Bose SoundDock & apple iPod
I have a Bose SoundDock. My Dad bought it me as my 20th Birthday Present. Compared to any other speakers I have it’s completely unrivalled. The sound quality is amazing - and I especially liked it when I used RockBox on my iPod and could listen to uncompressed Music on it. The quality was superb.
However, as previously mentioned I had to switch back to the apple software to make the iPod interface with my “iPod capable” car stereo - and to get the remote working on the SoundDock. It’s a shame, but a necessary one in my eyes.
Now, the only comment I have about the Bose SoundDock is the fact that it doesn’t have an aux-input, and in true FLOSSgeek style, it annoys me that such a brilliant product is inherently tied to a single-vendor’s product; namely, the iPod. The other thing that annoys me is that I am therefore unable to hook it up to my computer. Surely a female to 1.2mm jack isn’t that difficult to manufacture - but nobody appears to make them (at a decent price). There are a number of howtos on the internet for adding the aux input to your SoundDock by taking it apart and doing some soldering - but that doesn’t appeal to me. Were I to make a mistake that’s a £250 loss - not something I want to comprehend.
So, I looked into other ways of doing it - and as with most things progression means vulnerability. Apple have supplied me with the ammunition themselves.
I recently popped into the apple store to see if there were any female iPod connectors that I could disassemble (I don’t mind breaking something at that value - and it would mean the warranty on the SoundDock would stay valid.) They had the “Griffin 2nd Generation Shuffle Dock Adapter,” - cool. I bought one. It has a 1.2 mm jack sticking up out of the top of it. All I need now is a female-to-male 1.2mm extension cable and I have the appliance.
However, the apple/griffin people are clever - and have added a plastic surround to the adapter which means that any 1.2mm female adapters would be held ~1mm off being able to connect properly… or so they thought.I then popped to MicroDirect, based in Manchester (also online at www.microdirect.co.uk) and purchased a 1.2mm extension cable, expecting to have to file down at the griffin adapter so that it would rest flush with the cable… I was mightily surprised.
I don’t know if the microdirect supplier is anti-apple (but it would appear they are, via proxy (me)), but their extension cable has a ~1mm gap between the end of the jack and the plastic surround. This means that it fits _without_ any modification to either part - and allows me to connect my Computer, and any portable audio (or immovable audio for the pedants out there) to my SoundDock.
Mission Accomplished.
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andylockran’s blog » Blog Archive » Home Desk — February 7, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
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By Tobias, December 24, 2007 @ 10:33 pm
Is this thing really working? awsome!
By Andy, January 2, 2008 @ 12:38 am
Tobias - yeah, it’s turned out to be a really nice bit of kit now.. fantastic improvement and well worth the £18 it cost me.
By Mac, January 11, 2008 @ 4:38 pm
Hi Andy,
Very interested in your solution well done its the best one i’ve seen after searching for a while, could you be more specific about the cable from microdirect possibly with a link to the cable I need it would be most helpfull.
Thankyou
Mac
By Andy, January 11, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(18412)Vivanco-35mm-To-35mm-Jack-Cable-25M.aspx
By Mac, January 11, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
oh forgot to say play.com do the griffin 2nd generation shuffle dock adapter for £9.99 inc P&P, cheapest place I found.
By Andy, January 11, 2008 @ 4:42 pm
Excellent. the Micro direct one is labeled as 3.5mm.. but this was _definitely_ the one I got as I remember it being mis-labeled at the time. I was in the store when I got it, so was placed to exchange it if it was the wrong one.
By tiolem, January 23, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
great tip andy !
getting the griffin in france is a little bit pricey (29€) but found a white cable at our computer superstore tht fits the receptacle.
again, thanks for that !
By Kevin Caldecott, August 11, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
I found this website which as a Bose sounddock cable for sale. It’s in the USA and it’s not cheap but I intend to give it a try.