The most important fact is that I'm satisfied with the sound quality (after I changed the equalizer to flat, but I guess that's personal) and the basic functionality. Look is nice too.
Otherwise I'm not too impressed by the system.
- bluetooth connection
Once setup, bluetooth is well integrated on the iPad. On the other hand, as soon as the connection is severed (power off, or docking the iPad), we need to press the bluetooth button on the unit for reconnection and that takes a while (around 10 seconds).
- iPad docking
If your friends dock their iPod, they'll get an annoying error because they don't have the fidelio app.
Even when you have the app, docking the iPad will often generate one or two errors (only one device can be used at the time, and/or this device is not supported by iPad).
Worse, if you were playing music using bluetooth, the music gets interrupted for a couple of seconds and the bluetooth is severed. Taking the unit off the dock at that point will stop the music completely, you then have to press on the bluetooth button of the unit and wait 10 seconds for music to resume.
- auto power off
This "feature" can't be turned off, and it is inconvenient. The power saved is minimal and I dislike having to power the unit manually. I use the line-in to play music from an airport express so music plays from my mac to everywhere in my appt, and I wish I didn't have to power the unit.
- line in
Doesn't seem to auto-detect, and there is a button only on the remote. At least, when you un-dock a unit, it defaults back to line-in.
- remote
Lastly, the remote doesn't work well, maybe because my unit is placed quite high, I have to raise the remote. To make this worse, there is no feedback, either on the remote or the unit, so it's even harder to figure out when it works or not.
- fidelio app
Not too surprisingly, it's pretty poor. Equalizer is hard to find. Gives no access to the important settings (like setting up the bluetooth connection or even the app's own setting for auto-connect (which is off by default??)). Player is entirely redudant with iPod app and not as good.
Good news is there is no reason to use it except for the equalizer! Philips Fidelio DS8550 Speaker System for iPod/iPhone/iPad (Silver/Black)
I bought this not to long ago and it works great with my iPhone and iPad. Both sound great and charge just fine. Now for some reason my iPad 2 does not charge when connected to this? All in all I really enjoy this and think it was a great buy. I also have a Droid X so using the Bluetooth to connect to that phone is also pretty helpful. If this broke tomorrow I would seriously be looking for another one because it works that well for me (just want to get the charging thing worked out).
**Update**
Just talked to Phillips and they said that Apple made a change with the iPad2 and this is causing the issue. They are hoping that in May there will be some fix. Phillips told me to contact Apple to see what needs to be changed since it is their product. Just wondering what needs to be tweaked?
I decided to give this product a try even though multiple reviews were pointing out the same defects. Received it, tried it, had the return slip printed in the next hour.
The product itself looks rather nice and delivers a pretty good sound, BUT:
- there's definitely sound crackles that appear at random and rather often, no matter what sound level, sound source, EQ setting you use. It's totally annoying and you really have to be deaf to not notice them.
- the Fidelio application crashed on first use on the ipod, had to soft restart it. Interface is rather weird and not intuitive, especially for the EQ settings.
- the Fidelio application takes over volume control and the ipod won't allow you to set the volume, or even display the volume level set with the Fidelio volume controls.
I really feel sorry about this as otherwise the sound was pretty good. Whatever the cost of this speaker would be, those sound crackles are a deal breaker.
I shopped extensively before buying this... for a couple of months. Read reviews and specs, etc. In late January, the price on Amazon dipped from $299 to $249, so I ordered it.
The packaging of this unit for shipment was -- indifferent. Packaging in the manufacturers box was a couple of egg-carton braces at the ends of the rectangular box. And Amazon shipped with a couple of yards of twisted brown paper in a roomy Amazon box. The manufacturers box basically sloshed around inside the Amazon box. How careless can one be in packing electronics? Particularly when Amazon ships books with a yard of pillow-wrap.
I loved the sound. Very nice appearance with a small enough footprint for an end table. Light enough for the thing to be truly portable. Sync with my iPod was perfect. I downloaded the Fidelio app, but it seemed to be redundant with the iPod controls. No complaints in terms of performance at all. It exceeded my expectations.
Unhappily, one night while playing at a fairly low 'background level' of volume, the unit simply stopped playing. It stopped charging my iPod as well... so I'm guessing there was a complete failure in delivering power to the device. At that point, the unit had between 6-7 hours of use. Very disappointing.
I returned it to Amazon the following day. I don't know whether it got knocked around too much in shipment, and I have no way of knowing. But Amazon should be a little more diligent in packaging this fragile item.
I like this unit, but i'm not impressed.
It's great to use bluetooth in this unit and i can do other things and listen to the music.
The sound is just ok, not great. I also have sound crackle and it can be really annoying. - Audio - Ipod Speakers And Charger - Ipod - Ipod Accessories'
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