Product Reviews

Creative's TravelSound i80 is an aluminium dock, speaker and stand for the latest version of the iPod nano.

It's powered by a captive lithium polymer battery, which is charged and recharged by connecting the supplied mains adaptor to its mini USB port. Creative claims that one charge is good for 15 hours playing time. The USB port can also be used to dock your iPod with your Mac when it's in situ. And the separate supplied stand allows the i80 to sit on your desk without the fear of it being knocked over by a stray elbow. Also included in the box is a soft carry pouch, which is big enough to carry the speaker, but not the stand or nano.

The i80 may be little bigger than the nano itself but inside its aluminium shell

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are four micro drivers and a digital amplifier. The right-hand side houses the mini USB port, a volume control, an on/off switch, and a status LED that signifies when the battery is fully powered, charging, or flat.

The i80 is certainly the most easily portable iPod speaker we've seen and while it sacrifices stereo separation for compactness, the audio quality from that amp and four drivers is better than we expected from such a small speaker. There's plenty of volume and lots of detail in the treble and mid-range frequencies. However, as you would expect there's very little bass and this makes the overall sound somewhat tinny.

It's not the kind of system that you would want to use on your desktop or at home, and there are lots of other systems which while not as small, do offer features which make them more suitable for taking to the beach. For a start the i80 is neither sandproof nor waterproof.

That leaves us the issue of who exactly will use it and where. And we have an awful fear that the group to whom it will appeal most are those dreadful people who insist on playing music from the speaker on their mobile phone when they're sat immediately behind you on the bus.

Ah well, at least if they use a nano and an i80 there's the consolation that the audio quality will be much improved.