Krell, MartinLogan ElectroKID bundle takes iPod docks to new levels of excess
By Donald Melanson 
posted Mar 11th 2008 9:06PM
posted Mar 11th 2008 9:06PM
We've seen extravagant iPod docks before, but this Krell and MartinLogan "ElectroKID" bundle put together by the folks at Absolute Sounds makes just about all those other pretenders pale in comparison. At the heart of things here is the Krell KID iPod dock, which boasts " top-quality preamp circuitry" and is also available separately for a mere £1,350 (or about $2,700). That gets teamed up with a pair of MartinLogan Purity floorstanding speakers (£2,390, or $4,800 on their own), which each pack their own 200W power amp and, as you can see, make quite the statement in any room you place 'me in. If that's sounds like the missing piece to your iPod puzzle, you can get the complete system now for £3,740, or just over $7,500 (that's right, not even a discount to entice you).
Don't get me wrong.....I love my Martin Logans (I have a whole set for my HT - Ascents, Scripts, Stage, and Descent). However, who's going to shell out this kind of money for an iPod dock that would most likely house compressed music files? What's the point??
128 KBS Compressed Music... agreed! What's the point? It's like putting $20.00 tires on your Porsche!
nah, it's more like driving your porsche on the rims.
You can load on uncompressed (WAV) files onto an iPod, and this does the preamp for you. Its not exactly ideal, I agree, but I imagine it could sound quite good.
Well the iPod does support lossless audio codecs. So think of this system as a digital music system with a large storage capacity, with the added twist that the storage is portable.
Well the iPod does support lossless audio codecs. So think of this system as a digital music system with a large storage capacity, with the added twist that the storage is portable.
lossless or not, if this is using the iPod's DAC, it is a waste of money
doesn't the ipod have an 87s/n ratio or something crappy like that? even an uncompressed format wouldnt' sound too good on it
I thought that the port at the bottom of the iPod was a digital out. This would bypass the DAC, have no s/n ratio, and pretty much be data transfer to the Krell DAC.
"128 KBS Compressed Music... agreed! What's the point? It's like putting $20.00 tires on your Porsche!"
It's more like putting Pirrelli's on you Yugo
The dock uses "top-quality preamp circuitry," and the iPod has a bottom-quality operational amplifier. Even if you're listening to lossless files on the iPod, the weakest link is the op-amp.
Now, please exuse me while I make a martini with a $100 bottle of vermouth and Taaka vodka.
(Taaka is shitty).
speaking of iPods.... no update at the Apple store today? sucks
The KID retails for $1500 and Krell is a US company - why are you quoting pounds?
Well, Absolute Sounds is British.
On another note, I don't think this is news at all.
Even though I rip all my CDs in Apple Lossless, if I'm at home, what is the point really? Certainly, the speakers are fantastic, but why not just stream the lossless files directly from the computer to your stereo?
only 20% of the country probably know how to do that. probably only 50% of those people have a stereo or media center extender that can do that
and what percentage of people will shell out $7500 for an ipod dock?
Did you know that 88.2 percent of statistics are made up?
Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that.
@ skorpius:
Because people are stupid.
My my how desperate Krell has become.
Or maybe they are not letting ideals and snobbery run them out of business?
Porsche made an SUV...now they own the majority of VW and the 911 keeps getting better and better.
At the end of the day, Krell's income must exceed their expenditures, if not, they vanish.
A lot of over priced hardware there...
Though, if anyone wants to buy me a Krell amp or a few of their FPB750Mcx, I wouldn't complain.
you will compain when those speakers tear your ears off (off the top of my head)
I would never spend that much on any stereo system. What people will do to make money eh. Will we ever see a world without greed?
With audio amplification it's bad in - bad out. If you're going to get a kick ass sound system you might as well get premium source content like DVD audio or SACD etc.
Wow...just...wow...
Makes me very sad... all i ever wanted in a home theater was Martin Logan and Krell setup. I could not afford it even when i was single and spending money like water... now that i'm married with deeper responsibilities, it's a pipe dream.
What makes me sad is that If i did have a Martin Logan / Krell setup, This is a cool new app that wouldn't make much sense from an audiophile perspective but would be a classy addition to the rack system.. if anything for convenience sake.
** sigh **
Yeah it's a bit wierd, you can afford $7500 speakers but you can't go and buy a cd...
Unless Ken is right and the op amp and DAC are bypassed when you use the data port...
Ken is wrong. There is no SPDIF on the dock connector.
usb & firewire are only used to access the ipod as a mass storage device. so unless the ipod dock has its own user interface for selecting and playing songs, its not using either of those.
This thing is stupid, period.
Precisely. The Op-Amp/volume control is bypassed through the dock connector, but only MSB makes a digital dock for the iPod. You're just getting a straighter path to the DAC's output from the dock.
The rest of you are dumb, though. Who would play 128 files on a $7,500 system? No one. Anyone who invests this money in that system is going lossless all the way. You all are the same people who bitch that every cd player sounds the same, so put your money where your mouth is. Do you think you could tell the difference between an iPod playing lossless files through this and a top-of-the-line CD player? I doubt you would take that challenge.
There is already a thriving communty of people getting excellent audio from their iPods, though, if you're interested but poor. Should any of you wish to educate yourselves, visit
ALOaudio.com
Redwineaudio.com
And, as always, head-fi.com.
Head-fi username: Sherwood
well, i think i would never spend that much on any stereo system.