GGMM E5 WiFi Bluetooth Speaker w/Alexa Review

GGMM E5 WiFi Bluetooth Speaker w/Alexa Review

Buy it at Amazon: GGMM E5 WiFi Bluetooth Speaker w/Alexa [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: Great sound quality and design, GGMM app doesn't support Pandora but you can use one that does.

You'll receive the speaker, a carrying strap, a 5' long universal power adapter with US style plug, and instruction manual and an Alexa quick tips card. This compact speaker weighs just under 3 pounds and it measures 10.25" x 5.5" x 1.5". The materials used are high quality from the durable plastic shell to the metal speaker grille in the front. One the base are two rubber feet and on top you have the controls set in a brushed stainless steel panel with machined aluminum knobs and buttons. On the back you have the 1 A output USB port for charging devices, WiFi pairing button, power port, and Aux-in port.

The unit takes 3-4 hours to charge the internal battery which can last up to 15 hours of playback depending on volume level. The leatherette carrying strap is 15" in length and has metal strap ends. The instruction manual, while thick, is actually quite brief.

Connecting over Bluetooth was straightforward. The sound from the speaker is really nice. At medium bass and treble it has a good balance across the ranges. I like that if the balance is off, you can adjust the treble or bass independently right on the speaker. What surprised me is that for a speaker this size, it had no trouble reproducing a tight thumping bass and rumbling lows; that said, you have to pass a certain volume threshold and play around a bit with the EQ knobs to really hear those come forward. With the four 5 Watt drivers and reflex bass, the quality of the audio is very clean and clear with sparkling trebles and fully supported midranges. Even at max volume there was very little distortion unless you also maxed out the bass and treble gain, and the E5 provides plenty of sound to fill a mid-sized room.

The other way to connect and stream to the speaker is over your home WiFi network.The GGMM E-series music app lets you stream from a handful internet radio stations like TuneIn, IHeartRadio, and Spotify, although you'll need a premium subscription to stream Spotify. When using TuneIn you can favorite stations by long pressing the heart button, but I wasn't able to do this with IHeartRadio, or Spotify. To set these as favorites, you'll have to manually add them in the app. I was able to stream Pandora using a different app by iLive. You can save up to 6 total stations and cycle through them without using the app by pressing the heart button on top of the speaker at any time, even without launching the app. The speaker should automatically reconnect with your WiFi network each time it is powered on and switched into WiFi mode.

In WiFi mode you can also use the Amazon Alexa feature. The speaker isn't always listening the way the Amazon Echo does. You'll have to press the microphone button on the top of the speaker. If you have multiple GGMM E-series speakers on the same network you can control each one separately and play something different in each room, or sync them up to play the same exact thing on each speaker. You can even link them up to play separate left and right channels for a true stereo experience. You can even set each speaker to play separate left and right channels for true stereo playback.

Overall, the E5 gets high marks for sound quality and design. The speaker looks and feels high-end and produces great audio however, the app doesn't support Pandora, though you can work around this by using a different one.

Buy it at Amazon: GGMM E5 WiFi Bluetooth Speaker w/Alexa [Affiliate Link]