Best iPod Alarm Clock?

As the subject says, what's the best iPod alarm clock?

To be more accurate, I'm looking for the best iPod stand/speaker setup that stil has an alarm clock feature. Quality of sound is important.

Must fit the iPod nano as well.

 

lol that all depends on how much you wanna spend.

 

how portable do you want it to be? you could look at something like the ihome that wont run on batteries but is still small enough it can fit into a suitcase for travel.

 

Portable is good. Battery is good too. Price, $100 range is good.

Alternatively I could just use my Laptop as a makeshift alarm clock I guess...
What's the best software alarm clock or add-on for OSX? Itunes compatibility is a plus.

 

I recently bought the iHome IH8 (available at places like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. for around $100) and have been extremely happy with it. I had actually bought the original iHome clock radio when it first came out, but didn't like it because of poor radio reception, which was important to me.

The IH8 though seems to get great radio reception (actually better than my previous Timex clock radio), and the sound quality is really great with the iPod as well. It has dual alarms so you can set individual alarms for the radio and iPod, and easily turn both on or off.

The other one I've heard very good things about is the XtremeMac Luna:

http://www.xtrememac.com/audio/speakers/luna/

I actually probably would have gotten this one, except that at the time I checked, it was still awaiting an updated model with new firmware to correct some problems with radio reception and reversed stereo channels. I don't know yet if the new updated Lunas are out on the market yet or not.

Either way, I'm happy enough with the IH8 that I am no longer looking at the Luna.

EDIT: From reading the comments at iLounge, it sounds like the Lunas shipped directly when ordered from xtrememac.com now do have the updated 2.12U firmware which corrects the issues, so if the Luna interests you, it sounds like it would be safe to go with.

 

Will the Luna work with Iphone?

 

I can't see a specific reason why it wouldn't (although I'm guessing maybe you'd need to turn airplane mode on to possibly prevent GSM interference). Probably a question for XtremeMac though.

 

Can the hi5 be used as a alarm clock?

 

What is the hi5?

 

What's the difference between the ihome 6 and ihome 8?

Or rather, the ihome 6 offers dual alarms, but they're the same price...so what's different that the ihome8 have that the ihome6 doesn't?

 

The iHome site is kind of confusing in that regard. Both models actually have dual alarms. The IH6 has a USB slot for the 1st gen shuffle.

The IH8 is all around better though, and seems to be the more commonly available one (don't ask me why they put both on the market).

 

Hrm, how does sound quality compare to the Luna?

Also, the Luna has this feature where if you forget to stick your iPod in, it'll automatically switch over to the buzzer. Does the same apply to the iHome?

 

I'm not an audiophile, and haven't been able to do a side by side comparison between the two, so I can't answer the first question. I'd probably go by the reviews of the iHome and Luna, which generally rate them both pretty well as far as sound quality goes.


Yes, if you don't have the iPod plugged in, but you have the iPod alarm active, it will use the buzzer/beeper.

-Zadillo

 

zadillio mentioned iLounge which is a great resource for everything iPod related - just thought that may have been overlooked. They do extensive reviews, like NBR!

 

Hrm, any opinions about the homedics isoundspa? It's cheap compared to the rest...

 

I would be pretty shocked if it was good, but you never know.

For what it's worth, I'm still really enjoying the iHome IH8. Great sound from my iPod, excellent radio reception, good alarm options, and nice interface overall (easy to use radio presets, etc.).

-Zadillo