Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 Docking Station - Reclined Resplendence

Curvaceous Design

When the portable media player merged with the mobile phone, every user found an easy and convenient way to take their music with them wherever they go. However the portable music players, primarily due to their compact form factor, do not have the hardware on board to project audio for group listening or in large spaces. Unless users are willing to duplicate their music collection, which is somewhat redundant and consumes space, an audio dock is the best way to rectify this problem and allows multiple people to enjoy audio with quality and sufficient volume.

Docking stations leverage the popularity of portable music devices such as smartphones by expanding their audio capabilities. The simple act of plugging in your iPhone or iPod gives you access to your music collection which then amplifies them through proper speakers. The Philips Fidelio line-up of audio products comprises of a variety of docking stations and has impressed us before with their offering, such as the high-end DS9000.

Design and Features

This time, we have with us the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 Docking Station in our labs. Its S$459 price tag puts it in the range of mid-level audio docks currently on the market. It may not be the best offering from the new updated Fidelio line-up but it is definitely one to consider if you can't splurge over S$700 for the DS9000 equivalent.

Other docking stations may make pretensions to portability, but one look at the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 shows that this product is meant to occupy a prominent location in your room and left there to do its job. The unit measures in 51.1 x 17.8 x  20.5cm and weighs 5.5kg. Seeing that the speaker dock is about half a meter wide and weighs more than bulky laptops, this is definitely not one made for portability. There are other models from Philips if you need one to carry about, but the DS9/10 is clearly a desktop speaker dock to produce more full bodied audio with strong volume.

A wood grain finish gives the speaker a regal look and it is balanced by the black grill. Rounded corners and a curved exterior give the Fidelio DS9/10 a harmonious appeal. The simple overall aesthetics of the speakers will not clash with whatever décor you have making them a seamless addition.

With regards to hardware, the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 Docking Station is equipped very well. Two 19mm tweeters and two 3.5-inch woofers are present to handle audio duties. The most interesting feature is the recess in the center of the speakers and the bass ports located behind. Their contribution to low frequency performance will be covered in greater detail in the analysis of following pages.

Compatible with a wide range of Apple products, you can dock your iPod and iPhone with the cradle provided. As an added bonus, you can even plug in your iPad if you so desire, which is a design that most audio docks aren't capable of boasting. Besides the dock, it offers standard connectivity via a 3.5mm auxiliary audio port at the rear. On the whole though, the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 is low on features when you compare it to competitors such as the Yamaha TSX-140.

Expectations Expectations

The Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 is an upgrade on the old DS9 model from when the Philips lineup was refreshed back in June 2011. We have had the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9000, from the older range, in our labs before and it impressed us greatly with its performance. In fact, the old Fidelio DS9000 was the winner of  the HWM and Hardwarezone.com Tech Awards Editor's Choice 2011 for the Best Speaker Docking System category. While the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 is not in the same league as the DS9000 with respect to price, can this smaller docking station live up to the Fidelio name? That's what we intend to find out.

Test Setup 

Our usual test material consists of a wide selection of content and formats. Not only do we test our speakers with MP3s, but we also see how they handle CD and DVD quality audio. However, since the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 is a docking station we restricted ourselves to content we could load up on our iPod Classic (160GB). The selection of MP3 and CD quality tracks span across different genres such as acoustic, jazz, orchestral, trance and movie sound effects to good idea of the speaker dock's audio capabilities.

Retaining a neutral approach is essential when reviewing audio devices, so as always we have tried our best to leave our own personal preferences at the door before commencing our tests in our quiet room. Still, we can only give you our point of view as everyone's personal preferences may vary and you'll have to let your own ears be the judge when auditioning for an ideal audio product.

 

CD Audio Track Testing:
 

• Pod Race Scene from Phantom Menace
• Tyrannosaurus Rex Sound Effects from Jurassic Park
• Theme from Jurassic Park
• Apollo 13 Lift-off Sound Effects
• Theme from Cutthroat Island
• Fanfare for Louis, performed by the Dallas Wind Symphony

MP3 Audio Track Testing:
 

• Hotel California - Eagles
• Sail on Soothsayer - Buckethead
• Melt My Heart to Stone - Adele
• Elements of Life - Tiesto

Performance and Test Results
 

MP3 Tracks Test Suite

If an audio device fails in faithful reproduction of MP3 tracks, it has little chance of success. The majority of today’s music collections are in the MP3 format and for a start we tested the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 with a few high bi rate encoded tracks from our library.

The system's 3.5-inch woofers are on the larger end of the spectrum when considering the speaker dock product category. For the tweeters, we noted that it used aluminum and it's a smart choice since the metal provides a bright tone, perfect for the higher frequencies of audio. Taking into account the last Fidelio’s excellent performance, we had high expectations from this mid-range model from Philips.

