Arcam rCube Portable Speaker System for iPod And iPhone

Firstly, I apologize for the long review but surprisingly there are very few reviews for this device, so I wanted to cover a lot. Once you get in to the realm of hi-fi and niche audio equipment you are dealing with users who have a very particular taste in what they want. They aren't willing to grab whatever ipod music player is on sale at Costco. Therefore, I'll tell you about my peculiar tastes and requirements in order to explain why I bought the rCube and why I am mostly satisfied with the purchase. First of all, money was no object in my purchase so I didn't take in to account price. I have a very nice standard hi-fi system in my living room, which does great for creating an immersive movie viewing experience or enjoying crisp, loud music. This system is hooked up to an AppleTV so I can use my iphone as a remote to instantly access my vast array of music from my computer. I love this part of my Hi-Fi; this is the type of music access that I have been dreaming about for 15 years when I had a slow, impractical 400 disc CD jukebox. This wireless access makes for the ultimate living room listening experience right from my pocket and I love being able to DJ from my iphone when I have friends over for dinner or dance parties.But I realized that due to convenience and the need to temper my listening volume around my family, I ended up using my portable MP3 audio player the most. So I decided to upgrade to something that would have good sound quality. Specifically I was looking for something that would sound good at low volumes but wouldn't distort at high volumes, that had a nice design and bonuses for portability and wireless play although the latter two were not essential. I researched the B&W Zeppelin, Bose Sounddock 10 and the Harman Kardan Go+Play along with the rCube. Besides the rCube, the Zeppelin was my second choice. I liked the design and the airplay features of the zeppelin and I'm sure it would sound great. The HK Go+Play has the best design and it is portable but didn't have a rechargeable battery, which would be a pain. Based on reviews, the Bose Sounddock's best feature seemed to be a loud bass. Although I listen to a fair amount of electronic music that has prominent bass, I like a more subtle, blended bass. I have listened to many fancy, expensive soundsystems in cars and living rooms and I find that most of them are unbalanced in terms of boomy, testosterone-driven out of place bass. Ultimately I was driven to buy the rCube predominantly for the rechargeable battery and wireless play, something that wasn't present in the H+K and was annoyingly placed in the ipod dock of the Bose Sounddock. The uncertainty with the rCube was the sound quality.I liked a lot about the rCube including the design, the ease of portability, the dock, the battery and sound quality. I notice absolutely no difference in sound quality when plugged in versus battery only. I thoroughly tested this by getting high, really getting in to a certain song's groove at high volume, and then unplugging it...No sound difference whatsoever. The battery appears to last a long time, I haven't had the problem with battery that others listed. Boy does it get loud. It's not 'whole-house-party loud but you can hear it at decent 'cocktail-party-levels' in the next room and in the same room, the sound is powerful, beautiful and crystal clear. Not excessively loud though, I have to wheel my ipod up to about an 8.5 out of 11 in volume for it to get real loud but each step to 11 boosts the sound volume a lot. I have a range of musical tastes from Jazz (Mingus, Monk) to indie rock (Sonic Youth, Sufjan Stephens) to folk (Iron and Wine, Joanna Newsome) to ambient (Brian Eno, Stars of the Lid) to electronic (Burial, Autechre). The rCube sounds good with all these types of music. The rCube sounds very good at low volumes too, which was important for everyday listening around my family but I could turn it up to uncomfortable volumes and the sound never wavered. The sound is well mixed with the full range of frequencies represented clearly. The placement of the speakers on the side does allow a wide distribution to the sound and it often sounds like the horn section of a song for instance will be coming from the corners of the room. Surprisingly, the bass is prominent in this small, portable device but not annoyingly so which I prefer. The design is really cool too. I love the handle and can carry this cube like an old-school boombox. It definitely turns heads when I walk in to a room carrying this sound machine. Overall I am very satisfied with this device, one of the best purchases I have ever made.But I'll focus on the things I was disappointed in so you know the limitations. The wireless feature is designed poorly. There are two ways to connect, the Arcam rWand, a dongle for the iphone/ipod which allows wireless control; additionally the Arcam rWave can supplement this product, by connecting to your home computer. The former allows your ipod/iphone to control/play the music and the latter allows your extensive computer library to play over the Arcam rCube. These products are all below the product description for this item. The ipod dongle rWand connection type is less than ideal. I don't want to have a dongle connected to my ipod/iphone that would be cumbersome on my iphone or not allow me to charge my battery on my ipod. I opted for the USB dongle (rWave), although I will probably buy the iphone/ipod connector too. The USB dongle works perfectly but I have to manually go to my computer and change the audio output from the soundcard to the USB dongle. I can't control the music with simply my iphone as a remote like I can with the appleTV, instead I have to go to my computer and change the settings first. Neither option allows instant access, although with all my griping these wireless options are still quite convenient.Pros: Great subtle design, wireless play, good rechargeable batteries, great sound when unplugged, convenient portability, refined, well-blended and spacious sound.Cons: Wireless play is not as convenient as Airplay devices or AppleTV.Update: A software called Virtual Audio Cable will allow you to output a single audio source to multiple outputs. Therefore I can play music on my computer and to the Arcam rCube. This is enough to upgrade the device to 5 stars.Update2 (in response to a question): Virtual Audio Cable is not an actual cable but a piece of software for the computer. Windows 7 only allows you to output one audio source at the same time. The Arcam rCube rWand requires you to choose it's own software as the audio output, rather than the computer's own output to the computer speakers. Therefore, in essence if you regularly listen to music on your computer speakers and the Arcam rCube, you have to manually change the settings on the computer. In essence, switching the audio cables between a mixer with only one audio out. Virtual Audio Cable is like a mixer, that allows multiple outputs at the same time. Unfortunately the software is quite finicky and a pain the butt to use, I can't really recommend it. But this is really a minor gripe, as getting off my butt, going to the computer and changing the audio output to the rCube is not that much of a pain.

