pilaar39's Full Review: TEAC SRL-X5iB HiFi Table Radio with iPod Dock (Bla...
I bought this at Costco (Canada) for $89. They had a display model, and it sounded good, so I picked one up. My main intention was to play my iPod (not so much the AM/FM radio). After unpacking, I immediately plugged in my 160 GB iPod Video Classic. The sound was great overall.
However, there is a very annoying noise that can be easily heard in between tracks - during that few seconds of quiet, or supposedly quiet. It sounds like the iPod Hard Drive spinning up to speed, followed by lots of ticking static.. as if you were listening very closely to PC hard drive spinning up and the ticking being the R/W head arm moving back and forth across the disc. This noise is there between almost every track, and is especially noticeable on quieter classical tracks, as the noise continues for several seconds into the track. After a few seconds, it disappears - it is almost like it spins up to speed, reads most of the track, and then spins down so that the track is playing from an internal buffer instead of constantly reading from the HD.
I contacted TEAC support, and they said it was definitely not normal, and I should take it back for exchange. I brought my iPod to the store and tried it in their demo unit. It also made the same static noice, but because of the ambient store noise, you really have to listen hard to hear it.
Anyway, against my better judgment, I bought another unit, brought it home, and tried it in a quieter environment, and sure enough, it too had the same static noise between tracks. The TEAC support rep suggested it might not be grounded properly, but the AC/DC power supply has only two pins - no ground pin. I tried different outlets in my house, as well as reversing the plug polarity. (btw.. this runs fairly warm, as it draws 1.3 amps at 12 VDC)
This static noise only occurs if the iPod is used in the docking station; if you use the included jumper cable for the earphone output to the back of the TEAC and into the AUX input, it works fine. But in that mode, you defeat the whole purpose of the docking station: to have it charge the iPod and to use the remote control.
If you really want to buy one of these, make sure your iPod has solid state memory and not a hard drive. Although, I have read some reports on the net that the iPod Touch (which is solid state) also has problems with this docking station.
The good stuff: Great sound, good clock radio, two alarms, display dimmer, remote control, sleep modes of 30, 60, or 90 minutes, built for iPods but can also interface with any MP3 player via the AUX input, has earphone jack on the back. Has an attached long line FM antenna, and a detachable AM loop antenna. All controls can be operated from the included remote or the buttons on top of the unit.
Function: iPod / Tuner / AUX iPod Dock (iPod charges while playing) Digital Clock, Dual Alarm, Snooze, Sleep Timer Large LCD Display with 3-step Dimme...More at Amazon
iPod dock with halo-effect blue illumination (iPod charges while playing)Digital AM/FM tuner with 10 AM + 10 FM station presetsVideo output for iPod v...More at MacMall
iPod dock with halo-effect blue illumination (iPod charges while playing)Digital AM/FM tuner with 10 AM + 10 FM station presetsVideo output for iPod v...More at ClubMac
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.