The Philips DCM230 is a stylish CD player and iPod dock station. The DCM230 isn't about streaming media, however, it's all about iPods. It's a bit pricey, but a couple of stand-out features could justify the cost.
There's nothing questionable about the DCM230's design. It has an exceptionally modern image, complimented by a solid build. A self-loading CD drive sits within a highly reflective front panel beneath an LCD display. The display itself is quite pleasant and functional.
A bunch of buttons sit on top and provide only some of the functionality you'll need -- you'll need the remote for the rest. And while it's fairly understandable to place a USB port on the top, sticking the auxiliary input there is not. We're not fond of scarring the face of an eye-pleasing setup with an unsightly cable. More unusual still is that the headphone socket is right around the back -- these two sockets should've been switched around.
Philips has opted for a solid speaker grille to protect the front-mounted speaker drivers. In many cases a solid speaker grille can interfere with sound, since it physically blocks the movement of air. But the DCM230's grille is perforated with thousands of tiny holes, allowing air to move relatively freely. Choosing this grille suggests elegant design was of paramount importance to Philips, but its implementation is satisfactory.
First, the DCM230 is an iPod dock. But it'll also play CDs -- both audio and MP3/WMA discs -- and MP3/WMA files stored on memory sticks. There's no support for protected WMA content or any lossless audio format, such as WAV, WMA lossless or FLAC. AAC would've been a terrific inclusion but, sadly, that's nowhere to be seen either. Navigating USB contents is tedious: it's just a case of skipping through the alphabetically organised folders, and ID3 tags aren't displayed either. Nonetheless, it's handy for quickly cueing up 2GB of music at a party.
Any iPod with a dock connector works fine with this system, including the new classic, touch, nano and iPhone, and functionality is great as long as you use the lovely supplied remote control. With it you're able to fully browse iPod menus, navigate playlists, and even add items to the 'On-The-Go' playlists. As a token of gratitude, your iPod gets charged while it's docked, even if the system's on standby. Also crammed into the reflective chassis is an FM/AM radio, a sleep timer and an alarm clock. Setting these up isn't particularly fun. The screen is dominated mainly by massive text, all upper-case and generally scrolling from right to left.
We earlier highlighted two points about the DCM230's navigation: firstly, it's very enjoyable to browse with an iPod; but secondly, when browsing USB contents or setting timers, it's anything but. So it's safe to say this is a nice system if you're an iPod owner. Our hope was that we'd hear great performance from the two 15W speakers, each backed up by reflex ports and Philips' Dynamic Bass Boost option.
With a slick design, great build and intuitive integration with iPods, the DCM230 pretty much justified its £200 price tag. There's nothing particularly outstanding here and audiophiles will immediately criticize the sub-hi-fi audio performance, which is very average. But for the casual listener and music fan, there's not much to complain about.
It's not the single most enjoyable system to operate, but with a little practice and a less critical ear, the DCM230 has the potential to please many.
Specifications:
There's nothing questionable about the DCM230's design. It has an exceptionally modern image, complimented by a solid build. A self-loading CD drive sits within a highly reflective front panel beneath an LCD display. The display itself is quite pleasant and functional.
A bunch of buttons sit on top and provide only some of the functionality you'll need -- you'll need the remote for the rest. And while it's fairly understandable to place a USB port on the top, sticking the auxiliary input there is not. We're not fond of scarring the face of an eye-pleasing setup with an unsightly cable. More unusual still is that the headphone socket is right around the back -- these two sockets should've been switched around.
Philips has opted for a solid speaker grille to protect the front-mounted speaker drivers. In many cases a solid speaker grille can interfere with sound, since it physically blocks the movement of air. But the DCM230's grille is perforated with thousands of tiny holes, allowing air to move relatively freely. Choosing this grille suggests elegant design was of paramount importance to Philips, but its implementation is satisfactory.
First, the DCM230 is an iPod dock. But it'll also play CDs -- both audio and MP3/WMA discs -- and MP3/WMA files stored on memory sticks. There's no support for protected WMA content or any lossless audio format, such as WAV, WMA lossless or FLAC. AAC would've been a terrific inclusion but, sadly, that's nowhere to be seen either. Navigating USB contents is tedious: it's just a case of skipping through the alphabetically organised folders, and ID3 tags aren't displayed either. Nonetheless, it's handy for quickly cueing up 2GB of music at a party.
Any iPod with a dock connector works fine with this system, including the new classic, touch, nano and iPhone, and functionality is great as long as you use the lovely supplied remote control. With it you're able to fully browse iPod menus, navigate playlists, and even add items to the 'On-The-Go' playlists. As a token of gratitude, your iPod gets charged while it's docked, even if the system's on standby. Also crammed into the reflective chassis is an FM/AM radio, a sleep timer and an alarm clock. Setting these up isn't particularly fun. The screen is dominated mainly by massive text, all upper-case and generally scrolling from right to left.
We earlier highlighted two points about the DCM230's navigation: firstly, it's very enjoyable to browse with an iPod; but secondly, when browsing USB contents or setting timers, it's anything but. So it's safe to say this is a nice system if you're an iPod owner. Our hope was that we'd hear great performance from the two 15W speakers, each backed up by reflex ports and Philips' Dynamic Bass Boost option.
With a slick design, great build and intuitive integration with iPods, the DCM230 pretty much justified its £200 price tag. There's nothing particularly outstanding here and audiophiles will immediately criticize the sub-hi-fi audio performance, which is very average. But for the casual listener and music fan, there's not much to complain about.
It's not the single most enjoyable system to operate, but with a little practice and a less critical ear, the DCM230 has the potential to please many.
Specifications:
- Color: Silver
- Included accessories: Dock adaptors; remote control
- Supported digital audio standards: MP3, WMA
- Radio Tuner: AM, FM
- Input type: Line in
- Output type: tereo
- Headphone type: 3.5mm
- Equaliser factory preset qty: 4
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