Creative Ziisound D5

Speakers that use Bluetooth technology are very handy for people who want to play music that’s stored on a mobile phone. However, Bluetooth speakers haven’t taken off in the past as they’ve been expensive and haven’t offered good audio quality.

The Creative Ziisound D5 is still expensive, but it does at least provide very good sound thanks to a special feature called ‘apt-X’. The D5 speakers will work with any device that can connect using Bluetooth. While the sound was good, it was hardly outstanding for a speaker system in this price range.

However, the D5 also includes an adapter that plugs into the dock connector on the bottom of an Apple iPod, iPhone or iPad. This connects those devices to the D5 directly, and uses the apt-X technology to improve the quality of the sound being beamed to the speakers (connection was a matter of just plugging the adapter in).

The D5 is one of the few sets of Bluetooth speakers that can truly rival the quality of a pair of wired speakers. If £280 is too steep a price, Creative is releasing some less expensive versions, including a portable model costing around £60.