DLO HomeDock Music Remote

(Review) - DLO continues to play with its HomeDock series and releases another product that promises to move music from earbuds to quality stereo speakers without wires, at least for the most part. DLO's HomeDock Music Remote is an interesting unit that introduces a couple of new enhancements that make working with wireless controllers a little less painful. Once again, just like TuneStik, the core idea behind the product isn't earth shattering, but the overall upgrade to the product and its functionality is more useful.

HomeDock Music Remote consists of two key components: an iPod dock and a wireless RF remote control with OLED display. Even though both devices are durable and sport a great appearance otherwise, the huge white buttons are too much to handle. We don't understand why DLO would want to exaggerate their size unnecessarily. The buttons were certainly distracting, but it may not be such a big deal to you. The display on the remote control was vibrant even in bright light, though it's limited in what it can display. The iPod dock works as advertised and supports all new iPod models comfortably.

Setting up the unit is effortless; all you need to do is connect the dock to your stereo with a pair of cables that are included with the package. Once that's completed, it's all a matter of syncing the remote to your iPod once and the device works just like every other plug-and-play unit. Syncing will automatically take place after you navigate to the "Settings" option in the remote control. While it doesn't take particularly long to sync the dock and the remote control, the total time will depend on the amount of music (in terms of GB) you have on your iPod. Also, the remote control will organize your music according to artists and playlists (either preexisting ones or ones created on the fly directly with the remote). It will conveniently strip out other information that may be useful to better organize and navigate via remote control, which is a pity.

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The audio quality of course depends on your stereo speakers, and since we had a high-end pair in our lab, we didn't experience any problem with audio quality. It worked like a charm. However, there are a number of quirks that are noteworthy. Other than the size of the buttons and the limited display information on the remote, the controls are sluggish at best. Not only does it take a few seconds for the music to switch from one song to another, but the lag time is also present when we were just scrolling through our library on the remote control. The controls are somewhat confusing as well, since "Menu" and skip backward both act as back buttons depending on where you are in the interface. Also, DLO could be more organized and find a way to incorporate an easy way to navigate through a large library. If you have to scroll from A to X and back again alphabetically, it will take a considerable amount of time. And needless to say, the entire process will be cumbersome and downright annoying.

On a more positive note, the battery is rechargeable, and you can even connect HomeDock Music Remote directly to the PC via USB and sync with iTunes, while simultaneously charging the unit. Unfortunately, you can't remove the battery, so once the battery dies out, the device is rendered useless. Until then, you can work with the remote that offers exceptional range of up to 150ft. and works well through walls, thanks to RF transmission.

For the average price of $129.99, it's a very expensive product with a number of flaws. We commend DLO for releasing a unique product, but it's evident that DLO needs to revamp the entire product and release HomeDock Music Remote 2 before we could recommend it.

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