Philips Fidelio SoundSphere Docking speaker with AirPlay DS9800W user reviews (speaker system - with Apple cradle - wired)

Pros high quality finishing
great looks
smooth airy treble
powerful bass (with active "fullsound")
big soundstage

Cons provided dock has no streaming ability
both speakers need to be connected with a wire
remote control works with infrared only
no status led at the front
sound a bit lifeless at lower volume levels
airplay firmware still buggy

Summary philips' soundsphere speakers put most other dedicated apple speakers to shame soundwise. the fact that you get 2 separate speakers allows them to create a beautiful 3dimensional soundstage. even if there are many single speaker boxes available that really sound impressive, you will never get a convincing stereo-effect out of them. unfortunately only the left speaker is active, the other one needs to be connected with a wire, which limits the completely free placement somewhat. i would have preferred if both speakers could be set up completely free, with just the need of a power-plug.
i also find the provided charging dock unnecessary. it can only charge your devices, but doesn't give you any additional streaming ability. it would have been great, if the dock also had some airplay-emitter built in, so that older ipods without airplay ability could also be used wirelessly with the speakers. but you will rather have to use the aux-in if you want to connect non-airplay devices, but you will lose quality because of additional D/A-conversion.

the remote control works with infrared and has to be pointed directly at one of the speaker in order to make it work. it would have been better if the remote worked with RF. you will also never now if the speakers are on or off as the status-light is at the back of the left speaker.

soundwise the soundsphere really shine, although they sound better at medium and high volumes. at very low volumes they tend to be a bit lifeless. with the additional fidelio-app you can also tweak the EQ to your liking, but i like them more with active "fullsound" because especially bass becomes more punchy. unfortunately with "fullsound" the EQ is deactivated and you cannot tweak the sound any further. i would also like some additional and dynamic bass-boost at lower levels like bose or audyssey do it according to the human loudness contours.

IMO the soundsphere are a much better choice than a b&w zeppelin air for example, because they are really able of creating a broad soundstage. due to the free mounted tweater the sound remains pretty homegenous independent of optimum listening position. they really fill the room with high quality music. you rather have the impression of listening to a floor-standing hifi-setup than of 2 vase-sized speakers.

i only hope that some of the remaining bugs will get sorted out sooner or later, as sometimes the streaming just stops and the speakers forget their name. this already happened to me several times, with 2 different speaker-sets, so it seems to be a regular problem.