Fortunately, we were not disappointed and the Fidelio DS9/10 impressed us with its warm and natural tone. When listening to Adele’s Melt My Heart to Stone, the vocalist sounded very lifelike as the audio beautifully conveyed the emotion of the song.

Similarly, on Hotel California by The Eagles, the lyrics of the song come alive. What made the live track even more enjoyable was the spacious soundstage cast by the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10. The curved and concave design helps with the projection of sound and definitely makes the speakers sound impressive.

On Sail on Soothsayer by Buckethead, the Fidelio DS9/10 rendered the sharp attack of the guitar notes pleasantly while ensuring they still remain defined under the heavy background distortion. However, we would have liked it better if there was just a tad more bite to the audio.

Keeping in mind the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10’s own high standards, it performed the 'worst' when playing Elements of Life by Tiesto. Slightly loose bass and average transient response were observed. This is a pitfall of utilizing bass reflex ports which trades tightness of lower frequency reproduction for greater impact. Putting aside our nitpicking, the trance track sounded good because of the excellent soundstage of the docking station. Bass performance, despite the slight setback, can still be classified as close to top notch.

CD Tracks Test Suite

CD quality tracks by virtue of their higher bitrates offer a sterner challenge to speakers. If the device is below standard, the flaws during playback will be more evident.

Starting off with the Pod Race Scene from The Phantom Menace, the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 was off to a flying start. We have waxed lyrical about its spacious soundstage before and the same quality was well apparent to help it ace this section of our tests. The pods zoomed across left with the docking station providing great directionality for the sound.

The bass heavy sound tracks such as the T-Rex SFX and the Apollo 13 SFX were also handled with aplomb. The Fidelio DS9/10’s dual 3.5-inch woofers pump out the required volume to bring life to both tracks. Slightly loose bass was observed on the launch sequence from Apollo 13 which mirrored our judgment from the MP3 testing phase.

We left the “Theme from Jurassic Park”, “Theme from Cutthroat Island” and “Fanfare for Louis” for last. Orchestral tracks such as these are very hard to get right for mainstream speakers. Not only do these tracks require space to sound good, but they also need quality hardware to preserve the timbre and unique sound of the instruments involved. The dual 19mm tweeters earn their keep on these orchestral tracks, rendering the horns and strings beautifully. Once again utilizing its broad and spacious soundstage, the melodies for the orchestral tracks flowed well and sounded sweet.

Good or Great?

Seeing that the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 Docking Station navigated every test set for it with ease, the results beg the question, "Is this a good speaker dock or a great speaker dock?" As mentioned earlier, the Fidelio DS9/10 is quite sparse when it comes to features, especially when compared with the Yamaha TSX-140. If you are looking for USB ports, wireless playback and fancy controls you might have to look elsewhere. The intended usage of the device must be accounted for before passing judgement.

From the Yamaha TSX-140’s suite of features, such as IntelliAlarm and CD player, it was obvious that the audio dock was intended for the bedside table. The Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 seems like it was destined for more prominent display in a room. Its dual 19mm tweeters and dual 3.5-inch woofers point towards audio performance being foremost in the designers’ minds when conceiving the speakers. Their dedication obviously paid dividends and this is evidenced by its overall results below (condensed from the previous detailed breakdown):-

With its S$459 price tag, the Philips Fidelio DS9/10 makes an affordably priced mid-range docking station. It is obviously nowhere near the wheelhouse of serious audio docks such as the or the which cost substantially more. In fact the Fidelio DS9/10 is even a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than the Yamaha TSX-140 that we have been comparing it to. Couple its affordability with its stellar performance and we have a docking station that deserves to be labeled great.

The Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 has a spacious and lush soundstage, which we detailed in our performance analysis section. The speaker is proficient at handling whatever is thrown at it and it consistently vowed us during our tests. Different genres such as jazz, orchestra, rock, pop and trance did not faze the speaker dock and each was rendered brilliantly.

If you are an audiophile and prize performance over all else, then you cannot do much better than the Fidelio DS9/10 at this price point. Even though it lacks features, it still manages to pack a unique selling point in the form of iPad compatibility, which is not offered by many products presently. Another subtle plus point is its ease of use - there's nothing to be done other than plugging in the power, place your iPod/iPhone/iPad, select the song and control the volume to your preference. From its ease of use, you could mistake it for an Apple product as there's really nothing to configure or control. You get the excellent audio performance we heard right out of the box. If features and all-rounded usage are important to you, you might want to look up some of the other products from the Fidelio lineup or from other competitive models like the Yamaha TSX-140 that we closely compared against.

There is no doubting the fact that the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9/10 offers top notch audio quality in its price bracket. We are stopping short of telling you to go buy a unit simply because sound is a subjective matter. However, we can guarantee that trying one for yourself will not leave you disappointed.

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