Price: Rs 18,000
Creative has been in the home audio scene since quite some time. For those of you who have had PCs around a couple of decades back, Creative was the only quality option for a multimedia pack consisting of a CD-ROM drive, SoundBlaster sound card, and 2.0 stereo desktop speakers. The company has come a long way since then but it still produces some of the best stereo desktop speakers. The new T50 Wireless, as the name suggests, are wireless speakers – that is they work with Bluetooth devices as the audio source. Unlike the modest stereo speakers a couple of decades back, these are premium lifestyle speakers and are also priced as such. Read on to find out if they are really worth the extra expense.
Design and Features
The Creative T50 Wireless is essentially a stereo speaker system. Before I actually had a look at the product, I was under the impression that these are tiny speakers. However, when I received the box and opened it, I found them to be surprisingly large. While they are still good enough to be used besides a desktop PC monitor, they may be too large to use around your laptop as their height of 31.6 cm will dwarf any average size laptop screen. That being said, their relatively modest footprint of 9.1 cm x 19.6 cm shouldn’t worry you too much.
Made up of strong polymer, these speakers sport an all-black look with a glossy front and matte surface on other sides. The detachable base stands have tiny rubber feet below to keep them grounded when they vibrate. There are three exposed speakers in the form of a silk dome silver-rimmed central tweeter flanked by two yellow-rimmed (made of woven glass fibre) mid-range drivers – one each at the top and the bottom. The overall speaker configuration is angled slightly upwards to deliver audio slightly upwards, rather than to the front. This MTM (mid-range tweeter mid-range) configuration is aimed to make it suitable for all music genres.
Made up of strong polymer, these speakers sport an all-black look with a glossy front and matte surface on other sides. The detachable base stands have tiny rubber feet below to keep them grounded when they vibrate. There are three exposed speakers in the form of a silk dome silver-rimmed central tweeter flanked by two yellow-rimmed (made of woven glass fibre) mid-range drivers – one each at the top and the bottom. The overall speaker configuration is angled slightly upwards to deliver audio slightly upwards, rather than to the front. This MTM (mid-range tweeter mid-range) configuration is aimed to make it suitable for all music genres.
The BasXPort at the top is meant to make up for the lack of a separate sub-woofer to reproduce low frequency sounds. This port is connected via a tube to the large acoustic enclosure of the satellite to deliver rich bass output even without a sub.
The front of the left speaker has three chrome knobs to adjust Bass, Treble, and Volume. A 3.5 mm headphone socket has also been provided below these knobs, which is flanked on the left and the right by white LED backlit buttons for power and Bluetooth pairing respectively.
Do not let the “Wireless” moniker fool you into thinking that these are portable battery operated speakers. As mentioned earlier, the Creative T50 Wireless is a 2.0 stereo wired speaker with the additional option of Bluetooth wireless connectivity. This connectivity can be exercised either by means of traditional pairing, or it can be easily triggered by the NFC feature, which the speaker set boasts of. Creative has even put up the NFC logo atop the speaker to drive this point home, in case you didn’t notice. Despite the “Wireless” moniker, they still require wires to connect to each other and to a power source as well as an analogue source (if required instead of wireless).
The left satellite has a cord that goes to plug into the right satellite. Its length of 1.5 m is sufficient for most practical purposes. A power adapter also plugs into the right speaker. Just so you know, the power cord is also quite long at 3.3 m, which is long enough to reach far off wall sockets. Additionally, there is a 3.5 mm stereo input jack to accept analogue audio source connection if Bluetooth is unavailable.
Performance
The speaker performance did not disappoint at all. The T50 can fill up your living room with rich audio, which is surprising coming from a speaker set this size. I tried out different genres of music and there wasn’t a single genre that disappointed. The high, mid, and lows retain their clarity even at high volume levels without any distortion.
Do not let the “Wireless” moniker fool you into thinking that these are portable battery operated speakers. As mentioned earlier, the Creative T50 Wireless is a 2.0 stereo wired speaker with the additional option of Bluetooth wireless connectivity. This connectivity can be exercised either by means of traditional pairing, or it can be easily triggered by the NFC feature, which the speaker set boasts of. Creative has even put up the NFC logo atop the speaker to drive this point home, in case you didn’t notice. Despite the “Wireless” moniker, they still require wires to connect to each other and to a power source as well as an analogue source (if required instead of wireless).
The left satellite has a cord that goes to plug into the right satellite. Its length of 1.5 m is sufficient for most practical purposes. A power adapter also plugs into the right speaker. Just so you know, the power cord is also quite long at 3.3 m, which is long enough to reach far off wall sockets. Additionally, there is a 3.5 mm stereo input jack to accept analogue audio source connection if Bluetooth is unavailable.
Performance
The speaker performance did not disappoint at all. The T50 can fill up your living room with rich audio, which is surprising coming from a speaker set this size. I tried out different genres of music and there wasn’t a single genre that disappointed. The high, mid, and lows retain their clarity even at high volume levels without any distortion.
The BasXPort cannot match a dedicated subwoofer, but it still manages to hold its own against one. The bass is impressive when compared to any other 2.0 speaker system without a subwoofer.
When spaced out at 1.5 m from each other, which is the maximum, the speakers deliver directional sound at up to 10 m, which is quite good.
The speakers are good for music as well as for movies, so I won’t be surprised if you pair them with your TV and set up a mini home theatre using these little babies.
NFC connects instantly like a charm, as expected. Traditional Bluetooth connectivity also works great, although it takes a substantially longer time to set it up as compared to NFC. The Bluetooth range is moderate and starts breaking down beyond 5 m.
One of the annoying things about these speakers is its power saving feature that cannot be turned off. The speakers automatically switch off after just 10 minutes of inactivity, which will be frustrating to many.
My Verdict
The Creative T50 Wireless is no doubt an excellent performer across the audio range. It performs exceptionally well even in the low frequency range, considering that there is no dedicated sub involved. The audio clarity, clarity, and soundstage performance is amazing for its size. Being a lifestyle speaker set, it also looks good. NFC option provides hassle free connectivity with compatible sources. Of course, it is too pricey at Rs 18,000, which is the only and the main deal breaker for me, and I think it would be for you as well. All said and done, it is for those who have got the dough to throw.
Pros: Great performance, Good looks, NFC.
Cons: Moderate Bluetooth range, Very pricey.
Features: 4
Build and looks: 4.5
Performance: 4.5
Value for money: 2.5
Overall rating: 3.5
No comments:
Post a Comment