I read all the great reviews online especially in British websites and decided to try it. The mid range and highs sounded perfect. The bass was a disaster. Not "tight bass" like they say in their manual but a hollow mess. No matter where you positioned it, even in a corner like the manual suggested it it distorted the great highs. I could have lived with this only to find out that the product was defective. The remote stopped working after 1 use. You had to keep adjusting the ipod position to get it to work. I had to return it when even the replacement remote turned out to be useless, suggesting that the cube itself was the problem.After more online research, I bought a Philips Fidelio DS9/37. It was only $295 and sounded far better than the rCube. Tighter, more muscular base, but not excessive. Excellent midrange and highs. Quality sound, not some boombox type. No defects at all so far. I suspect that many people have returned rcubes and this may explained why so many refurbished sets are on ebay. Arcam must be such a small company that they have not understood quality control.

I bought one from another retailer and had the same problem with the battery as another reviewer. I did find the sound to be spectacular for its size and I know quality as this has been my hobby for many decades. I would charged it fully and switch the unit totally off. 3 days later battery down to one bar. Kept it for a month and charged it many times hoping to condition the battery all to no avail and then returned it.

If you are looking for a premium iPhone speaker you wont be dissapointed. The sound quality is awesome, excellent tone balance and definition. I have tried it with jazz, rock, r&b, vocals and classic and the sound is definitely pure hi-fi.

I have to agree with others that there is a battery issue with this product. The first thing you have to realize is that it will not charge unless it is in 'on' or 'standby' mode. I received a response from Arcam confirming this. However, when I noticed that the performance was only 2-3 hours even with the iphone charge turned off, that was just unacceptable. When I sent a note to Arcam about this, I received no response at all. They can have it back.

This R Cube is the best sounding portable system I have ever heard, fills up a large area with clear sound. I found the battery to last about 8-9 hours playing it loud, charges quickly....Love it for outside in the gardens

J'ai le Bose sounddock Portable que j'adore ... J'ai pris le Rcube pour avoir un second appareil un peu différent.Ayant pour habitude d'écouter ma musique avec mon dock-enceinte placé en toute proximité sur mon bureau, je dois avouer que le Rcube m'a quelque peut dérouté, voir déçu dans ce type d'utilisation par rapport au Bose qui est excellent. Par contre pour sonoriser une pièce... là c'est l'inverse qui s'est produit, Arcam est vraiment une merveille et disons le, supérieur au Bose dans ces conditions d'écoute.J'ai pris le dongle RWAVE et il faut avouer que la technologie Kleer est vraiment bien au point (contrairement au bluetooth) ... le rendu sonore est quasi identique entre mon Ipod "docké" et ce qui sort de mon PC via le Rwave.Attention trés très important à mes yeux et si je peut convaincre quelques utilisateurs sur ce point ... Ne pas donner de la confiture aux cochons ... N'écoutez que de la musique aux formats AIFF ou WAVE ... pas de MP3 ni de AAC (inutile d'acheter ce type d'appareil dans ces conditions) ... au besoin les formats FLAC ou ALAC si vous voulez ... mais bof !!!

