SonaVERSE BX Wired Portable Speaker with USB Music Player - Cube Speaker with USB Flash Drive MP3 Input, 3.5mm AUX Port, Playback Buttons, Rechargeable 5 Hour Battery (Wired AUX Only)

Almost all portable speakers on the market today either dock with an iPhone or require bluetooth streaming to function. But I don't want to walk around with a $600 boom box (cost of phone + cost of speaker) and also don't want to rely on two devices having a full charge (phone battery + speaker battery) to stream via bluetooth. So what is a consumer to do, but a portable CD player? Enter this GOgroove self-powered speaker. Why Sony, Panasonic, et al, do not have a product like this is beyond me, it's perfect for portable music and there are 1,200 Amazon reviews for this product in the past year alone, showing very strong consumer interest. The GOgroove speaker is fantastic for portable music. The use of a standard-sized removable battery is fantastic, and it can use a Nokia BL-5C battery (which is smarter than Apple's planned obsolescence permanent battery approach). The battery charges via the included USB adapter, and you can also bring along extra batteries to the beach for music all day long -- try that with a bluetooth streaming device + phone. Extra batteries are fairly cheap. Music plays off an SD card, or a USB memory stick. It plays MP3 files only, and the files must be located in the root folder (files in subdirectories are not read by the player). I believe the SD card limit is 32GB, but have used a 16GB without a problem. The construction is very good, with an MDF (wood particle board) exterior on 5 sides and a 6th side with a volume knob and LED-lighted controls. When the unit is turned off, it will resume playing at the song at the same spot when you turn it on later; this is a great feature. The prior volume setting also resumes when the unit is switched back on. As for sound quality, it meets my expectations for a battery-powered speaker. I have a home stereo system costing many thousands, and also high-end headphones, but this is a portable speaker system, and a portable speaker system at this price will not sound like a concert hall. But it does sound pretty good! There is no high frequency speaker (tweeter), just two small speakers (one on each side of the cube) so the high frequencies are a bit flat. The bass can sound a bit muddy, but overall, for what it is, the sound is very good, and it plays fairly loud. This is perfect for a picnic lunch, in the kitchen, or a day at the beach. Note that the sound is greatly affected by where the unit is placed. If you place it near a wall, it will sound louder with more bass. In a corner, yet more bass (too much for my taste). The point is, experiment with placement, and also where you aim the speakers (face the wall, or at an angle to the wall, or parallel to the wall, etc). Experiment. Overall, after one week of use, I'm very happy with the product and would purchase again. Will update this review if anything breaks.

I got this for my mom for Christmas last year and she's been using it regularly all year. It's a great fit for what she wants to do, I was looking for something that sounded decent, was portable, had decent battery life, and the ability to play directly off storage media was a huge plus. It's generally used with one of several different smaller SD cards that each have an album on them, but she occasionally uses it with her laptop when listening to a teleseminar/podcast around the house, and it's easy to move around and take with her in the car somewhere else. It seems to last longer than 3 - 5 hour battery estimate playing from an SD card. It sounds awesome for something in the $20 - $35 bracket, I don't know that I would still recommend it at the "full retail" that Amazon shows, but it has good volume, a bit of bass, sounds quite good, and on paper, includes a lengthy 3 year warranty if you register the product with them. I haven't had any issues with it requiring contact with the manufacturer, so I can't personally comment on their responsiveness, but it sounds like others have had some good experiences with them. I'd love it if there was some way to check the battery level, and it'd be nice to have more control over media played through the USB or SD slot, but playing straight through an album works for our purposes fine. Bluetooth compatibility would substantially add to their potential audience, but wasn't something that my mom would ever use. This time last year, I think the portable speaker market was different, now there are lots of Bluetooth speakers that cost a bit more than you can get this for with decent reviews, but I'm not sure they'd sound any better. I think the charger it came with died on us after a few months of use, but being USB there are plenty of other chargers and cables we can use instead. I jumped on this near when it was first released, taking a flier on a company I hadn't heard of before, but this has exceeded my expectations in every way. After being carted around and used for more than a year, there's a bit of black paint worn off one of the corners, and I think we're out a charger, but it's held up well and everyone has been impressed by it when they hear it. I'll be keeping an eye on their other products in the future, I'm curious what their larger budget speakers sound like... One thing this has that my own more expensive Bluetooth speaker doesn't is a volume knob! I've come to realize this is an awesome thing after always having to bump the volume on my speaker up a few presses every time I pair my phone to it. Having a real volume knob means you can set it to whatever you want, and it will be that same volume next time you turn it on, sounds silly but I wish my speaker did that.

