Expert rating
Benefits
- Low cost
- Bluetooth capability
- Decent sound quality
The inconvenients
- No HDMI
- Clumsy remote control
- Limited LED status light
Our opinion
The 75 soundbar is an impressive budget audio kit for the price. By forgoing many of the smart features and sticking to basic AV connections, Groov-e has managed to cut costs while maintaining great sound.
The Groov-e Soundbar 75 sounds better than it looks. That’s not to say it’s an eyesore, but given the budget price and basic ‘black box’ design, audio performance is considerably better than you’d expect for a bar of sound under £50 – offering a smart choice for someone with little money, who nevertheless wants the best possible audio performance.
At £49.99, this budget speaker is a far cry from the entry-level $279/£279 Sonos Ray, but it may surprise you with the quality of sound on offer. The ’75’ in the device’s name refers to its 75W output, offering a significant upgrade from the typical 10-30W found in most TV screens.
That means you’ll get some serious heft, enough to make the Soundbar 75 a solid choice as a cheap Bluetooth speaker, party speaker, or TV-connected soundbar.
But how good can it sound at this bargain price – and where did Groov-e have to cut corners to make ends meet? Read on for more details in our Groove-e Soundbar 75 review.
Design and construction
- Basic LED status indicator
- Lightweight design
- Poor remote
The Groov-e Soundbar 75 is relatively compact, measuring 10.3 x 50 x 6.5cm and weighing just 1.68kg – lighter than many laptops. It’s very easy to move between spaces, while the curved black mesh on the front of the soundbar looks a bit better than the glossy plastic used elsewhere on the device.
Henry St Léger / Foundry
The soundbar should sit well under your TV, but if the screen is wall-mounted, you also have the option of screwing the soundbar into the wall – the back of the device has a protruding bracket which can easily hang on a pair of screws if you wish.
The remote is the main sticking point of the 75’s design. Playback and volume controls are grouped into a single thumbwheel, while lesser bass and treble controls are spread over the remaining area of the remote, as well as an EQ button that confusingly serves to turn off the LED light.
You will need two AAA batteries, which are unfortunately not included in the box.
Henry St Léger / Foundry
The LED status light is also unfortunately limited – with only two digits to communicate the type of connection you’re using, meaning it resorts to a mismatch of upper and lower case letters to accommodate those restrictions (OP, rC, AU, bt referring to optical, RCA, Aux and Bluetooth respectively).
Connectivity
- optical cable
- No HDMI
- Bluetooth 5.0
The Groov-e 75 soundbar packs a handful of ports and connections. You’ll probably use the supplied optical cable to connect to a TV – there’s no HDMI support here as you’d expect at this price – although the Soundbar 75 also has RCA connections and a port Aux to connect other external devices that use a 3.5mm jack.
Bluetooth 5.0 support means you can wirelessly connect devices like your smartphone or laptop. The remote lets you cycle through the audio output modes (optical, RCA, AUX and Bluetooth), so make sure you’ve activated the correct one.
Henry St Léger / Foundry
Just be warned – the thin optical cable here has a habit of bunching up and may need some cable management so it doesn’t mess up your TV’s tidy front space.
Sound quality
- Decent wideband sound
- Built-in subwoofer
- Output 75W
- Bass/treble adjustment
Sound is the key metric for any soundbar, and it’s where the Groov-e 75 soundbar pretty much exceeds expectations. Despite its low price, cheap materials, and lack of high-end add-ons, the basic experience of listening to soundtracks, podcasts, or dialogue is a delight, with clear sound output bolstered by a built-in subwoofer. .
There may be a fraction of audio noise at higher frequencies – but hardly noticeable, I think, to the everyday listener. All in all, it’s a well-rounded and competent audio experience that doesn’t clog the driven voices of professional actors or leave them without the punchy bass necessary to add weight and tension to the background noise.
Looking at In the west, nothing is newit was obvious that the Soundbar 75 couldn’t match the surround sound setup I’d used to watch the film at the Oscars the month before – but it still offered a huge step up from the LG OLED TV I was looking at, delicately creating the flapping of a moth’s wings against overturned glass, the trampling of boots in the mud, or even bombs raining in the distance.
Henry St Léger / Foundry
The front-firing speakers are immediate and punchy, while the subwoofer packs a surprising punch for its size (and cost).
It’s worth trying the remote’s “EQ” function, which cycles through three presets with slightly varying effects. I was more comfortable on ‘E1’, finding ‘E2’ to be a bit lacking in strength, although you may find your own preference differs.
You can also adjust the bass and treble output via the remote control, on a scale of +4/-4. For maximum impact, I’d turn them both up, but if you want to avoid disturbing your neighbors, reducing the bass is an available avenue.
Henry St Léger / Foundry
Price and availability
The Groov-e 75 soundbar sells for £49.99, which sits in the middle of the Groov-e soundbar range, between the entry-level 20 soundbar (£29.99) and the premium soundbar 160 (£79.99).
It is on sale exclusively in the UK from retailers including Amazon, Robert Dyas and Currys.
For more options, check out our chart of the best soundbars.
Verdict
Budget soundbars are a tricky category – below a certain price it can be hard to tell if they really improve the sound you’d get from an average TV. However, the Groov-e Soundbar 75 manages to buck that trend with confident sound output for the price.
There are a few downsides to consider here: a subpar remote, generally cheap materials, and none of the smart features expected of a modern audio kit aside from Bluetooth.
Audio performance isn’t perfect and lacks the polish of higher-end soundbars, but the sound output is still dynamic and detailed enough to impress in £49.99 hardware – showing that Groov-e has prioritized the good part of its product when trying to keep costs low.
Specifications
- 2 full range speakers
- 1x built-in subwoofer
- Optical S/PDIF input
- USB
- To
- Bluetooth 5.0
- 10.3 x 50 x 6.5cm
- 1.68kg
- Optional wall bracket
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