Philips SBD7000 iPod Dock

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.