Review on Sony ICFCS15IP Speaker Discontinued Manufacturer by Katie Bobzien

This Sony product is so close to perfect it breaks my heart. First I bought the Philips version: Philips AJ7040D 30-pin iPod/iPhone Speaker Dock (see my review there). But while the Philips looked better, it sounded unacceptably bass-heavy, not in a good way, but in a dirty way with mid-range bass. And he had an annoying habit of automatically waking me up by not increasing the volume too slowly until I either threw a pillow at him or fumbled for the remote and turned the volume down or down. This device doesn't have those pesky habits or design flaws, but it's still not quite perfect. On the other hand, the music turns on and stays at the volume you set. Good. To my audiophile ears, the sound is damn good for a device of this size. It has bass boost and a stereo booster (matrix) that actually boosts the sound, not worsens it. You can easily set it to one or the other or both. The dual alarm clock has a weekend setting so you don't accidentally wake up at 5am on a Saturday, and the rest of the features are useful and of high quality. The design flaws are twofold. First, the remote control takes some getting used to. I don't miss the snooze button on the Philips remote, but while that remote feels far more important, the buttons aren't easy to find when you wake up without that coffee shot. Second, and this might be more for people who use their iPhones in this dock, the 30-pin connector swivels. Seems like they tried to get it working with different cases but I found it difficult to put my iPod touch back on as the corner wobbles back and forth and if you get it wrong or you die runs out of patience and you push it back in it will mess up your iPod/iPhone. Obviously, this is more annoying for people who use their iPhones by plugging and unplugging them to this dock every day. So take your time and walk carefully is my advice. Maybe with a new 5th gen iPhone and adapter, or maybe when Sony fixes this issue with the next version of this dock, it doesn't matter, but until then it gets four stars from me.