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It's a statistical fact that there is now a different make of iPod speaker for every human being alive on the planet. Or at least it feels that way. These Jivo speakers, amusingly called ‘Juicy Tunes' are, as is pretty much the theme in this round-up, quite cheap, which works in their favour. Their other USP (Unique Selling Point) is that they come with cables for connecting to popular mobile phones, such as the Sony Ericsson K800i, and the Nokia 6300 so you can play music directly from them. The ‘Juicy Tunes' can be powered by four AA batteries, which brings with it the terrifying possibility that certain types, who already think it's ok to sit on the train listening to their music out loud over their phone's speakers (yes, I mean Chavs), to go the whole hog and use the ‘Juicy Tunes' to really go for it. Oh no, the boombox is back.

Not that the Jivo could be thought of as menacing - it's a wee little fella and comes with a case for popping into your bag for taking on holiday. Probably to Spain. On an airline that has stewardesses with bright yellow jackets.

The front is dominated by the dock which supports all iPods from third gen onwards, with the mini and the nano catered for via supplied dock modifiers. Four small buttons run across the front - Power, Volume Up/Down and one labelled 3D, which I'll get to later. When first powering on I thought the speakers might be faulty, but it turns out that the volume starts out at the bottom level, presumably to avoid you blowing the tiny drivers by turning the volume on the source up too far. Round the back you'll find the power plug and the line in. The UK power plug also comes with a European adaptor.

I often find myself saying these days how loud small speakers tend to go and while these 3W speakers do try and go with the times, when they get louder the sound just gets mushier. This is a problem as they are not the most clear and transparent speakers I've ever heard in the first place. In fact, they are fairly poor, with the sounding being muffled and indistinct. The 3D button is clearly aimed at giving a more expansive, spacious sound, but all it really does is whack up the high frequencies and the bass, and alomost totally loses the mid-range. It's not a great overall sonic performance, but it's acceptable at lower volume levels however.

One odd side effect of plugging in my K800i phone was that when the track stopped playing I could hear the FM radio even though I hadn't launched the radio app, as the cable acted as an aerial. Either way, with a radio equipped mobile phone the usefulness of these speakers increases.

Ultimately though, it's the mobile phone connectors alone that would make this a worthwhile purchase. There are far better choices for iPod docks which both look and sound better. Build quality is also suspect and the first time I attached the mobile phone cable the cover came off revealing the wires inside.

It's difficult to recommend these speakers then, though at the price it might be worth it if you want some background music to take with you, but don't expect it to last more than one or two holidays.

Verdict

Cheap and cheerful is the theme of this group test and these don't quite make the cut with either. Bundling cables for popular mobile phones is a nice idea but these speakers don't sound good enough and are not built well enough either. We say, keep your music on a dedicated player and buy a better dock.

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