Goodmans Aspect Soundbar Review

I feel the need, the need for SOUND, BASS in the place Ceiber, It’s another sound system from Goodmans and by golly Goodmans have done it again.

Goodmans has gone from, not worth my cash, too, total respect, quality, great designs, not to mention, great sound quality from their devices. Now we have been offered the chance to review the new Goodmans Aspect 2.0 Soundbar, so let’s check out the specifications first;

• 2.0 CHANNEL COMPACT AND HOME SPEAKER
• ADVANCED SPEAKER TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATIVE ACOUSTIC DESIGN
• DIGITAL AUDIO PROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY OPTIMISES SOUND FOR VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ORIENTATIONS
• STREAM MUSIC VIA BLUETOOTH
• NFC TAP & PAIR
• LINE IN AND OPTICAL CONNECTIONS
• PATENTED MAGNETIC BASE

The Box and it’s contents

Now let move on to the packaging, as it’s always the first thing we see, when we order anything, or what we see when we head to a shop display.

The front showcases the Aspect in all its glory, as it literally covers the front panel, with the Bluetooth logo and something unique to Goodmans and its design idea, ‘Powerful Dual Orientation Home Speaker Soundbar’. I shall go into more detail about this feature when we have finished discussing the packaging.

Side One, features all the specifications I mentioned above and some information about, what you will get inside the box, which includes the following items

• Aspect
• Power Adaptor
• Remote Control
• Quick Start Guide

Side Two, features pictures of the aspect Soundbar standing vertical and horizontal, with a brief description, ‘Providing superb sound anywhere, A unique dual format home speaker that can be placed horizontally or vertical depending on space and situation’.

The back, features, yet again, the Aspect in its vertical and horizontal position as well as a much closer and larger view of the Aspect.. The back provides a lot more information about the Aspect, which includes more connection options and what the speaker will be good for, ‘Movies, Games and Music’.

After we open the box, you will find that the Aspect is nice and safe, snuggled in between strong foam packaging, while the Aspect its self is wrapped in foam wrap, nothing will damage this speaker. Shall we test this theory, is it really well protected inside the box?, lets play some Rugby with the Box, Joking, even if this box was thrown around of dropped my the warehouse or delivery person, you can be sure, that no damage will come to your new piece of kit.

Setting up is childsplay

Setting the speaker up is easy as 1, 2, 3 choosing the connection is your first choice, Bluetooth, NFC, Optical Out, Coaxial, AUX, and RCA. For me it was Bluetooth via my laptop. The laptop speaker on the MSI GS70 suck, which is nothing new for any laptop, they all suck, so I am hoping the Goodmans Aspect will improve the sound experience the games I play deserved.

Now before the speaker arrived, I already did some homework, reading previous reviews, and the majority of them said it was not LOUD and did not have that much BASS.

Well, I can tell you now, one theory is wrong, LOUDNESS, I have set the sound level output to 100% via the sound control panel on my Laptop, and I turned the speaker on, not thinking that the speaker could also be set to 100%, I found myself pinned to my office wall, the sound from it was ‘IMMENCE’, It was like being a super storm.

So I tried a different approach set the speaker to 100% and set the sound level output at 16% via the sound control panel, perfect, I could sit down and listen to tunes and play games. Now that is only at 16%, think for yourselves how loud it would be at 20% and 50% upwards, impressive right.

I even tested the sound via its NFC connection using my HTC One, and again I found, the sound level just about right at 20%. I have to wonder what these review sites where testing the speaker with, to have such bad experience.

The BASS was the other issue they complained about, well to be honest, there is no bass tube, if they did add a base tube to the design, it could and maybe would improve the low level frequencies. For what it offers out of the box, though, I honestly found nothing much wrong with it, yes, I admit, it was not to the standard of the Goodmans Base, but why would it be, the Goodmans Base was designed for BASE and a true Cinematic experience, the Aspect was not.

Now what does Goodmans mean by ‘Powerful Dual Orientation Home Speaker Soundbar’ well, I have no idea how the tech guys done this, but for some reason, depending on how you use the speaker, the sound will alter.

It’s a kind of Magic

As an example, let say you have the speaker set horizontal, but had the speaker aspect set up for vertical, you would still have sound coming through, but it would seem to be missing something, bass, but you would not know this, unless you played with the Aspect button on the controller.

Somehow, don’t know how, magic, maybe, by altering the aspect of the speaker and the aspect on the controller, the sound coming through the speaker changes totally. Its a bloody mystery to me, how this happens, but god damn, it works and it made me wonder, HOW!

A Perfect Design that shines Quaility

The quality and design of the speaker, looks and feels rather simplistic, it’s a tube with sound and looks very nice, I would say it oozes quality and expense. The magnetic base is unique to the Goodmans Aspect, and it manages to hold the speaker in place perfectly, which ever ay to decide to use the speaker vertical or horizontal.

Be warned though an earthquake, a push of the speaker, a brief gust of wind, while the speaker is it is vertical, will leave it horizontal, no magnet is that strong, but overall, it does what it is supposed to do.

I have streamed music from Rock to Dance/Trance, all of the music came through nice and clear. When playing games, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, is my current game I am playing the socks off, everything is audible. Nothing, however, can beat a good set of headphones with virtual Surround Sound implemented. Maybe one day Goodmans will send me a Surround Sound Speaker to use next, then I can come back to you and tell you what my experience was like with a speaker that bounces audio off the walls to create a 3D sound scape.

Overall: Impressive

Overall, Goodmans, have proven they can make a quality product and should not be ignored anymore for the likes of Sony and Panasonic, the Aspect packs a lot and does a lot, it is impressive, shines quality and looks expensive, can fit anywhere around the room, as long as its near the device you wish to use it with.

Just Buy it, don’t think about it, its £99 RRP so you most likely get it for less in retail shops, if you want BASS then go for the Goodmans Base, both bloody awesome products and not to be ignored.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.