Preview: Creative’s new Sound Blaster Roar 2 and E-MU XM7 speakers

Not the Roar's replacement

The original Sound Blaster Roar was an impressive piece of engineering that left us duly impressed with its combination of quality, features, and price. We loved the way that its performance could easily rival and even outclass lesser 2.1 speaker systems, and felt that the only change we would make was to make the system a little lighter so as to be truly “portable”.

It appears we weren’t alone in thinking this way. Apparently, many Roar users also asked for a lighter unit and more color options. Creative duly responded, and now, we've the smaller, lighter, and classier Sound Blaster Roar 2.

Featuring the exact same audio drivers and signature as the original Sound Blaster Roar, the Sound Blaster Roar 2 is 20% smaller and 10% lighter. It's also available in either black or white. The creation of the Roar 2 doesn't mean that Creative is discontinuing the original Sound Blaster Roar though, as there are some differences that compelled Creative to keep selling them both together. 

Small in size, not in power

The new Roar 2 took about six to nine months to produce because Creative wanted to cram the same number of drivers and amount of electronics into a smaller space. In fact, they even kept the same battery as before, so the Sound Blaster Roar 2 has the same excellent battery life as the Roar.

What is different though (and also what’s partly responsible for the smaller design) is that there are no longer front-facing drivers. These have been shifted to face upwards, in-line with the active high-excursion driver so that the sound is now more omni-directional, with a wider sweet spot overall. Creative gave us a quick demonstration of this, and we found that quality of sound was indeed about the same whether you were in front of the unit or behind it.

We also noticed that you can now see the side-firing radiators as they're exposed on both sides. We can literally see how hard they are working as they vibrate. Volume-wise, it certainly seems to match the Sound Blaster Roar, with a good sense of lateral balance whether you’re standing up or sitting down.

Place the Sound Blaster Roar 2 standing up though, and we noticed an immediate change as the sound becomes more directional. We can see this profile being used in the case or when you want to place the speaker at the corner of a large room.

For those who want to take the Sound Blaster Roar 2 on the road, Creative is also selling a neoprene carrying bag that fits the speaker perfectly. The carrying bag is reversible so you have a choice of either black or red, and it comes with two detachable straps (wrist strap and shoulder strap) for added portability.

Preliminary thoughts

From the brief amount of time we had listening to it, we’d say that Creative has really managed to give the Sound Blaster Roar 2 almost the exact same sound signature as the Sound Blaster Roar, and that’s a good thing. The Sound Blaster Roar 2 is perhaps a little brighter with slightly more depth, thanks to the size difference and the shift in positioning of the drivers, but is still very able to fill a room with sound. If you like the sound of the Sound Blaster Roar but wanted something smaller, you’d do well to check it out.

The Sound Blaster Roar 2 will be available at this week’s IT Show 2015 at the Creative booth for a promotional price of S$199 (usual price S$329), and comes with a free reversible bag worth S$49.

But wait, there's more on the next page...

E-MU XM7

What Creative showed us next was a surprise: it's the E-MU XM7, a set of bookshelf speakers that perfectly complements the Sound Blaster X7. As we’ve covered here, the Sound Blaster X7 is a desktop USB DAC and audio amplifier that connects to your television, computer, sound system, and even portable devices (via Bluetooth) and pushes out quality audio.

A limited edition Sound Blaster X7 was also launched at CES this year, with an exclusive pearl white color and a 144W high-power adapter that makes the Sound Blaster X7 capable of feeding up to 100W, meaning it should quite easily be able to drive most passive speakers. The new E-MU XM7 speakers won’t quite require that much power as they only take 60W to power (meaning they will run fine even on the Sound Blaster X7’s regular power adapter), but it’s good to know how much more you can push the Sound Blaster X7 by just changing the adapter.

Made of solid wood, the E-MU XM7 has an understated design. You have a choice of a black wood grain or a brown wood grain with metallic grey finish. And of course, the option of leaving the speaker uncovered to expose the drivers and the wood finish.

We were told the speakers feature specially doped 1-inch high-efficiency silk dome tweeters for clear, detailed highs, and a custom-designed 5-inch woofer with oversized magnetic structure and shielding for tight bass response. They also come with 2.5 meters of high-quality oxygen-free copper speaker cables so you’ll be good to go straight out of the box.

Also, when paired with the Sound Blaster X7, you get three custom-tuned profile settings to help you get the speaker response that best fits your listening needs.

• Energetic – This is the default mode, and is suitable for both movies and games.
• Neutral – This is a more flat profile, and is suitable for reference and monitoring use.
• Warm – This profile is recommended for music and easy listening as it brings richer bass.

The listening test

We were treated to a mix of tracks fed from the Sound Blaster X7 to the E-MU XM7, and we must say that pairing is really impressive considering the overall cost of the package. A recording of Desperado by Susan Wong showcased warm, smooth vocals, and a mid-sized sound stage. The piano accompaniment had a nice warm tone, and there was good texture in the notes.

Moving over to Royals by Lorde, we were again impressed by the depth in Lorde’s vocals, as well as the naturalness of the finger snaps that ran in the background throughout the piece. Royals was punctuated through the track by a deep booming bass beat, and the combination of the Sound Blaster X7 with the E-MU XM7 certainly didn’t disappoint.

Would it be a surprise if the last track we played was the live version of Hotel California by The Eagles? This piece was rendered with a great sense of energy, with a nice robust bass thump that helped to draw you into the piece. There was great separation between the guitars, bongo drums, and shakers. Oh, the combination also picked out bits of detail like the cheers from the crowd and image them around us.

At S$399, the E-MU XM7 speakers represent excellent value compared to some of the other offerings out there. To make it even better, Creative has announced a special promotional price of S$299 at this week’s IT Show (after deducting a $100 voucher), and exclusive packages of the E-MU XM7 with Sound Blaster X7 (Black) for S$499 and the E-MU XM7 with Sound Blaster X7 Limited Edition (White) for S$599.

Previous Sound Blaster X7 customers will also be allowed to purchase the E-MU XM7 at a special price of S$199 if they leave their email address with the staff at the booth or show their Sound Blaster X7 receipt for verification.

The E-MU XM7 will also be available at all authorized Creative retailers and Creative’s own e-shop from tomorrow.

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