2013 May 31 Update: Raised my rating to 4 stars (like it) as over time I have grown to like this more, finding it very convenient and with decent sound volume and quality, such that I often grab it for situations where I use the audio cable for a quick hookup to a tablet or laptop for music and movies (when a Bluetooth unit is not available or handy). This is the "where it shines" use I mentioned in the original review below. *** Original review *** Since there are so many other reviews already posted, I will be brief and concentrate on what I see as the shortfalls of this system. First, let me acknowledge that the sound is pretty good. More bass than most small add on speakers for sure. But the sound also seems a bit less clean to me. And it audibly distorts at higher volumes (and this speaker can get amazingly loud.) Still the sound is good for a speaker of this type and I have no major complaints about the sound. The size and overall all appearance are also good. Everything works fine. Price is fair. Even good compared to many. So where does it fall short? Well, the charging LED is an unbelievably small LED buried in a hole on the side and hard to see in daylight. Second the power on/off switch is a bit harder than many to use. But the biggest miss is that the 3.5 mm audio input is in the cheapest to manufacture, but worst location possible, on the front, right side. It should be in the back (IMHO). As it is, it completely destroys the nice design style they had going and you have this cable sticking out and just butt ugly. In the back, lower, or even on the side in the back would have looked much, much nicer. Now, this may not bother you, of course. The other thing I would note is that although it supports SD cards and USB keys, you have very little control over how the songs are played. They basically play in the order they appear on the USB or card in the "top" location only (no folders). This greatly limits the usefulness of this feature. Still, better to have some capability than none, I guess. So this is best suited as an outboard speaker for a device that controls the playing order and, ideally, also has some equalizer functions available to tweak the sound. In that situation, I think this speaker will sound good and shine (if you can ignore the ugly cord sticking out the top right of the speaker). I used it as an outboard speaker for my tablet while watching movies and it worked very well - this is an application where it shines as this use maximizes its strengths (strong bass) and the placement can be behind and out of sight (more or less). It's 4 stars in this specific application, but I give it only 3 overall for the reasons mentioned above. If you like loud, thumping bass, add another star, because it has that going (personally I like the more balanced, cleaner sound of some of my other speakers).

This cube is lightweight and small, making it perfect for use in garages, outside, anywhere you want some music. This is not a high-end speaker player; however, it delivers a strong sound for its size. It's important to read the directions because it has some features you may want to take advantage of. The directions also state that a "burn in" time is required to get the best sound from the speaker. We charged the battery to 100% and then played the cube until a voice came on telling us the charge was low. As the speaker played, we found the sound got better so be aware of that. We put a good portion of our music on a 128 gb thumb drive and the cube worked beautifully. It also allows you to play the stick randomly or just straight through. It's easy to use, sounds good, and is highly portable. Excellent value for the money. I highly recommend.

Perfect for the price and does the job well. I got mine for twenty seven, but I see the price creeping up. The sound is very good, little to no distortion with quality mp3 songs, even at higher volumes. The speaker cube is about 4 inches by 4 inches. Smaller then I expected, but out of the package, it felt solid enough. I disagree with another reviewer claiming it felt cheaply made and flimsy. My main reason for needing and buying a portable speaker system was originally for working out & punching the bag in my garage. I was fed up with commercials and lame music on the regular radio, so after putting several songs on my new smartphone, I decided an inexpensive speaker system would come in handy for working out. I originally purchased a $10 cradle speaker at a T.J.Maxx outlet. That particular speaker was worthless, as the distortion of the speakers made it unlistenable. I went to Amazon to buy a decent system, and this was the first speaker system to pop up. The reviews were favorable so I took a chance & bought it. So far (two weeks) I am very impressed and happy with it. There are two things I really like about the speaker. First is the very good sound quality. I am listening to aggressive metal like Soulfly and Meshuggah, as well as high bass Dub Step, and the speakers are never overloaded. The only time I did hear distortion was listening to mellow Roxy Music! and that was because it was a lousy mp3 on my end. The second thing I really like about it is that my smartphone is not even needed. I bought a ten dollar 4GB micro flash drive at Staples and loaded it up with music, and easily popped it into the speaker. It couldn't be more convenient. I plan on buying another micro flash drive and Speaker System and load it up with music for my parents to use and listen to outside when they garden. The speaker can be used anywhere, yoga studios, taking it to the beach, for small apartments. I find myself carrying the speaker around to use when I'm in my bedroom and my office as well. At one point the speaker started stopping, but after recharging, it was perfect again.

