Just a few years ago, headphones was something that used to be a must-have accessory for musicians, film producers and professionals in the TV studios. Today, headphones have become one of the most used gadgets, especially among mobile phone users who want to listen to music on the go. Headphones have also become popular because of their versatility; they can be paired with almost any device—mobile phone, tablet or a laptop—to listen to music or take audio calls. There are various kinds of headphones that are available in the market, however my strong preference is for the on-the-head ones though they may cost quite a bit.
Recently, Creative Technology launched their Creative Outlier, a powerful on-ear headphone, priced at an affordable Rs 6,499. Made for today’s urban commuter, this ultra-lightweight (93g), feature-rich Bluetooth MP3 headphone boasts 4-way music playback, hands-free calls, reading back text messages and a lap timer. What impressed me most is its ability to let users enjoy their music indoors or outdoors, with or without their smartphones. Let us check out some of the interesting features of this Creative audio headgear.
The best thing about the Creative Outlier is that it will fit easily into just about any rucksack or bag. When worn, this lightweight headphone is designed for comfort and durability—it features an extremely flexible and durable headband construction with soft protein leatherette ear cushions. These soft ear cushions fit snugly on the ears for all day comfort. The Creative headphone also allows users to customise the look and feel of the headphones. It is available in bold black colour, but allows you to attach a pair of outlandishly coloured acoustic rings around each of the ear cups to personalise them according to your style. With six pairs of silicone rubber coloured rings included in the package, you are spoilt for choice in expressing yourself with 30 colour combinations; be it being affectionate, feeling energetic, bold, or just having fun.
When it comes to audio playback, the Creative Outlier is designed to deliver: it comes with two powerful professionally-tuned 32 mm Neodymium drivers. They support upto 10 hours of playtime on a single charge. The headphone also allows you to enjoy your music in 4 ways. Integrated with the robust Bluetooth v4.1 and NFC technologies, the Creative Outlier allows smartphone users to connect wirelessly easily and quickly! With NFC, simply tap to pair and you’re all set to enjoy audio, via Bluetooth.
Then, there’s the MP3 player capability. The Creative Outlier, with its built-in MP3 player allows users to easily play their favourite tracks from a MicroSD card. Supporting MP3, WMA and WAV formats, you can now enjoy up to 10,000 high quality MP3 tracks, using a 32 GB MicroSD card directly inserted into the headphones. The Creative Outlier supports pristine digital audio playback from a computer via USB. In addition, you can also customise your audio settings with the free downloadable Sound Blaster software to deliver the best audio profile for music, movies, and games. The speaker comes with an integrated 3.5 mm aux-in for connections to all other analogue audio devices.
Among other interesting features, there’s a Smart Voice Notifications app. What this means is that Android users can download Creative’s free text-to-speech app, Buddy, which reads out notifications or texts, such as SMS, WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE, Viber, Skype, Facebook Messenger, and more. With a simple push of button(s), the Creative Outlier will announce the total elapsed time or lap time to track any activity, such as timed circuit trainings, treadmill runs, or when simply walking in the park.
The built-in invisible microphone with ClearSpeech Engine actively suppresses external noises and digitally
enhances speech clarity so that your conversations are loud and clear. Moreover, it is HD voice-ready, breathing life into your phone conversations. Creative Outlier supports a battery life talk time of up to 8 hours on a single charge. It supports microSD or microSDHC cards up to 32 GB formatted in FAT/FAT32. Supported audio formats include MP3, WMA and WAV.
In my assessment, the Creative Outlier is an attractively designed, lightweight and sweatproof headphone. They are pretty comfortable on the ear and stay on your head securely, even while running. Their buttons work well and the sound is decent for Bluetooth. I connected the headphones to my mobile phone and laptop to play music and they sound fairly well balanced and offer a reasonable amount of clarity, though there’s a touch of harshness in the treble. Battery life is good too.
In my wrap-up, I would say that for those who are on the move, or love to listen to music, having a Creative Outlier is something that is a blessing. These headphones make life very easy and can also be stored away without occupying too much of space. Highly recommended.
Key features
Lightweight and comfortable with leatherette ear cup padding
Bluetooth with NFC for wireless audio
Built-in MP3 player allows users to play music from a microSD card
Supports microSD or microSDHC cards up to 32 GB
Powerful audio with 32 mm neodymium drivers
USB Audio for digital lossless playback
Estimated street price: R6,499
Source: financialexpress.com