Creative BlasterX Kratos S5 RGB 2.1 speakers

PRICE $ 209 au.creative.com We

thought we’d seen it all when it comes to RGB lighting after seeing a power supply and RAM with programmable lights, but that was far from the end of the RGB revolution. We’ve seen umpteen RGB lit headsets over the last few years, but the BlasterX Kratos S5 is definitely the first speaker set we’ve seen that features 16 million colours. As fed up as we are at things having RGBs added for no apparent reason, the implementation on these speakers is genuinely quite good and pared back, with an understated strip of LEDs towards the base of each of the satellite speakers. These can be programmed with the creative Aurora Reactive suite, set to be reactive to games and synced with the recently released SIege M04 mouse and Vanguard K08 keyboard. The fact that the price doesn’t seem to have been jacked up by the addition of RGBs is a pleasant surprise as well.

Of course, all the lighting in the world can’t make up for poor performance, but thankfully Creative still knows how to make a good set of speakers. The unit is made up of a single 6 1/2” subwoofer and two 4” satellites, connected to the PC via USB. In addition, the speakers come with a hefty, tactile control knob that, with drivers installed, allows users to change the lighting, control volume and run through a number of preset EQs designed for gaming and movies. The presets worked well enough to pinpoint different parts of the audio register to make dialogue, explosions, footsteps or gunshots more prominent, but without the directionality that comes with a 5.1 setup or a good set of headphones the flat EQ server is best during gaming.

While the programmable lighting may be the first feature that Creative touts on the Kratos S5 product page, the most interesting aspect of these speakers is relegated to further down the page. The speakers are 24-bit/95khz, so offer higher audio fidelity than most other speakers on the market. The current standard for speakers is 16-bit (or less), so technically 24-bit sound is much more impressive. At least it is on paper. As human hearing is limited, much of the added fidelity that comes with 24-bit sound is inaudible or unnoticeable, but what the extra dynamic range does do is add extra wiggle room to sound, meaning that limited bandwidth is less likely to squash or truncate some frequencies leading to clearer sound ranges. Of course to fully appreciate the effect, this requires a 24-bit sound source, so

we’ve seen umpteen RGB headsets but this is the first speaker set we’ve seen that features 16 million colours

without that it’s neither here nor there.

Even without the benefits of the extra audio headroom, the Kratos S5 is an excellent set of 2.1 speakers. The speaker and sub housings are made from nice, resonant wood and there is a certain richness to the sound that is associated with it. We did notice a slight bit of tininess at the top end of the scale at high volume, but other than that slight niggle the Kratos S5 speakers performed admirably across all ranges when playing games, watching movies or listening to music. DANIEL WILKS