Griffin AirCurve Acoustic Amplifier Review
When we were first sent the Griffin AirCurve iPhone dock, it is safe to say that, we were not exactly brimming with excitement. At first glance of the box it looked as though we had been sent a retro blocked shape iPhone dock accompanied with a built in hearing aid. Now that’s not to say it isn’t good looking, because it is. It’s simple and would fit in almost anywhere you put it.
In the box you get adapters for both the iPhone and iPhone 3G, plus a mount that allows you to insert your iPhone charger cable with the ability to take it out easily later on, handy if you do not want to fork out on a new USB lead. The build of the AirCurve is pretty solid and it really couldn’t be any simpler to set up, no batteries or plugs, just your USB cable if you want it. As a dock for your iPhone the Griffin AirCurve passed with flying colours, but what about it’s claim as a sound system?
At first glance the whole AirCurve idea seemed gimmicky and the 10db volume improvement the box claims just didn’t seem realistic, so we thought we’d give it a go and see if it really was as good as the box claimed.
We set an iPhone on the far corner of the desk and let Michael Buble’ rip at full volume using the built in speaker. For the whole of the song we just wanted to turn it up just a little more and it didn’t sound quite right as a speaker the size of the one that comes built into the iPhone, just isn’t capable of giving you the sound quality you need to properly enjoy music.
We then tried the same song with the iPhone resting in the Griffin AirCurve. We were immediately impressed. We had to turn the volume down by around a third to work comfortably and we felt the sound quality actually improved with the sound being really “opened up”. Although some of the bass was removed, the clarity gained throughout the rest of the sound definitely made up for it.
It gives a really great sound, especially in an office environment, and the fact that it is probably one of the cheapest iPhone docks you can buy makes it all that more appealing.
Once we’d set it up we liked the sound so much we left the iPhone in question playing music until the battery died (which didn’t go down well with it’s owner!). It’s environmentally friendly, simple, gives a great sound and does exactly what it says on the tin (well, box). What more do you want?!
You can buy the Griffin AirCurve Acoustic Amplifier from Mobile Fun for just £19.97!
