Onkyo ND-S1 iPod dock feaures digital audio, composite video, and leaves iPhone owners out of luck
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Jul 31st 2009 1:51PM
posted Jul 31st 2009 1:51PM
We've seen plenty from the folks at Onkyo in the past, but until now their iPod accessories have been rather few and far between. That said, we gotta say that this here ND-S1 iPod dock looks pretty, pretty good. Obviously designed with the home entertainment crowd in mind, this guy features optical / coax digital output, composite a/v outs, and supports 16bit audio playback (up to 48kHz). Also on hand are a USB connection for syncing with iTunes and a remote control. Compatible with your iPod classic / nano / touch (sorry iPhone users), you can expect to see this hit the streets sometime this fall. There's no word yet on price, but you can get a closer look after the break.
[Via AV Watch]
[Via AV Watch]
Hmm, support for everything but the iPhone, that's just stupid.
I have a radio/dock that "doesn't work" with the iPhone. Actually, it works just fine. Whenever I dock my iPhone, the iPhone complains that the device isn't certified to work with it, but that's all.
Officially all products must be approved by Apple – technically, I suspect that Onkyo could not get approval for the unit to be compatible with iPhone due to detrimental interactions between the iPhone's “Phone Antenna” which is located on the lower portion of the handset (the Black Plastic section on the first version of the iPhone) – and any metal object within its vicinity which would act as a Ground plane. This Ground plane attenuates the received radio signals used by the Phone – it would also force the phone to transmit at much higher output powers to overcome this attenuation.
I’ve not used the unit, but as the unit works with the Touch – I suspect it should also still work on the iPhone – its just not “officially supported”.
Who in their right mind builds a product that works with an iPod Touch, but not an iPhone?? Does this thing come with a free guide on how to shoot yourself in the foot?
Clearly Onkyo hates AT&T as much as Apple and Google.
why so much empty real estate?
Because that's called ''sleek and clean'' now.
It looks 70 - 100 times better this way.
lol that lack of support is hilarious. whoever justified the reason for that should be fired
Somebody needs to explain these high-dollar ipod docks to me. Some of these things cost a couple hundred bucks.
You have an ipod. You then presumably have itunes. You want itunes on your tv and have a few benjamins to accomplish this; why not get a apple tv?
Better yet, buy an Xbox 360 for the same price and you get a game machine/dvd player as well.
Except the 360 will sound like a jet plane in your living room (the others are silent) and use something like 4x the amount of power.
I've never liked Onkyo's designs for products. It seems like their designers are stuck in the 1970's and just can't quite escape that design mentality.
I was recently buying an A/V receiver and it was between an Onkyo and a comparable Pioneer. The deal-breaker for me was $100 for an iPod dock. The Pioneer has a USB port, works with iPhones and can display video from it on screen. I'm sure the Onkyo is a great receiver, but I use my iPod and iPhone with my current receiver all the time and it's a stupid omission on their part.
What's the model of the pioneer receiver that you got with iPhone docking support?
Is it really "incompatible" with the iPhone or do they just not officially support it? I'm unaware of any dockable accessory that works only with the Touch and iPod, but not the iPhone. The connector is the same after all and the iPhone software is the same the Touch.
No s-video? No thanks.
Composite video? What is this, 1988?
Forget s-video. NO COMPONENT? So, no watching HD vids, then. To hell with this thing.
ummm... the video stored in iPod/iTouch/iPhone are in standard definition and in composite form. S Video output or Component are actually just output conversion. No upscaling, no upgrade in picture quality, no use.
Would people really dock their iPhones to their stereos? The iPhone is a phone, which people tend not to dock to their stereos, whereas you almost HAVE to dock the iTouch to your main stereo, because it's music playing and internet radio streaming abilities are very predominant. The iTouch is a sophisticated, bonafide audio device, and deserves to be treated as such. The iTouch is actually better for internet radio, using wifi.
Would people really dock their iPhones to their stereos? The iPhone is a phone, which people tend not to dock to their stereos, whereas you almost HAVE to dock the iTouch to your main stereo, because it's music playing and internet radio streaming abilities are very predominant. The iTouch is a sophisticated, bonafide audio device, and deserves to be treated as such. The iTouch is actually better for internet radio, using wifi.
People who own iPhones, that's who. Typically people who own iPhones, do not own iPod Touches. Also, there is no such thing as an iTouch. Just because Onkyo decides not to support it, doesn't mean many others do and will. It's Onkyo's loss when people return it.
It sounds stupid to dock your iphone and use a remote for it. The iphone should just stream the music.
I don't care. my iPWN still rocks!
Composite video?! That's all you need to know about this POS. Onkyo makes some great equipment, but this product shows that they also have a cynical disregard for the intelligence of the public.
@Darth Tater: sorry, but you're mistaken--it makes a difference. You obviously haven't compared the outputs from the composite & component video cables that Apple sells. The video is NOT stored in "composite form"--that statement is meaningless.
Some of the devices that aren't certified for iPhones are that way for a reason. GSM phones (like iPhones) put out a heck of a lot of noise, and I bet you'd be able to hear the "thwackety-thwack-thwack" noise through your stereo unless you put your iPhone in airplane mode.
If this truly has digital outputs for iPod, this makes it only the second device i know of that can do this. The other being the Wadia. Competition is always good.
I really want a dock that internally does high quality digital to analog conversion.
The pitfall of modern digital quality is there is digital to analog conversion really sucks.
I want a device that takes a digital stream of data and turns it into a quality analog signal like a CD player would.
this unit have digital output
and have USB
play iPod well
play iTunes(USB Audio) well
and sync iTunes&iPod
this is the perfect iPod∞iTunes Dock
i think
This product will be fantastic when launched. It is only the second product on the market that can utilise the digital output from and Ipod the only other device to do this is the Wadia dock. I have heard the Wadia and it is a brilliant product. I dont know why people comment about the Iphone with this product it does not work and states that clearly if you like your music then dont buy an Iphone purchase a Touch it is much better. I have heard also thet this product has a good DAC inside the unit. The price is going to be keen which will knock the Wadia off its slot and i bet it wont be long before people will be offering upgrades to the DAC believe me this product will be good attached to a HI FI and Onkyo produce some nice sonic products.
Just wanted to confirm that the Onkyo ND-S1 plays back content from the iPhone - and charges it - but, as explained by John_Westlake above, it is not 'officially supported' .
Its key USP is that it taps off digital audio signals from a player before they have an opportunity to be processed by the player's internal DAC, thereby allowing them to be processed via an external DAC (such as those contained within AV receivers or the new Onkyo A-5VL amplifier). The resulting performance uplift to audio quality is, to put it mildly, considerable...