Creative Pure Wireless Modularity - Rewiring Wireless
By
Creative Pure Wireless Modularity - Rewiring Wireless
Even Purer Wireless
Singapore’s very own audio peripheral manufacturer Creative held an afternoon affair at the Intercontinental Hotel to unveil the new additions to their Pure Wireless series. That particular moniker of theirs, "Pure Wireless", has been around for a while and refers to the new Bluetooth enabled products leveraging their Apt-X CODEC to provide quality wireless playback. With the new lineup of speakers, headphones and portable music players, Creative is expanding the meaning of the term by introducing even greater functionality with their new products.
Modular Speaker System
A pseudo-wireless audio solution was already offered by Creative in the form of the one-piece D5x speaker set. However with the newer models launched today, they have the ability to expand into multi-channel configuration with extra speakers in any configuration that the user desires. In Creative’s own words, the ZiiSound D5x, ZiiSound D3x and ZiiSound DSx can be thought of as "wireless speaker lego". These new speakers possess the ability to connect with one another via Bluetooth and function in tandem, or as standalone audio units. This offers consumers freedom from the fixed configurations offered by current products.
At present Creative officially states that the highest configuration possible is a 3.1 system, utilizing three one-piece speaker units and a subwoofer. However, the audio engineer from their research and development department was able to tell us that unofficially a maximum of four subwoofer units can be paired up and used together in a so-called 3.4 configuration. Connectivity between these speakers is achieved via Creative's own Wireless Modular protocols.
Auxiliary input jacks are also present at the back of all these speakers so they can still be utilized with other audio devices like portable audio/media players. Also interesting to note is the fact that if you own a ZiiO tablet, your wireless playback will be improved by Creative's own X-Fi and CMSS audio enhancements.
| Model | Price | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| ZiiSound D5x | $399 | June 2011 |
| ZiiSound D3x | $199 | June 2011 |
| ZiiSound DSx | $199 | June 2011 |
| Creative D80 | $49 | June 2011 |
Invisible Hardware - Headphones
Keeping with the trend, even Creative's new headphones support wireless audio functionality. In addition, there is another 'vanishing act' performed by the designers with the introduction of the "invisible mic". These two features coupled with iPhone, BlackBerry and Android phone compatibility means that the new products can seamlessly fit into your everyday lifestyle on the move. Quite a convenience, don't you think so?
| Model | Price | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Creative WP450 | $169 | June 2011 |
| Creative WP350 | $139 | June 2011 |
| Creative WP250 | $79 | June 2011 |
Wireless Zen - More Portable Audio Players
Not to be left behind, the Zen audio players from Creative also get upgraded for wireless playback. The new Zen Style M300 boasts a touch screen and built-in FM Radio in addition to wireless transmitting and syncing with any of the other Pure Wireless speakers, thus greatly expanding its use and growing the Pure Wireless ecosystem. It comes with built-in storage but also has an microSD card slot to expand your audio accessibility and storage options.
The Creative Zen Style M300 is priced at S$79 for the 4GB version, S$89 for the 8GB version and S$129 for the 16GB edition. It will be available from June 2011.
