Creative have another hit on their hands with the ZiiSound D5 – a speaker “bar” that works via Bluetooth and contains an iPhone dock to boot.
And, once again, Creative have gone to town with the high quality packaging of their product. A well made, embossed, external box is opened up to reveal everything nicely packaged inside in smaller boxes. Little details, even down to an embossed card with the product details on, make you think you’ve bought a quality product.
Taking the ZiiSound out, I was immediately surprised at it’s size – just a smidgen over 42cm in length, it’s a lot more compact than other premium iPhone docs (the B&W Zeppelin, for instance, is 64cm in length). And, although, somewhat bland in its black, angled, rectangular form, it has enough aesthetic touches to make up for it. For example, the ends of the ZiiSound are finished in a dark-gun metal material and the volume is shown via a series of white LEDs. To adjust the volume you simply move you fingers across the touch sensitive panel on the top – it responds and looks superb.
In fact, the ZiiSound has been awarded the prestigious red dot award for product design.
Connection
To get it up and working you only need to plug in a power cable (complete with in-line transformer) and press a small power button on the back. Other than the power there are no other buttons – just touch sensitive panels. Other than the aforementioned volume control there is also a touch-sensitive Bluetooth connection panel on the front.
Next to the power connection and button on the rear is an auxiliary in (with a cable supplied!), allowing you to bypass Bluetooth entirely and connect directly to a device via its headphone socket, or similar output.
Along with the ZiiSound itself you also receive a Bluetooth transmitter that plugs into the bottom of your iPod or iPhone. However, if you’re like me and don’t own one, then you’re certainly not left out. Any Bluetooth device, such as a phone or laptop, can transmit to the ZiiSound – I used my HTC Hero and it connected without any issues. The range is about 10 meters.
Available separately, there is also a Wireless USB Bluetooth audio transmitter from Creative. At the moment, if you purchase the ZiiSound from the Creative store you get it for free (worth £39.99).
Docking
Docking of an iPod or iPhone can be performed easily via a docking slot on the rear of the device (which is RF shielded so you don’t have to worry about the speakers interfering with iPhone reception, for instance).
In the product box you will find a support stand and number of different backrest adapters – you simply find the one suitable for your device and insert it into the ZiiSound. Your device will then be adequately supported whilst docked.
In Use
Other than volume, there are no sound adjustments you can make, so a lot of the quality is down to whatever device is feeding the ZiiSound. I tested it first with my HTC hero – the apt-X audio codec that they use provides excellent Bluetooth stereo audio. My Hero though, nice as it is, isn’t a good example to use, so I switched to the wired aux. connection to my Hi-fi.
And, you know, the sound is extremely good. Certainly a lot better than you’d expect from something if its diminutive size. Clear, with good range, every part of the design, from the bass port (or “flowport”) and chassis to the speakers, has been designed to give a sound as rich as possible. And all of this comes from just two 15 Watt (RMS) speakers.
I pushed the volume up high and it had no problems with the results – they would certainly work brilliantly at a party.
Gallery
Summary of Creative ZiiSound D5
As I said at the beginning of the review, Creative have another hit on their hands. Already I can’t get enough of the Aurvana earphones (still using them regularly!) and the ZiiSound will be no different. With my HTC Hero connected to my ZyXEL NAS, I can stream my entire music collection through the ZiiSound without moving from the sofa. It looks good and it sounds fantastic.Reviewed by David Artiss on 8th June 2010.
Other Reviews
But don’t take my word for it…
“The sound quality is very impressive given the size of the ZiiSound D5. Using the transmitter, there is bags of detail and the speakers maintain audio integrity at those higher volumes your want for your party…” - Pocket-lint “…this is one of the most impressive iPod and iPhone audio systems we’ve seen in the past three years…” - iLounge.com
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My recent review of the Creative ZiiSound D5 mentioned its apt-X credentials. However, I had no idea what apt-X was, so I’ve taken a look into it.
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The iPhone 4
I wasn’t going to blog about the iPhone announcement as, well, it didn’t really interest me. About the only feature that I think is ahead of other manufacturers is the high resolution screen – not much higher than the latest HTCs, though, and not AMOLED, but none-the-less impressive.
Here’s what developers said about the “revolutionary” FaceTime feature on the new iPhone…
Wow. What is this amazing new feature? It’s video calling. Something I had on my phone years ago.
Except FaceTime (poor name) only works across iPhone 4s. And on Wi-Fi. And on the same phone network. Unlike my chunky old 3 mobile which would work on the 3G network to any other 3G connected phone.
Or have I missed something?
Sorry, distracted by the chance to have a rant about a product that isn’t actually revolutionary. New iPhones often have a single feature that’s new, but everything else is old hat but re-packaged. And the iPhone 4 is more of the same.
No, what I was going to write about was something that has been mentioned before on BBC blogs, and even on the BBCs own Feedback radio programme.
Everytime Apple launch a new product, the BBC go to town with what amounts to nothing more than full page ads for Apple. So, a new product has been launched – it’s evoltunary rather than revoluntary.
But where’s the BBC page about the HTC Desire or HTC Evo? The HTC Desire has already been declared to be an iPhone killer and the HTC Evo advances that further with a front facing camera (yes, HTC beat Apple to it), 8 mega pixel rear facing camera with twin flash and the ability to create WiFi hotspots.
But there’s nothing on the BBC site.
Indeed, the last time HTC had more than a glancing mention, it was when they were suing, yes, Apple. I could be cynical and say that it probably only got a mention then because of who they were suing… but I won’t
Seriously, BBC? Unfortunately, they hide behind the fact that these Apple events are incredibly popular and is, therefore, in the interests of the public.
However, the Apple fan-boy who is desperate to read about the latest Apple product launch is not the majority. And when this level of publicity does nothing for Apple except promote their product, then the BBC should be re-thinking its policy.
Maybe stick a page about it in the technology section and leave it as that. Oh, and make sure you cover other big product launches too.
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