Philips DS8550/10 Docking Speaker for iPad/iPhone/iPod with Bluetooth - Silver

What? Another docking station? -- but this one has some great features. For a start, it not only docks, plays and recharges iPods and iPhones, but also iPads, which sit in the portrait orientation. Best of all, you do not have to put your device in the dock unless you want to recharge it that way, because connection for playing sound can be by Bluetooth. All you have to do is press the Bluetooth switch on the front of the dock, then turn on Bluetooth in the Settings/General of your iPhone, iPod or iPad, and when the Philips 8550 shows up as a detected device, touch its name to make the connection. I easily connected my iPod Touch and my iPad. That gave me playback through the dock speakers from across the room. Only one device at a time can connect, so if you or visitors to your house want to connect, any previously connected device must be off.

You can put the dock wherever you like, because it has a built in rechargeable battery that is claimed to give five hours playing time, and a recessed handle in the top of the device lets you carry it around safely. Brilliant for watching video, playing games or BBC iPlayer, with my iPad on my lap and the Philips dock on the coffee table.

Sound quality is exceptionally clear and free from noise, and there is a surprising amount of bass, which I assume is down to the ported speaker design. At high volume, you have plenty of room-filling sound from this compact and heavy dock, but as with all docks, do not expect hifi or much stereo effect. The appearance of the unit is neat and unobtrusive, with its concave, black, metal front and silvery back. The simple, illuminated control panel just has on/off, bluetooth, and volume +/-.

So far, everything I play on my attached devices has been fine, including music, of course, and the BBC iPlayer, plus internet radio (Shoutcast). But there's more. When you first attach your device, you are nagged to download the free Philips Fidelio app. The app lets you play music which you have previously put into a playlist, and also gives you the TuneIn internet radio service, with a huge range of music and stations. The app includes an effective 5-band equaliser with some presets, a two-level bass boost, and some clock and weather forecast functions in case you were thinking of using this dock as a very expensive alarm clock. Earlier versions of this app got some stick from iTunes Store reviewers, but the latest version 2.1.0 is working well for me.

There is a remote control -- you probably won't need it -- and a lead for connecting non-Apple players via their headphone socket. I tried this, connecting my TV, and Lo, improved TV sound output.

As I said, there are lots of docks on sale, but if you aren't planning to lay out for the Bose brand this seems to me to be a good choice.

I bought this speaker dock for my Ipad 2. It is an attractive unit and the size complements the Ipad, not too big and portable. The Ipad is stable once docked. The sound quality is very good, though the bass might be a bit much for some. I liked the wireless connection via bluetooth, the built in reachargeable battery and the remote control. Its also very easy to set up and use.
The free Philips App can be downloaded to control sound EQ, provide an alarm clock and radio over Wifi. I found it a little fiddly, and it turned the unit on at 4am several times, waking us and the neighbours. Needs some work there.
A major problem for me was that the unit does not charge the Ipad 2 - only the Ipods, Iphones and Ipad 1. I contacted Philips and they confirmed this model will not charge the Ipad 2. As I bought the unit for precisely this I decided to return it to Amazon, who gave me a full refund without quibble (Good service from Amazon throughout).
In summary I would say this is an expensive but quality unit, however I could not recommend it if you have an Ipad2.

Well there are a lot of reviews on this dock already and nothing I say will really change your opinion if you are sold on buying one of these.

I spent a lot, and I mean a lot of time looking at reviews for iPod docks, trying to figure oput what features were important, which less so, how much I would happily spend etc etc.

Drove myself a bit nuts...

Hard it short-listed down to Revo AXiS, Vita Audio R2i, Bose Sounddock 2, and this one, the DS8550.

I think a lot of the final decision came down to what I could already do with the iPod. I have streaming apps that let me access music and movies from my home NAS (Synology), Internet Radio (Tune In) and of course local music stored on the player. It would be nice to have access to this stuff without the iPod, in case it is being used elsewhere, so something like the AXiS or another streaming dock would be good for this, however in many cases, while the features of them sound great, various reviews said the sound might not be big enough to fill a room.

All about compromise really.

When I saw the DS8550 and realised it could run iPod, iPad and also stream from another player via Bluetooth (e.g. Blackberry or even your laptop), that is when I became seriously interested. Suddenly I could pretty much use anything to play media and get decent sound. And trust me it is a very good sound coming from this dock. If you are unsure, and plan on buying online, you would be wise to listen to it in a shop first if you need final convinction. I listen to it in the kitchen mainly, and it can crank up to very good levels, so will be perfect for chilling out cooking your dinner, or if you have a load of friends around at New Years and want to throw some lively sounds out. Plus you can move the dock around the house while it is playing (due to the built-in battery), so a quick relocation is not a problem.

As you probably know and I said a little while ago it supports docking of the iPad as well. I don't do it all that much as the player is pretty big (and the dock is quite compact)and to be honest you don't really need to dock it. With the Philips dock comes a stand for the iPad that lets it rest in landscape mode for movies/youtube etc, and this works really well, even if it is a tiny bit upright if the iPad is on the table in front of you. Sreaming via Bluetooth is the trick here, and it works very well. May take a couple of goes at pairing them, but after that it is perfect, and you can wander around the place reading reviews of other gadgets while streaming WiFi internet radio to the dock. Great flexibility.

I have also used it for improving the sound from laptops while watching movies and even when doing Skype calls, with my Web Cam perched on top of the TV for big-screen chatting.

Even my good lady (and she is not a gadget freak like me) says the dock is brilliant, and she is impressed with my choice. So long as I can get brownie points like that, my minor obsession is tolerated.

Bad points are:
1. sometimes it takes a couple of goes at Bluetooth pairing, after which it works perfectly playing every time.
2. The remote is not that powerful and needs to be pointed right at the dock to work.
3. The Fidelio App which it nags you to install is pretty rubbish I think. Yes you can control the iPod's sound via an equalizer and it gives you the Tune In radio app, but I installed it and barely used it as it only lets you control the selected album (already playing) or playlists on the iPod (you can create lists as well if you want), but that is it. Plus I think the Tune In feature actually works less well than the dedicated one installed separately.

It is probably not Audiophile (sounds like someone who likes to rub themselves against their speakers) quality sound, but it is very good at suiting what you need it to do, that being to play music from different sources (apple dock/Bluetooth/line-in), let you move it to wherever you want to play music and to sound really great with lots of different types of music.

That is it. Otherwise the dock is one of the best things I have ever bought, and I am usually terrible for post-purchase regret. I have not looked at another dock review since I got it, and have been playing more music that ever since I got it. If you are suffering with this terrible affliction, stop reading reviews like this, go and listen to the dock in a shop, or buy it and get on with your life.