The Zen Micro fits snugly into the face of the Traveldock with a satisfying clunk, either side of the slot for the MP3 unit are 2  1.5" drivers which when combined promise some 8 watts of music power. The whole package is well constructed although does have a liberal use of plastic, the flap which comes down to seal the unit also doubles up as a stand to keep the Zen micro at the right angle for operation.

Our only comment on the deign that is a bit negative is the conservative choice of white as the only colour option, this seems very strange when you consider the wide range of colours the Zen Micro comes in and the wrong combination can look a little strange set against the ice white Traveldock. The power for the Traveldock comes from 4 x AA batteries which can keep the music playing for up to 25 hours, the battery presence is indicated by a LED and you can also power the whole unit direct from the mains which also allows you to charge your Micro.

A nice touch is the inclusion of a remote control which adjusts the volume and also allows basic playback control of the Micro from the other side of the room, although it can be a struggle to read the Zen's display at that range. Along the rear of the unit lie a number of connectors there include line in, headphone / sub woofer output and power, there is also an FM antenna plug which helps you get better reception than the standard inbuilt aerial of the Zen. The last connector is a USB socket which means you can plug the Micro into your host computer and sync music while it sits neatly in the dock.

It all sounds very good if not a bit standard for an MP3 speaker system and to be fair to Creative they have done a good job on the units overall design. Sadly this is where the good things come to an end. Start to playback tracks from your Traveldock and eyebrows are soon raised, at low levels the audio quality is ok and frankly you struggle to hear anything untoward, but this is a low level even for a travel system.

 Crank up that audio level (as you are sure to do) and the audio output starts to sound distinctly low rate. The bass which was barely present at the low audio levels turns to a plastic slapping sound at high volume and lacks any subtleness its just an unpleasant racket. The midrange and top end suffer similar fates, in fact they seem to blend into each other and have the amazing effect in turning quality artists replayed from your Zen into lift muzak.

This came as quite a shock as we just weren't expecting the replay quality to be so poor, sure we'd expect it to struggle to fill a room but we ended up with it at around half volume to try and make the tracks sound acceptable. Honestly the audio quality isn't a patch on the Logic3 system for the iPod, perhaps if the Zen Micro Traveldock was £30 - £40 you could live with the sound quality and be happy that it will last 25 hours on the beach, but at £90 we'd expect, nay demand a lot more.

As much as we'd like to provide Zen Micro owners with a good news and a snazzy new accessory we have to advise you to steer clear and perhaps consider some generic MP3 solutions like the Inmotion IM4.

Published - 13/12/2005

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