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irock! 400FM Wireless Music Adapter

irock! 400FM Wireless Music Adapter

List Price:
Your Price: $20.37
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Works as advertised but somewhat flimsy design
Review: I bought one of these things so that I could play my MP3's from my computer to all of the radios throughout the house. It works great! I hooked it up to my computer and set win amp to play my 3000 or so MP3's. Turn on the radio in the house or garage and voila!

I found the range to be more than 30 feet. I live on 5 acres and cut my grass with a little Sony headphone radio. I pick up my computer about 50% of the time (about 100 ft away). It's so cool to listen commercial free. I see some people live in NYC having some difficulties. HA! That's why I live out in the country!

I highly recommend. I didn't give it 5 stars because the construction was somewhat flimsy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It works.... kinda....
Review: I bought this a few months ago so I can hook up my iBook and listen to iTunes in the car (I was among the last iPod holdouts). I wasn't very happy with it because the static came through on all of the presets, so I tossed it in one of my boxes and pretty much forgot about it. Until I got an iPod for Christmas. (Funny how there are some things that you don't think you need until you finally get one. But that's a subject for a different review.)

I decided to give this transmitter another try. I played with it inside the house using our Onkyo receiver. Of course the static was just as bad. But while explaining to my 6-year-old niece what I was trying to do, I accidentally held it very close to the receiver. Voila! Crystal clear music streamed out from my iPod. Move it away, or point it away from the receiver, and you just get static noise. I got in my car, put the iPod on the dashboard, with the iRock hanging over the stereo (I have a Honda Hybrid), and again, the music was just great. Since I really didn't want to be driving around with the iPod on the dash, I picked up an earphone extender from Radio Shack so I can have the iRock hanging by the stereo and the iPod on the passenger seat (the iRock cord by itself is too short to reach the stereo). So far I'm pretty happy about this arrangement. It's not the most elegant solution out there, but it does work.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It does what it was made for
Review: I bought this adapter to use with my Archos Gmini 400. I read the reviews after I bought it and I became worried because it seems that the product had a lot of complains.
So it arrived and I started to use it. Just set the first radio station and conected to my gmini and in about 1 minute I was listening in my car stereo my mp3 collection. I got any interference, any trouble at all.
So, I can only give 5 stars because it did very well what it was made for. The FM sound quality isnt 100% but its perfect to listen some music.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Woorks poorly with XM radio
Review: I bought this item for use with my XM radio "SkyFi" unit. The electronic noise produced by the XM SkyFi makes the signal from the irock unit too poor for listening. I also tried the irock with my MP3 CD player with better results. With my CD player the signal sounded like a weak FM station and had a very low volume level. Personally, I would prefer to listen to commercial FM stations than static from my XM unit or low-fi hard to hear CDs. The unit is currently gathering dust in my junk drawer.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Works best with DC power
Review: I bought this product for use in my PT Cruiser with an IRiver IMP-400 MP3 CD player. I keep the player and Irock 400FM beneath the driver's seat while in use, and have had no problems. The 400FM works very well, and this is without making any modifications to the unit. When I took a road trip from southern MA to New London CT, the only adjustment I had to make was to change the broadcast/receiving frequency from 88.7 to 88.5, as there came a point during the trip when I (apparently) got too close to a station broadcasting on the former frequency; changing the station fixed the static I was hearing.

One thing that I have consistently found to make a significant difference in the sound quality is the use of DC power (via the included cigarette outlet adaptor) instead of batteries. When I use battery power the reception is somewhat static-y. There is almost no static problems when I used the power adaptor. I've also found the best results when I turn the volume on my MP3 player up (instead of turing my car radio's volume way up).

I recommend this product to anyone without the ability to use a cassette adaptor in their car.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nice Product But Don't Expect High Fidelity Sound
Review: I bought this wireless FM transmitter a couple of weeks ago and have used it in several cars. It seems tough and well-made, it just doesn't give you impressive sound. On a scale of 1-10 I would rate the sound at a 5. And expect that the sound quality will shift up and down that scale a bit as you drive your car around.

