Logitech Pure-Fi Anytime

Logitech makes some of the best-sounding dockable speaker systems on the market in the $150-$300 range, so what happens when the company scales down to the sub-$100 range and adds alarm clock functionality to the mix? The result is the Pure-Fi Anytime, a boxy-looking, acrylic black system for iPhone and iPod.



The prerequisites for a suitable iPod/iPhone alarm clock system are all there: dual alarms for couples, tri-level brightness adjustment for the display, and the ability to wake to AM/FM radio or a buzzer in addition to the music on your iPhone or iPod. When the alarm goes off, the volume of the music fades in gradually so as not to stun you while waking you up. And as a bonus, you don’t actually have to press the snooze button in order to get yourself another ten minutes of sleep – all you have to do is wave your hand over the snooze button. That last part actually works, by the way. Whether it’ll be of use to you probably depends on just how groggy and confused you typically are when an alarm clock first wakes you up.



But a speaker system has to be judged first and foremost on its audio quality, and in a saturated market you have to put it head to head with the top competing products at that price point. In this case that competitor is iHome’s $99 iH5, and the bottom line is that the while Anytime sounds acceptable for its price, the iH5 sounds noticeably better.



So why consider the Anytime, then? You might prefer the design, which isn’t as thick as the iH5 front to back. And even though the Anytime is a taller unit, the iPhone/iPod sits so much lower that the result is actually shorter overall. And depending on how you wake up each morning, the touch-free controls might be enough to make you overlook the fact that better audio quality in an iPhone/iPod alarm clock is available for the same price elsewhere.

Learn more at Logitech.com