Sony SRS-GU10iP

The Sony SRS-GU10IP is a standalone speaker system designed for the Apple iPod and iPhone. Despite boasting a stylish design and producing reasonable sound, the Sony SRS-GU10iP offers no particularly enticing features given its relatively steep asking price.

The Sony SRS-GU10iP is fairly basic in both its design and features. The dock certainly looks the part, combining a gloss black and piano-black finish in a long, rectangular speaker. The speaker sits on a curved stand that doubles as the iPod dock. Alongside the dock are the controls: a power button, input selection and volume control. With no display on the unit, a few small LEDs denote power, input, bass boost and mute. The last two functions are only accessible via the included remote control.

The Sony SRS-GU10iP is compatible with all Apple iPods that utilise the standard dock connection, so it will work with every model except the iPod shuffle. The unit will also charge a docked iPod. Sony has ensured the iPhone and iPhone 3G are fully compatible. If you don’t own an iPod, the SRS-GU10iP might still appeal to you: an auxiliary input at the rear of the unit means any device that utilises a standard 3.5mm headphone jack can be connected. Unfortunately, there’s no line-in cable included in the box.

Sound quality is reasonably impressive for a unit this size, though it did leave a little to be desired at high volume levels. The Sony SRS-GU10iP produces enough sound to fill a small or medium room, but it tends to distort at any volume level above 75 per cent. If you're looking for an iPod dock to play tunes at a constant high volume then this probably isn't the unit for you.

The Sony SRS-GU10iP doesn’t sound very engaging and definitely won't impress audiophiles. The sound is balanced, though, and bass response is rich but not overpowering. We weren't impressed with the bass boost function — we found it merely increased distortion and tended to overpower underlying elements in most music. Mid-range is acceptable, with most individual notes easily distinguished, though they aren't always accurate. The lack of basic equaliser or bass/treble options on the SRS-GU10iP is disappointing, but you can use your iPod's built-in EQ settings.

Perhaps the best feature is the fact that you can control your iPod and iPhone using the SRS-GU10iP's remote control. You can browse through menus, skip tracks, play/pause your music, and enable shuffle and repeat modes. Using these functions is fairly straightforward.