| | |  | Audio & Video | Home » » » Kicker zKICK Digital Stereo System for Zune | | | | | | | Description: | | Designed for concert-like sound first thing in the morning, the KICKER ZK150 Clock Dock Zune media players, uses three-inch full-range speakers in a ported enclosure, and a high-powered internal amplifier to blast your tunes. | | | Product Details: | | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 49 reviews |
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Average Customer Review:
 ( 49 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
88 of 88 found the following review helpful:
 Great Sound, Annoying Alarm FlawDec 15, 2009
By S. Niccoli
"bitter chorus boy"
Anyone who owns a Zune is well aware of the limited dock options on the market. It's hard to find any one alarm dock that is well reviewed for both form and functionality. I looked for something for several years but never felt comfortable slapping down the cash. Then the zKick 150 came on the market, and given that most other Kicker audio and dock products usually get very favorable reviews, I took a chance and made the purchase.
Initially, I was really happy with the device. The setup was very quick and easy, taking just a few minutes. The sound is really amazing for such a small unit. The EQ options give you the chance to do a rudimentary adjust to the audio output. With no EQ built into the Zune, this is a welcome feature and allows you to get a mix that is more customized to your preferences. I listen mostly to vocal and orchestral stuff, so treble is more important to me than bass most of the time, and the highs from this machine are pretty rich and never tinny. The bass is definitely more than adequate, even when I've cranked it up for more rocking selections. The unit has a pretty decent sound output as well. I've yet to have it anywhere near full volume and I've been able to enjoy it all through my 1300 square foot place. Does it sound as great when I'm 3 rooms removed from it as it does when I'm listening from the same room? Of course not, but no system does.
There are a range of brightness options for the device display. I keep mine on the lowest setting and have never had a problem reading it whether the room is lit or dark. The blue light makes it a little mellower than orange or white display options and it doesn't light up the whole room like noon when on the lowest setting. The radio works fine, but even here in Los Angeles where there are a billion close sources I've noticed that the unit does have to have the external antennae attached to function well. The headphone/output jack is nice for quiet listening, or attachment to an external speaker source.
If you should have the device set to wake you to your Zune, but the Zune gets jarred out of the dock overnight, the device will default to the beeper alarm to wake you, which is really good. Not all units will do that.
The audio quality and options are such that I kinda felt like the unit was worth the extra in price. Cheaper dock options sound cheap, and this one easily matches some higher end products I've heard.
Now on to the not so good part. The alarm functionality. I'll mention some stuff that other reviewers have mentioned: First, I'd recommend a volume pre-test on any tune you choose for waking music. All but the most mellow arrangements at a really low volume can be heart attack inducing to wake to on this puppy. Seriously. A gradual wake volume function is pretty common, even on inexpensive offerings, and it would have been great if Kicker had included that option in this pricier unit. Next comes the control configuration - challenging little buttons packed on the front of the unit in a really small space. The snooze button is accessible and easy to get to. The alarm on/off button.....not so much. Not a problem when you're fully awake and aware. Kind of a problem when you've just been jarred out of sleep and are muddled. Many mornings I've fumbled with the alarm with my glasses off trying to shut off the alarm and have hit the source button instead - moving from jarringly loud music to really loud radio static. It's just not easy to turn off without being fully awake and focused.
Now, the biggest con of the alarm, and one I don't see mentioned in other reviews. The snooze function is seriously flawed. If you hit the snooze and let the time lapse play out, it does come back on as it should. That's not a problem. If you let the snooze go off again and you turn the alarm off while the unit is playing, the next time you use the alarm, it works as it should. Also not a problem
The problem happens if you hit the snooze and then shut the alarm off BEFORE you let the snooze reactivate.
What happens then is that the alarm will go off the FOLLOWING day at the end of that snooze time. For example. On Monday, clock is set for 5 am. It goes off at 5 am and you hit the snooze, activating a 10 minute snooze period. Uninterrupted, the alarm would go off at 5:10 am. But, say you get up at 5:05 am and turn the alarm off. The snooze doesn't go off at 5:10 am that day, which is good. What is not good is that no matter what you do, short of unplugging the unit to power it down, on the next day, Tuesday, that alarm is going to go off at 5:10 am. I don't care if you leave the alarm set at 5 am, or set it for 7 am or 4 am or noon or 3 pm, if you turn the alarm back on, it is going off at 5:10 am. Period. This happened consistently when I first got the dock, and I thought it might have been a malfunction in that particular unit. I took it back and exchanged it for another, and found that the second unit had the same exact problem. It's not at all random either. It happens consistently if you hit the snooze and then shut off the alarm before the snooze reactivates.
You learn to work around it, but at the price, and from a reputable manufacturer, you shouldn't have to work around anything so basic. It's pretty annoying and might ruin the whole experience for you if you're primarily buying it for an alarm, and not an every day docking/listening option.
