Griffin's Evolve speaker set is an iPod dock with a difference. Instead of the two speakers being fixed to the dock, they can each be lifted out and carried around separately.

The speakers are battery-powered, so your music keeps playing wherever the speakers are in the house (within reason, of which more below).

It's easy to set up and use – simply a case of seating the speakers in the dock and plugging in an iPod (there's an iPod dock connector mounted in the base unit, but you can also plug in a non-Apple music player using the auxiliary connections at the rear of the unit).

Quality is impressive, with good deep bass sounds from the relatively small units. High notes are not lost in the mix, though, and it's capable of reaching volumes to fill big rooms. The speakers can talk to the base from around 20-30m away, so it can be used in most houses without a problem – you can even listen in the garden.

Tracks and volume can be controlled using the supplied remote control, and each speaker can be switched on and off separately. It's necessary to 'pair' the speakers with the base unit, but this is done automatically when they are seated in their connectors on the base.

Cleverly, the speakers know which side of the base unit they've been seated in, so they'll automatically switch to the left or right stereo channel as appropriate. If you're using the two speakers to listen in separate rooms, which is one of the best ways to use the Evolve, they can be switched to mono so they both play the same thing.

More speakers can be added to the system so true multi-room sound from a single iPod need no longer cost the earth. It's true that the Evolve costs a fair bit more than most iPod docks, but for the flexibility it gives, it's worth the price if you're after multi-room listening.

Vista compatible: n/a