LUXA2 GroovyW bluetooth speaker review

1. Introduction2. Unboxing3. LUXA2 GroovyW Speaker4. Testing5. Testing Continued and Final Thoughts6. View All Pages

Mobile phones have become indispensable to most of us in recent years. What started as a mere communication tool has now blossomed into the way many of us consume information, through news, media and social interactions. However, one aspect of contemporary smartphones that cannot beat the traditional (speaker) solution, is their ability to produce audio.

Mostly that is to do with space. There is only so much a speaker can do when it is limited to a size that is measured in millimeters rather than inches. But fortunately there are alternatives to having lackluster, loudspeaker audio – portable speakers, like the new GroovyW from LUXA2.

Features:

• Near Field Communication Technology (NFC)
• Touch User Interface
• Bluetooth Remote Control
• Built-in Microphone
• Charging station compatible with all wireless (Qi) charging devices
• LED indicator

Specifications:

• Bluetooth: CSR v3.0 + EDR
• Wireless range: Up to 10 meters
• Capacity GroovyW: 2,200mAh / 3.7V Li-ion
• Wireless Charging Station: 4,000mAh / 3.7V Li-polymer
• Input: Micro USB (5V/0.5A)
• Audio output Total Ouput: 7W (Watts)
• Playing time Standalone: Up to 15 hours playing time
• With Wireless Charging Pad: Up to 30 hours playing time
• Charging time GroovyW: 4.5hours (0-100%)
• Wireless Charging Pad: 5.5 hours (0-100%)

Right off the bat the LUXA2 GroovyW (despite crying out for a better name) has an air of quality about it. The box has a soft card coating, and mixes glossy with a matt finish. It details a lot about it too, giving you a breakdown of all the most important features. 

 

The box itself actually opens up via a small cloth pull tab, which loosens the magnets holding the side in. This gives you a look at the speaker itself behind a plastic covering, as well as a near idealistic scenario (no digestive?) with what the GroovyW could look like once you have it home. 

Along with with the speaker itself, you get a set up manual which does a fantastic job of showing you how to do things. All the instructions are based around big, obvious diagrams that make the whole process of leaning how to use the GroovyW a doddle.

You also get a leather carry bag which only just about fits the speaker in lengthways, a USB to micro USB cable and 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable.

While the speaker might have a good few hours of play time in it, the real extended power comes from this little power pack. It uses induction charging so it only requires that you place the speaker on top of it to instigate the power transfer.

However, you will need to charge the plate itself, which means plugging it in via USB. There is no mains plug for this one, so you will be stuck using your PC or laptop unless your smartphone charger has a USB connector.

Unfortunately due to problems with shipping, the charge plate of my review sample was damaged slightly. It did not affect the review however.

The GroovyW is a compact little device that is clearly designed to blend in with your average contemporary smartphone. It is black with a little bit of chrome styling around the edges, with a glossy top and honeycombed body.

At certain angles you can see the twin speakers behind it all, but it is difficult to pick up on camera.

While the front features a small LUXA2 logo, the back is where you will find the power button, micro-USB port for wired charging and a 3.5mm port for wired audio signals.

On the underside is the spot where you mount it to the charging pad, but little else . The GroovyW has a very minimalist design.

When turned on, it lights up, with faint, blue LED's used for each of the indicators. Running along the top you have the volume up and down and play/pause/accept call. All of these are touch buttons, letting you adjust them at will with the tap of your finger.

Most of the others are merely indicators, showing you whether a Bluetooth device is connected, if the onboard speaker is in use (for hands free calls) and the battery charge indicator. That last one only lights up when it is actually charging or if you press the power button.

Right at the end of the row, is the NFC badge. That is the spot where if your smartphone supports NFC, you can touch the two together and it will pair the devices over Bluetooth automatically.

If you want the hard facts about the frequencies this speaker can hit, or its weight to multiple decimal places, that is what the official specifications are for. When it comes to peripherals and subjective accessories here at KitGuru, we like to put them through their paces with the patent-pending “use it, test“, which involves me doing just that every day for over a week.

Damn it feels good to be a gangster

There was quite a lot to test – as the GroovyW is feature packed. In terms of the audio quality though we found it to be decent, if unremarkable. It is certainly a lot better than the average smartphone, with high frequencies produced with a fair amount of clarity – but the bass is weak, until you crank the volume up. Sadly, with the volume increased significantly more issues raise their head.

The clarity takes a hit overall when it gets loud which is a real shame, as that is likely to be the default setting unless you just use of this as a small desk top speaker at work or similar. Talk radio or podcasts were much better, though I suppose they lack the complex nuances of music, so are easier to reproduce.

