http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/irock-review.html

Listening to Audible books would be a great application for this device!

Judie :0)

I got a iRock with the purchase of my iRiver SlimX MP3 CD Player from www.mp3playerstore.com and tried it last month when I hired a car to go to a job interview. I had the player in the back seat and here in Toronto there are stations on the 88.x frequency but I found the iRock over powered the stations which was good.

2 points with I did not like - Batteries only, no AC plug and the switch is too easy to get switched on by mistake if you have it in your bag.. and drain your batteries.

Otherwise a great device.

He reports the following:
- quality has some static but acceptable given the convenience
- coverage goes around the FM radio intercom system in his old house
- battery life is not so good, but rechargeables could solve that.

I found the sound quality to be just OK. Better than AM radio, but not perfect.

quote:

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Originally posted by mclaugh:
The problem I see with the Irock is with its frequency choices, or lack thereof. I live in the NYC area, and so my 88.x FM band is all filled up. I would rather have the option to tune any frequency between 87.9 and 107.3 (or whatever the upper and lower registers of FM are).
McLaugh

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I live near LA, so virtually every part of the radio spectrum has stuff on it. Perhaps the reviewer of this unit lives in an area where the 88.1-.7 is completely unused. This might be a little better in that case.

If I didn't live so far from where I bought this thing I would probably return it. In short:

(1) Sound quality is poor
(2) Does a bad job of blocking out other stations
(3) Batteries only, no provision for power
(4) Too easy to turn it on during storage

The

quote:

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Originally posted by iPod freak:
I bought an iRock with my iPod, and am quite disappointed in the performance of this little unit. Basically it is incapable of overpowering even very weak stations fully, so what I get is the sound of a static-ridden radio station. Not exactly what I was expecting!

I live near LA, so virtually every part of the radio spectrum has stuff on it. Perhaps the reviewer of this unit lives in an area where the 88.1-.7 is completely unused. This might be a little better in that case.

If I didn't live so far from where I bought this thing I would probably return it. In short:

(1) Sound quality is poor
(2) Does a bad job of blocking out other stations
(3) Batteries only, no provision for power
(4) Too easy to turn it on during storage

Joel

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More static and poor reception that I would ever have expected! I tried several presets and even a few other cars.

Do you like in a very populated area wwith lots of radio stations? I am just trying to see why yours performed so poorly.

Thanks,

As far as station selection, it does an EXCELLENT job of letting you select an empty fequency. I have a RatShack DX-398 so I was accurately able to detect the fequencies, and it did an excellent job.

Using the larger antenna on the SF, I tuned it to 87.55 (exact fequency, well, close enough to exact) and about 40 ft from the unit, if I oriented the antenna correctly, still had full signal.

The supplied antenna is complete crap, a little 3.5 inch telescoping unit, this WILL give you maybe 12 ft of broadcast, but your stereo will have LOTS of noise, I put a dipole off a portable TV on (the TV was broke, I want the one off my Sony radio) and this gave me an increadable 40 some feet of broadcast range with very little signal loss, although, your milage may vary, ,I'musing a RadioShack DX-398, which is a clone of the Sangean ATS-909, which is known for it's excellent high quality tuner and sensitive FM selection.

The trick to getting the most ouf of this unit, don't overload it with bass, treble or volume, the battery life is good, I ran it all night on the battery that was labeled "best if installed by 2000", and I can play Virgin Radio 105.8FM out of London anywhere in my house.

this unit is supposed to comply with FCC Part 15, but FCC Part 15 states that a Part 15 compliant product must have a fixed antenna or an antenna with a "unique connector"

That Soundfeeder setup sounds great!

How difficult a mod would it be for someone like me, whose never modded anything at all?

Had the Soundfeeder unit for awhile,was not to happy with. Picked up static from the car engine somehow. However home use was perfect

One thing is when I hold the Irock reception is much better. Is there anything I can do to replicate this without holding it all the time?

quote:

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Originally posted by iPod freak:
I bought an iRock with my iPod, and am quite disappointed in the performance of this little unit. Basically it is incapable of overpowering even very weak stations fully, so what I get is the sound of a static-ridden radio station. Not exactly what I was expecting!

I live near LA, so virtually every part of the radio spectrum has stuff on it. Perhaps the reviewer of this unit lives in an area where the 88.1-.7 is completely unused. This might be a little better in that case.

If I didn't live so far from where I bought this thing I would probably return it. In short:

(1) Sound quality is poor
(2) Does a bad job of blocking out other stations
(3) Batteries only, no provision for power
(4) Too easy to turn it on during storage

Joel

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I've had a simmilar experience. It never sounds as good as regular FM brodcasts and often has unacceptable levels of static. I thought that it was just because I live in a city where the 88.* stations are all occupied but then I went on a road trip through middle of nowhere Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia and the iRock still sounded like shit. I'd try the different frequencies to get one that wasn't too static-y and then before even one or two songs were over the static woudl return. Also, on the road, I found that the 2-4 miles I'd travel during a song would be enough to change the stations received at a given frequency.