Klipsch products are never just about the sound. They are also selling you a look, a craftsmanship, a style. And when Klipsch sells a portable bluetooth speaker, you can expect a good combination of style and sound – the Heritage Groove portable bluetooth speaker. It retails at S$269.
Unboxing
- Heritage Groove speaker
- 5W Power adapter
- Micro-USB cable (~20cm)
- User manual
Build quality and design
The Heritage Groove speaker is a beauty of a speaker. I have the black color model and it really looks very premium. The top and bottom of the speaker is made from real wood veneer (but not as obvious if you got the brown model). The buttons are found at the top of the speaker, made from premium spun metal. And the rest of the speaker is covered by a metal grille with a combination of black, gold and white accents – giving the speaker a classic rock look yet having a modern touch to it. The best way to describe it is “mid-century vintage vibes”.
Accompanying the beautiful design is quality craftsmanship. The Heritage Groove speaker has some heft to it at 990 grams, feels great in your hands and it is also built very well. No finicky buttons or loose parts, everything is made from top quality materials as expected from a Klipsch product.
However, the Heritage Groove speaker does not come with any water resistance rating. I do not recommend bring this to the beach or pool side. But if you’re hosting a house party then this will do its job.
Tech specs
- Amplifier output: 20W Peak
- Driver: 3” aluminium full-range high excursion (x1)
- Passive bass radiator: Side firing (x2)
- Battery life: 8 hours (per full charge)
- Dimensions: 12.7cm * 15.2cm * 6.7cm (H * W * D)
- Weight: 990g
Connectivity and controls
You can connect your devices to the Heritage Groove speaker in two ways – Bluetooth or AUX. It is unsure what version of Bluetooth the speaker uses, but connection has been pretty good when I was using it at home. Despite AUX-in being available as an input, Klipsch did not include an AUX cable.
The top of the Heritage Groove speaker has almost every buttons you need – pause/play, volume, switching between inputs, etc – except skipping of tracks. Do note that the moment you switch your input from Bluetooth to AUX, the connected Bluetooth device will automatically be disconnected.
Battery life
The Heritage Groove speaker is rated at 8 hours of playtime on a full charge, which is just decent. As for charging, there do not seem to be a fast charging mode on this. And sadly, the Heritage Groove speaker is using micro-USB. The supplied micro-USB cable is super short that you may have to rest the speaker on the chair in order to level the speaker to your power point.
Sound quality
The Klipsch sound was always known for being bright and focused in the upper frequencies. Right from the get go I’m going to tell you not to expect boomy reverberating bass from the Heritage Groove speaker. Besides, for a speaker this size, it is normal not to expect deep bass. Bass on the Heritage Groove will come across as punchy and snappy enough to get you but if you’re into EDM, then your bass drops aren’t gonna be so epic anymore. Playing ‘Money for Nothing by Dire Straits’ on both the Heritage Groove and JBL Charge 3, you can tell that the Charge 3 definitely has more bass response than the Heritage Groove due to its larger bass radiators and size.
But for the mids and highs, this is a different story. The Heritage Groove speaker shines in this regards, providing you a level of clarity that you cannot really find in speakers of this size and price. Midrange is detailed and clear, while treble is bright and crisp. Overall, the Heritage Groove speaker gives you a very clean and clear audio experience. Again, you can compare the playback on both speakers with ‘The Immortal by Evanescence’ – the Heritage Groove outshines the Charge 3 with clarity and sparkle.
Another surprising thing about this portable Heritage Groove speaker is how loud it can get. Rated at just 20W peak, I wasn’t expecting much but when I cranked it up to the highest volume I was amazed at how loud it could get with little to no distortions.
However, I have noticed that the Heritage Groove speaker starts to falls short on sound separation on songs that have a lot going on together with the singing. Tracks like ‘Bright Lights Bigger City by CeeLo Green’ have lots of arrangements in their chorus, and the Heritage Groove is unable to distinctly play out each type of sound. Again when compared the JBL Charge 3, the Charge 3 has a better ability to cleanly separate the background tracks. However, do note that the JBL Charge 3 is a bigger speaker and has larger bass radiators. However, if you were to listen to the portion before the chorus, on both songs, the Heritage Groove is able to deliver the vocals across with more detail and shine than the Charge 3.
Microphone
The Heritage Groove speaker was recently updated to include a built-in microphone for hands-free calls. And from my testing, the microphone is pretty good – your voice comes out clear. Even when I had the TV playing in my leaving room, the microphone was still able to pick up my voice clearly when I was speaking at one arm’s length apart. You can definitely pick up calls on the Heritage Groove speaker without worry about clarity.
Conclusion
To appreciate the Heritage Groove speaker, you need to understand that this speaker isn’t for the all-purpose use like the JBL’s or Ultimate Ear’s, where they have the ability to get soaked, dropped or get dusted by sand. The Heritage Groove is a speaker that also sells you its aesthetic, a design for your room. It’s not meant to be brought around outside with you, but it sure as hell looks gorgeous sitting on a bookshelf or a table top.
The Heritage Groove speaker is not one with gravitating bass response. As such, only choose the Heritage Groove based on the type of music and media you listen to. The Heritage Groove is great for jazz, classical, acoustic, general pop, and even podcasts. The level of detail and clarity is superb for a speaker of its size.
At S$269, it isn’t cheap so you really have know whether what the Heritage Groove offers – detailed crisp mids and highs with gorgeous design but slight inflexibility in use scenarios – is up your alley.
Where to buy
You can buy the Heritage Groove speaker direct from TC Acoustics, where they have slight discount so you can get it for S$239.