However, while I might not be giving the GroovyW a gold star for its audio quality, other areas deserve praise. For example, connecting to it is a doddle if you have an NFC enabled smartphone. It is as simple as touching your phone to the speaker and within five seconds it will be connected. There is no messing around at all.

You can also connect them together using traditional Bluetooth pairing. On the screen of your phone, it will let you know it is connected and the speaker itself will output a robotic, accented voice saying “paired.”

If you do not want to connect your phone to the speaker in either of those ways though, you can also use the app, which is available for free through the Google Play and iOS stores (though the latter does not offer much functionality at the moment).

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The app gives you the ability to connect through Bluetooth, as well as some basic EQ functions. unfortunately they do not seem to do a lot, apart from quietening the frequencies you are not boosting.

Also built into the app, is a large number of internet and on demand radio stations, with the ability to listen in to them with a simple tap of the finger. If you have any music downloaded to your device, you can also play that through the LUXA2 app, which keeps everything in one place – not forcing you to exit and go to the generic music playing app.

Perhaps the best feature is that it lists all tracks in a variety of categories, from genre, to title, artist and album, but most importantly a file browser, which is great if it doesn't happen to automatically pick up on specific songs you have added manually to the phone.

This is obviously all achievable wirelessly too, thanks to the fact that the GroovyW has a decent size battery inside it, giving you many hours of playback without issue. If you carry around the bundled charge plate with it too, that will give you even more. I have yet to burn through it after 10 hours + of testing and GroovyW suggests that it can offer as much as 20 hours extra.

It is nice that the charge plate is wireless too, as to charge the speaker all you do is place it on top of the charge pad and you are good to go. Sometimes I found it hard to get the placement right, even with the ring on the base of the speaker lining up easily with the one of the charge plate. If you do not get it right it continually beeps at you as it connects and then disconnects repeatedly. This can get quite annoying but with a bit of fiddling you can figure it out.

The QI charge plate can also work with compatible smartphones, though unfortunately my current handset does not support it without a specialised accessory which I do not have.

One feature that I did not find particularly useful however was the speakerphone, which was incredibly quiet. Not the person on the other end mind you, we have clarified that this speaker has plenty of volume, but the microphone itself. I found that when on a call you either had to lean really close to it, or practically shout to be heard clearly.

It is a nice idea and I suppose it is good that it is there, but if my handset is nearby I would much rather it just switched over to that and let me take the call there.

Better yet, let me turn up the microphone sensitivity.

It is also worth noting that the range for the speaker is particularly good. Unless your home is unspeakably large, then you shouldn't have much problem wandering in and out of rooms with your phone still wirelessly connected.

When it comes to battery life, the LUXA 2 does a good job of maintaining charge over long periods. Over six hours of continuous play at a relatively low volume, it was had more than two bars of battery left out of four. Perhaps more importantly, it charges up pretty quickly too. While playing live music, it filled up the battery from the charge plate in three hours. This is great as it means you can have uninterrupted wireless music for a long time. Incidentally, this left the charge plate with one bar of power left to give over to the speaker if needed.

So when we put it all together, is the LUXA2 GroovyW worth the price tag? If we were living in the good ole USA, I would probably say it was, because it would only set you back $110 (£65). However, as usual, the British public are forced to pay the much more extravagant £100 for the same product and unfortunately, this just makes the GroovyW too expensive.

The audio quality is acceptable, but it will not blow your socks off by any means. At high volumes the flaws become clearly apparent – a slight hissing in the background and loss of clarity as the driver cones are stressed to breaking point. As I said earlier, this is probably fine if you are planning to use it as a basic speaker on a desk at work, but otherwise I would recommend cheaper and just as good sounding mobile alternatives.

We do like the charge plate that ships with the GroovyW. It does give the product very strong battery life, so you do not have to worry about that. Quick NFC pairing is also noteworthy and very practical.

But as great as those extra features are, it is still hard to justify the price tag when the audio quality is quite frankly unremarkable.

The LUXA2 GroovyW can currently be found on Amazon for £99.99. American readers will be able to pick it up for $110 (£65), so it makes much more sense in that part of the world.

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Pros

• Clean look, good build quality.
• NFC makes pairing a cinch.
• Speaker battery lasts a long time
• Charge plate has loads of battery – can charge phone or speaker.
• App can control everything, gives radio connectivity.

Cons

• Speakerphone mic is far too quiet.
• Audio quality could be better, bass is lacking clarity/strength.
• Expensive.
• Charge plate connection can be finicky.

KitGuru Says: The LUXA2 GroovyW is a speaker that does all of the little things really well, but falls short in its main job: playing high quality music.

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