Philips AJ3270D/05 iPod Docking Station

Review: Philips AJ3270D/05 iPod Docking Station Review

Every so often, even the biggest and brightest of chickens lays a duff egg.

In a world where any docking ‘Entertainment System’ has to compete with near-professional quality speakers and wireless, portable docks that both look and sound better than your stereo, you’d better have a pretty good ace up your sleeve. Competition is going to be fierce, no matter how many engineering degrees you’ve got on your wall. So here’s what happens when a dock just can’t cut the mustard.

Introduction

First of all, calling this dock an ‘Entertainment System’ makes for a very dubious start. The Philips AJ3270D/05 is an alarm clock, nothing more. You would be disappointed if you tried to get a raging party started, entertain formal dinner guests or even hook it up to a laptop to watch DVDs with it. Very disappointed indeed.

In truth, it is only up to the following tasks:

1. Waking you up in the morning.
2. Annoying the living f**k out of you. 

This dock is designed, purely and simply, to wake you up in the morning. Even then it does so in the most irritating way possible. An increasing volume function that can go from level 3 to level 20 in a matter of seconds (no joke) will have you searching desperately hard for a way to turn off this oh-so-irritating function. Sadly, no such option exists – if you bought it, you’re stuck with it.

...Even if it did have a function that allowed you to just wake up to a decent tune at a decent volume, you’d be hard pushed to find it amongst the tiny, awkwardly placed buttons.

Hardware / Design

The Philips AJ3270D/05 looks OK, it is smart, presentable and tidy. In short, it is a typical Phillips design job in every sense of the word. It is also compact and relatively lightweight.

The speakers are actually quite good for the size/price range, but therein lies the problem: these speakers are far too loud to be an alarm clock (baring in mind that you will have to endure the loudest setting whether you want it or not), but not nearly good enough to be used for any other purpose. To make matters worse, the speakers are situated at the top of the dock, making them a magnet for the dust that tends to congregate on bedside tables no matter how often you polish them.

The buttons are also placed on the top, but are barely raised and far too small. I would not like to be feeling around for them at 5.30AM, that’s for sure.

Overall, this is just a bad design. There’s no nice way to say it.

The Philips AJ3270D/05 has been available on Amazon.co.uk since February of 2011 and in that time, not one person has seen fit to post a review. I actually think this is because nobody has bought it (or because those that did either died of stress-induced heart attacks or simply never wanted to admit their folly to the rest of the world). Youtube is also a barren wasteland when it comes to the AJ3270D/05.

However, there are a couple of reviews on the official Phillips site where it has an average user rating of 2.3/5. For shame.

‘Merryberry’ (2/5) criticizes the lack of volume control and admits that this is the first Phillips product that (S)he is returning. ‘Remondo’ (2/5) calls the product “flawed” and says that “I found that the alarm volume, whether it is iPod music, radio or beep, rises to the point where it is uncomfortable to listen to. I would prefer the alarm radio volume to be customizable so that it remains at a predefined volume so I can continue listening while I snooze. Had I tested this in one of my cranky morning moods I would have thrown it across the room!” My sentiment’s exactly.

‘Kwackerz’ (3/5) says that the sound quality is surprisingly high for a model in this price range, but has to agree that the buttons are far too small and inaccessible for early morning use.

Elsewhere, an aggregate review calculator (not dissimilar to ‘Metacritic’) has optimistically given this product 86/100 and rated it as ‘very good’. I’d be tempted to investigate further if I wasn’t so sure that the product was complete sh@t.

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Tags: iPod Dock, Philips AJ3270D/05 iPod Docking Station, Docking Station

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Customer Reviews

Honest reviews of the Philips AJ3270D/05 iPod Docking Station from previous customers

"I received this yesterday and at first I was disappointed by the size but....wow!...it really fills a room up with sound. I purchased it to take with me camping, hotels etc. and it should be fantastic."

Review by Jacqulyn Lefurgy

"Sound quality is good and they are very light, you can take around your place without a problem to have music wherever you need them. If you are looking at having a low price, good quality nice looking speakers, this is definitely the best option to go for."

Review by Nga Albor

"Very good product. No down falls. My mum is a techno geek and she decided to get it for her itouch and the sound is so clear and crisp that I decided to get one for my boyfriends dad who got the yellow ipod nano. Overall this product hasn't given us any problems and great sounding music. I deff recommend this product to others."

Review by Jacqulyn Begun

"I use this mainly for podcasts and audiobooks and it is perfect. It plays very loud and the sound quality is very good (for the price). My kids also use it for their audiobooks. They like it because they can take it from room to room and it is sturdy and stable. I would highly recommend this product."

Review by Sari Lothridge

 

See all 38 Customer Reviews

We encourage you to read them prior to making your final purchasing decision.