Its sometimes very hard to review a pair of low-end speakers. Weighing functionality against audio fidelity is an almost impossible task. And yet thats what were having to do with the Parrot DS1120s.

On the one hand youve got a pair of speakers that barely scrape together 30W of power between them. On the other, youve got the convenience of being able to synchronize them with any Bluetooth media player in order to playback music. Its a hard call to make.

So lets get this out of the way right off the bat - the Parrot DS1120 speakers dont sound great. If youre used to a 500W hi-fi set-up in your living room, these are going to sound absolutely terrible. However, its all relative. And so if youre more used to the small speakers on your digital radio or the stereo in the kitchen, these will sound pretty cool.

Swings and roundabouts

So now weve got that cleared up, we can move on to the DS1120s main functionality Bluetooth streaming. You can pair them with your phone, or your PC or even your MP3 player as long as its got built-in Bluetooth connectivity.

And as youd expect from a Parrot product, it works pretty well, too. To test we used a Sony Ericsson K850i mobile phone. We tapped the Bluetooth button on the side of one of the speakers, and then ran a search on the phone, and the Parrot speakers appeared immediately. A quick tap of the pair button later and the devices were all synched up and ready to go.

From then on, any music played on the phone is streamed directly to the speakers. And considering the small size and the low-power of the speakers, they dont sound too bad. Its all squashed into the midrange, theres not much bass and the high-range cymbals are severely blunted, but in general the audio is clear and undistorted at low volumes.

Freedom of movement

One of the cool things about these speakers is that they arent tied together. You can plug them into different power sockets at different ends of the room and yet theyll still synch up with each other and your device. That way you can create a bigger soundstage than your radio ever could.

The set also has a 3.5mm line-in port so you can plug a device directly into them (like your TV for instance) if your audio device doesnt have Bluetooth.

So weve covered quality. And weve done functionality. So what about price? The price is where it all comes tumbling down, unfortunately. Because while these speakers are pretty cool, the asking price seems rather steep.

Very expensive

For instance, you could buy a set of the brilliant Acoustic Energy Aego-M 2.1 speakers for 120. Those speakers leave the Parrots trailing far behind in the dust in terms of audio fidelity, and also have a total output (including subwoofer) of 90W thats three times the power of the Parrot DS1120.

So really, these speakers are only for you if Bluetooth compatibility is what you need as a primary concern. If youve got loads of music on your phone and youd like to be able to listen in the kitchen without plugging anything in, these are for you.

However, if youve got a good ear and can tell when music is sounding a bit rubbish, and if Bluetooth isnt the main concern, you should navigate a wide berth and go for something else (those Aego-Ms are highly recommended).

All in all then, not a bad product. But the price will keep these speakers from going mass market. Especially considering the fact that as audio devices, theyre pretty poor.