mStation Orb Review
February 21, 2008 · Print This Article
As we all know iPod dock stations are a dime a dozen these days. However what make the few of them standout from the rest is their design and sound quality. The mStation Orb is one such Docking/Speaker Station that is great looking and great to listen too and we were lucky enough to review it.
Setup/Installation:
When we excitedly unpacked the Orb from its box we were greeted with a pretty slick docking station that resembles a red tomato. Other items included inside the box are 10 docking cradles, all in red as well as a color coordinated remote control, a USB Cable, and a stereo mini cable. On top of the Orb are 6 buttons: power, volume controls, previous, forward, and play/pause. These buttons are also located on the remote and you can also control the Bass and Treble from the remote. The remote is thin and light weight, only somewhat bigger than a credit card. Overall, setup was easy, and we easily snapped in the appropriate cradle for our 3rd generation Nano. Besides using the included cradles there is a Firewire port that allows you to connect really older iPod generations, which is a great feature that most iPod docking stations don’t have. Then we plugged in the AC adapter to power the speaker and the included USB cable for syncing the Orb to your computer. The whole set-up took less than 5 minutes and even though there were instructions included, we figured it out on our own.
Features:
So with pure giddiness we put into the cradle the 3G Nano which was instantly picked up by the Orb. I faced the remote to the Orb and started navigating through my playlists and playing songs. If I wanted to go to other songs you press the next or previous buttons. It was really easy and the sound quality was pretty good, the built-in 2.1 Sub-woofer provides a better listening experience than we’ve seen on many other iPod speakers . We blasted the volume really high and on MP3s of better quality you could really feel the bass and quality of the song. However, on lower bitrates, the music did sound a little tinny. For the fun of it we even plugged in the iPhone which isn’t technically supported by the Orb, yet we were able to let it play and even charge it. The iPhone was also immediately picked up by the computer to start syncing, just like the Nano did. Oddly, music sounded even better from the iPhone through the Orb than the Nano. We tested this by playing the same song on the Nano through the Orb and then through the iPhone. We also tested the remote from 20 feet away and it worked fine.
Conclusion:
The mStation Orb is a great iPod speaker, in a size that is just right - it’s relatively compact, yet still manages to produce a powerful amount of sound. It’s also got a cute colorful vibe going for it. Despite its unusual spherical shape, the Orb will fit into any nicely decorated home and it wont stick out like a sore thumb. You can choose from White, Black, Blue, Green, Pink, Red, or Silver, each of which of course come with color coordinated accessories included.Overall the setup was easy and having so many cradles and firewire port to connect even the most antique iPods, is an extra special bonus. Whoever designed the Orb certainly had women in mind, it’s a quality speaker with good sound and a nice design aesthetic. Granted, there are many iPod speakers out there that provide bonuses like an FM radio, and alarm clock, but for what the Orb does, it does it well. The Orb retails for $129.95 at mStation.
The Good:
Good Sound Quality, Nice Design, easy to use.
The Bad:
Would have liked there to be a radio option.
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[...] Via: ChipChick [...]
[...] Chick has posted a review of the mStation 2.1 Stereo Orb here on her website. The Stereo Orb is a combination desktop docking station/speaker system for the [...]
This little speaker works great! I’m glad that I got it.