Customer Reviews

Sony ICF-C1IPMK2 Speaker System and Clock Radio with iPod Dock (Black)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

There seems to be some confusion, Sony had a previous model of this that was very similar but was NOT iphone compatible. This new model IS iphone compatible. Make sure the box says "iphone" and not just ipod on it or make sure you order this unit (from this review.) Sony really should have changed the name or the look more. I suppose they will replace the old one with this one ultimately.

I found a great review of this also in ilounge.com where they gave it an A- and they are pretty stingy with their A's so I knew it had to be good. This is in fact a GREAT iphone / ipod clock radio / speaker system. I was pretty blown away by it and the price. They called it Sony's BEST iphone / ipod accessory ever and I agree.

Pro's:

First, most iphone systems like this start at $150, so this is a great deal at under $100. The unit is pretty small really and sets up instantly. Nothing like a great product for less than what you expect to pay.

Amazing sound! I was unprepared for the quality of the sound and even the "mega-xpand" really does seem to give you a larger, more separated sound. I don't know how this stacks up to say a $300 Bose ipod speaker system but I am more than happy for a bed side / desk side speaker. I have had it for 4 days and I have not heard any noticeable cell phone noise or interference also.

There is a very nice adjustable knob in the back that you turn to adjust the position of the dock for the ipod. Hard to explain but this solves the issue of different ipods being thicker or thinner than others. You adjust it once and it stays put - impressive. Should make it compatible with many different ipods.

The Remote! It comes with a tiny infrared remote that lets you control ALL of the ipod's music controls. Very slick. You can menu up to all the playlists, album, songs, artists etc.. and then drill down and play. Also very impressive! It will even turn on the ipod its its off / asleep. This is extremely useful!

The clock functions are ok, I can't say much good or bad really here. 2 alarms, adjustable display on the clock, programmable radio stations buttons, an AM and FM antenna. I usually just use my iphone's alarm to wake me up but I assume the clock stuff is also good. Its a pretty basic alarm system, buzzer, radio etc.. no multi day alarms or such. Also has sleep mode that you can set on the remote. No nature sounds or any of that. Just 2 alarms and snooze, etc. More than enough for me.

It also has an audio in port on the back which is very nice for watching movies or such on the ipod & playing thru the speakers. I won't use it much but its a killer feature.

It also has some sort of auto time set function, works ok but I had to set my time zone. I think it comes with a built in lithium battery to keep the clock function set in case of a power outage, also nice feature.

Con's:

Not many really. The unit seems a tad unstable on my desk, like its top heavy but it hasn't fallen over or anything. I might try and put something under the back to make it more stable.

The alarm display is very cluttered, even if you have the alarms off, it still displays one of the alarm times and such. The time display is very large so thats not an issue but it be nice to turn off some of the extra display stuff.

Even with the knob adjusted, I still have to carefully position the iphone on the dock and slide it in, I wish it would slide it more easily. Also not a huge detractor.

While getting ready for work and getting ready for bed, I like to listen to podcasts downloaded into iTunes. Prior to buying the Sony Speaker Dock and Clock Radio, I had a cluttered setup on my nightstand, including:
* a clock radio,
* laptop,
* the excellent JBL On Tour Portable Speaker System ( Black ), and
* Apple USB Power Adapter for iPod (White) for my iPhone.

After applying a bit of creative thinking, the Sony Speaker Dock and Clock Radio has replaced all of these as a single device on my nightstand that does all of the above.

How did this replace having a laptop on my nightstand? The solution involves Apple Airport Express base station. I connected the base station's audio output to the Sony's audio input.

Using Apple's free Remote software for iPhone, I can control iTunes audio on any computer on my home network. Since iTunes can redirect audio to the Airport Express, I can listen to podcasts on this device that were downloaded to a computer in another room. If you don't have an Airport Express, you can do the same thing by syncing your iPhone with your computer before bedtime each night.

From the dock, I can even use my iPhone to peek at my email if I'm lying awake at night.

The sound quality on this device is good for a product in this price range. Mid-tones are clear and full. Low bass notes have some slight distortion, and higher frequencies don't have the oomph that they do on my JBL. But as a bedroom entertainment hub, this provides a very good audio experience. Previously I had bought and returned an iHome because of its horrible audio quality, but by comparison the Sony provides a greatly superior audio experience.

Each of the dual alarms allows the choice of buzzer, iPod audio or radio audio at an adjustable preset volume. I configured one alarm for audio at a relatively low volume and the second alarm for buzzer to activate a few minutes later. This combination gives me the opportunity to wake up gradually. (As someone who is not a morning person, I'm grateful for that feature!)

By default, the clock automatically sets the time (provided you enter the correct timezone), and the included button cell battery provides backup for the timekeeping and buzzer functions.

