Merlin-Digital Wireless
Merlin-Digital Wireless

Business

Docking station strikes the right note

The Life: Neil Parmer finds himself on a quest for a new iPod dock after frying his old one.

Neil Parmar

July 26, 2011

Q&A: Why he picked the Merlin-Digital Wireless Soundstation

You say it's got a few clever features. Like what? A small USB transmitter, which can be plugged into a laptop or computer to play music wirelessly through the dock's speakers. The two speakers also separate from a charging base and can be moved to separate rooms while still playing music either streamed from a computer or via an iPod or iPhone.

How far can the speakers be separated from the charging base? While the manufacturer claims up to 30 metres, two sales reps – and our own tests in an Abu Dhabi apartment – found that 10 metres was about the limit where the tunes cut out.

How much does it cost? Dh495 (US$134), which to us, sounds like a deal.

Gadgets often get the better of us, including those who write weekly technology columns.

My latest bumble with electronic devices occurred after I brought back a new C$185 (Dh716) iPod docking station from Canada and plugged it into an electric socket - without attaching the correct adapter first. Needless to say, it fried instantly.

Which is how I ended up at a local mall this past weekend with a new mission: to find a replacement dock that could clearly project music from my MP3 player but was small enough for the corner of a counter and even the bathroom. Most importantly, it had to cost the same or less than the price I paid for the original device.

Bang & Olufsen offered the most sleekly designed, best-sounding dock - by far - in the form of its BeoSound 8. It projected Nelly's Just A Dream in what seemed to be the perfect pitch, but at a cost of Dh5,200, even Nelly didn't need to sound that good.

Other stores seemed to favour JBL's offerings, from the On Stage IV (Dh649) to an On Air wireless speaker system (Dh1,499). Yet the last model I purchased from this brand was prone to crackling even when it was set to a volume suitable for dinner parties. Even if I was perhaps guilty of blasting tunes too loudly on other occasions, it was time to try out a new brand.

Easier said than done.

Lenco's 3ft iPod tower was too tall, while Bowers & Wilkins's Zeppelin and options from Harmon Kardon were too wide. iHome's futuristic-looking orb that changed colours while playing music was certainly novel but too similar to those lava lamps of the 1970s - and not in a good way.

After leaving three separate electronics shops, because one failed to list any prices while the other two didn't demo iPods so I could actually listen to their speaker systems, I settled on a retailer that delivered on both counts.

And that's where I found the winning model: the Merlin-Digital Wireless Soundstation.

Top 5: iPod docking stations

1 Logitech Rechargeable Speaker S715i

2 Soundfreaq SFQ-1 Sound Platform

3 Sony ICF-CS10iPBLK Speaker Dock

4 Cyber Acoustics CA-461 Portable Digital Docking Speakers

5 Altec Lansing inMotion Compact IMT320

Source: Amazon.com

The Quote Without the iPod, the digital music age would have been defined by files and folders instead of songs and albums. John Mayer, singer and songwriter

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
Key recommendations
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  • Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
  • Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
  • More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi

Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe

For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.

Golden Dallah

For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.

Al Mrzab Restaurant

For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.

Al Derwaza

For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup. 

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Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

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