Measuring 390 x 390 x 200m and weighing a not inconsiderable 800 grams the Genesis iPod dock comes in a largish box which has two compartments one hinged for the cylindrical unit and also a draw unit for the accessories. Our review sample had one extra feature a note explaining that while the Genesis is a high quality speaker system, due to its size it does not handle the bass of modern music that well. A strange acknowledgement when we hadn't even gotten the unit out of its packaging yet and one that sounded a bit like your granny who "can't stand that modern music".

So with that worry firmly embedded in our minds we set about getting our 5G iPod set into the Genesis dock. It uses the Apple universal docking system and comes with the full range of iPod dock adaptors which means that every model from the smallest iPod Nano though the biggest iPod Video will fit the QDOS unit. The dock starts life in its compact form with the speaker grills shielded from view and potential damage and the iPod connector covered by a blanking plate, we discovered that it is best to fit the correct iPod adaptor and the iPod  before opening the unit fully.

With the iPod snugly in place we opened the Genesis dock which isn't exactly a soft eject motion and risked sending our iPod flying, in truth there is little chance of this but it is quite a harsh movement. Power is provided via either the supplied mains unit or from 4 x AA battery's which insert into the base of the dock, these should run the Genesis for a good 7.5 hours of playback at a moderate volume.

With the iPod sat firmly in place we noted that not only does the iPod charge from the dock but with the USB cable connected to the QDOS unit it can also sync with a host PC or Mac, it does not however have any video output so playback of video is restricted to the iPods own screen. The power switch and volume control are combined in a thumbwheel control at the front of the unit which when operated glows a little blue light.

When fully extended the Genesis opens to reveal a speaker grill which runs a full 360 degrees around the base of the dock and contains 4 drivers which putt our 4 x 3 watts. So to some audio tests and with the iPod mounted securely we thought we'd start nice and gentle with a podcast of spoken word, in fact a gadget blog. This started well enough and the small unit seemed to cope well with the varied levels of speech and the voices sounded crisp if not a little rough but no sign of anything objectionable.

So we moved onto something with a modicum of bass and some crooner style magic from old Frank, this started out ok but as the band started to strike those bigger notes the Genesis started to struggle with a combination of vibration and distortion. The lack of any dedicated bass drivers or sufficient full range drivers means that this moderate application of bass makes the music sound strained.

To finish our tests we opted to disregard the information supplied with the unit and opted for a bit of our standard test track from Fat Boy Slim which frankly sounded terrible and even at the lowest volume levels was unbearably poor. Others in the office commented that this track sounded like someone's loud headphones two rows down on the bus.

Yes the QDOS Genesis is small and quite a nice design but the lack of low level woofer or sufficient drivers to deliver the bass in most music is a flaw, leaving it suitable for the spoken word or very select music, a shame really as we do quite like the overall design.

Priced at £89.99 and available in white or black we have to say that the Genesis iPod dock has a limited audience.

Published - 16/10/2006

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