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5 Comments on “JBL On Stage 200ID High-Performance Speaker Dock for iPhone 1G and iPod”

1. E. Berry
   September 1st, 2010 at 5:33 pm

   If you don’t want to read my full review and just need to find a small speaker with great bass and a remote control that works with your iPhone and all iPods under $300 then this what you need to buy. Nothing comes close in that price range or size. And it’s only $150, so it’s easily the best value too; JBL could have charged well over $200 for this and it would still be the only one to buy. I was so impressed I decided to take 30 minutes and write a review.

   I wanted something small with big sound (eg, good bass, which almost always sucks on small speakers). I wanted to be able to throw it in my suitcase if I travel. Usually Bose owns this space with their amazing engineering (I own a couple Bose products). I figured to get that kind of sound I was going to have to cough up $350-$500 for Bose’s portable solution. Bose have two versions – one that uses AC power, and another with a built in rechargeable battery and it’s $100 more. Nice units, and priced right. But when I was at Fry’s, I stumbled onto this JBL. For $200-$300 less, this unit sounds almost as good, and is much smaller. Same footprint, but about 1/3 as tall. Nothing in the other 30+ units I tested came close to the sound to this unit in its size and NOTHING touches it under $300 for the sound it products. It also works with my iPhone which was a requirement. What this really means is you don’t have to put it in “Airplane Mode” which turns off the phone to keep the interference from wrecking your listening enjoyment – which means you can still get calls when it’s docked – it mutes the music and plays the ringtone though the speaker. Kind of funny, though, when the phone is in silent mode, it mutes the music and plays no ring tone- I would expect it to just show on the screen but not interrupt the music until you answer the call. This is the iPhone’s fault I think, not this unit.

   Another thing I like about this device is it seems to auto-equalize the volume of the music to each song so you aren’t continually re-adjusting the volume. I don’t know if the Bose units do this. Since every album is engineered at different levels, the annoying problem of some songs being loud and others quiet causing a constant readjustment seems to be solved. Very cool. I am guessing that JBL built a signal processing chip into this that does this, and also gets the bass/treble balance perfect and adjusts itself. It also seems to expand the stereo field to make the sound stage much bigger than this unit is, but not so much that it sounds weird. None of the other JBL units seemed to do this, so my hat is off to the signal processing in this unit.

   The ten button remote control works great, but it’s hard to read the buttons in low light, so I guess I’ll have to memorize their position. You don’t need the remote control to turn down the volume – the only two buttons on the front/top are volume up/down, so you can always get it quiet in a hurry if you can’t find the remote.

   Downsides: It has an Aux input – which I was looking forward to using it at my desk where my computer is to double as a computer speaker. When the Aux cable is plugged into my computer, it cuts the volume from the iPod in half, and limits the max volume of the unit quite a bit. Once the cable is unplugged (or the computer is turned off) the volume jumps up. This is a line balancing flaw that was apparently overlooked. Also, it is a bummer this does not have a USB port to connect to your PC. This would allow me to sync when docked, but I have to disconnect from this unit and plug into a separate USB cable to Sync. I would have paid more for this feature, at least another $25.

   Oddly, the other JBL units I tested (the ones with a clock and other features) completely sucked in comparison to the sound of this unit. They got the sound right on this one and only this one. Bose gets it right every time, but JBL doesn’t have the reputation for making small devices like this, so JBL had to price it this way to compete – take advantage of it.

   JBL: if you read this, I’d like to see a version just like with these improvements:

   1) Add a backlit LCD clock. Nothing fancy. No alarm necessary – the iPhone/iTouch has that. If it had a clock then I could throw away my bedside clock and use this. Your other unit with the clock/alarm sucks compared to this unit in sound, so just add a basic clock to this one.

   2) Add a USB interface so I do not have to undock to sync with my PC.

   3) Fix the level issue with the Aux input or remote it. As is, the Aux input is useless unless I didn’t need the dock port, which is the only reason you would really buy this.

   4) Add a battery option. You could sell the battery as a snap-on thing or separate thing so I can take this outside on the deck without a cord. I’d pay $50-$60 for this, when and if I need the feature (unlike the Bose setup which makes you spend over $100 up front). Heck even just a corded dongle with AA’s that can replace the AC adapter would be a hack I could live with in this price range.

