Goodimg_200572_dscf64822

Great design

Battery life is good

Bad

Bass is deficient, mids dominate

No remote

An iPod dock for the bedroom, or any other personal listening space needs to have two important things, one is obviously decent, non edgy sound and second is looks. In this category looks do matter, especially for the better half. The Philips SBD7000 is an extremely cute looking Docking station, that works with iPods and also other Personal Media Players. We take a closer look.

The Form and Features

The design is really unique, sporting a complete circular body, shaped like the driver of a speaker. At its epicenter, the docking port juts out, clad in black. The grille for the speaker is black too, and is concentric to a central metallic silver patch, that would be behind the player once the latter is docked. The outer rim of the round speaker is a metallic silver too. For different types of iPods, there are two braces provided.

The model has a stand that folds out like a photo frame , which basically supports the weight of the entire system. Thus the iPod dock leans slightly backward when perched on a tabletop, directing sound more towards your face and ears, rather than straight on.

It works on 4 AA batteries, or also 6 V DC power. An external adapter is included. Just next to the adapter input, is the line in, on a small recessed cavity cut out of the black colored convex rear surface. The top ream has switches, one rocker switch for volume, one a pushbutton for power on, and 3rd a slider switch for bass boost. The stand design is such that the dock can turn 90 degrees to the left, and yet support the system, thus enabling watching videos in landscape mode, on the iPod screen.

The total output of the model is 4 watts and it uses two drivers of 1.6 inches each. There is no remote control included – this actually is a gripe I have. There should have been one.

Performance

We fitted the batteries and put in an iPod Touch. The sound quality is rather bass deficient and one needs to switch the bass boost on, to enjoy it. The frequency response is mid heavy and has a certain crispness, but it not followed through by sparkling highs.

The treble is in a normal range, and should have been a bit more expansive. As of now, it’s compact, but overall it is quite clean at the loud levels. Thus audible distortion problems don’t seem to be there.

The bass is decent once the bass boost is on, but it surely could have more thump. The small driver size behind the large grille could be the cause. It still sounds nice for a bedroom scene, at softer levels. If the volume is too loud, the spikey mids can get touchy feely with your thresholds, but that’s if you have really nitpicking, sensitive ears.

If you are really sensitive about your music opt for more horsepower and a more expensive product, but for regular listening this is workable. As for battery life, this one goes on for quite long, a little less than 10 hours for us – about 9 hours 50 minutes.

Conclusion

The MRP and MOP of this product is Rs. 5990, which is almost reasonable, as the design and looks are down right sexy. It’s smartly designed for modern personal listening use, but then again it lacks a remote control. The bass could have been a little more in its response too. There is a model called the SBD 8100 – slightly higher end than this. We will review that next and see things in perspective. Until then this one does at least deserve a demo.