Parrot Party review
Quality Bluetooth Stereo speakers are thin on the ground. Can Parrot’s rubberised dog-bone fill the gap?
If you’ve got a Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP) MP3 player or mobile phone, then you’ve probably investigated a few portable speaker systems. They’re mostly rubbish, aren’t they?
Parrot has been on a one-company crusade to bring decent wireless sound to the masses. The Party is its first portable system, and it’s one of its best.
Rubbery sound
Just 24cm long and shaped like a cartoon dog’s bone, the Party comes complete with a rechargeable battery (good for around four hours of playback). It’s nicely rubberised around the edges, which helps portability, and has a 3.5mm input for old-fashioned hard-wired connectivity. Parrot can provide a dongle for use with laptops and the like.
Despite its tiddly dimensions, the Party drums up a surprisingly roomy sound. There’s not a huge amount of bass on offer, of course, but the low frequencies it manages are punchy and well controlled.
At the other end, splashy treble sounds don’t become a problem until you reach maximum volume. Max volume ain’t that loud, but at least it’s not painful.
Defective stereo effects
The Party features two stereo effects – Parrot calls them ‘amazing’, we call them ‘pointless’. ‘Virtual SuperBass’ is far from super, swamping the midrange with unruly bass, and ‘Stereo Widening’ broadens the sound while losing all focus.
Leave them both turned off, though, and you’ve got a wee wireless speaker system that sounds bigger than it looks and is ready to go anywhere with you. Add another one to Parrot’s impressive range of Bluetooth speaker systems.
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