Arcam Solo rDock
I’ve finally had a chance to hook up the Arcam Solo Mini to it’s lovely little MUSO speakers and proceed with the slightly overcomplicated attachment of the equally lovely rDock accessory which allows the connection and control of iPods/iPhones to high-end the mini-system.
The rDock connects via RCA for audio directly to the Arcam Solo, boasts an additional S-Video port for, well, video (doesn’t work with the iPhone) and an RS-232 connector to really make the magic happen and integrate control of the docked iPod/iTouch/iPhone absolutely beautifully with the Solo.
Facing off the Arcam Solo Mini + MUSO + rDock solution against the closest review samples we have at Gadgetoid, the Roberts MP43 and MP53, is a little unfair given the staggering ~£800 price gap. But implementing a proper, neat iPod docking and control solution shouldn’t be rocket science. The Arcam Solo Mini can control music and movie browsing on an attached iPod, displaying all the pertinent information on its own display rather than that of the attached device. This means you can tuck the dock to one side and do your best to conceal the 3-4 cables attached to it, safe in the knowledge that you’ll easily and clearly be able to browse your music collection from a distance using the Solo’s LCD and remote. By contrast, the dock supplied in the top of the MP43/MP53 is somewhat lacking and inflexible but, again, this comparison is largely unfair.
During my testing with an iPhone 3g I didn’t encounter any noise, either, with the dock sitting directly on top of the Arcam Solo. Keep your eyes peeled for the full review to find out how the Solo and rDock fare driving an attached LCD (connected via S-Video to the rDock itself) with content from a video iPod, in addition to a look into the Arcam Solo Mini’s other features and a quick whinge about its not-quite-on-target form factor.
The rDock itself, by the way, is a stunning piece of kit and is certainly not your vanilla, run of the mill iPod dock. If you’re considering cheaper solutions for use with an Arcam Solo Mini then allow me to catagorically persuade you otherwise. The extra spent over a nastly little plastic dock with a separate remote will afford you a beautiful chunk of aluminium that aesthetically compliments the Arcam Solo/Mini and provides a level of integrated control you’re simply not going to find elsewhere. If only it could get video out of the iPhone 3G.