Customer Reviews

JBL On Stage 400P Speaker Dock for iPhone/iPod (Black)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I read up about several iPod speaker docks before I decided on this one. The gizmodo ipod dock face-off helped a lot in my decision (http://i.gizmodo.com/5211025/ipod-dock-8+way-battlemodo). They tested several well known brand docks against each other including JBL, Sony, Bose, Altec Lansing, Klipsch, and Logitech. This JBL dock came out on top even over the Bose and after listening to it for a while now I can see why.

Crystal clear sound, deep clear bass, crisp mids and highs. What especially surprised me was the bass. I wasn't aware that such deep bass could be produced from a small ipod dock. I was able to listen to the Bose dock at Best Buy. Being in a huge store probably didn't help the bass but there was virtually no difference in sound between the two, and the JBL is less then half the price.

I personally like the design of the JBL over the Bose. A sexy silver and black oval shaped speaker with my iphone sitting on top. The speaker is shielded so there is no interference whatsoever from my iphone. And my iphone sits sturdy on the top with the correct adapter. The remote is also very useful as you can change volume, skip, pause, and navigate menus with it.

For me this is without a doubt the best ipod speaker dock on the market.

I've been researching over a year for the perfect dock. Yeah it may sound crazy but im very fussy about the quality i want. So in the end, very difficult to find a perfect product, but JBL 400p is what comes closest. Here's why :

My requirements :

1. Crystal clear sound with clear bass.
2. Should be reasonably loud without distorting any elements and not only for laptop use
3. Shouldn't be crazy expensive
4. Should be portable (BTW i don't see portablility merely as a function of temporary power).
5. Should plug into alternate sources.
6. Didn't care about AM/FM.

Now with the above in mind, i zeroed in finally on Bose, Altec and Sony and did some serious research, to the point of going nuts and finally saw JBL winning. I will skip commenting on Sony cuz its not worth it.

Bose Sound dock: There is no doubt that this one produces the best and loudest sound out there, notwithstanding the gap between best and next is rather slim :) . I almost decided to buy this and then saw in the demo how it "completely" distorts the balance of sound at high volumes, especially the bass. So the value of loud music gets negated. Additionally, ive heard they are custom tuned to the songs that they play best at demos and hence made to sound awesome. And finally the price at 300/400 made it look ITS JUST NOT WORTH IT.

Altec Lansing imT620 and T612 : I think this product is overhyped. Its like one of those chinese products that try to give you as much as they can for as less money as possible. And this makes it the best choice for an economical product. I didn't find the sound clarity impressive at all. But just cuz i was fed up looking, i wanted to close the deal with this and be done.

JBL : While i almost got Altec, one friend of mine suggested JBL and i took a look at 200id. Didn't like as much and then just chanced upon 400p which i somehow left out of comparison totally, possibly because this wasn't rolled out then. This product clearly comes the "closest" to what Bose sounds like and for abt 200 bucks (on a deal) made great economical sense. I am amazed at how it retains the sound clarity even at high volumes, have never seen it distorting any elements. This is the only product that is impressive from the JBL camp for ipod and some serious competition. I have had it for abt 2 months now and completely satisfied. The only small issue is its not as loud as i wanted it to be, which is why the 4 stars and not 5.

Now i'm not suggesting this as a winner based out of only 1 or 2 factors. I had a clear set of requirements and this met all of them very closely. So i won't suggest you take my review at face value, rather go check it out yourself, cuz you may have a different criteria. But for sure keep this one in your comparison.

I'm very critical of sound quality and I was looking for an iPod dock to take to Mexico with me on vacation. I looked and listened to everything available at brick & mortar stores.
The Bose was too expensive. I knew that. Long story short...The JBL On Stage 400P was a gamble-it lacked some bells and whistles that other docks had but I kept coming back to sound quality, which mattered most to me. I also hesitated with this purchase because it was available at WALMART of all places.

Finally! a purchase that really and truly made me happy. It was on 24/7 in Mexico. I had none of the issues other people had. It's not cheap/inexpensive but it was a great investment for me.