In summary, this product is full of features that are practical and well thought out. If you think about the fact that this produce frees up your USB iPhone/iPod charger for something else, that may help justify the expense.

Be warned that most models of alarm clock/speaker docks for iPod (including the older version of this product) do not work with the iPhone 3G. (Older iPods could charge at either 12V or 5V, but the iPhone 3G charges only at 5V.) If you're interested in another product, be sure it's compatible with iPhone 3G.

Pros
* Good sound quality compared to similar products in this price range
* Digital AM/FM tuner (with 5 and 10 presets, respectively)
* Auxiliary audio input (in addition to iPod dock)
* Compatible with Apple Universal dock inserts
* Allows content playback and charging of iPhone 3G
* Dual alarms can be used in tandem to gradually wake up

Cons
* Fairly large footprint takes up a lot of nightstand space
* Display too bright, even at dimmest setting

Last year I bought the previous version of this clock radio (the ICF-C1IP) and was extremely impressed, especially compared to many other iPod clock radios that I tried. This week I bought this updated version for another room, and was pleasantly surprised.

What I've noticed in this updated version:
- explicitly iPhone compatible ("works with iPhone" indicated on the box)
- AM radio reception is notably clearer (and the old one wasn't bad)
- the display is brighter and easier to read (it might, in fact, be a little too bright at the lowest dim level)
- the grille is a dark gray, not pure black as the last model (in my opinion, this has a slightly cleaner look to it)
- sound quality just slightly less bass than earlier version (subtle - probably because of magnetic shielding for iPhone)

How do you tell which version you're buying, aside from the model number? Look for the "MK2" in the product name, as well as the "Works with iPhone" on the box.

Like the previous version, the Sony is fully compatible with my iPod Classic, and the sound quality and radio performance is notably better than other iPod clock radios I've tested.

Sony has done a great job with the ICF-C1iPMK2. It is an upright design, with most of the unit behind the iPod, in a slanted design with controls at the top. The iPod dock accepts universal adapters, but they aren't really needed as Sony has an adjustable supporting plate behind the iPod.

Unlike other iPod clock radios, the Sony does not attempt to duplicate the iPod menus on its display. Instead, the Sony includes a remote control that lets you completely control the iPod menus as if you were manipulating the scroll wheel. Quite impressive.

Sound quality is very good for a clock radio - with crisp highs and even midtones. You may want to play around with your iPod equalizer settings to see what sounds best. (To my ears, "Jazz" EQ setting works well with these small speakers.) Sony includes a simulated mode they call "Mega XPand" that in my experience made the music sound muddied and under-sampled. Your mileage my vary.

The blue-backlit clock is located in the iPod dock area, and 3 brightness levels are available. In my experience, even the lowest setting is a bit too bright, but not enough to disturb me at night. I wish that the display were slightly larger, although the high contrast lets me see the time without my glasses from a reasonable distance.

And, unlike most iPod clock radios, the radio reception is outstanding - with an external AM antenna provided. The unit has dual alarms, which can be set to iPod (you can even select a wakeup volume), Radio, or Buzzer.

On the downside, the battery backup for the buzzer alarm and clock is a small expensive lithium battery (although after nearly a year of use, this battery was still working on my old model). And, if your relying on just the buzzer to wake you up it's not very loud. You also have to be careful when changing the alarms to make sure that you don't accidentally turn the alarm off. But all of these are minor issues. However, these are all very minor issues that don't detract from the unit overall.

All in all, in my experience, this is the best iPod clock radio you can buy.

I got this thing yesterday and played with it for a while. I always find choosing a product like this difficult because there are so many specifics of operation that are never listed in the description. Thus, here are some things I have learned that may be relevant to your decision:

Basic Operation:
The unit operates the iPod exactly as you would operate it yourself. That is, when the alarm goes off, it just wakes up the iPod and pushes play. This means that you can create a special wakeup playlist, or browse to a certain artist - whatever - and it will obey all the usual iPod rules you would expect. The downside is that you cannot program the unit to play the same wakeup playlist every morning. Rather, it just wakes up and pushes play, thereby playing whatever was left on pause the night before. (So you have to queue it each night, is my point.)

