Why You Can Trust CNET Philips DS8500 Fidelio Dock review: Philips DS8500 Fidelio Dock
Philips DS8500 Fidelio Dock
Philips DS8500 Fidelio Dock
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
When the Philips Fidelio DS8500 speaker ($199) landed on our desk, our expectations were low. Reflexively, our eyes rolled a bit at the sight of the box, picturing what appeared to be the same lackluster Philips SBD7500 speaker we reviewed last year.
To our surprise, the speaker that we pulled from the box was like nothing we've seen or heard from Philips in recent memory. The white, rounded design with gray grille cloth conveyed refinement--not mediocrity. The speaker's heft and ported enclosure hinted at its robust sound. Even the included iPod-size remote control showed a level of thoughtfulness that's rare for this product category and price range.
After taking a minute to reset our preconceptions about Philips' iPod speakers, we sank our teeth into this refreshingly powerful and affordable product.
Design
The most surprising design aspect of the Fidelio speaker is its depth, stretching back 5.5 inches. For a product that measures 6 inches tall and 16.5 inches wide, that's a lot of junk in its trunk. Fortunately, Philips does its best to visually minimize the depth by rounding and tapering the white plastic back.
Another interesting design element is the flexible, spring-loaded dock connection that can accommodate any recent iPhone or iPod model, even if the device is kept inside a bulky case. A small rubber pad located dead center on the speaker grille provides a place for your iPhone or iPod to rest without rattling from sound vibrations.
Below the dock connector you'll find a wide, metal volume rocker switch, with a plus and minus symbol at each end, and a tastefully etched Philips logo at its center. The Fidelio performs a minor magic trick by automatically illuminating the volume icons when it detects your hands nearby. We can't say the proximity-sensing backlit buttons offer much as a practical feature, but it's a classy detail we didn't expect to find in a speaker priced under $200.
Features
Aside from volume adjustment on the front and an aux input located on the back, there really aren't many hardware features to speak of on the Fidelio speaker. If you're looking for an FM radio, Bluetooth, an alarm clock, or a rechargeable battery, the Fidelio isn't the right product for you.
As we mentioned earlier, a remote control is included that provides an impressive number of options for menu navigation, volume, mute, and playback controls. We're glad to see that the remote is large enough that you're unlikely to lose it between your sofa cushions. On the downside, the range of the IR remote is limited to around 15 to 20 feet, which doesn't get you too far.
The Fidelio's most notable feature, surprisingly, is an app. Upon docking your iPod Touch or iPhone in the Fidelio for the first time, a message will pop on your screen urging you to download Philips' free Fidelio app. For better or worse, the only way to get rid of these prompts is to download the app, and we're glad we did.
Unlike the utilitarian alarm clock apps that have recently cropped up on many new bedside speaker docks, the Fidelio app offers a truly unique and integrated connection between the speaker and your iPhone or iPod Touch. Its main purpose is to act as an attractive alternative to the iPod music player, allowing you to access, sort, and play songs in your music collection using a familiar, though slightly more dramatic interface. Scratch beneath the surface by hitting the info icon in the lower left corner, and you'll find a number of sound enhancement controls not typically found on the iPod or iPhone, such as a custom five-band EQ and an adjustable dynamic bass boost control. We can't be sure if these adjustments directly control DSP settings in the Fidelio hardware, or process sound locally before passing it through to the hardware--but the end result is an unmistakable sweetening of the audio quality that we preferred over the standard iPod playback experience.
That said, it is by no means required that you use the Fidelio app. You'll be pestered into downloading it, sure, but the Fidelio works with any audio source you throw at it--from Pandora to Angry Birds.
Performance
The first thing we noticed about the Fidelio is that it can be surprisingly loud for a system that is only rated at 30 watts. Chalk it up to the pair of tuned bass ports on the back, the 2-inch neodymium drivers used on the front, or the speaker's unusual heft, but the Fidelio has a big, full sound that could raise the dead. We noticed no deficiencies in bass, mids, or treble fidelity, and the Fidelio held its balanced mix of frequencies across the entire volume range, without breaking up at high levels.
Overall, the Fidelio is a remarkably powerful speaker dock that offers design details and app-based controls we haven't seen in this price range. If you're looking for a simple, attractive, stationary speaker to set on a bookshelf or table, the Fidelio is tough to beat for less than $200. For a more portable solution, we recommend the Logitech S715i.