In February of this year, we bought the GOgroove SonaWAVE portable speaker to use as a white noise machine in our two year old's room. We LOVED it. You could play white noise off of a flash drive, so no iPod needed to be attached. It ran off of battery power which was great for car trips, and it automatically recharged with outlet power. Plus, it had pretty good sound if we wanted to use it for music. However, we really just used it for white noise during the night. So we bought a second one in May for our newborn's nursery. But wait! Did we? It seems that this is now the GOgroove SonaVERSE, and Amazon has ported over all the positive reviews. Unfortunately, this is an inferior product for our needs. After a few hours of usage, it turns off. So when you've finally gotten your baby to sleep, it turns off at midnight and he wakes up. Then you can recharge it and get it going, only to have the entire process repeat at 3am. It's fun. When we contacted the company, they told us that they had built a "feature" to protect the battery that ensures the speaker runs off of batteries even if plugged in. Then, once the battery dies, it just turns off. Even if it's plugged into the wall. BRILLIANT. Below is the email from their warranty service representative: "We say your speaker is operating normally becuase the speaker is deisgned to protect the battery. Once a full charge is recognized, the speaker shuts itself off from the power in the cable and runs off battery power. This is why the speaker will stay on for 6-7 hours before dieing. Given your use of the speaker, we understand how this could be cumbersome. Rest assured however, your speaker is running as intended." So now we have an awesome speaker if you want to listen to it for 3 hours - and a make-my-baby-cry-machine for anything beyond that. If they let us return it, I'll update my post to reflect positively on their customer service (which was at least prompt), but if you are thinking about using this for music or white noise while sleeping, don't.

The good: Honestly "for the money" it sounds pretty good. Also surprisingly heavy. I've not opened mine but I'm half expecting to see a lead weight in it. It doesn't get super loud but for sitting a few feet away at a reasonable volume, it has a nice full sound without being too muddy in most music. Spoken word can be slightly "boomy" at times. The volume knob feels pretty good, it's smooth and linear. Line in and USB work but USB has some issues for my particular use case. I've not tried running it off the battery, but I'm glad to see it can run directly off Mini USB power without the battery installed. Like... overall, happy with the purchase.... But... The bad: While I like this little speaker overall, there are some things that are annoying about it. I originally got this to insert a USB flash drive and have it play 1 guided meditation MP3 for me as I went to bed. However, it will just play it over and over on a loop, there is no way to change that. It also has a dang blue LED inside it behind the buttons along with a very bright red LED on the side. Fine for daytime use, but bad for night time use. Also it will not play anything off the USB stick if you turn it on with the USB already inserted. Instead, you have to power it on, wait a few moments THEN insert it and it will start playing. I was hoping I could crawl into bed, power it on, and it play the 1 MP3 then stop. So instead I have a CD player plugged into the line-in. It plays the 1 track then shuts off. A low tech solution but it works. I also found that while playing an MP3 if I turned it up too loud while running off USB power, it will eventually reset and restart. I think it's a power brown out. Not sure if it would do this running on battery. In the end, I think if you want something that can play music at a reasonable quality that's for personal listening or like background music in a bedroom this is fine. It also has a shuffle function that I think would be super useful, but I've not tested it. I love that it has a removable battery and can run directly off USB power should you want to. USB-C would have been ideal, even if it's "FAKE" USB-C that does a "dumb fallback" to 5V like so many other no-brand devices from China. For the money there may be better options, but having a removable battery is a big bonus for me. Hope this was helpful.

Purchased for use with a tablet, phone and mp3 players and so on, for personal use around my apartment, social settings, camping, etc. Sound - the speakers on each side and the small echo chamber on the back give clear sound in every direction. Distortion only at very high levels and its loud and clear enough that I never turn it high enough to have that problem. Nice treble and bass, I am not an audiophile so I can't give you a comparative review but it sounds much better (and better priced) than comparable portable speakers suck as the jam speakers. I've yet to use it in a party or camping setting, but I'm confident it will perform just as well. Size/portability - it really is surprising how something that sounds so nice can be so small and light, and the rechargeable battery just makes it that much better. Tuck it anywhere, its no bigger than a tissue box. Battery - it does get an average 3-5 hours, of course I wish it could be longer because I use it so much but when the LED flickers and the sound stutters just plug it will still run while charging. The door to the battery compartment doesn't close flush on mine when the battery is inserted (its probable that the battery is OEM) but I like that its replaceable in case it eventually wears out. Aesthetic - classy and classic black goes with any decor. The LED light is only on the front between the buttons and the rest is blue accent (I had thought from the photo all of the blue was LED but its no bother). My only qualm is I would have liked the buttons/indicators on the front to either be LED also or a higher contrast paint, they're a bit hard to see. Features - I prefer the aux in (3.5mm m/m cable included) to bluetooth for a few reasons: better clarity & no lost signal, more uses since not all of my devices have Bluetooth - for that matter anyone can plug in and share their own tunes easily (very fun to do at parties) and less drain on a battery. Plus since this is cordless you don't need Bluetooth for portability. There is the con of tethering your device to the speaker but if it bothers you that much just stick in a flash drive or SD card instead and the speaker is all you need. Purchasing Experience - great price, arrived promptly & perfectly, and the seller sent a very courteous follow up email checking on my experience & satisfaction. Overall I love it and all its awesome features, I definitely recommend it and I will be buying more stuff from them :-)

