Digital Trends

Dice Electronics iTPA-220 September 26th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Features and Design:

The overall design of the iTPA-220 amp/speaker system is pretty sexy - two vacuum tubes proudly standing front and center on the iPod base/amp. The black and white plastic housing looks excellent in photos and gives the impression of a high quality, techie toy ideal for iPod owners who want a to show a little class. The 8"x6"x3.75" size of the base makes it perfect for placement on a desk, table, shelf or atop an a/v system.

Sadly, the design excellence peaks at the marketing photos. The physical amp is less than excellent. Made of lightweight plastic molding, the body of the iTPA-220 base feels like something from Hasbro or Fisher-Price. The body is a two-part mold (top and bottom halves). When holding the iTPA-220 base in one's hands, the slightest amount of pressure - even a gentle squeeze - separates the top mold from the bottom. Straight out of the box, the inside of the base was visible though an unintentional gap in the housing. The vacuum tubes are protected by thin, easily marred tube-shaped plastic shields. The clear plastic used had visible die-marks where they had been popped from what must have been a massive sheet of molded parts, and the plastic is so soft that even a 3M microfiber cloth left hairline scratches.

Tweeters and Woofers

According to the manufacturer's specs, the 1" tweeters are made of silk and the 4" woofers are composite. This is pretty standard fare for speakers. Frequency response is 40Hz to 18kHz, which is pretty impressive for a 2.0 system like this. No stats on total harmonic distortion or signal to noise ratio, though.

The speakers deliver 20watts per channel, so 40watts overall. This is much better than the average 2.0 iPod speaker set, however at $299 USD, a little more would have been expected and appreciated. Again, the iTPA-220 speakers push out more sound than one would expect from 20 watt channels. 

Remote Control

The remote itself looks like the type of iPod speaker remotes you'd find with products by XtremeMac, Griffin, Logitech, etc. It has six buttons - mute, play/pause, volume down, volume up, reverse (previous song, not rewind within a song), and forward (next song, not farther ahead in current song). That's it - simple and easy to use. Like most 3rd party iPod remotes, the Dice iTPA-220's remote does not navigate menus on the iPod. Sad but true. (Should you need a fresh battery at some point, the remote uses a flat 3V Lithium battery.) 

Video iPod Support

The iTPA-220 has an RCA video output on the back of the base. This will allow 5G and 6G iPod users to use the amp system to play music videos, TV shows and movies directly from the iTPA-220 and display the video on a TV. 

Aux Input

Thanks to the 1/8" auxiliary input, the iTPA-220 can be connected to more audio sources than just an iPod. Connect any other MP3 player, a laptop, computer, etc., so long as the source uses a 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo audio cable. 

The back of the iTPA-220

Ramping and EQ

One of the nice features of the iTPA-220 is the gradual increase in volume when playing a track from a paused/off position. Instead of an instant, full-volume blast erupting from the speakers, the iTPA-220 gives you a momentary upsurge in amplitude - a courtesy shot over the bow - allowing you just enough time to correct levels if necessary.

Because the iTPA-220 does not have any sort of external EQ, you'll have to rely on the digital EQ built into your iPod. While the iPod is a great device, its EQ has very few useful settings. Thankfully, the iTPA-220 does a very good job of delivering relatively accurate audio. 

Volume Knob

There's a round volume knob on the front of the iTPA-220. On our review unit, the knob felt a little stubborn. When using the volume knob, there were a few instances when the volume would turn down one notch while I was actively turning it up, and vice versa. This could have been a fluke, but it seemed that the contacts might have been lose, causing a somewhat jittery response. 

Totally Tubular, Brah

The use of vacuum tubes in stereo equipment is generally believed to enhance audio quality. Some of the most expensive niche audio devices use vacuum tubes in an effort to preserve the analog beauty of music. These tubes are often credited with delivering a "warm" tone to audio - velvety bass, amazing mids and well-rounded highs - as opposed to a sharper, colder digital reproduction. No matter one's stance on this analog/digital topic, the use of vacuum tubes in an otherwise all-digital environment borders on illogical. Anything on an iPod is digital, whether ripped from CD, downloaded from iTunes or converted from an LP to MP3 or other format. Converting analog (voice, instruments) to digital, compressing it with lossy format, then running it through a vacuum tube to get a "warm" tone is kinda goofy. It seems like more of a gimmick than a technological marvel.

The Dice Electronics iTPA-220