Note: This article was first published on 3rd September 2016.
What's so new about the Creative iRoar Go?
The Creative iRoar Go may be a product refresh, but Creative takes user feedback into account before pushing out the next generation of audio devices. It led them to improve certain aspects of the iRoar range. Their latest foray into the iRoar Go brought many extra features and quality-of-life changes to please its fans, while making it even more competitive at its price bracket of S$299.
More portable than before
Creative iRoar Go (top) versus the Creative iRoar (bottom).
For starters, the iRoar Go is 40% smaller in physical size and 25% lighter when compared to the predecessor (iRoar Go is 54 x 192 x 97mm and weighs 0.81kg). This makes the iRoar Go more portable than ever, taking up less real estate without sacrificing too much of the speaker's volume. Creative reduced the size of the magnet assembly within their drivers to give it sufficient air and space for the iRoar Go's sound. But where does the iRoar Go stand amongst their existing Roar-type speakers? Creative said:
"At max volume, the iRoar Go would be louder than the Sound Blaster Roar 2 and Roar Pro (slightly) but not the iRoar. The iRoar is much bigger in size, with a bigger battery and higher powered amps - which makes it the loudest and most powerful in the Roar family."
So the old iRoar is still louder than the iRoar Go, but the new portable speaker is louder than most of its older cousins, too. Also, the audio processor used in the iRoar Go is different from the iRoar's, which Creative did not give a name to, yet.
The iRoar Go looks... different?
While the iRoar Go is the literal follow-up to the iRoar, the iRoar Go spiritually takes after the Creative Sound Blaster Roar 2. We say that, because the iRoar Go's driver arrangement is similar to the dual-placement setup used in the Roar 2. The iRoar Go also shares similar aesthetics with the Roar 2, as it features the same raised edges and metal-ringed sides, as well as the rubberized crown that houses the speaker's control panel and ports.
The rubberized crown packs all the important ports for the iRoar Go.
The iRoar Go uses an intelligent five-driver arrangement within. The front panel features two high frequency drivers that flank an all-new subwoofer, and the far sides of the speaker house a passive bass radiator each. The radiators use a machined aluminium finish.
How long can it last for?
The iRoar Go packs up to 12 hours of battery life. To charge the iRoar Go, you'll need to plug the speaker to its proprietary AC adapter via its 15V DC input (three hours long from empty to fully charged). Creative said that not many of its users utilized the USB charging port to charge their iRoar speakers. Hence, they've removed that feature, leaving behind the option to use the speaker to charge other mobile devices.
The stylish leatherette carrying case is sold separately.
What does iRoar Go have that the old one doesn't?
A few things, like their SuperWide audio profile, a splash-proof body, better microSD card support, support for lossless .FLAC audio files, and improved software.
SuperWide
SuperWide audio profile gives a more immersive listening experience by digitally expanding the speaker's soundstage capabilities.
First, they added a new audio profile called SuperWide. SuperWide gives the iRoar Go a wider soundstage.
What does a wider soundstage mean to us? In this case, the iRoar Go is capable of helping a listener picture where every instrument or vocal in a song is located in an imaginary live stage. By contrast, a speaker with a normal or mediocre soundstage feels less immersive. Through our trials with Creative, the iRoar Go's SuperWide audio profile felt much easier to immerse in, in comparison to their default audio signature. It was easy to picture what SuperWide wanted to portray, as the music gave us a mental image of the instrumental and vocal placement in the tracks. To toggle SuperWide on, it must be done via the proprietary app or desktop widget.
SuperWide also opens up the freedom to do Near-Field or Far Field Projection. By utilizing your surrounding walls and open space, you can adopt four different listening experiences: SuperWide Stereo with or without audio dispersion, as well as SuperWide room-filling audio, with or without dispersion.
This is done by either choosing to have the speaker nearer or further from its user, followed by choosing to have the front drivers directly facing the user, or having it face-up on a table. To us, this means that the iRoar Go isn't omni-directional. While more experimentation is needed, we were still rather impressed with the SuperWide's soundstage capabilities thus far.
Splash-proof body
Secondly, the body of the iRoar Go is rated at IPX6. According to Creative, this makes the speaker splash-proof, while the IP rating code indicates that the speakers should be able to withstand water from water jets up to three minutes (at a volume of 100 liters per minute) without the speaker receiving water damage. Given the size of the speaker, we would choose to take Creative's recommended use instead. The previous iRoar wasn't proofed against the elements like how the iRoar Go is, so adding splash-proof capabilities is a welcomed addition, even if it's late to the portable speaker party.
Control microSD card songs via app
There's also some slight upgrades to their proprietary apps as well. Creative fans would be pleased to know that the Sound Blaster Connect app will allow the user to pick and choose tracks from the speaker's microSD card. The new SuperWide audio profile is also available as an equalizer preset option too. The app will be available on iOS and Android come 6th September 2016.
The desktop version of Sound Blaster Connect provides extra controls, like SBX Pro Studio.
The desktop version of their app (also called Sound Blaster Connect) mirrors the features found on their mobile app. That also applies to the microSD card song selection and EQ settings. The desktop version has another set of equalizer options called SBX Pro Studio. It's available on both PC and Mac.
Lossless audio support (.FLAC)
We liked how the iRoar Go supports lossless .FLAC audio files now. Any .FLAC songs pumped into the device via microSD card or USB will play just fine. This also makes the iRoar Go the very first iRoar device to natively support .FLAC audio.
What's the iRoar Go's audio quality like?
We had an audio trial within the confines of Creative's demo room. Since the demo provided a cursory listen across a wide range of audio materials, we are unable to narrow down its strengths and flaws. However, we can see that the iRoar Go wasn't simply designed for music. As mentioned above, the SuperWide audio profile was designed to provide a wider soundstage, which creates an aural map through immersive sound. This makes it a versatile in-room portable speaker for movie-watching and mood-setting.
Is it available?
"Killer" deal - don't play play.
The Creative iRoar Go will officially start retail at Comex 2016. It has an original price of S$299. Creative members get to grab the iRoar Go at S$199 instead. all iRoar Go speakers come with a PWP offer - you can buy the separate head-worn microphone at S$10 (originally S$19). If you're already familiar with portable speakers at large, as well as Creative's Roar-type speakers, S$299 is already a good deal for what the iRoar Go offers, and the S$199 special for their loyal members just makes it outrageous.
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