This 12cm cube plays mp3 files from a USB thumb drive via its own speaker . It does nothing else. No other file types are playable. No wifi, no blue tooth, no headphone jack. It has AUX line-in to play the output of a different device via 3.5 mimi jack. Such as a phone, for example. Most, if not all, of the above is reasonably apparent from the listing description. As such, there can be no real complaint. The sound is adequate. The power source is a rechargeable battery which lasts for about 3 hours max. If you research the device you will find references to an identical looking device which accepts an SD card. This is not that device. It is impossible to establish or to control the order in which it chooses to play the tracks on the USB drive. After it is turned off it will next time play the last listened to track but from the beginning. However, if it is left to play through a number of tracks it becomes apparent that the order is infuriatingly random. Literally, random. No order can be figured out. Using the << or >> controls produces increasingly unpredicatable results. The playback order will constantly change. It is impossible to determine what data relating to any track is being read by the device to determine what it will play next. Weird. Whether this is an issue is perhaps a matter for the individual. Over the last 2 weeks I have begun to find this increasingly annoying. It is probably best left to play through the tracks uninterupted as far as possible. That all said, the GoGroove does a decent job of fulfiling its very specific capabilites. There are few, if any, specific rivals at this price point and it might be exactly what you are looking for. Just understand clearly what it does and does not do.

Es muy buen altavoz, el sonido es brillante, para mí gusto algo tirando a agudo/medio lógicamente porque si dispusiera de mayores sonidos graves se acortaría sustancialmente la duración de la batería. La nomenclatura de la batería recargable no dura demasiado, insisto es normal por sus 6 wts RMS. 3+3 y si os encantais con el volumen decidle adiós a la carga. Para enmendar esto he comprado 2 baterías XHDATA de 1.500 mA. que las tenéis aquí en Amazon XHDATA ( BL5C ) y un cargador externo donde cargar dichas baterías y os aseguro que no os arrepentiréis. Una cosa que me hubiera gustado en el altavoz es la posibilidad de acentuar o atenuar los agudos/graves. Una cosa negativa a mi parecer es el sistema de encendido/apagado que lo veo algo endeble. La forma de meter la batería o quitarla es una simple ranura con la que hay que extremar precaución con la tapita muy delicada. Si carga es aún por MINI USB, arcaico ya, pero bueno.... Yo cargo las baterías fuera con un cargador externo, mientras una está dentro del altavoz dando servicio las otras las voy cargando fuera. Conclusión: está muy bien, buen sonido, calidad/precio no está mal. Recomendado.

Handliche kleine Lautsprecherbox mit Akku zum Laden über USB. Über den gelieferten Klinkenstecker wurde der Kontakt mit einem Tablet am Kopfhörerausgang hergestellt. Das Abspielen eines USB-Sticks funktionierte auch. Stärken hat die Box bei der Wiedergabe von Stimmen (Vortrag): klar und verständlich mit einem angenehmen Klang. Popmusik war auch zufriedenstellend. Die Wiedergabe von Klassik und Jazz war für den Würfel wohl etwas zu komplex und leicht blechern und damit nur ausreichend. Nachvollziehbar bei der Größe! Ein Raum mit ca. 30 Leuten und 70 m² ließ sich brauchbar beschallen. Würde ich mir wieder kaufen. Über die Haltbarkeit kann ich noch nichts sagen.

Volume does not works and there is not sd card slot. In regards to the above product which I have purchased , I could not able to increase or decrease the volume in the speaker, Secondly there is no sd card slot in the speaker. Please feedback and give the positive reply in this regard. regards, a.krishnaswamy

Ce qui n'a l'air que d'un "bidule" est tout simplement génial ! Il fait un peu moins d'un dm3 mais avec ses deux HP latéraux il est stéreo et le son n'est pas mal du tout. Il peut être relié au PC par un câble traditionnel avec prise jack 3,5 mm ou à une clé USB de 32 GB. La sélection des titres est aisée avec les boutons en façade. Idem pour le volume. Les diodes de fonctionnement et de chargement sont visibles et de différentes couleurs. Son alimentation par batterie interchangeable le rend parfaitement portable et, en principe, durable. Il est livré avec câble de rechargement et câble avec prise jack. Que demander de plus pour un tel prix ? J'ignore quelle sera la durabilité réelle, mais pour l'instant je suis très satisfait.