Logitech Wireless Music System for iPod review

Wires, who needs them? According to Logitech, nobody if they sign up to the company's Logitech Wireless Music System for iPod

25 April 2006 11:23 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Wires, who needs them? According to Logitech, nobody if they sign up to the company's Logitech Wireless Music System for iPod.

The idea is that if you've got the urge to connect your iPod to your Hi-Fi without a £2 standard phono cable then you can do it without the need for wires with this piece of kit that costs £149.99.

Plug the wireless dongle onto your iPod via the headphone jack, and then the receiver into a Hi-Fi system and you'll then have the ability to walk around the house using the iPod as a remote changing tracks whenever and wherever you want.

Connectivity on the receiver is offered either via a 3.5mm phono jack or a pair of standard phono cables.

Of course because you connect the wireless dongle to the iPod via the headphones jack you could very well connect it to any MP3 player. Perhaps this is why it doesn't actually fit that well to the iPod then?

Just like the Wireless Headphone variant of the same system, the Logitech Wireless Music System for iPod uses Bluetooth to connect between the two devices.

This gives it a range of around 10 metres, which while sounds a lot, means that in the home the iPod or MP3 player still needs near the receiver to work effectively.

Connecting to the two devices proved troublesome at times, although this was partly due to the poor manufacture of the switch on the dongle that sits on the iPod than the Bluetooth pairing (which is automatic) not working probably.

Get past the connectivity issues and the results are very good whether on your home entertainment system or a low-end speaker system like an iPod dock.

To help improve sound, the receiver has a two-way switch that allows you to switch between fixed and variable volume settings ideal if you are getting distortion from the two competing volume levels.

In our tests we found that fixed was the better of the two allowing you to get plenty of volume from the connecting speaker.

Verdict

The Logitech Wireless Music System for iPod works as advertised and certainly better than our experience with the company's Logitech Wireless Headphone offering.

However, that is not to say that we didn't have problems. In our tests we found the battery life to be pretty lacklustre and as we've mentioned we did have connectivity issues. Additionally there is the price to consider.

For £2 you can get a cable that will allow you to achieve the same thing, just without the freedom of being wireless.

Good, but temperamental at times.