Review: jWIN's iLuv i99 Receiver Does It All for Less
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As more and more tech toys evolve to include music-playing capabilities, gadget lovers face an increasingly common problem: How can you amplify them all without buying five different speaker docks?
Lately, this has been a problem for me, so when I first spotted jWIN's iLuv i199 multimedia system — promising to play music from all these sources while also letting you transmit and receive music — I was optimistic, though admittedly skeptical.
The $250 i199 is $50 cheaper and purports to do much more than Bose's excellent-sounding SoundDock for the iPod. And although some other systems offer multiple playback options, users are still hard-pressed to find one that promises the level of interoperability found in the i199.
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The i199 does all that it claims — and much of it well enough to make it worth the price of a video iPod.
The iLuv dock comes in black or white and is about the size of a sleek desktop computer.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Various controls on top let you toggle between functions, manipulate playback and volume and control features like the clock and alarm.
A hinged panel opens to reveal an iPod dock, USB port and a port for iLuv's Bluetooth implementation.
The front of the iLuv is mostly speaker grille, obstructed by a slot-loading CD player and a central, adjustable LCD that glows bright blue.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When I started testing the iLuv, I wasn't sure where to start. With plenty of playback possibilities, I was briefly tempted to connect all my gadgets at once.
But I decided to ease my way in instead.
First, I docked my video iPod and found that it was typically easy to control with the iLuv's small, slightly awkward-feeling remote. The speakers also sounded good, though not incredible.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Soon, I moved on to CDs by popping in an old No Doubt disc. The CD slid smoothly into the unit, and, again, playback was steady and simple.
I began turning up the volume and found the sound good and clear until a little more than two-thirds of the way up.
At full blast, the music began sounding a little distorted, but definitely loud enough to support a nice-sized party.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Of course, a good party demands a steady flow of solid tunes, and some of these are stored on stereo Bluetooth-enabled devices such as cell phones.
As noted, the i199 has a port for Bluetooth devices.
The gadget comes with a tiny "BluePin" audio transmitter and receiver, which you plug into the port.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The i199 can now wirelessly play music from any stereo Bluetooth-enabled device and can send sounds for listening on similarly enabled headsets.
I did just that, but couldn't get music from my phone to play at first. Only then did I notice a tiny switch that had to be moved from "transmit" to "receive."
Other than that, it was easy to set up. However, I found playback often noticeably choppy, especially when moving the phone.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}I called a friend as music blared to see what would happen. As with a stereo Bluetooth headset, the music automatically paused once I hit the "call" button on my phone, resuming again after I hung up. The same thing happened when a friend called me.
I was more impressed with listening to music on a pair of Bluetooth headphones. Living with two roommates, all on different schedules, I like being able to rock out without annoying them.
It was fun to wander my two rooms in our apartment while tracks blasted into my ears alone.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On a hot night, I took my headphones into my bedroom and chilled out (literally) to Stereo Total with the air conditioning on high and the stereo unit sweltering a room away.
Although being wireless is fun, the i199's USB port is also a good way to gain access to tunes.
I plugged in an old USB memory stick I had lying around. The unit's LCD flashed song names and band titles as songs played.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}With all the buttons and options on the i199's top, it's easy to forget about the back.
There, you'd find an FM antenna wire, a jack for an AM antenna that is included, an input jack for attaching another audio source and an AV jack for watching videos and images stored on your iPod.
Using a cord that was included, I connected the i199 to my TV and played an episode of "Law & Order" stored on my docked iPod.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Doing so allowed me to control the video's playback from the i199's remote, so I didn't have to keep the iPod nearby while watching on the (relatively) big screen.
I did notice, though, that hitting the rewind or fast-forward buttons on the remote quickly would cause the video to go out, thus requiring a trip to the iPod to restart the episode.
My last adventure with the i199 involved its alarm function. The unit has two alarms, and I set one to wake me up early for work by playing a tune from my iPod.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The next day I was awoken by an Aimee Mann song and realized that although I wasn't thrilled to be up, for once I didn't want to break my alarm clock.
That's probably for the best with this stereo, because if I did I'd be out a kitchen sink's worth of playback functions, too.
The i199, of course, isn't perfect. It would be well-served by better-working and integrated Bluetooth capabilities, as well as slightly better sound quality.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But given its current configuration and price tag, it's still a worthy do-it-all system.