The Gear4 Houseparty 2 is compatible with all iPods from the 3rd generation onwards, the iPod Nano and Mini but not the shuffle. The design is simple with a dock front and centre that accepts the largest Video iPods and uses blanking plates to hold the newer slimmer models snugly in place. Behind the dock sits a collection of speakers 2 woofers and 2 tweeters that produce a stereo image and pump out 15 watts per channel. Hardly a level that would fill a living room let alone a disco but the HouseParty 2 like its ancestor is designed to share music in a small room or office, ideal for slotting your iPod into at work.

We set about our review using a new 5G iPod but also with our old 3G unit to check compatibility. With the 5G iPod sat firmly in place we fired up the device which was running from mains at the time and this also started charging the iPod while sat in the dock. The Gear4 unit also allows you to keep your player in sync with iTunes via a USB 2.0 connection (mini USB) port.

Control as with most iPod speaker systems is limited on the unit itself with power and volume buttons, you then have the choice of driving the Houseparty via the supplied credit card sized IR remote control or by accessingg the front of the iPod as normal. Both methods work well but it can be very tricky to use the remote with the iPod menus from the other side of the room. Plus the remote does seem a bit sluggish at carrying out your commands and for us it was relegated to volume adjustment from a distance and the occasional track skip.

Onto the playback quality. It was very clear from the first track played that this was a HouseParty in name rather than being useful for an actual House Party, unless you are a hobbit and intend on inviting one or two of your hobbit mates round for a shindig. Volume is moderate at best but at least it doesn't distort until the very ragged edge of the units capability, most tracks played fine nothing amazing but fine. Some Fatboy slim sounded a little lacking but not unpleasant, Keane sounded ok, fairly normal in fact and the Zutons again was passable if a bit lacklustre.

We slowly worked our way through tracks of every variety from all genres of music even treating the gear4 house party to a bit of old blue eyes, but the result was always the same a competent performance but nothing stunning. Now we do need to put this in context, the Houseparty II is a £49 device and for this kind of money we shouldn't expect rooming filling sound, it looks pretty good and is well built but it lacks soul and manages to make even James Brown sound limp.

Compared to the Logic3 iStation which is of a similar price the audio quality isn't as food, whereas the iStation looks like it was styled by a Yr10 CDT pupil with a vacuum former the Houseparty is a marvel of design for the price. However when it's sat on your desk at work everyday the look soon wears off and the average at best sound will have you wondering should you have opted for form over function?

Published - 05/12/2006

More iPod Speaker Systems-

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