Now, on to the value judgments:

Pros:
1. The volume of the unit is independent of the volume setting on the iPod itself. So no matter where you leave the volume slider on your iPod, the unit will always play at its own volume.
2. Each of the two alarms is set with its own independent volume. Thus, no matter where you left the slider on your iPod, or what volume you had the unit set to just before bed, the alarm song will always play at the correct volume.
3. If you have a recurring alarm set to play a song from your iPod, and then forget to plug your iPod in one night, it will play the buzzer instead.
4. The unit comes with a backup battery built in, in case of power failures.
5. As mentioned above, each of the two alarms is set with its own independent volume. Also, if one of the alarms goes off while the other is still active, the second will interrupt the first. Practical application: If you set Alarm A for 7:00am at volume 10, and then set Alarm B for 7:05am at volume 15, then at 7:00 your alarm begins playing whatever song you had queued up, and at 7:05 the volume simply jumps 50%, right in the middle of the song. (I tested this; it works.) Cool, eh?
6. Although the iPod screen goes dark 30 seconds after the alarm goes off, when just using the unit to listen to music, the iPod display remains on, displaying the artwork for whatever song is playing at the time.

Cons:
1. My iPod Touch sticks up about a quarter of an inch above the clock controls. This means that if I violently slap at the snooze button, I may violently smack my iPod.
2. If you sync your iPod with iTunes immediately before plugging it into the alarm clock -- and neglect to queue up a song -- then when your alarm goes off, no song will play AND NO ALARM WILL SOUND. None. Nada. Nothing happens, except you're late for work. (When I first tested this, it actually picked songs at random, which I thought was pretty cool. But after playing with different settings, that stopped happening and I am unable to make it happen again. I have no idea what made it happen in the first place.)*
3. Because the alarm time is set with the same button that switches it on and off, it is possible to absent-mindedly turn the alarm off while setting it. Care must be taken to avoid unexpected lateness.

Neutrals:
1. It sounds adequate. It is not a Bose wave radio, but it is more than sufficient for (my) alarm clock purposes and casual bedroom listening. But don't expect to rock out to it. The mids and the highs a pretty strong, but the bass is lacking.
2. Mega-Xpand addds no value. That is, it sounds better with Mega-Xpand switched off. Switched on, it just sort of sounds processed.
3. Though many people have complained about the brightness of the display, it is not a problem for me at all. Yes, it is kinda bright, but not nearly enough to keep me awake.

*UPDATE Added 12/30/2008 - I figured this out. After it syncs, if you select "Music" from the main menu (I have an iPod Touch - YMMV), it will then choose a track at random when the alarm sounds. However, it does not allow you to drill down further as you might expect, and have it select at random from a playlist. Even if you choose a playlist before tucking in for the night, the alarm still uses your entire collection as its source in the morning. The way I found to trick it into randomly selecting from a pre-defined list of good wake-up songs is that I created the playlist, and included a single 5 second track of silence. Now I can just queue up that silent track at night, and make sure that shuffle is on; when the alarm triggers it plays the silence for 5 seconds and then shuffles to one of the other songs on the list. Perfect.

As noted by some others, the display (even at it's lowest of three brightness settings) is too bright and lights up a dark room, if I wanted a night light, I'd buy one.

Early versions of the iHome clock radio suffered from the same problem. I tried a later version of the iHome product (iH8), and it solved the too bright problem by adding lower levels of brightness including no light, but then added an annoying low humming sound (I saw that another Amazon reviewer noticed the same humming sound even on the most current iH9 iHome clock radio), even with nothing on.

Doesn't anyone do quality checks anymore? It's almost as if the people who designed these products (both at iHome and Sony) didn't bother to put their clock radios in a bedroom at night and try to sleep. I suspect, Sony will fix this brightness problem on later versions, just as iHome did after seeing the complaints all over the internet (check Amazon reviews for yourself, many complaints on the iHome iH5).

Well, 2 iHomes returned (iH5 and iH8), and now debating on returning the Sony... I will say the Sony has noticeably better sound quality than the iHomes, and no humming, and is generally very good all around. BUT, when a "CLOCK RADIO" canNOT even get the most fundamentally basic and important functions of what a Clock Radio is (appropriately display the time in a dark bedroom where people SLEEP), that is a problem. Also, the actual clock display of the time could be a little larger, it'd be nice to be able to read the time without having to put my glasses on or stretch over to see the time.

Still looking for the perfect clock radio for my 80GB iPod... :(

This product is OK as a iPhone player/charger, but it fails its most important task: ALARM CLOCK!

I use this as a bedside iPhone charging station. If I connect or disconnect my iPhone while the alarms are set, the alarms get disabled. You wouldn't know that they're disabled by looking at the display. You won't find out they're off until your boss calls to wake you up.

For example, I set Alarm A for me at 5:00 and Alarm B for my wife at 7:00. Both are set for buzzer. Alarm A goes off as expected, and I get up and take my iPhone with me to work. Alarm B never goes off, and now my wife is late. If I turn Alarm B off and on again after disconnecting the iPhone, the alarm will indeed sound at 7:00.

Another example: if I turn on the alarm while the iPhone is connected, then decide to pick it up and send a text message, the alarm is disabled when I reconnect the phone. I have to remember to the alarm off and on again.

