Harman Kardon GO + PLAY II Portable Loudspeaker Dock for iPod and iPhone - Best mp3 speakers site, right here

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Jasper Lynn (Arcadia, CA) –

  

I’ve had the original HK Go + Play for about two years unit the unit finally blew out when I blasted it too loud for a party. I contacted HK support and they promptly sent me a new HK Go + Play II and I could not be happier.

This is THE BEST SOUNDING iPOD DOCK OUT THERE. Hands down. I’ve owned everything from Logitech to Sony to iHome to Bose and this Harmon Kardon beats the sound and the *oomph* out of all those i’ve tried. I’m so happy with this purchase.

My only gripe is that it auto shuts off after about 10 minutes of no audio, so you can’t use this as an alarm unfortunately.

Amazing customer service, absolutely astounding sound performance. If you put this in a small to medium sized room, you’ve got full, rich sound with deep bass that everyone absolutely loves.

And to address the comment made before me – I had the same issue when I *didn’t* follow the manual and left is blasting for hours on end. I’ve been able to use this unit in outdoor pool parties and its loud enough at 90% – so its obviously user error.

I would recommend this over any other iPod dock out there.

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Ive looked at other ipod docks and each one had something that i didnt like. I already own a pair of Soundsticks ii by Harman Kardon so when i came across the Go+Play II i knew i was interested. ive had my unit now for less then 6hrs and i love it! It feels like quality. Nothing feels chinsy on this product, everything is solid. The sound is phenomenol! Everything is clear: the high, mids, and lows. The only negatives are the angle at which the ipod goes in ,it isnt anything major, just annoying really. Also there is some distortion when you crank the volume, but i believe that every speaker does that. Overall this is a phenomenal unit and worth the money.

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Scott Sherman “Scott Sherman, Lambda Literary… (Maryland, USA) –

  

The Harman Kardon GO + PLAY II Portable Loudspeaker Dock for iPod and iPhone is a mixed bag for me.

Pros:

Very good, room filling sound: I’m no audiophile, but I appreciate good acoustics and have quite a few docks around the house. The HK Go + Play II offers impressively rich sound, with deep base and clear highs. I find TV and movies piped through my laptop and the Go’s aux port are particularly impressive. Not that music doesn’t sound great through them – it does – but the system does an even better job mixing dialogue, soundtracks and effects from TV shows and movies, which is tough to do. Five stars on pure audio quality. In the end, speakers are about reproducing sound, and the Go is strong here.

Design (good parts): This is certainly a slick looking, industrial design that feels solid and not excessively heavy without batteries.

Cons:

Missing features: At this price point, there are several features I’d like to see in the Go that just aren’t there. First up is a rechargeable battery. For a system made to be portable, I expect it to feature one. Worse, although the product description says the Go takes 8 “C” batteries, it actually requires “D’s.” Not only do these tend to be more expensive, but they’re a lot heavier. Amazon’s product description of the Duracell brands lists the batteries weight as 2.4 lbs for 8 D’s and 1.3 lbs for 8 C’s. That’s over a pound extra on top of 8.6 lbs that the Go already carries. Ten+ pounds for a “portable” system is stretching it.

No iPad dock: Yes, you can hook your iPad or almost any music playing device through the Aux port, but it’s another wire and it doesn’t charge the device when the Go is plugged in. Other manufactures have figured out how to build in iPad accessibility, so there’s no excuse.

No wireless capacity: Again, as with the lack of a rechargeable, built in battery and no way to dock an iPad, the exclusion of Bluetooth or Airplay technology makes the Go feel somewhat dated. In this price range, I’d expect to see some attention paid to the fact that streaming music is only going to become more popular.

Design (disappointments): There are some puzzling aspects to the Go’s design. The company boasts about it’s “infinite control by including a smart RF remote for two-way communication and superior signal reception. In Music mode, the remote lets you adjust volume, change tracks and fast-forward or reverse through songs from across the room – up to 29 feet (9 meters) away. In Navigation mode, you get full iPod or iPhone functionality, which allows you to browse by song, artist or album – as well as select playlists, slide shows and videos – as if you were holding your iPod or iPhone device in your hand.” What they don’t tell you is that it’s the most complicated remote in the world, with tiny buttons and a shape that’s awkward to hold. You have to toggle between two modes to switch from simple operations like increasing volume to the more complex navigational commands. It took me a long time to figure out how to use it, until I realized the remote has its own manual that comes with the Go – and it’s no quick read. It seems needlessly complicated – I have other docking stations that allow similar functionality with much simpler remotes. It’s mystifying why this is so complex on the Go, unless it’s a style over function choice to keep fewer buttons but count on the user to remember what does what. (In all fairness, the remote comes with a separate set of decals you can apply to it to label the different functions, but, come on, what am I, five-years-old? I’m not going to take the time or effort to put stickers on my expensive home AV equipment – why didn’t Harmon Kardon label it for me rather than make me put on little decals that will undoubtedly peel off?)

Also, the unit comes with a variety of inserts to hold your iPod or iPhone in its optimal position, but darned if I can figure them out. Other companies come with one or two that hold your device upright and they work fine. The insert that best fits my iPhone lays it down almost flat, in which case the Go’s handle blocks access to some of the controls. Just weird.

So, overall, three stars for the Go. Putting sound first, it’s a winner. But the lack of modern conveniences and some odd design-over-function choices (and that’s saying a lot coming from an Apple fan-boy like me, who doesn’t mind trading off some “wow” factor for practicality!) really hurt this product’s usability for me.

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