- Premium design in natural wood, fabric and metal
- SoundCurve for superb crystal-clear sound
- Audiophile-quality drivers for authentic sound reproduction
- Discover, share music & more features via free Fidelio app
- Precisely tuned bass pipes for deep, tight bass reproduction
I was looking for a high-quality iPod dock that would replace my stereo components (receiver, Squeezebox network audio player, speakers, subwoofer). I was ready to accept that the iPod dock would not sound as good as the stereo system, but I wanted to simplify my setup and reduce clutter. I ended up choosing the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9 docking speaker, and I'm very happy with this system.
The system is larger and heavier than you'd expect. I had previously owned the similarly shaped, but much smaller and lighter, DS8500. That dock sounded decent (but no better than Logitech's S715i, which is cheaper and has the advantage of being portable), but the DS9 is in a totally different league. The DS9 uses separate woofers and tweeters, rather than the DS8500's full-range drivers. The superior drivers, combined with the larger enclosure, result in far more detailed, cleaner, and less constricted sound than the DS8500 offers, particularly at higher volumes.
Well, of course the DS9 SHOULD sound better than the DS8500, it does cost nearly twice as much. But the DS9 also compares well with docks costing about the same or more. (I do not have other docks on hand for A-B comparisons, so these comparisons are based on my recollections of other docks' sound quality.) The DS9 handily beats the Bose docks I've used at fancy hotels, which cost around the same. The DS9 also offers more accurate and balanced sound than the Harman Kardon Go + Play, which has a warmer, more bass-heavy sound that many will like but could be a bit overwhelming for those wanting more neutral sound. The biggest surprise to me was that the DS9 sounds about as good as the B&W Zeppelin Air, which costs twice as much (but has AirPlay, which the Philips does not have). Again, without an A-B comparison it's hard to make a comparison, but the DS9 is definitely in the same league. My recollection is that the Zeppelin Air, at its default settings, had somewhat heavier bass.
Before buying the DS9 I also tried out Philips' Fidelio SoundSphere DS9800W, which has AirPlay (and no physical iPod dock), features two entirely separate speaker enclosures, and costs more than twice the price of the DS9. I ended up returning the DS9800W, and to me the sound of the DS9 is better-balanced. The DS9800W sounded very good but had some glare in the upper mid-range to lower treble which made many (good) recordings sound a little fierce or harsh. The DS9 probably won't play as loudly as the DS9800W and they definitely don't have the stereo separation of the DS9800W, but the sound is smooth and balanced throughout the spectrum, with no serious faults.
One downside common to most iPod docks is their limited soundstage unless you're sitting very close, the soundstage and stereo effect are limited by the fact that the left and right speakers are only several inches apart, compared to the several feet of distance you would typically have between speakers. To counter this, Philips made the front of the DS9 curved, so that sound is radiating out a bit toward the left and right sides. This works the DS9 throws a considerably bigger soundstage than most other iPod docks, comparable to or even better than the Zeppelin Air (which is physically wider). You're still not going to get the same soundstage that you would from good speakers placed several feet apart (or the DS9800W), but the Philips does better than most in this regard.
Those looking for bells and whistles will be disappointed. Besides the expected auxiliary jack and remote, the only "feature" of note is the free iOS app, which has a dynamic bass boost feature and various EQ settings. The EQ should be left on flat, but I found, somewhat to my surprise, that the bass boost is actually effective and well-done. The speaker sounds better-balanced with the bass boost on than without, and even the higher setting doesn't exaggerate the bass to the point of overwhelming everything else.
The bottom line is that this is among the best-sounding iPod/iPhone/iPad docks available, attractive in design, and at a price that undercuts several systems that do not, in my opinion, sound appreciably better. Highly recommended.
Buy Philips Consumer DS9/37 Fidelio Primo Docking Speaker DS9 Now
This solid unit is one fantastic sounding piece of audio equipment. Philips has hit a home run with this unit and I've demoed over 4 of their units and with each new system they ratchet up the quality and design. I can go on and on at length repeating the reviews on here but why waste your time reading when you can be enjoying the sound emanating from this system.
Highs are crystal clear and lows are deep and mellow. There is no scratching of sound or squealing when the unit is run at full volume even when using the 30 pin connector. Paired with the Fidelio app and your iwhatever you will be taken to a new level of sound clarity.
The true joy of the unit is it's simplicity. On & Off with volume. Ready to go right out of the box, fun to use, very pleasing to the eye with high clarity of sound! I highly recommend this unit to anyone in need of fantastic docking or speaker system that exudes quality.
You can shop around but it shall be said here, Philips is leading the way and I look forward to seeing what is in store for the next generation of docking systems. I also look forward to what the competition brings forth.