JBL has made a very nice sounding device that, unfortunately, does not work out of the box with the 2nd gen iPod Touch. Even though this speaker dock was released in spring 2009 and the 2G iPod Touch was released in Fall 2008. Regardless that the product info says it works with "all docking iPods and the iPhone". The included iPod Touch 2G adapter does not allow the iPod to fit down snug enough to fully connect with the 400P so it is unable to play or charge. There is a bump noise from the speaker which may indicate it is close to connecting by cannot quite make it. I tried it several times but it was no go. I then took out the included adapted and attached the iPod without an adapter at all and it worked. I checked several times to see if I was using the wrong adapter but I was using the correct one.

My first inclination was to send it back, however it does sound nice so I really want to keep it. The problem is the connector may be in danger of breaking off if you don't use the adapter and not using the adapter probably voids the warranty.

But regardless, I used a couple small self adhesive rubber pads I had lying around to secure the iPod a little better than just not using anything at all (it seems all the adapters do is snuggle a bit with the iPod to prevent damage to the connector). While I myself will be careful with this solution I am afraid anyone else grabbing it or attaching/detaching it may break the connector off (especially the kids). If it broke inside the iPod it could be bad news for my expensive 32GB iPod.

I might still have given it 4 stars as it does sound good but the remote only operates the built in iPod music player but I use mostly Pandora for music listening so the other functions aside from volume do not function in Pandora or any other audio app.

Of course this, like all Apple related accessories, is way overpriced for what you get.

Maybe JBL will put out a new adapter that would actually work with the iPod 2G but I won't hold my breath.

I have over 30 years experience as a audio professional. I always seek out the best of the best and the JBL ONSTAGE 400P is the finest IPod/IPhone Dock product ever. The sound quality out performs Bose and any others. The high notes and low notes are clear and do not distort at full volume. The speaker shape sends the sound wave out in a stereo surround effect that fills the room. I want one now in every room. This product is absolutely awesome. I use it with my IPhone 3GS. I am buying more for Christmas gifts.
Paul McDonald/Memphis
Remember: What ELVIS did all over the world started in Memphis!

My Toyota RAV4 has an upgraded JBL audio system with a subwoofer which sounds very good, so I was very keen on checking JBL's iPhone docks. I listened to the JBL 200id right next to a Bose sound dock at Target. Also listened to the iHome IP1 at Best Buy The iHome IP1 had too much bass and lacked the audio clarity I was looking for. I liked the clarity of the JBL but it was lacking the bass. The 400p makes up for it with the built-in subwoofer. It makes a BIG difference in the overall audio output. The simplicity of this unit with 1 Power on/off button at the back and a "+" & "-" volume control buttons on the unit is great! The remote has more buttons that can control the iPhone/iPod etc so if you want that functionality, it's there. The size is just perfect even with the built-in subwoofer and it looks classy too! Overall I'm extremely happy with this product and would definitely recommend it for in-home use. It doesn't have a rechargeable battery so is not portable but that was not my criteria since this unit is always plugged into a power outlet. Keep rolling out such excellent products JBL!

After much researching I narrowed an iPod dock down to the Bose Sound Dock Series II and the JBL On Stage 400P. Most reviews of the JBL are positive with many people saying the sound is either superior or very much on par with the much higher priced Bose. So I went out and bought the JBL hoping to save well over a hundred bucks and have a very nice sounding unit.

The major problem with this thing is that it doesn't dock properly with my 64gb iPod Touch 3G. The adapter they tell you to use is too thick. It won't allow the iPod to sit low enough in the slot to fully dock. I tried it every which way, with both the Touch and iPhone rubber grommets they include, and the only way I could get the iPod to plug in and fully dock was to do away with the adapter completely. Without an adapter it wouldn't take much force to snap the iPod backward off the plug and perhaps destroy both the iPod and the entire unit. As you can see the iPod sits on top of the unit and is completely unprotected. This is unacceptable.

