Customer Reviews and Ratings

3.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 14 reviews

  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Look great, sound great, always break!

    • Written by from Newcastle

    5 of 5 people found this useful

    Sound excellent and look great when working properly. Have had them repaired once already under warranty - no speakers for a month! Bought in March 2012 broke in August 2012. Broke again January 2013. No word back from Philips yet. Same problem each time - they won't boot up! For about a grand the reliability is very disappointing, not to mention the inconvenience. Perhaps the fault has been fixed and they will be replaced this time with a more robust version. Until they fix this fault which is international by all accounts (read euro blogs) don't buy them.

    Was this useful? Look great, sound great, always break!

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Wow! Philips lick B&W

    • Written by from GUILDFORD

    8 of 8 people found this useful

    Love these speakers to death!! They are beautiful. All my friends who see them and more importantly who listen to them are in awe of them. The sound is fantastic and to have proper stereo after so long listening to just one speaker reminds me of what I have been missing. I was surprised to see the Philips Fidelio badge on these and I have looked at some other Philips stuff, like the Round donut shaped speaker, that looks great too!
    It took me 5 minutes from opening the box to listening to the Hot House Flowers play in my living room!! It felt they were playing in my living room. No problems with Airplay - a real doddle!! Great purchase. Lot of money to spend but worth every penny.

  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Constantly cuts out, making it unusable.

    • Written by from Calgary

    3 of 5 people found this useful

    Easy to set up using my Apple Time Capsule. However, it would not go longer than 5-10 minutes before cutting out and needing to be reset. Needless to say, I returned the speakers to Apple.

    Was this useful? Constantly cuts out, making it unusable.

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    unstable makes it useless

    • Written by from SAN JOSE

    4 of 5 people found this useful

    I bought this stuff 4 months ago, and seriously I've been struggling with its basic functionality issue since then. I admit I love its sound(when it works), that's the only reason I didn't choose to return it. It's connectivity is really bad, and very unstable. If you let it standby for several hours, I can tell u it'll 100% die and totally stop functioning until u reboot it. Check out Philips' official support forum, many people report this issue, but they only give a workaround firmware, and no update since April this year.

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Look and sound beautiful

    • Written by from Brixton

    18 of 20 people found this useful

    I first saw these and was attracted by their size and shape, I was surprised to see they were made by Philips, and not a company like B&W or one of the perceived high end A/V companies.

    I have these speakers now, I took the plunge and bought them to grace my living room. All I can say it they are brilliant. Built from real wood, chrome and other materials, they are absolutely solid. And heavy!

    I set them up, in like 5 minutes and I was off, AirPlay works a treat from my iphone 4 and iPad 3. The sound staging these speakers produce is amazing and the solid bass reproduction is great. I listen to all different genres of music and run these through the mill. Classical, pop, light rock, synth, Disco, they performed gladly, adding a vibrancy and openness I hadn't heard on my previous set of speakers (Bose sound dock).

    As well as sounding well balanced, they are a talking point with my friends as they enter my living room. I would not hesitate in recommending these babies. I've listened to so much more music since having these, just walking around with iPad selecting songs wirelessly.

    They're Great

  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    look good, sound good; but airplay is a shambles

    • Written by from Calgary

    10 of 15 people found this useful

    Let's start with the cons, and there really is only one, it's called airplay.

    I have used 9800 speakers for coming up to 6 months and have tried every way possible to improve connectivity - all to no avail. Sound constantly drops out to the point of being infuriating - and it doesn't matter whether iPhone, iPad, iTunes, or radio streaming, all result in the same dropped signal. Apple and Philips really need to get their collective act together, otherwise they will continue to sell a product that is not fit for purpose.

    The pros? Beautiful design and construction. Excellent sound when they work.

    Bottom line - spend your hard-earned money elsewhere unless you are in the market for expensive ornaments.

    Was this useful? look good, sound good; but airplay is a shambles

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Great sound but.....

    • Written by from Philadelphia

    10 of 10 people found this useful

    Let me begin by saying, I have an "Apple house" so everything should be compatible. I know these are not an apple product but I am disappointed with the performance. I can not determine if it is an apple defect, network defect or a philips defect. But my best guess is the airplay streaming tech. I don't live in a big house and the signal is strong and I have no other problems with my wireless devices.

    These speaker look great and sound great that is when they work. Set up was easy but the airplay is not perfected. The speakers cut in and out (at the worst times, like its taunting me by not letting me hear the best parts of my favorite songs.)

    So, While I love the look and and the sound overall (when they work) I have to give it 3 stars

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Awesome sound

    • Written by from New York

    3 of 7 people found this useful

    These were easy to set up and have awesome, rich sound. No distortion at top range (listen to a lot of classical) and no problems with airplay (I use airfoil so maybe that helps).

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Fantastic all round sound.

    • Written by from Blackmans Bay

    1 of 1 people found this useful

    Excellent sound from all angles and looks really good. Bigger than expected.
    As with my review about the zeppelin air the iPhone 4s has AirPlay compatibility problems. The iPhone 4s looses connection after a couple of songs. this problem is only with the iPhone 4s as all my other devices work with AirPlay with no problem at all.

    Was this useful? Fantastic all round sound.

