Performance

Luxa2's GroovyA speaker sounds pretty good straight out of the box, and the media controls on top are a great little functional addition. Much like we saw on the Creative SoundBlasterAXX 200, the media controls are super handy when on the move.

The GroovyA does have a substantially more rugged design than the SoundBlasterAXX 200 from Creative; however, some of the details lack a little engineering ingenuity. The support structure the speaker sits on lacks dampening from the speaker itself, which could be contributing to the somewhat wooly sound quality. The sound quality is behind even the now somewhat old a.m.p SP1 in complex passages, and the gap only increases when volume is increased. The low weight might also play a role here. Its light weight obviously also makes it easier to lug around with you.

Design-wise, the aluminum support structure makes for a unique look, but it is a bit of a hit and miss in terms of practicality. Adjusting the angle does make sense when it is placed on a flat surface in a normal, square room, but it does not work all that well outside. The rubber feet underneath are not tall enough and since the support structure spans quite a distance, finding a flat enough surface outside can be a bit tricky. The foot print is around 5 times that of the UE BOOMs.


Sound-wise, the GroovyA fails to get really close to the SoundBlasterAXX and the UE Booms. The sound quality is alright, but it is very midcentric without a lot of bass, and the highs are subdued. Treble performance is also not ideal and definitely something you notice, especially when inside or somewhere with very little ambient noise.

One of the parameters where the GroovyA is good is battery life. Its battery actually lasts for as long as specified. You will obviously not get 15 hours at full tilt but with a volume that will suffice for in-door use. The music genre will also play its role, but we tested with a mix of everything at a normal listening volume within one meter of the device.

App

The app is really simple and lets you turn Bluetooth on/off. You also have access to a Luxa2-skinned basic Android player and a little radio add-on that allows you to easily listen to your favorite radio channels.


The player and radio interface is really simple, like the rest of the app. Its aesthetics are not as polished as with some other apps, but it works alright. We only had one random lockup on our Samsung Galaxy 3 running Anroid 4.4.4.