   5) Improve the contrast on the button labels on the remote. Use different shapes for different controls so you can feel them without having to memorize them.

   6) Add a wireless (or wired, but wireless would be better) subwoofer accessory to this and charge $150 for it. This would add the thumping deep bass (under 120 Hz) that would make this unit compete with a real home stereo and/or a higher end computer speaker setup. This would give you a setup for $300 that would sweep the market segment for sound and expandability.
   
   Rating: 5 / 5

2. Ann C. Smith
   September 1st, 2010 at 6:24 pm

   Yesterday I bought a JBL on stage micro III, which I returned today because of its shallow tinny sound. In its place I purchased the JBL on stage 200lD which is far superior in quality. The additional $20 is well worth it. The sound is rich. If you intend to buy this in the store instead of through Amazon, take your Ipod with you. It’s the best way to hear the difference rather than through the store set-up.
   Rating: 4 / 5

3. Jonathan Johnson
   September 1st, 2010 at 8:34 pm

   This is a fine product. It’s got a very small foot print (I was expecting much larger), but the sound it puts out is great. I’m not an audiophile, but at the same time, I can tell that this will be satisfactory sound quality for most people.

   The build quality is excellent. The mesh is a cloth fabric over the plastic enclosure. There are two volume buttons on the top right in front of the dock. The iPhone and iPod touch dock includes the little “arch” you see in the picture. This provides excellent stability for being able to use the touch features while docked.

   The included remote is nice, and it works well to navigate the iPod.

   4 stars because of these things:
   
   - I would love to watch video on my iPhone/iPod Touch, but they only display landscape. While this isn’t a fault of JBL, it would have been great for them to innovate and come up with a mechanism to dock horizontally.
   
   - The speakerphone doesn’t actually work as expected. When answering the phone while docked, the audio for the call doesn’t come through the speakers. The person on the line can hear me just fine, but I can’t hear them. I’m not sure what it would have taken to make this work, but you have to consciously remember to pick the phone up.

   All in all, a great product. I haven’t tried the Altec Lansing, but this one is $50 cheaper, and certainly worth the money for an interference-free iPhone speaker experience.
   Rating: 4 / 5

4. Eric Northcutt
   September 1st, 2010 at 8:38 pm

   I picked up this speaker dock today and am highly impressed with it. The sound quality is excellent and just right for a small room or work cubicle. I was worried that all of the advertised functions for it might not work with my new iPhone 3G but everything works fine. It comes with iPod and iPhone(1st gen) inserts but I don’t use them because my iPhone 3G is in a gel case and fits just fine without them. The iPhone moves just a little while docked if being touched but I don’t feel like the dock connector is being stressed at all. This speaker dock does in fact charge the iPhone 3G while it is inserted. I checked email and surfed the internet using both Edge and 3G networks while music was playing with absolutely no GSM interference of any kind. All of the remote functions worked just fine with the iPhone 3G but the remote does have to be pointed towards the speaker dock for anything to register. Silver volume up and down buttons are located in front of the dock connector with a small green power light indicator in between them. The power button is located on the back near the bottom. There is also an external input on the back but no way to switch between iPod/iPhone sound and external input sound. If both sources are playing music you will hear them both at the same time through this speaker dock. It is powered by wall outlet only so no batteries. This is going to be exactly what I need come Monday morning when I get to work! Highly recommended.
   Rating: 5 / 5

5. MediaCritic
   September 1st, 2010 at 11:07 pm

   I’ve had this thing about a week. It’s decent. The only real problem has been a random quirk where the volume drops really low by itself. I just turn it back up, but it’s a pain. There’s no predicting when or why this will happen. Annoying. I have occasionally, after taking a phone call, gotten the “This accessory was not made for iPhone” message, with the option to turn on “airplane mode”. I just ignored it, and it went away.

   Pros: Good, reasonably powerful sound. Keeps the phone charged while you listen. Remote comes with battery installed.

   Cons: Volume will fall randomly and unexpectedly. Occasional “airplane mode” message. Glossy black top and remote smudges easily. A bit pricey for a speaker/charger.
   Rating: 3 / 5