A less sexy but far more reliable option is a cassette adapter if your car stereo has a cassette player. I get consistent CD quality sound from my basic Sony brand adapter.

However, the iRock FM transmitter does a fair job if you don't have that option.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simply . . . yes!
Review: I can't speak for how the iRock 400 works in a car, because that's not why I bought it. But for home use, this product is, quite simply, the best affordable solution I've found to wireless audio networking. Forget 900 Mhz headphones that don't work. I've got my FM headphones tuned to 88.7, the iRock channel that works best in my neighborhood, and have wireless headphones that actually work in the next room!

I tried using Sirius to take care of the bad radio station problem when I moved from the SF Bay Area, and it would have worked except that I couldn't point it directly into the Eastern sky. Or was it Western sky? Sirius tech support didn't seem to know about half the time. No problem. The iRock + iTunes + ShoutCast.com + NPR's homepage gives me well over the 100 stations Sirius offers. We're talking about over a thousand stations, all on my own home-based radio station. For about 30 bucks plus rechargable batteries!

Of course, no product is without its limitations, and those on the iRock seem to be imposed by the FCC. It only works within 30 feet of the nearest FM antenna. If your source is over that, no iRock radio. But, hey, since you'll get this thing and basically make your own radio station with it, why not move your antenna closer to your computer, even if it means investing another $20 in a new FM antenna?

My hands down favorite radio station is now 88.7 on the FM dial in Lancaster, PA! And I could have saved myself about $150 worth of Sirius supplies with just a bit of research. Oh well. My leftover Sirius receiver made a great Christmas gift to someone with a great view of the West-Eastern sky, and I may as well give that same person the $10/month gift of a Sirius stream too and keep the subscription. Another hundred stations to play on 88.7? Why not?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not Recommended
Review: I do not recommend this product. I get terrible reception (with all four station options), and the result is a scratchy confusing mess of music and talk radio. Perhaps it will work out of town? I will take it on my next road trip to see if I get better results in other areas.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Works as advertised
Review: I don't have a bunch of different audio systems to test this in various environment, so I cannot make too much of a general comment. I think how well this thing works really depends on whether the radio stations in your area already occupy the frequencies you can choose from for this unit.

Sound quality is not the greatest, of course, and you cannot really expect FM radio quality music out of your MP3 or CD players connected to this transmitter; the songs you hear on radio are processed for pleasant reception on our ends, whereas MP3s or CDs give you purer sounds, so they will sound a bit flat. To improve the reception, you probably have to experiment with how you "direct" the head of this unit toward the antenna. Unless you have some space in your car to secure this in its best position, you'll be frustrated by the fluctuating sound quality.

Also, NEVER forget to turn this thing off before getting out of your car. The red power indicator is kinda hard to see during the day time.

I still use it because the area I live in has crappy radio stations playing only classic rock, christian music, or latin songs with medium salsa. It works okay for me, but I am also hoping something better comes along.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: iRock is great, except with Panasonic personal CD player
Review: I have bought this primarily so I can move around my lab and have music. I hook this up to my computer where my music is stored, then have a $20 portable radio which I can carry around as I move.

This little thing does all that I can want. It has good transmission out to about 30 feet when it starts breaking up. The only thing I found is that if you want to use this with a Panasonic CD player of recent lineage, then be warned that the power output to the earphones is so low that there is a lot of static with the music at the reciever. I was about ready to return it when I tried it with my CD player, but after using it with my computer, it is excellent and everything I wanted.

I give this 4 stars because of it not working on my personal CD player, but it works great and it sounds excellent with my computer, where I want to use it anyway. If you have a panasonic and want to use it in a car, you are best off using a tape deck adapter.

Hint: if there is static in the signal, turn up the volume on the transmitting device.


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