- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 6 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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4.5 stars
"Excellent Bluetooth Speaker for those familiar with Bluetooth Setups"
Pros: Excellent Audio (dependent on bluetooth source), Easy to Connect to PC (dependent on user familiarity with bluetooth setups), Solid construction, Aesthetically pleasing form, Simple controls
Cons: Requires a basic working knowledge of bluetooth's strengths and weaknesses
Summary: As a brief background, my bluetooth experience began with the Sony Ericsson T68i cell phone in 2003 and a jabra bluetooth headset. Since then I have used bluetooth to sync a Palm T3 wirelessly with a PC, transfer data to and from other bluetooth devices, and wirelessly stream audio from cells and PC's to headsets and speakers.
Just to put my experience with this device in perspective with the post about the Parrot being difficult to configure, I'll start with what happened when I went to buy the device at our local Retail store. After the device was plugged in, it took less than 1 minute to setup the initial connection with my Sony Ericcson K790a. Another 20 seconds later and I was piping some tunes through the speakers from my cell. Easy... ...if you know the basics of bluetooth. If you are not competent enough to setup a WiFi network manually (none of this push button setup stuff) then you can setup bluetooth. The setup routine is quite predictable after you have done it a few times. I will admit, however, that setup with a PC will typically be more complex than with a cell phone. PC's will usually have a few more security options within the bluetooth stack's software that may need to be changed to allow for the initial bluetooth connection with another bluetooth device.
Once home, I connected the device to my PC via bluetooth and noticed something that disturbed me. The audio quality of the wireless streaming from my PC was noticably worse than the straming from my cell phone. After reading a few posts, I uninstalled the default bluetooth stack (provided by toshiba) that came with my PCs bluetooth adapter and installed the stack from BlueSoleil (a stack is the software that controlls the bluetoth functions for the PC). The difference was ASTOUNDING. Same bluetooth hardware on the PC, different software CONTROLLING the bluetooth hardware on the PC. The source of the bluetooth signal and how its software compresses/transmits the music to the speakers can make a BIG DIFFERENCE in the sound you get out of any bluetooth audio device.
As to another post talking about the Mac experience with the device, I can safely say that they too have/had a fundamental misunderstanding about how the PC/bluetooth speaker system works together. You can't blame the speakers if the PC did not have the requisite software to properly interface with it. The advertising for the Parrot that I saw clearly stated (as do most good ads for bluetooth audio devices) that the source device must support A2DP. Thus far I have had no problems getting one A2DP device to work with another.
As far as range is concerned, again, the other posters should have consulted the SOURCE of the transmission. The speakers are the DESTINATION. I have the Parrot Party bluetooth speakers as well. The Party is small enough to fit in one hand and looks like an oversized dog bone with blue accents. It runs off of a NiMH battery for about 4 to 5 hours depending on volume. I used that device with the same PC connection and could stream music from my 2nd floor apartment down to the first floor flawlessly. The signal did not begin to break up until I walked past the edge of the unit right below mine. The PC transmitter was located in the middle of a 1000 sq foot apartment. The same results were achieved with several other bluetooth audio devices paired to this PC adapter. When paired with my cell phone, that same Parrot Party speaker is lucky to get a signal through 1 wall in the apartment. Obviously the transmitter in the cell phone is not as powerful as the one purchased for the PC. The rating for the PC transmitter from the Mfg. is 300 ft. (class I bluetooth). My phone has a rating of 33 feet (standard for many portable bluetooth products).
In summary, don't shoot the messenger. The Parrot speakers are great, but they can only do so much with poor audio processing at the source or a weak bluetooth signal from the source.
