Klipsch is well-known for its superb home-audio and home-theater audio system, which have been designed and manufactured within the USA for greater than 70 years. Of course, the speaker market has advanced over the many years, and Klipsch has advanced with it, including new sorts of merchandise to its spectacular lineup.
The Klipsch Groove is an ideal living proof. Small although it’s, this transportable, battery-powered Bluetooth speaker packs in surprisingly massive sound. Unfortunately, that sound was fairly closed in and congested on just about each observe I listened to.
Features & consumer interface
Measuring solely 4.56 x 5.51 x 2.65 inches (HxWxD) and weighing a mere 1.7 kilos, the Groove is so tiny you’ll be able to actually maintain it in a single hand. Its 2200mAh lithium battery can energy the speaker for as much as eight hours on a single cost.
The included charger connects to a micro USB port on the again, which may additionally accommodate different USB energy sources that present 5V/1A, which most do. That’s a mighty helpful function I want extra portable-speaker makers would implement.
A single 3-inch, aluminum-cone, front-firing driver is joined by two side-firing, 3.25 x 1.5-inch passive radiators behind a perforated metallic grille. Powered by a 10-watt amp with superior DSP equalization, the frequency response is specified to increase from 65Hz to 22kHz (±3dB) with a most acoustic output of 97dB SPL at a distance of half a meter.
The Groove’s enclosure homes a 3-inch, front-firing driver and two side-firing passive radiators.
Of course, the first enter is Bluetooth—on this case, model 4.0. The Groove helps the A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, and HSP profiles and SBC and AAC codecs despatched from nearly any Bluetooth-enabled cell machine or laptop. The solely different enter is a 3.5mm analog-audio enter on the again.
The micro USB port and 3.5mm aux enter are hidden behind a rubberized cowl, serving to the Groove obtain a splash-resistant IPX4 ranking. As the product’s webpage says, “Don’t dump your beer on it, but don’t be afraid to splash and play around either.”
KlipschThe again panel encompasses a micro USB charging port and 3.5mm audio enter behind a rubberized cowl.
In addition, the top-mounted controls are protected against splashes by a rubberized outer layer. The six buttons embody energy on/off, Bluetooth, aux, play/pause, quantity up, and quantity down. Lighted indicators seem above the facility, Bluetooth, and aux buttons. Naturally, you may also management playback and quantity from the supply machine.
When you energy the unit on and/or choose Bluetooth, it performs a depraved guitar lick, letting it’s time to rock and roll. (After a interval of no exercise, it routinely powers down with one other guitar lick, which is a bit startling; I want it merely powered off with none thrives.)
KlipschThe top-mounted controls embody (L-R): energy on/off, Bluetooth, aux enter, play/pause, quantity down, and quantity up. The buttons are mounted beneath a rubberized protecting layer, and the facility, Bluetooth, and aux buttons have backlit indicators above them.
Performance
As I listened to a wide range of tracks on the Groove, one factor grew to become obviously obvious: in each case, the sound of this speaker was fairly closed in, prefer it was taking part in via a megaphone. On pop tunes reminiscent of “Aja” from Steely Dan’s album of the identical title and “Volcano” from U2’s Songs of Innocence, the bass was weak, and the vocals had been obscured by the supporting devices.
Moving on to jazz, I listened to “For Charlie” from the album ¡Yo! by Jim Self and the Tricky Lix Latin Jazz Band. Jim’s tuba was very tubby—and never in a great way. As a bass torture take a look at, I performed “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo” from the album of the identical title by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, which options Victor Wooten plumbing the prolonged depths of his bass. As anticipated by this level, all the pieces sounded congested, particularly the bass.
KlipschThe Groove is tiny, as you’ll be able to see as compared with a guitar case.
On classical tracks like Florent Schmitt’s Dionysiaques as carried out by the Cincinnati Wind Symphony on the album Songs and Dances, the general sound was wimpy and clogged. The identical was true listening to the Canadian Brass play its association of the primary motion from Vivaldi’s Spring concerto from The Four Seasons. In this case, I assumed the sound was pretty boring along with being closed in.
For some lighter fare, I performed one of many dances from A Festival of Renaissance Dances by the Southern California Early Music Consort, on which I play bass recorder and bass sackbut (renaissance trombone). This dance is carried out on recorders with tambourine, and curiously, the Groove sounded considerably higher. It nonetheless sounded congested, however not as a lot as on different tracks, and the recorders had been rendered pretty effectively.
I completed up with “Galapagos” from Jeff Rona’s rating for the film White Squall. This observe consists of strings, percussion, Irish flute, harp, hammer dulcimer, and varied synthesizer sounds. Once once more, the Groove sounded fairly congested, particularly the harp and hammer dulcimer.
Comparison with JBL Xtreme 2 and Tronsmart Element Force
For comparability, I performed all analysis tracks on two different comparably priced transportable Bluetooth audio system—the JBL Xtreme 2 ($199) and Tronsmart Element Force ($53.99), each of which I reviewed for TechHive. I discovered that each fashions carry out exceedingly effectively, in order that they make nice references for different such merchandise within the under-$200 value class.
KlipschThe Groove will match simply on the glove-compartment door in a automotive.
In every case, the Tronsmart Element Force sounded way more open, lighter, brighter, and ethereal than the Groove. As I associated in my overview, I used to be astonished at how broad the Tronsmart’s soundstage is, extending effectively past the confines of its tiny enclosure. The Groove’s soundstage was solely restricted to its cupboard. On the opposite hand, the Tronsmart’s bass was not fairly as deep because the Groove’s—in truth, it was actually struggling on the intense low frequencies in “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo”—however I’ll commerce that for readability any day.
Speaking of bass, the JBL Xtreme 2 is the clear winner in that regard—which isn’t stunning, given its increased value and bigger passive radiators. Overall, the JBL had a wealthy, full sound that was however way more open than the Groove. In addition, vocals sounded a lot clearer, and the stability of devices was typically superior.
Bottom line
Sadly, the Klipsch Groove isn’t as much as my requirements of sound high quality from a transportable Bluetooth speaker. As demonstrated by the comparisons I carried out for this overview, there are different comparable merchandise that sound significantly better. Granted, the JBL Xtreme 2 prices twice as a lot because the Groove, and it’s bigger, however it’s undoubtedly price the additional cash. And the Tronsmart Element Force is simply over half as a lot for a equally tiny speaker, and it smokes the Groove as effectively.
If you’re in search of a small, transportable Bluetooth speaker, I like to recommend that you simply think about different choices.