Product Reviews

Gear4's Duo adds a new twist to the tired and overcrowded market for iPod speaker docks. The front speaker unit is battery powered and removable and can be used independently from the main unit.

The Duo is smaller than it appears, measuring just 130x230x150mm, and the docking cradle folds away to save more space. The portable speaker unit contains two sets of tweeters and woofers and is just 30mm thick.

Unfortunately, it sounded tinny on its own. When used with the bass unit, the Duo was louder and delivered more powerful low notes. However, the overall audio quality failed to impress us. Music didn't sound particularly clear and the speakers buzzed and vibrated at high volumes.

Gear4's Duo is a nice idea, but it's vastly overpriced. The portable unit is slim and easy to carry around with you, but we expected much better audio quality at this high price.