Creative Stage V2 PC Soundbar Review
Peter Donnell / 3 years ago
Performance
As you can see, just barely, the soundbar really blends in well with the shadows under my monitor and the inky blackness of my desktop. I actually have my monitor wall-mounted, which leaves a recess deep enough for the soundbar to sit fully under the screen, and it looks great. While you can wall-mount it, you’ll be amused to notice it’s actually just propped up on a Roccat mouse mat box. A simple yet effective solution that’s better than just leaving it on the wood, which would cause too many vibrations and reflections, in my opinion.
The sound is certainly bigger than that of the V1 model from last year. Actually, there’s more range to in general. I think this one has a fully sound at lower volumes too, no doubt thanks to the larger drivers, wider speaker separation and bigger subwoofer. However, it’s more powerful too, so when you want to turn it up, it really packs a punch. I actually got a little scare around 2/3 volume and backed off (I managed 24/35 on the volume numbers), so no issue with peak volume! That being said, I rarely feel the need to go above 6 while using it for listening to Planet Rock or playing Elder Scrolls Online… I don’t really do much else these days.
You don’t need to push this one hard to get a nice full sound out of it. Plus, the remote control has a quick volume control, source switching etc., so it’s effortless to live with. I actually use it via USB on the PC, and it just sounded fantastic from the moment I started it. There’s a surround mode, which makes it sound wider, and I like that, it works really well. There’s a Dialogue boost, which is not too over the top, it just pushes the EQ a bit and works well for TV.
I put the flash on so you can really see what’s going on, now that I have my Creative T20’s out of the way as they were taking up too much space.
The remote allows you to toggle the bass and treble levels easily enough. Tap the button then dial in from -5 to +5 bass, tap the button again, and it’ll allow you to do the same with the treble. I found a +2 on both sounded very pleasing. More bass is fun, but the bass scales well with the volume, and I’m impressed by how rich the system sound at any volume.
