Review: Parrot Boombox speakers

We’ve seen a mixed bag of Bluetooth products from Parrot recently, often suffering from inconsistent wireless connections or the resulting price hike from having Bluetooth at their hub.

The Boombox is a sequel to last year’s Parrot Sound System Bluetooth Speaker system and works in a similar way in terms of connecting to an audio source.

Provided you have a compatible AD2P Bluetooth device or USB dongle, it’s relatively straightforward to set up. Simply switch the Boombox into pairing mode and search for devices within range from your phone, music player or PC. Once found and paired, any audio played from the device is sent via Bluetooth directly to the Boombox.

A range of around 10m means the speakers can be located in one room, while the PC or other device is elsewhere in the house. This, along with the obvious lack of wires is the Boombox's main advantage but, pleasingly, Parrot has also included a line-in socket for connecting non-Bluetooth devices.

Audio quality is extremely good. We tested it at a range of distances and didn’t encounter much sound degradation until tipping that 10m mark. The sub-woofer and twin mid-range tweeters provide a good combination of thumping bass and balanced sound.

The lack of audio controls beyond volume on the box itself is a moaning point, so treble and bass will have to be adjusted from the audio source. A remote control would have also been nice.

Considering the fact that many Bluetooth products have been a tad overpriced recently, it’s nice to see Parrot offering the powerful Boombox for, in our opinion, a reasonable £150. Taking into account its performance and versatilit y, we think it’s good value for money.

Vista compatible: N/A