Altec Lansing inMotion Max iPhone speaker

The iMT702 comes with something Altec calls Expanded Sound Stage (ESS), which artificially enhances the sense of stereo separation. This works rather well and manages to open up the soundscape without making a hopeless pig's ear of things. We quickly developed the habit of leaving ESS enabled.

The sound can get frazzled when maxed out

Play some serious rock on the iMT702 and things do get just a bit frazzled and messy towards the top end of the volume scale. Shostakovich's seventh threw down a gauntlet the speakers couldn't really pick up, either, though once we dialled the volume down to around 80 per cent things improved dramatically. To be honest, any maximum-volume failings are really no more than you should realistically expect from a device of this type and size, and it shouldn't be forgotten that the iMT702 is capable of delivering significantly more volume than many of its portable rivals.

Altec claims the iMT702's rechargeable battery is good for 3.5 hours' playback, a number we found to be just about bang on, even when the unit was being used at a high volume. While 3.5 hours is not really a long time, Altec was probably thinking about users whipping it outside for use on the patio during lunch rather than the sort of thing you'd take on a camping holiday.

You can pick the iMT702 up for around £150 which is between £50 and £70 more than many of its more mass-market competition but none of them can really hold a candle to the Altec in terms of sound quality or volume. Though we have yet to test it, we will be most surprised if Bose's SoundDock Mobile doesn't give the iMT702 more than a run for its money in the sound stakes, but that will set you back the thick end of £300. At the end of the day, we'd say Altec has got the price/performance balance just about right.

Verdict

There's not much wrong with the iMT702 inMotion Max. The clever packaging makes it easily portable and the built-in battery frees it up from dependence on mains power. The sound quality is good for a product which sits in a category that's really more focused on convenience than absolute audio competence. It's just a shame that Altec didn't think of making it double up as a speakerphone. ®

More Speaker Reviews...

Revo Blok

Altec Lansing Octiv Air

Logic3 Valve80

Edifier Luna 5