Review: Creative Sound Blaster Roar (SR20A)

Creative Sound Blaster Roar (SR20A)
MRP: Rs 16,000

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 audio equipment. Changing with the times, the company has got a series of portable Bluetooth speakers to cater to the mobile consumer. The Sound Blaster Roar was released earlier this year, representing the pinnacle of this series and is the de facto flagship in this category. Like all flagships, this one also comes at its premium pricing. Whether or not it’s worth the buy has been covered in this review, so read on.

Box Contents

• Creative Sound Blaster Roar
• Micro-USB cable
• Power adapter
• User guide
• Warranty card

While it comes with almost everything, Creative have missed out on providing a stereo audio cable, which could have come handy when wireless connectivity is not an option for the audio source.

Features

The graphite coloured Creative Sound Blaster Roar is a solidly build one piece speaker with minimalistic design and yet intimidating looks, thanks to the rugged grills covering most of the body. Most of the top, front, and the front part of the bottom is covered with curved grill, with the Creative logo adorning the front. Two grills are present on the left and the right. With dimensions of 57.0 x 202.0 x 115.0 mm, this is a rather compact speaker, although the weight of 1.1 kg may make it a little difficult to carry it around. Creative also has a carry bag for this speaker (purchased separately), which is like a wire mesh that may not protect the speaker, but allow you to carry it and even play without taking it out.

Underneath the grills are five drivers powered by two high-performance amplifiers. There is also a built-in top-firing subwoofer to produce thumping bass. One of the amplifiers is dedicated to driving the mids and lows, while the other solely takes care of the high frequencies. Creative has employed this approach for the Roar to be able to produce well-balanced audio.

A rubberized panel covers the speaker starting from the top rear curving around the rear to the bottom rear. In addition to the power and volume control buttons, there is the Bluetooth connect button, which also works as a call receive/end button during calling. The ROAR button amplifies the audio, basically making everything louder. An NFC icon is also present at one end where an NFC device can be tapped to connect. There are several LED indicators on this part: ROAR on/off, Bluetooth connect on/off, Record on/off, and three battery level LEDs.

There are quite a few more ports and buttons on the back.

In addition to the power adapter socket, there is a stereo auxiliary in to connect to wired sources when wireless is not an option. A full USB port is provided and it serves well with the internal 6000 mAh battery charging your USB devices when you are running out of juice and have no other charging option. A micro-USB port is present, which lets you connect the Roar to a PC/Mac for charging the speaker’s battery. There is also a micro SD card slot, which can hold music in MP3, WMA, and WAV formats to play directly on the speaker. The memory card also serves to hold recordings made from the Roar.



The Roar also serves as an audio recorder and a call recorder when it is used as a speakerphone coupled with your mobile phone. The recording happens in the micro SD card. The microphone can be muted with a mute button if necessary. The next group of buttons is to control playback of music from the micro SD card. The LS mode switch allows you to select the Bluetooth connection security mode as I will explain later in the performance section. A largish Alarm button switches on and off the proprietary TeraBass feature, which results in enhanced bass. This button produces a siren sound when long pressed with the adjacent switch set to ARM.

Two rubber strips at the bottom help firmly ground the speaker on a flat surface and to prevent it from moving around during music playback.

When the Roar is connected to a PC/Mac with the data cable, the memory card reader becomes accessible as a mass storage device to which you can transfer files or copy files from. Creative has also thrown in an additional almost hidden feature over here. On connecting to a PC/Mac, the Roar starts working as a USB audio device, thus allowing you to play sounds from your PC/Mac. This is particularly appealing when connected to a notebook computer. You can also download additional software from Creative to get a control panel to control the audio settings.

Performance

The Creative Roar was fairly easy to set up with Bluetooth as well as with wired connections. I tried a variety of music genres as well as a few movies and found that it performed well in everything that was thrown at it. Audio clarity is excellent and this really shines during movies playback where dialogues are very clear even when there is so much else going around.

The bass reproduction is very good for a speaker this size, although it would be asking a little too much to expect the same punch as from a speaker set with a dedicated subwoofer. The ROAR and TeraBass really work as expected.

As far as stereo separation is concerned, it can be perceived as long as you are within 1.5 m from the speaker. The stereo image is lost as you go farther. Nevertheless, the Roar is able to fill a medium to large-sized room, thanks to its unbelievably loud volume. The audio gets a little harsh at the highest volume level.

Bluetooth Performance
The Bluetooth range was found to be around 10 m as claimed by Creative. This does reduce when there are wall obstructions or if the source signal is not strong enough. Connecting to Bluetooth is child’s play and involves simple pairing. Alternatively, you can opt for the NFC option by simply tapping your NFC source device on the area near the NFC logo on the Roar. The LS or Link Security modes allow you to restrict access to the speaker via Bluetooth. Mode 1 (default) allows quick access to several previously paired sources by simply clicking “Connect” in the source. Mode 2 restricts access to only two source devices at a time. When switched off, the Roar becomes discoverable even when paired with a source device and can be easily paired with another device. This mode is pretty useful at a party or a business meeting for anyone to connect to the Roar and share music instantly.

As far as the audio quality is concerned, songs played over Bluetooth seemed to sound on par with the same being played using a stereo cable connection. The Bluetooth pairing button also serves as a Play/Pause button. The volume buttons on the Roar work independently of the volume buttons on the source device.

Speakerphone Performance
The Roar performs just as well even as a speakerphone. The calls were very clear at both ends. The user needs to sit within a couple of meters from the speaker for better clarity to the other side.

Battery Life

Creative is not far from the mark as the speaker lasted for around 8 hours when playing the music via Bluetooth at normal volume level. The battery life decreased by around an hour and a half when the volume was maxed, and the ROAR and TeraBass switched on.

My Verdict

The Creative Sound Blaster Roar lives the hype that was created at its launch. With its performance at its price range, this speaker has hardly any competition, spare the Bose SoundLink Mini, which is smaller, but still cannot match the performance of the Roar. For those looking for a lifestyle portable Bluetooth speaker with great features combined with performance, the Creative Sound Blaster Roar is the way to go.

Pros: Excellent audio quality, Looks good and built very well, Good battery backup, Packed with features to the gills.
Cons: No FM radio, No stereo cable, Heavy to carry around.

Ratings
Features: 4/5
Performance: 4.5/5
Ease Of Use: 4.5/5
Value For Money: 3.5/5
Overall Rating: 4/5