Read Best Reviews of Philips Consumer DS9/37 Fidelio Primo Docking Speaker DS9 Here
Don't get me wrong, I love Philips' Fidelio Primo DS9 docking speaker. Hands down, it has best sound quality of any speaker I've ever owned. With separate woofers and tweeters, the sound is absolutely amazing, whether the volume is thunderous or soft or in between. I can't imagine better, even in higher price ranges. Even Bose presents no competition.
This big, heavy speaker is as solid as they come. The front is black fabric and the body has a nice woodgrain finish, while the bottom has a terrific rubber mat that keeps the unit from sliding or slipping. Setup is as simple as plugging it in.
I was able to plug my iPhone 3G in without removing its case, which made me very happy. There's also an app that you can download to your phone that lets you adjust the equalizer either "by hand" or to one of the presets for rock, classical, jazz, and a couple more. I set it to "rock" and am very pleased. The app also lets you connect to Twitter and Facebook if you're inclined to share.
It's a great big beautiful speaker with sound quality to die for, but what I don't understand is how such a wonderful unit can lack Bluetooth. You have to plug your phone or iPod into the charger to have it play, and for me, this is a problem because I have little space to keep this hefty unit within easy reach. I had wrongly assumed that any quality speaker that could charge an iPhone would also be equipped with Bluetooth. I figured I'd set it up high, where there's plenty of room, and wouldn't use it to charge my phone.
However, I can't use it at all if it's out of reach because of the lack of Bluetooth. I finally made room for it on a lower shelf in my office, but I had to displace a lot of reference books to do it -they're now piled next to my computer.
One other quibble: I dislike having to keep the phone plugged into the speaker: I like to carry my phone around with me, not leave it behind in one room.
If you have room, though, when it comes to sound quality, I can't recommend this speaker highly enough. I just wish I could use it without having to attach my phone to it.
Want Philips Consumer DS9/37 Fidelio Primo Docking Speaker DS9 Discount?
When I first unboxed this, I was surprised at the weight. It is *SOLID*. The front that you see in the pictures is black fabric, the rear is a lighter brown with darker lines looking like wood grain. The back has a hole for the power cord (no brick, just a cable running to the unit from the wall). There's a 1/8" stereo plug right above it for plugging in another audio source. The bottom is a large oval rubber mat that keeps the unit from moving at all sits very secure, and with the wright of the unit, it's hard just to push it to a different position, it grips so well. So setup is literally plugging the power cord into the back of this and into an outlet. I'll post additional pictures this evening.
I started out with my iPhone4s, but went through using an iPhone4, an iPad, iPad2, and all functioned the same as far as playback goes, and got additional functions from the software they prompted me to download upon connecting them. At a later point I'll try it out with my nano and Classic (classic doesn't list as supported, so I expect to fail with that).
The plug base pivots, so this will work with any iPhone or iPad regardless of case as long as the case is one that allows the plug to slide in. Thickness will be of no import as there's no space constraints around the units.
I put in my exercise mix, since that has a lot of loud, driving rock music, and set the volume low since I was first trying this out at my office I had it delivered here in case of inclement weather, never knowing if it'd be rain or snow here in Wisconsin in February. So my volume testing was limited until my employees took off for lunch, since the tech area is right outside of my office, and even with the door closed it would've been annoying to them. But when they all left for lunch, I closed the door to limit what I was about to do to as much of the local area as I could, and I started increasing the volume.
And I was very impressed.
LOUD. CLEAR, absolutely no distortion at higher volumes even with bass upped in the equalizer, the mids and highs are outstanding. I kept it loud (far louder than I'd ever be able to listen to it for sustained periods) and started flipping through songs, and I just couldn't believe it. I had just purchased a bluetooth streaming sound dock for my iPhone and iPods to use while exercising, and was amazed at the quality that put out, as well as the bass it punched. But this unit really made that sound weak in all respects so much so that I've already gone back and adjusted the review down a star because if THIS is what sound is possible from a smaller dock, then the other unit is clearly falling short despite all the other good features. Amazingly this unit in the spec sheet that came with it is only rated at 2x25W. But it sounds so much more impressive than that. Even at low volume, the sound is crisp and clear.
The app it prompts you to download works well, with various presets for equalizer (flat, pop, rock, jazz, classical) or change to suit your own needs with 5 band equalizer, 60, 300, 800, 4k, and 10k sliders.
The app has different pages you can display, from the equalizer, the "now playing" page, and a clock that lets you pick between analog and digital for clock faces (but that's it, just the type, you can't pick various styles of either). Weather gives some info on clock view as well, but it didn't for my home zip (despite recognizing it when I put it in and showing it by name). But when I let it "find" my location automatically here at my office, it worked, and displayed a small Day / date on the top right above the clock, and a little weather graphic depicting today's weather with a larger font for the temp. Touching the face of the clock brings up a 5 day forecast of temps and graphics for the weather for each day. Not much good unless you're right on top of it though, you won't see it across the room if your'e on an iPhone, but on an iPad it displays well.