25 of 25 found the following review helpful:
 Sounds good & has a great snooze barNov 19, 2009
By Jeffrey Silva
If you're buying this to listen to your Zune in a smallish/midsized room, you probably won't be disappointed (but yes, there is no remote.) It's a compact, well-built package with an authoritative, well-balanced sound. Built in bass & treble settings make up somewhat for Zune's lack of tonal flexibility. It's simple to set up and operate the dock and tuner functions, offers a decent complement of options, and the radio is fairly sensitive (there's some drift with distant stations, but it's on a par with similar radio tuners.) It takes a little fishing to seat a Zune, but once seated it's well supported. The sound volume is good -- but it emphasizes the loud end. It feels like it was designed by people who put 60" woofers into the trunks of Honda Civics. (Oh, wait.) While I don't crank it up much past Bruce (medium loud) in a mid-sized room I appreciate the authority. It handles acoustic music briskly, with a fine sense of presence.
From 8AM to midnight, it's a beauty.
As an alarm clock/radio ... well, the snooze bar is perfect. The display has very little contrast and is difficult to read even straight on & close up. From an angle the detail nearly disappears. Increasing the backlight (easily done, with a range of increments) helps, but by the time you see much improvement the room is bathed in blue light & you've finished plotting the rhumb line from Marion to Bermuda. It's annoying if you prefer unbroken dark with your sleep.
And whisper isn't on the volume dial. You can tune down to low, but if you want to go to sleep with music playing in a quiet room you'll have to select your Zune tunes carefully. Anything with even a little dynamic variation will get all bright & bristly just as you start to drift off. This might be another case of subtle not being in the genetic tissue.
The functional controls are the biggest drawback. The control area is a series of tiny buttons set flush in the center crease of the radio, behind/around the volume knob & clearly marked with white icons/words. It looks very together & luckily, using them is logical. But the buttons are physically tiny, flush & unlit: just what you don't need as your eyes come unglued in the morning dark. The functional buttons (alarm on/off, source input selections) are particularly bad: you get to stab in the dark, hoping to hit the 'alarm off' button before anyone else wakes up. (That blue display light is lost on the control buttons -- they are beneath it & curve downward.) The "set & forget" buttons are small but less critical & can be set at midday.
With a higher contrast display, functional buttons moved to the top & made easy to distinguish by touch in the dark (alarm clock design 101), larger radio presets & "set & forget" controls, this would be a five star system.
As the rating suggests, it's a fine unit if you own a Zune & want to come out of your earbuds. The 80% that Kicker got right is worthwhile. If you're looking for the perfect clock radio, this might not be your first choice.
20 of 23 found the following review helpful:
Well built and sounds excellent, but...Nov 11, 2009
By Random Guy
The speakers are very well built, strong and sturdy. They come with a adjustable bracket so any Zune will fit. They sound fantastic and have enough power to easily fill a large room. Combine all that with the dual alarms, which can be set to different sources, and I thought they were a great replacement to the old Altec Lansing M604's. Then I started looking for the remote, which didn't exist. That's right, $180 speakers that don't include a remote. If the remote is a necessity for you like it is for me, consider waiting for the Kicker zk350.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Kickr RocksJan 08, 2010
By Dawnmarie T. Bean
We bought this item for our 16 year old daughter for Christmas this year.I was originally looking for the ZN9 dual alarm clock but they were all sold out wherever I looked.I was skeptical because there was nothing on the reviews about this being compatible with the New Zune HD.My daughter has a 30 GB Zune 2nd generation, and she had to hook it up to her TV whenever she wanted to listen to her music.We bought her the new Zune HD 30GB for Christmas also, and from the reviews of the ZN9 it was compatible.I bought this thinking I would have to return it, but to my delight it works with the new Zune HD and it's also an alarm clock!! The sound is pretty good for a little radio, no complaints from my daughter.The only thing that she doesn't like is that it didn't come with a remote.But it is close enough to her to where she doesn't really need one.I would definitely recommend this product if you are looking for something to wake you up with your favorite music on your Zune.It says it works with all Zunes, you can't beat that, and the price isn't too bad either.We are very pleased with our purchase.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Finally, my Zune HD is happy!May 11, 2011
By Andrea D. Lopez
Less than 10 minutes after I saw the box on my doorstep I was in love with this baby.
1. Sounds amazing!
2. Works with all my Zunes (120g, 4g, & HD) without having to change annoying plates!
3. Sounds amazing!
I've never owned a dedicated dock for any MP3 player, because I've never owned an iPod, and finding a dock for anything that isn't iPod is so difficult. I was skeptical when I bought this, but I caught it on sale here on Amazon, so I figured "Why not?". Out of the box I plugged it in. So far so good. I screwed on the little arm to hold the Zune and placed my HD in. Instinctively I tried to press play on the Zune, and nothing happened. I un-docked and re-docked. This time I pressed play on the dock and was rewarded with some amazing room-filling sound. My eyes and ears don't agree the sound is coming from the same place, it's so tiny to sound so big! This thing sounds better than my 7.1 surround sound sytem!
I don't plan on using the alarm clock feature, nor do I plan on using the radio. I bought this solely for playing my Zune.
The biggest downsides I can see are no remote (especially since I like to just jump from song to song), and for the HD, there's no Aux plug, so I can't really dock this for HD radio.
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