KEF Picoforte One review

The KEF quality touch comes to the iPod dock

This tiny stack system's core styling rounds on its two egg-shaped speakers

TechRadar Verdict

It appears that the price of beautiful music is some ugly looking cabling

Pros

  • +

    Stylish

    Wide iPod compatibility

    Can be hooked up to a TV

    Good sound quality

Cons

  • -

    Unsightly cabling

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Normally found on powerful home cinema speakers, the KEF badge on this novel iPod system guarantees some serious audio prowess.

The bitrate that your iPod music is encoded in will decide how much, of course, but the Picoforte One - an even meatier Picoforte Three model is also available - offers some serious all-round power.

Back to the egg

Comprising a separate iPod dock and amplifier, this tiny stack system's core styling rounds on its two egg-shaped speakers.

The dock and the amp themselves are made of die-cast zinc and although a mess of cables needed to attach each component to one another will need to be carefully shielded from view, it's a simple process to connect the dock to the amp and the amp to the speakers - especially since all cables are provided. Maximum appeal comes by dint of nine iPod cradles, which cover every single iPod we could think of.

If you've an iPod Video/Photo this dock might be worth considering because the dock can be attached to a TV using a S-video cable, although that isn't included. It's a great feature if you've encoded some DVDs to watch on-the-go.

Precise with a wide frequency range, its 25W speakers bring out impressive detail from Gruff Rhys' Candylion long-player, encoded at 192 kbps. Attach a subwoofer to the amp's dedicated output and you'll have one of the best iPod hi-fi's around, although its cable-tastic appearance and high price do narrow its appeal.

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