I no longer trust this product as an alarm clock. I set a backup alarm anytime I really have to be somewhere on time.

Seeing as one of the reviewers posted for all the items (always frustrating since its misinformative), I'll enter a fair review on the MK2 version of this Sony clock.

As a previous owner of 2 of the original Sony iphone clock radios and a current owner of the identical looking upgraded versions, I can say that the original (and one thats on big sale on amazon) will have interference with your iphone. It will also tell you upon docking your iphone, that the iphone isnt compatible with teh device. So hello, wake up and realize that sony released a new shielded version (THIS version, teh ICFC1iPMK2) specifically for the iphone. When you dock your iphone on the right version, you dont get an incompatibility error.

You also get none of the GSM buzz found on the previous model.

As for sound, this isnt my klipsche sound dock, but it does a good job. I keep one wherever I may need time, music and ipod charging. As someone who lives next to their cell phone, I love that in the evening I have one less thing on the nightstand when charging my phone. Iphone's been handy charging in my 2 cars, both factory ipod capable too. I'm down with the Iphone :)

The clock is where this unit shines. If you've had a sony dreammachine clock since you were 4 years old, you will appreciate the dual alarms, easy to reach snoozes, easy to set clock and alarm selection. The sound is more than enough for a bed room, although thats only my opinion. If you want a full blown knock your socks off stereo, these shelf units arent going to cut it anyway.

So, this model... 100% Iphone safe. In fact, its the exact model previous except with shielded speakers and iphone recognized approval programmed in. If you buy the cheaper, on-sale model, you'll know you have the wrong one the moment you dock and your iphone warns you!

There are plenty of detailed reviews on this product, so i will try to keep mine short. I find that Sony products often get close to designing a great product, but always fall short in some obvious detail. This is no exception.

Pros:
Really nice sound quality

Good contrast display

Smart docking adjustment for various thickness iPods

Sleep and alarm volume can be set independently

Aux audio input.


Cons:
Alarm doesn't ever automatically shut itself off (if the alarm sounds at 8 am it will still be going off at midnight)

Setting 'wake to iPod' plays the alphabetically first song in your iPod unless you navigate to an album and put the iPod in pause before you go to sleep (i like 'accident waiting to happen' by Billy Bragg, just not everyday, can you say groundhog day?)

Sleep function reverts to volume 8 for the iPod each time you start it

The iPod sticks above the top of the unit right in front of the snooze bar so i always whack the iPod trying to hit snooze

I dented the metal front grill with my thumb picking it up

I also have purchased a few of this types of clocks etc and agree that none are perfect, but for me, this one has ended up being the best for two reasons (well they are both sort of the same reason) .. I don't think I'm the only one out there that has my iPhone in a case, like mine is an in INCASE rubber cover, so with the case on, the phone won't fit into any standard size docks - so what a pain as no one is going to take their case off to fit into a standard dock insert (right?).. so what is nice about this clock is that it doesn't even come with inserts, it has a decent size opening in the dock that nicely fits iPhones even with cases on (so that is what I think is the first good reason) and then this is almost the same reason but a bit different is that one could use the iHome IP9 without any insert and the phone would slide in there with a case, but it would be so unstable and could break the dock connector, but on this one, since the dock is mounted low and the phone can lean its back up against the phone itself, then the phone is securely in the dock and won't bend backwards and break the dock connector, and Sony put a dial on the back to so to adjust that square you see to hold the iPhone securely... so for me these are important features, I agree the iHome has a better dimmer, but I'm not as bothered by the light of the clock on the low setting when trying to sleep, if this is a driving issue for a person then that may be an issue.. and the iHome has the 5-2-7 alarm where you can set it for just work days, weekend or all 7 the same, that also is a nice feature the iHome doesn't have, but in all the rest of the areas I think the Sony is a bit more refined and better, the remote, the sound qualtiy, the tuner of getting in stations (as Sony has been doing this stuff for decades and is known for it where iHome has not).. actually both the Sony and iHome IP9 are both very good you just have to pick which features are best for you as not one model offers the best of all worlds, but for me, the fact I can use it simply with the case on alone makes this one better in my situation..

I was a little nervous about buying this radio based on earlier reviews, but I bought this exact model and it works great with the new iPhone. It charges the phone and plays music with no problems/warnings and for a clock radio, has a nice sound. The only bad thing is that the display is really bright -- I don't know what Sony was thinking. To make it dimmer I bought a cling-on car window sun shade and cut a piece to cover the display. Now it's nice and dim and, because the radio is black, you don't even notice it's there. I wasn't expecting the remote to work with the phones iPod, since it's not based on a clickwheel, but it has more functionality than I expected...but who needs a remote for something next to their head?