14 DAY TRIAL // These days, audio equipment makers have a thing for very small and light hardware, especially when the devices are portable, but Creative went about things a little differently when it built the newest Sound Blaster-series product.
Called Creative Sound Blaster Roar SR20, it is a portable Bluetooth speaker that is a fair bit larger than what some may expect.
Certainly, it is larger than many Creative products, wired or otherwise. But, as it turns out, that was precisely the point, or such is the conclusion one might draw from the specs of the item.
After all, books aren't the first point of reference one might consider when choosing the shape of a speaker.
Granted, books, by definition, are means of storing and carrying information in a physical form, words on paper.
However, some can get really large and thick, and the new Creative Roar SR20 portable Bluetooth speaker looks like it could have been modeled after a bible.
It's also as heavy as one, more or less, weighing a total of 1.1 kg, or 2.5 pounds, give or take.
Speaking of physical parameters, the device measures 57 x 202 x 115 mm, or 2.2 x 7.9 x 4.5 inches.
The newcomer, thus, has room for three 3-inch drivers that produce mid-range sounds and bass, while a second amplifier powers a pair of 1.5-inch high-end drivers.
This should produce good, intense sound and, because Creative wanted it to be possible for more than one person to easily use it, it installed a multi-connection feature.
So the company has included a special feature that allows two Bluetooth devices to transmit to it at the same time.
So you can have two phones or a phone and a PC, or two Bluetooth-enabled systems or portable media players, stream music alternatively, with manual or automatic source toggling. Furthermore, a microSD card can be inserted in a specific slot, off which an integrated MP3/WMA/WAV player can play songs.
And because the integrated drivers are aimed at different spots in the room, the Sound Blaster Roar can emulate surround sound, which is good for loud environments like gatherings of raucous friends.
Creative Sound Blaster Roar has a 6000 mAh battery (a charge life of 8 hours when constantly playing), a 3.5-inch jack, a USB port and a one-touch siren (to catch the attention of everyone at a pool party, for example), among other things. All this for a price of $199 / €199.