also get, as you do in all JAYS earphone sets, a cord extension, stereo splitter, Y-connector, airline stereo adapter and carry case. As these are earbuds, within the packaging you also get some extra rubber sleeves should you require a different size to the ones supplied. The sound you get from these earphones is excellent. Highs are crisp and clear and the lows are full and deep. The isolation is extremely efficient, which is great when you want to immerse yourself in the music, but not so great when crossing roads! iPhone users will miss a control button but it’s worth it for the sound quality. If you’re in the market for a reasonably priced set of isolating earphones then you probably won’t find a better pair than this. They deliver great sound, good looks and very good value.

Practicality: 8.9

Design: 6.5

Value for money: 8.9

Features: 7.0

Durability: 8.0

Kung Fu Verdict: 8.5

Manufacturer: Revo
Website: www.revo.co.uk
Price: £195

It’s not just Apple who is embracing the environmental approach to technology, as more and more firms are beginning to shun plastic in favour of natural materials and honest good looks. Revo is one such company and its iPod speaker system, Blok, combines either American walnut or black oak with aluminium to create a stunning looking system. There is more than just aesthetic reasons for the use of wood in this system though, as the cabinet helps to create an extremely rich sound from such a small enclosure. There are just two speakers in the Blok and they deliver 2 x 20 watts from a class D amplifier, which translates to a 55Hz to 20kHz frequency range. The bass sounds full and deep, and highs are delicate and clear right up to high volume.
Controls are kept to a minimum on the unit, with just a power button and volume control taking up space on the wooden enclosure, as well as the iPod dock on top. This leaves the rest of the work up to the very cool remote. Called Kontrol, the remote is a round pod with soft-touch plastic buttons. It works very well, but because it’s round you will always yearn to use it like an iPod scroll-wheel, which sadly you cannot do. At £195 this isn’t a cheap unit, but you do get a marriage of style and great sound – so if you have the cash then this is a worthy buy. And if the remote worked as a scroll-wheel and it were a bit cheaper, it would definitely get nearly a perfect score.

Practicality: 9.0

Design: 9.9

Value for money: 5.9

Features: 9.5

Durability: 9.0

Kung Fu Verdict: 9.2