INTRODUCTION

   I've always enjoyed good sound in both games and movies alike so because of that since the late 90's I’ve used a total of 7 Dolby surround sound systems (5.1/7.1 - Atmos is next). Because of this i never did think highly of soundbars. Of course, i always understood the reason people chose them (space restrictions primarily) but i could never consider them to be nearly as good as a complete surround sound system. This changed last year when i had the chance to use a Dolby Atmos compatible soundbar that came ready with a pair of detachable rear speakers. Now i know that this effectively makes 3 individual speakers in total instead of 1 (5.1 based on the number of drivers) but still it made me realize that there are soundbars out there which can actually produce very good audio results. This is also the reason i decided to check the latest Stage V2 2.1 Soundbar by Creative out and that's what today's review's all about.

   Creative is a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products. Famous for its Sound Blaster® sound cards and for driving the multimedia revolution - which established a user base of 400 million - Creative drives digital entertainment with cutting-edge audio solutions that include premium wireless speakers, wireless headphones, powerful audiophile-grade digital amplifiers and next-generation home-theatre systems. Aiming at the new mobile networked generation by bridging the worlds of the computer, smartphones, and tablets, Creative continues to reinvent the Sound Blaster, with its ground-breaking Sound Blaster Roar series and USB-audio class of products such as the Sound Blaster X7.

   The Stage V2 Soundbar by Creative is a 2.1 model (3 drivers total) that consists of two 2.25inch/57.15mm stereo speaker drivers (mid-range) placed inside the main body (soundbar - wall mountable) and a 133.35mm subwoofer driver placed in an separate box (wired connection with the main body). This driver combination gives the Stage V2 a frequency response range of 55-20000Hz, signal to noise ratio (SNR) of less or equal to 75dB and a maximum power output of up to 80WRMS (always according to Creative). Aside featuring pretty much every connectivity option one would expect including HDMI (ARC), optical (SPDIF), USB and 3.5mm the Stage V2 is also Bluetooth v5.0 compatible (AVRCP/A2DP) meaning you can feed it with audio content wirelessly from a range of up to 10m/33ft (only the SBC audio codec is supported). Finally, the Stage V2 features Creative's Sound Blaster technology for virtual surround sound and clear dialog both of which are aimed towards enhancing movies and games. So, let's see just how good the 2nd Stage soundbar by Creative really is.