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Best AirPlay Speaker on the Market

    • Written by from Woodinville

    37 of 41 people found this useful

    Appearance - the design of these speakers is unorthodox from a form standpoint. There isn't a flat surface (except the base) on these speaker enclosures. Furthermore the tweeter is perched above the driver on a pod. From everything I've read the design is based on very good acoustic principles, Similar design concepts may be found in speakers from manufacturers of some ultimate audiophile brands such as B&W (and I'm not referring to the Zeppelin speakers but MUCH higher up their range).
    The 9800s are made from wood and beautifully lacquered in piano black.
    Performance: In my opinion these speakers are the best AirPlay speakers available on the market. They appear distortion free over the entire amplifier range. I would recommend these for relatively large living spaces. Although they are acoustically suitable for smaller rooms such as bedrooms, they are likely overkill from a cost and size standpoint.
    Cons:
    Setup with the 9800s can be a little tricky and patience is required. Carefully following the directions works. Negative reviews on this site suggest technical issues unrelated to the Philips 9800.
    There is no visible indication that the speakers are turned on. There is an indicator on the rear of the left speaker but it cannot be seen in a well lit room.
    The Philips Fidelio app (free) provides very easy access to internet radio stations and is a welcome additional accessory.
    Docking port: The 9800s come with a separate docking port. The only functionality that this provides is power to the connected device. It's a very attractive dock, matching the speakers in design but it would have been nice if it had provided additional functionality, such as an audio connection to the speakers for non-Airplay compatible iPods such as the Nano.

    I would highly recommend this product.

    Was this useful? Best AirPlay Speaker on the Market

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent Sound

    • Written by from New York

    10 of 12 people found this useful

    The sound on these speakers is amazing; crisp with a fantastic punch even when cranked up. I love that the unit has two speakers which can be placed around the room; the difference in room-filling-sound is very notable by contrast to single unit systems. It truly is as if the music is being played live. The speakers look fantastic and my friends love it when I turn the music on before I even walk into my apartment. Why not five stars? Because the AirPlay was not as seamless as I would have liked initially. At first I had to restart my phone and or router on occasion to get connection. The good news is that within a week, not only did the speakers open up into much better sound, but so did the consistency of the AirPlay. I now have virtually no glitches and the system works like a charm. AirPlay is leaps and bounds better than Blue Tooth remote sound and I am very happy with my purchase. I did tons research on alternative systems and listened to before purchasing – Philips Fidelio SoundSphere AirPlay Speakers were a clear win here.

  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Great sound, but technical problems. Doesn't worth its price tag.

    • Written by from Philadelphia

    18 of 46 people found this useful

    Pros: great Hi-End sound. I was pretty amazed by the quality and clarity of the sound.

    Cons: airplay feature is very unreliable, not ready for usage. Philips refuses to recognize the problems and act on them.

    For example the speakers randomly become unavailable for airplay streaming, although it remains on and available in airplay menu of iPad. If I try to send the streaming signal to the speakers the playback just stops.
    All other functions continue to operate: device is visible on the wi-fi network, I can play music through aux connection, indicator shows that the unit is on.
    Philips customer service was extremely unhelpful and tried to convince me that it's a power saving feature and no action required.

    Also sometimes during the playback the sound disappears and appears again, which is very annoying.
    This problem theoretically might be the problem of the wireless router, but my B&W zeppelin air is located further from the router and doesn't have such problem.

    Overall, it's clear that Philips is not ready to launch premium products. It remains the mass producer with great sound engineers, but poor product testing and customer service.

    Was this useful? Great sound, but technical problems. Doesn't worth its price tag.

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Simply Fantastic

    • Written by from Reading

    48 of 53 people found this useful

    These Speakers are C. Audiophiles with undoubtable find something to criticize, but for their size and price these speakers really have remarkable presence and dynamic range. I have them in a large living room and they are just excellent.

    Setting them up was much easier that I thought using Airplay. I have a sync button on my router which speeds up the process quite a bit. 1. Hit the sync button on router 2. Hit sync button on speaker. 3. Hit Airplay button on iPad (Music Icon) and select the speakers. That was it.

    Streaming Pandora One works very well. I changed the Pandora setting to stream higher quality. I am using a 1st Gen iPad and iPhone 4s. Volume works by using the physical volume controls.

    The only flaw so far is the included remote which doesn't work unless you are very close, but you don't need it since you can control everything from your mobile device. The included docking station is elegant and charges your iPad/Phone (it doesn't have a physical connection, but you don't need one).

    I am very impressed. After doing quite a bit of research, I was going to by the Klipsch G-17 Air's but they delayed the ship date. I am really glad, because it is going to be hard to beat the sound on these. I was a bit hesitant because Philips does not specialize in Audio. I have to hand it to them, they did a first rate job with these speakers.

    I was also a bit concerned about Airplay being glitchy, but the Philips speakers has it working flawlessly. These speakers are the way it should be! I control all my music around the house using my iPhone!

    I will definitely buy another pair and would recommend them.

    I also bought the DS3881 SoundRing for the bathroom. It is rechargeable so you can bring it around with you in the smaller rooms. I hope they work as well as these.

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Awesome

    • Written by

    39 of 53 people found this useful

    Best airplay speaker in the market by miles! wooden speaker cabinets = amazing sound!!!