Creative's new Xdock shown at CeBIT
Creative debuted a very interesting new line of products at CeBit this year. They are calling the technology X-Fi for "Xtreme Fidelity". The Xdock is at first glance just another run of the mill looking iPod docking station. But in reality it is so much more.
With the Xdock you can stream music to the rest of your house by purchasing extra receiver units and attaching speakers to them. Each unit has the ability to output its music through attached powered speakers or to a home audio system. That way you can have one iPod service your entire house.
It also comes with S-video and composite video connections allowing you to display photos and videos from your iPod to your TV. Creative has attempted to make the all in one media station based around an iPod and by the looks of it they have succeeded.
The one thing about this product that made us scratch our heads is the whole X-Fi technology they are pushing as the main differentiator between them and the rest of the pack. X-Fi is short for "Xtreme Fidelity" and is supposed to make the MP3s sound better the CDs by enhancing the MP3s and adding data to them to make the sound richer. We are a little confused by this claim since if you push the music beyond what is actually recorded on the CD you would only be guessing at what needed amplifying and therefor the potential to overdo it in certain areas exists.
We can see one potential benefit of the X-Fi technology as music downloaded from the iTunes store has a very low bitrate and therefore has the serious potential for audio quality loss. This is where the X-Fi tech may come in handy. So we aren't exactly sure how well this new X-Fi will work, but it is intriguing.
They are scheduled the release for this spring so once they are available we will try and get our hands on one and test it out. If just the ability to link all of these together all over your house for music and video works then this could be a great new product for 2007.
We will be sure to keep you updated and look for our articles on the rest of the X-Fi product line.
Read More in: Audio Streaming | Image Streaming | Video Streaming | iPod Streaming
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Posted by David Ficocello at April 3, 2007 12:57 PM
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