Many iPod fans love to take music with them where ever they go. They will never be found without their iPod or MP3 player handy to turn up the music. But often we want to play music for friends to hear, watch movies together, or browse photo collections whilst listening to music. This is extremely restrictive, you end up fighting over wire and eventually one person just doesn’t listen or you both give up.

Solutions have been made in the form of portable speakers. Although a great idea, these are often so bulky that your iPod looses its take me everywhere factor. Call in tevo. They have designed a small speaker which they call shoX.

Your shoX can be connected to any audio device – iPod’s and other media players, portable game consoles, computers and PDA’s – with a standard 3.5mm stereo socket. They claim unbelievable sound, and if you feel even more generous with your music sharing you can purchase the optional shoX custom adaptor which will let you use shoX to get, ‘great,’ sound from your mobile phone.

We’ve been testing shoX for a couple of months now. The sound is pretty good for such a small speaker. Don’t expect to wake up your neighbours or blow of your grandmother’s glasses but if your music files are of a decent quality the speaker will perform. The speaker is compact and easy to use. In fact if you want to add a bit more bass to your music you can give the speaker a twist and it’ll pop open. You will find that this becomes the only way that you use the speaker. The difference in sound is clearly audible.

Some things the shoX could improve on? The speaker’s wire, although innovative because it can be extended and shortened easily, becomes unnecessarily bulky. It may be better if they supplied a second simple wire for use on the go. The other big one is the price. For this little speaker they want a hefty R199. Although this may seem a good investment to you, I don’t think many parents will be too impressed with the price. However you do get value for money, the quality is excellent and it comes with a grantee.

Otherwise we have used it on the beach, on walks, at home, in the shopping centre and it is the coolest addition to your MP3 player. We don’t condone getting it dirty though as this could damage the speaker significantly.

Product Rating: 7/10