Denon ASD-1R (circa 2006)

The ASD-1R is a control dock for iPods. It ties Apple's player into a Denon home audio system. It was introduced around March 2006 at a discretionary price of roughly ¥13,000. The unit is small, 104 × 28.5 × 76.5 mm and 220 g, and came in white and black.

The idea was simple. Dock your iPod and it becomes a source component for your Denon gear. The dock has a single analog audio output, an S-video output for photos and video, and a control terminal. Connect it to a Denon component with a dedicated Dock control terminal, and the iPod's text information - menus, track names, and so on - could show on that component's front display or on-screen. The text display only accepted half-pitch alphanumeric characters, so Japanese text wasn't supported. The dock could also charge the iPod. Basic transport functions (play, stop, skip) could be driven by the remote that came with the connected Denon component.

It worked with 3rd-generation or later iPods equipped with the Dock connector. Denon's own literature noted that 3rd-generation models needed Apple's Universal Dock Adapter, sold separately. Some functions could vary depending on iPod generation or software version. The package included an AC adapter, a 2m control/audio cable, a 1m system cable, a 2m S-video cable, and five iPod adapters.

The record is thin beyond that. No production years are documented, no performance measurements exist (it's a dock, so there aren't really any to take), and no substantive owner reviews have surfaced. The ASD-1R appears to have been followed or accompanied by a sibling model, the ASD-51N, but no relationship between the two is documented.