Neat Stuff: Music on the Run
I've been accumulating a big ol' pile
of gear that lets you take music on the road with you. Neither of these really justifies a
major dissertation, but both of them solve specific problems that have been bugging me.
Who knows? They might work for you, too.
Monster Cable iCase Travel Pack for iPod
I'm a New Yorker, so I don't own a car any more, but lately
I've had to take a few extended trips in rentals. In the old days, that would have meant
packing up a CD wallet (or a few) with prime CDs for road music. But these days, I just
tote along my iPod.
Of course, that simply means I need a new travel wallet to
carry all the associated gear, since rentals don't come automatically equipped with power
cables or direct inputs to the audio system. Also, since most rental agencies won't tell
you what kind of audio system your car will be equipped with (I've gotten a few with
cassette decks lately), you don't even know which accessories to pack.
There are power cables, so you can use the car's
convenience outlet rather than run your battery down, FM transmitters (for cars with CD
players), cassette adaptors (for those with cassette players), and assorted other cables
for connecting to audio systems once you arrive at your destination. That's a lot of gear.
Monster Cable's $69.95 USD iCase travel pack conveniently
puts all your eggs in one basket -- and, since it also has a niche for your iPod,
you’d better really watch that basket). The iCase is 10.5" by 7" and
opens like a book. It has a ballistic nylon exterior and hefty zippers, with substantial,
rubberized pulls that make opening and closing the case relatively effortless. (Yeah, I
know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but I have a few sports bags with wimpy little
zipper pulls that make zipping and unzipping a hassle, so I appreciate that detail.)
There's a large zipped outside pocket, which is perfect for
taking along the iPod dock and FireWire cable, and a whole slew of interior compartments
designed to simplify travel.
 On the left "page" of the open "book," there's a row of eight
shallow pockets designed to store cards: credit, memory or business -- your choice. Behind
them is a flap for convenient access to rental contracts or plane tickets, and behind that
a deep pocket for any papers you want to keep secure or out of sight.
There's a pen pocket along the case's hinge, which is nice,
because it puts the pen inside, where you won't lose it.
On the right "page," there's an iPod pocket
(complete with cutouts that allow access to the scroll wheel and four buttons). There are
mesh pockets that accommodate a Monster Cable iSplitter signal splitter (included) and a
Monster Cable iCharger (also included -- see below). A third mesh pocket holds
extra cables or connectors.
The Monster iSplitter is a hefty dual-miniplug Y-connector
with gold-plated connectors -- "for sharing your iPod with a friend." I tried
this on my last trip to the UK and found it a miserable experience, since my wife and I
tend to listen at different volumes. We solved that by splitting the signal into two
HeadRoom AirHeads, which gave us independent volume controls, but that path leads to gear
proliferation that takes a lot of the joy out of the iPod's lightweight portability.
The iCharger, however, is a joy. The iCharger is a
convenience-outlet charging system that terminates in a right-angle dock connector (with a
miniplug output). The convenience-outlet plug contains "smart" charging
circuitry and a three-stage charging-status LED. Its connecting cable is a convenient 10'
long, and its terminations are gold plated. It works like a charm.
The miniplug output allows you to connect the iPod to a
cassette adaptor or FM transmitter without going through the iPod's volume control, which
you'd rather avoid.
Monster also makes the $69.95 Monster iCarPlay Wireless FM
transmitter, which combines the charging functions of the iCharger with an eight-frequency
FM transmitter, so you can listen to your iPod on your car's radio.
 Monster Cable iSpeaker
Portable
The iSpeaker Portable is billed as a dedicated iPod
portable loudspeaker, but it will work with any product that has a line-level output, as
long as the connecting cable terminates in a miniplug.
At $59.95, you shouldn't expect the iSpeaker Portable to
deliver audiophile-approved sound. It doesn't. But like the dancing dog, it's amazing that
it works at all, much less as well as it does.
And what it really has going for it is that it
really is portable.
It's about the size of a deluxe double-CD hardshell case.
The front and back "covers" swing out from the case's spine, forming a
"T." The spine holds a tiny power amp and a battery pack (four AAs); the covers
are perforated and house NXT transducers attached to 5.25" by 4.75" foam panels.
There's a miniplug input and power switch on the rear of
the case's spine, and a blue power LED tells you when you've switched the unit on. There's
also an input for a 6V DC power supply (not included).
NXT transducers excite the entire surface of their
diaphragms with randomized full-range sound, rather than using specific drivers for
different frequency bands. This is analogous to the way that a violin uses its soundboard
to project its sound (you're hearing the amplified signal of the vibrating wood, rather
than the tiny sound of the individual strings).
NXT's technology has been primarily used in products that
do not have to produce a lot of sound -- such as laptops, where the screen also functions
as the diaphragm. That's why you shouldn't expect room-filling sound from the iSpeaker --
it ain't going to happen. But if you're sitting at the desk in a hotel room working on
your laptop, the iSpeaker can produce enough sound to serve as a near-field speaker
system for your computer or iPod.
I set the bottom of the iSpeaker on the FireWire plugs from
my iPod and mouse, where they plug into my keyboard (OK, I don't exactly travel light, but
my huge hands aren't a good fit for my PowerBook). This angles the iSpeaker up at my ears
slightly -- and places it about 24" from my ears. At that angle and proximity, the
sound is not bad.
I can't pretend its high-performance sound, but it's my
music, and it beats the heck out of any TV or radio I've ever had in a hotel room. If I'm
staying in a hotel with broadband, I can even listen to my hometown radio station (WNYC)
on its Web link, which goes a long way toward making me feel "normal."
Sometimes I put the iSpeaker on my bedside table and listen
to a chapter or so from my current www.audible.com
download before retiring. The sound through my Etymotics is clearer and deeper, but it's
nice not having to insert the flanged earpieces when I'm relaxing before slumber -- it
just feels more soothing, I guess.
If you're looking for high-performance computer sound,
you'd do better to look at any number of speakers -- there are even similarly priced
powered models sold as computer peripherals at Staples and other office-products stores
that offer more body and clarity than the iSpeakers. But where the iSpeakers reign supreme
is in their grab-'em-and-go portability. I can slip 'em in the back pocket of my jeans and
turn any hotel room into a place that feels more like home than a place of exile.
Of course, when I get back to my place, I turn on my
desktop system and chant, "There's no place like home; there's no place like
home."
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
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