There's a setting that allows you to share through Facebook or twitter as well, though I didn't experiment with those since I'm not egotistical enough to think that everyone out there is waiting to hear what I'm doing every second of the day.
The remote is about the most solid I've ever felt has weight to it, not just some really light piece of plastic. Attractive flat black surface for the buttons, and curved chrome edge, with a shiny piano black finish on the back. The back is curved, not flat, so it fits comfortably in the hand. Uses a flat watch battery (CR2032) the size of a dime. It has a MUTE button on the very top, and opposing buttons under that for the iPhone/iPad/iPod on one side and the aux jack on the other. Below that is a d-pad type control with an "OK in the middle and surprisingly enough, after pressing the "MENU" button underneath, this allows for you to move around the navigation of everything. I mean EVERYTHING. Pressing MENU will alternate between things in the "Music" section of the iPhone such as playlists, artists, songs, albums, "more". You can get all the way up to a top level and then drill down using just the remote which is far more function than I've had in most of the other dock remotes, which have usually limited me to transport like next/previous and volume and stop/play/pause. So being able to COMPLETELY traverse my iPhone's music contents is a very welcome touch. That was one reason I just purchased the bluetooth linked speaker set last month, was because the others I had didn't give me full access to everything on the unit, just whatever list or group I had selected when I plugged it in and started playing.
The unit looks good it's just smooth, from any angle, no harsh corners or flashy gimmicks and lights. THe only illumination on this thing is the small and + on the left and right ends of the Phillips logo not he bottom which is the volume switch if you're nearby.
The odd thing is that there is no power button. No way to just turn the unit off. Even removing the device leaves the and + lit on the system, until about 10 or 15 seconds later, when they'll start to flash, then go out. But when the device is plugged in and charging, even when no music is playing and it's locked, the power is on to the speakers. Which makes it kind of startling when you get an overly loud notification of mail or message or, in my case, since I have the Darth Vader march as my ringtone, suddenly the Imperial March starts blasting out. As long as you're charging, the speakers are on and playback any system sound that will come though (unless you override them from within settings, but I'm not enough of an iPhone guru to know if there's some way to limit sounds that play externally as opposed to only internally).
I can honestly say that three weeks ago, if asked if I'd ever feel the need to spend money for speakers for my iPod or iPhone or anything, I'd have scoffed. I don't have a "true" stereo anymore, as what I built during my years in Germany has since been given away, since everything I do is computer based now, using a Media Center computer to run even my TV set. So all I've had for years has been computer speakers, and now a sound bar. My audiophile "snobbishness" has worn away, as I realized there were other things to concern myself with besides how "pure" the music sounded. Especially when listening to some of the options out there, the overpriced and horrible sounding Bose systems, etc... I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I would have music that sounded GOOD, but not GREAT at volume. Then last month I decided to "splurge" and get the Soundfreaq bluetooth audio system to use in my home gym, and was very happy I did so. Now, however, after hearing this setup, I realize that there really is a world of difference between what I had heard previously, even for much more money, and something like this.
I was fortunate enough to get one of these through the Vine program, but unlike most of my Vine reviews that ended up getting 3 or fewer stars, this one actually deserved the 5 stars enough that, had I heard it at someone else's house, I would've gone and purchased it for myself. There's very few vine items I've reviewed that i can say that about. It is truly that good.
So if you really are looking for something that looks simple and elegant, and has a WOW factor when it comes to the sound playback, then this is it...
Edit: A little more info now and I've uploaded some photos. I tried the iPod classic I have (120GB model) and despite not being listed as compatible in the literature, it does indeed work just fine. Also, the only real gripe is a nit noid thing with the software as the pictures I uploaded show, there's an overlay for transport information that superimposes itself on the album art and this is the only visual cue for volume there is. So you either need to leave that overlay displaying all the time if you want a visual representation of volume level, or go without. Also, on the iPad, the cover art does NOT automatically change as the songs change but if you hit pause/play it'll force it to update. But if you just let something play, or hit "next" to go to the next song / album / artist, the album art persists for whatever the last displayed one was. Hopefully they get the glitch updated on the IOS software, and give us a temporary on screen indicator of volume that goes away after we're done adjusting it, without having to keep the overlay on top of the album art.
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I bought this on Amazon after returning an Arcam rcube. This beats the rcube hands down. Better sound quality, excellent construction at a much lower price. If you are trying to decide, I recommend you pick this Fidelio. Amazon customer service is amazing, 5 stars there too.