Meine Wunsch-Anforderungen an eine iPod-kompatible docking station waren:- Sie sollte gut klingen.- Sie sollte gut verarbeitet sein.- Der Anschluss für iPod oder iPhone sollte sich verstecken lassen.- Sie sollte ohne Blutooth-typische Verluste meine Musik und Musikvideos streamen können.- Das Streaming sollte Wifi-unabhängig (also nicht Airplay) sein, da mein Wifi in unserem Esszimmer ziemlich schwach ist.- iPod oder iPhone sollten als Fernbedienung verwendbar sein und- im eingedockten Zustand geladen werden.- Sie sollte einen wiederaufladbaren Akku besitzen, um sie auch in anderen Räumen nutzen zu können.Um es kurz zu machen: Das Gerät kann das alles.Man braucht dazu den separat erhältlichen Sender, der in iPod, iPhone oder iPad eingesteckt wird (es gibt auch einen USB-Stick-Sender für den Computer).Die Zuweisung meiner i-Geräte war wirklich simpel und hat weniger als 5 Minuten gedauert. Sogar mein alter iPod classic funktioniert bestens.Nur der Vollständigkeit halber: Das Gerät lässt sich auch ans TV oder andere Quellen anschließen; das habe ich aber nicht ausprobiert und ich vermute,dass die Lautstärkeregelung beim Anschluss ans TV nur bei TV's mit regelbarem Ausgang mit der TV-Fernbedienung funktioniert (also z.B. Loewe). Ich weiß es aber nicht.Ich bin wirklich rundum zufrieden und habe das Gefühl in etwas investiert zu haben, das mir viele Jahre Spaß machen wird.Für mich gibt es zur Zeit keine Alternative auf dem Markt. Für mich D A S dock.

Ich habe mir den Arcam rCube für das Büro und im Sommer als Outdoor Musikquelle gekauft. Klanglich befindet sich der rCube sicher locker eine Stufe über allen vergleichbaren Lösungen, die am Markt erhältlich sind. Etwas unglücklich ist, das man nicht direkt auf andere Musikquellen (streamen) zugreifen kann, sondern den rwand (für Iphone) und rWave für PC und MAC benötigt. Den rWand habe ich mittlerweile in UK bestellt (Divineaudio), da er dort deutlich günstiger ist als in Deutschland. Jetzt aber noch eine Empfehlung wie das Problem Streaming umgangen werden kann. Ich benutze einen Olive 4HD als Musikserver und habe mit folgender Kombination Zugriff auf den Olive - man benötigt ein Iphone, die Gratis-App Eyecon und damit kann man dann auf die Musik auf dem Olive zugreifen. Im Anschluß das Olive in den rCube gesetzt und man ist nicht mehr auf die Musik auf dem Iphone alleine angewiesen. Wenn dann noch der rWand ankommt wird das noch bequemer auch auf Entfernung zum rCube funktionieren.Das Gerät man uneingeschränkt empfehlen!

Excellent build quality and design. Soundstage is amazing when positioned correctly however it is not always possible to place the unit in a corner or recess. The overall sound is very good although as reviewed elsewhere it is best played "loud" and in a corner. Vocals are sometimes masked or recessed back into the mix. Sometimes the sound is not as integrated as it should be with bass lines and intricate treble unnaturally some way apart in the mix.Hey this is now a bargain compared to the overpriced B&W units. Looks good and sounds as good ad it looks!!!BUY ONE BEFORE THEY DISAPPEAR

Amazing sound, although the battery life is somewhat disappointing. Also the remote did not work at first as the supplied battery was empty.Sometimes my IPhone is not well seen, but it looks like this has to do with dirt in the connector. On the Ipod it always works and the sound is simply fantastic.