I believe another reviewer said the same thing about the Touch 2G and had to Dremel out the bottom of the adapter. I agree that without doing some type of modification to the adapter (which could break and then be useless) the Touch won't sit all the way down on the dock. People should buy this thing at their own risk if they have an iPod Touch 2G or 3G. I'm not sure if every unit is designed this way or if there is some quality control deviation in plug height during assembly.

Therefore, after owning it one day I took it back and exchanged it for the Bose Series II. So far not a single problem with the Bose.

All that being said, the sound quality was very good. Compared to the Bose it had a bit better clarity, enhanced highs and thumping lows. However, it did not get nearly as loud as the Bose. At full volume the JBL had no discernible distortion, unlike the Bose at top volumes. Don't get me wrong the sound quality of the Bose is nothing to sneeze at, but the JBL may actually have been a tad better, could be debated though I'm sure. For most people the JBL volume may be adequate but I really like to jam my tunes and it left me wanting to turn it up more and I couldn't.

Bottom line, the JBL sounds very good especially for the price, however it lacks volume and may not dock properly with iPod Touch's. It's also seems likely an iPod could be damaged by sitting on the very top being so exposed (especially if you are the hard partying type or have children operating it).

Its kind of hard to believe that an iPod dock that costs nearly 200 bucks doesn't do the first and foremost thing...dock!

I needed a portable speaker system for my iPhone that charges the phone and has a remote control. Out of the box, it was extremely simple to set up, no need to even look at the manual. I simply found the correct adapter for my iPhone, set my iPhone in the unit, turned the unit on, and played my music. WOW! Such nice, clear sound. This unit serves my purposes perfectly. I'll be using it in my yoga classes. The sound is loud enough to fill a very large room. The remote control works within about 10 feet of the unit, and allows you to adjust volume, pause, play, move forward or backward in your music selections. In a word "perfect!". I highly recommend this unit for the iPhone. (It also comes with adapter for mp3 players, this works great too.)

I've had the big JBL Radial for a couple of years and love it. I wanted another dock but wasn't willing to spend $350-400 for another Radial. I like the JBL sound, though, so I settled on this model. It's well worth the money: smooth, room-filling sound with a silky, nuanced midrange. I use it in my office and run it off my Mac, which allows me to tweak the sound with the equalizer: to my ears, it was overly "bright" and not as solid as I prefer at low frequencies. But I had to tweak the Radial, too, so this is all a matter of personal preferences. It's hard to believe such a small unit can put out such big, clean sound. It's got all the volume I want/need.

I didn't rate it five stars, though, because the docking adapter for my iPod doesn't fit snugly into the top of this unit, and I don't care for the way the iPod is unprotected when it's docked (unlike the Radial). Unless you've got a cat or a kid who's likely to bump into the unit, though, this shouldn't be an issue. And the remote control is either faulty or was shipped with a dead battery. That's not a big deal for me, because I use it at arm's reach, but it is disappointing nonetheless.

Bottom line is that for my use, there's not much difference in performance between this unit and the big Radial, which makes this dock well worth the price.

I just purchased an iPod Nano 5th Generation and was impressed with the quality of sound through my earphones and decided I needed to share this with friends. I went to the Apple Store and to Best Buy and took my iPod with me to compare sound quality using my own devise rather than one with artificial quality that sells a particular product. I went from Bose to the JBL On Stage 400P and back again. The quality of the JBL, in my view, far surpassed the Bose. And I have been a staunch Bose supporter for years. The bass in the JBL is OUTSTANDING! The sound is rich and dynamic. I use it at home in a 1000 sq. foot apartment, but I have had the occasion to take it to work several times. I work in retail in a 4000+ square foot store and while working prior to the store opening, I can crank up the volume of the JBL and in that large space, neither the bass or richness of the sound is compromised. The remote control is easy to use and the unit comes with multiple adapters for iPod products. I just slipped in the proper one, put in the 5th Generation and it was superb right out of the box. I highly recommend this product for the price and quality.

Love it!