Hasta La Gadget!

Creative introduces their latest speaker yet – the Sound Blaster Roar. The Sound Blaster Roar is special in a sense where this new concept of a 5-driver portable wireless speaker has been made flesh. The launch of the Sound Blaster Roar will continue to follow a highly successful sneak preview which happened just early last month over at CES 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada, where whoever laid their eyes on it (and had their ears treated to its capability) having shared some very positive comments. For instance, the Sound Blaster Roar will come with a bi-amplified design which will make use of a pair of amplifiers. One of the amplifiers have been dedicated to driving the lows and mids, while the other has been dedicated to deliver the highs.

Such partnership has enabled the speaker to be able to produce uncompromisingly clear, high definition, well balanced music without missing a beat. Apart from that, you would be pleased to know that the Sound Blaster Roar is no one trick pony. In fact, it also comes with a slew of useful features, where among them include speakerphone teleconferencing capabilty, a microSD memory card slot that paves the way for MP3/WMA/WAV playback and audio recording, a siren, Bedtime Mode and Life Saver Mode. This particular speaker will be able to hook up sans wires over Bluetooth, where it will make use of aptX and AAC codecs for the highest quality audio and lowest possible latency.

Apart from that, there is also support for the latest Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology thrown into the mix. Those who are curious in picking one up will be pleased to find out that the Sound Blaster Roar can connect two Bluetooth devices simultaneously. All in all, the Sound Blaster Roar measures a mere 57mm x 202mm x 115mm and tips the scales at 1.1 kg, but packs quite the aural punch. It has a large, built-in 6,000 mAh Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery that can deliver up to 8 hours of audio playback on a single charge, retailing for $199 a pop when it arrives.

Press Release
[ Creative announces Sound Blaster Roar speaker copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

If you’ve been following our IFA coverage this morning (and shame on you if you haven’t), the Creative D5XM’s name ought to ring a bell or two. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that we were telling you all about the Creative D5 Air. The D5XM, however, while similar in name, is a decidedly more serious deal than the AirPlay speaker bar. Creative is hyping the product as “the world’s first self-calibrating modular wireless speaker” — it’s a mouthful, but its certainly a cool prospect. The rectangular speaker can be used alone or as part of a larger speaker system, communicating with other D5XM devices and the DSXM — coincidentally, “the subwoofer for the world’s first self-calibrating modular wireless speaker.” What are the odds?

You can string up to three D5XMs together and two of the subwoofers, if you’re really, really into low-end. No word on pricing for these guys yet, but we imagine that such a set up would get fairly costly, fairly fast. Creative’s referring to the three-at-a-time deal as “party mode,” in which all three devices are playing the same thing simultaneously — you can also split them up into discrete channels, using a mobile device (iOS or Android). That communication (which occurs via Bluetooth) happens thanks to the chip in the speaker — the same as the one we saw on the Sound BlasterAxx. Click on through for more info and a video.

Continue reading Creative’s D5XM self-calibrating modular wireless speaker gets previewed at IFA (video)

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Creative’s D5XM self-calibrating modular wireless speaker gets previewed at IFA (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 06:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Along with your first day at school, and (for the boys at least) growing your first peach fuzz mustache, many of you might also never forget your first Sound Blaster soundcard. In the present day (unless you’re blessed with youth) only the Sound Blaster can be enjoyed again, and today Creative introduces its new Z-series. The latest PCI-Express cards use the firm’s Core3D quad-core sound and voice processor and come in three variants: the Sound Blaster ZxR, the Zx and the Z. As you might have guessed, the more letters, the higher up the food chain it is. The flagship ZxR ($249.99) boasts a 127dB SNR, sockets for swappable Op-Amps, 80mW into 600 ohm headphone pre-amp, plus RCA / optical connectivity (via additional daughter board) and an external “ACM” control module for less fiddling around the back of your machine. You can save yourself $100 with the Zx model, if you don’t want the ZxR’s “DBpro” daughter board, and the Z edition saves a further $50 at the expense of the external controller. Want to dive into the full specifications? Plug in to the PR after the break.

Continue reading Creative reveals Sound Blaster ZxR, Zx, and Z PCI-Express sound cards, pumps up the volume

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Peripherals

Creative reveals Sound Blaster ZxR, Zx, and Z PCI-Express sound cards, pumps up the volume originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 07:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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