YAMAHA TSX-140 iPod Dock

Sometimes headphones are not enough, but luckily Yamaha has you covered with the TSX-140. My last iPod dock came from Home Goods, which works well for my kitchen. If I really want to blast my iPod, the best bet is to use a janky cable from Radio Shack to plug it into my stereo.

Those days are long gone, because the TSX-140 is a major piece of equipment!

The first thing I noticed was how cool the item looked. Whoever did the design on this did a great job! It looks really classy, it blends in just as much as it is eye-catching. It has truly elegant styling. The facade includes three main dials, coupled with a clock. The dials control the volume, radio presents, source, alarm clock, and equalizer. The interface is very clean and accented nicely with the softly illuminated buttons.

Aside from looking great, which is always a key component to any furnishing, the TSX-140 packs a serious punch. Yamaha's press release boasts two 3-1/8" speakers, Yamaha's 15W + 15W digital amplifier, as well a bass-reflex port. There is also Yamaha's patented Music Enhancer software that recompresses the songs to add a wider range of depth and soundfield. This device also has considerable sound absorbing components, so it delivers natural acoustics, versus the degradation that comes from reflected sound.

Since I am all about testing these products to the most realistic real-world situations, I invited some friends over to enjoy a cigar and jam out to some Pink Floyd. We set up shop on my patio, with Dark Side of the Moon and the TSX-140 nestled firmly between us. The sound quality was exceptional, I barely had to turn it up to be a great volume. At one point I cranked it all the way up and my neighbor peaked over the fence as if I was having a party. For the device to perform as well as it did outside, where acoustics are terrible, I was very pleased. It was also perfect since it is very lightweight and easy to transport around. This would work out really well on a boat.

Another big selling point was all the functions this dock comes with. You can listen to iPod/iPhone using the port on the top, but you can also listen to CDs, FM Radio, and there is even a USB port for non-iPod devices. So break out your old Zune, because you can connect anything to the TSX-1. What I found to be really cool was that the iPod/iPhone dock kept the volume control up as it was on there, all of the ones I have ever used put the device to sleep. On the Apple device front, I found it really nice that I could use the mini-B connector to sync to my computer while the device was charging on the dock.

As a bonus, the TSX-140 comes in three colors: black, gray, & brick, so it comes as subtle or bold as you want.

The Bottom Line: this makes a great addition to your electronics collection because it has outstanding sound quality, is lightweight & portable, not to mention will interface with pretty much any type of audio playing technology in existence - and probably those to come as well.

Click here to purchase the TSX-140 iPod dock.