Philips iPhone 5 Docking Speaker DS1155 wins on style Video

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Philips iPhone 5 Docking Speaker DS1155 wins on style
Created: 03/08/2013
Video description: This compact $90 bedroom system looks slick and sounds pretty decent for its size.

Philips iPhone 5 Docking Speaker DS1155 wins on style Video Transcript

Hi. I'm David Carnoy, Executive Editor for CNET.com. And I am here with the Philips iPhone 5 Dock. This also goes by the model number, the DS1155. Those many previous version of this with the 30-pin connector, but this has the Lightning connector, so it does work with Lightning-equipped iPhones and iPods. However, this stock does not fit any sort of iPad. It's obviously very small, it's compact, it has a built-in clock, which is nice; however, there is no alarm. However, you can use your iPhone's alarm, so, that's not a huge deal. What I liked about it is its design also reviewed a JBL unit. This is a little bit sleeker-looking that unit, but that JBL OnBeat Micro sounds a little bit bigger. It also has a little bit better feature set than this. For it [unk] a USB port on the back of this stock, but is really only for charging another device, such as another Smartphone. You can't stream audio through that connection. The other kind of cool feature worth mentioning here is that there is a bit of lighting on the bottom of the unit. There's a few LED lights, and so it gives off a sort of yellow glow. You can turn it off or you can leave it on at night. But it kinda gives it a nice, cool halo effect. As far as the sound goes, it's fine. It does play bigger than you think it would. But compared to that JBL OnBeat Micro, this one offer a little bit thinner sound, it have quite as much space, and it wasn't quite as clear. So, in terms of pluses, if you think about buying this, this does have a sleeker design, it does cost slightly less than some of the new Lightning-equipped speaker docks out there. But its sound quality is a step below the JBL. I'm David Carnoy, and that's the Philips iPhone 5 Speaker Dock, also known as the DS1155. Thanks for watching.

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Philips Docking Speaker (DS1155) Review

The good: The Philips DS1155 Docking Speaker is a compact speaker dock for Lightning-based iPhones and iPods. It delivers good sound for its small size, it has a USB port for charging other mobile devices (and playing audio from them), and its base lights up, creating a cool halo effect.

The bad: You'll have to remove everything but the slimmest cases in order to dock your device; no auxiliary input.

The bottom line: While the JBL OnBeat Micro is a bit better in terms of sound and feature set, the Philips DS115 is the better-looking iPhone 5 speaker dock.

Read full review

Philips Docking Speaker (DS1155) Specs

Manufacturer: Philips
Part number: DS1155

Product Specifications
  • Product Specifications

Read full specs