CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER ROAR Big sound from a compact system

A small and light Bluetooth wireless speaker with natural sounding audio and amazing bass

ASMALLER and lighter Sound Blaster Roar 2! Yes, Creative Technology has debuted a new variant of its widely popular Sound Blaster Roar portable Bluetooth wireless speaker. The all new Sound Blaster Roar 2 Bluetooth wireless speaker (let me simply call it Roar 2) retains the same 5 speaker drivers, electrical design, and battery life as the previous Roar— but is now 20% smaller and 10% lighter. It is available in black colour and retails for an affordable R16,999.

Out of the box, the Roar 2 speaker is bound to impress, whether it is used at an office party or a family gathering. Personally speaking, the new Creative device reminds me of an expensive radio set (no larger than a booklet) of the 80s; an era when listening to radio used to be widely popular. Switched on and connected to my mobile phone, I played some songs from it and it emits powerful audio with thumping bass. The Creative speaker’s passive bass radiators pulsate mesmerisingly—users cannownotonlyhearthebass,but they can actually feel and see the powerful bass in action.

The Roar 2 comes with two all new features not found on the original Sound Blaster Roar: increased flexibility with additional placement and acoustic options. Users can choose between placing the speaker horizontally for room-filling and balanced audio, or vertically for louder and more directed audio. The speaker features an integrated MicroSD WMA and MP3 player that allows users to play audio directly from a MicroSD card, so users do not need to always commit their smartphone to just playing music. The player even allows users to skip music folders so that they can navigate to their songs faster without having to tediously cycle through all their individual tracks.

The Sound Blaster Roar 2 is not just a wireless speaker for smart devices. Users can connect it to their PCs or Macs via USB to enjoy clear digital audio for their desktops or laptops. With its built-in high quality microphone providing for clear 360 degree voice pickup, the Roar 2 is able to take calls when connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth. It features an integrated voice recorder that utilises the speaker’s built-in microphone, allowing for versatile one-touch recording of all kinds of audio-calls,externalvoices,or streamed music—directly to an insertable MicroSD card. The feature is ideal for recording voice memos, interviews, teleconferencing sessions, and business meetings. Among other features, the speaker is able to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth; it utilises the aptX and AAC codecs for high quality audio and low latency. It features near-field communication (NFC) technology, allowing users to quickly and easily connect to Bluetooth devices, requiring only a simple tap from an NFC-enabled smart device to the speaker to pair and establish a connection. Users can also connect two Bluetooth devices to the Sound Blaster Roar 2 simultaneously. There is one feature of this Creative innovation which really impressed me. In Bedtime Mode, the Roar 2 gradually reduces its volume before automatically shutting down. The feature allows users to be gently and gradually lulled to sleep, and at the same time preserves the speaker’s battery by turning it off after a predetermined time, instead of leaving it switched on for the whole night. Parents of young children would also appreciate the feature—they can record themselves reading out a bedtime story, and play the recording back to their children as they are falling asleep.

Lastly, the Roar 2 also features a dual purpose battery. The large, built-in 6000 mAh Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery can be used to charge smartphones and tablets, beyond providing upto 8 hours of audio playback.

The sound quality of a speaker is the result of several elements— materials,design,andexecution— and every detail matters in the final sound. In the case of Creative Sound Blaster Roar 2, it excels in every department. It recreates sound very accurately, is easy to use and the best part is, it creates big sound from a compact system.