Product Listing

Tiny Inspiration - Creative Inspire S2 2.1 Speakers

By Kenny Yeo - 10 Sep 2009

Report Card

Report Card

We began testing the Creative Inspire S2 with our collection of CD tracks, which gives us a good initial feel of what the speakers are capable of, since they range from sound effects to orchestral pieces. Immediately, we noticed that the Inspire S2 has a weakness with the higher registers, as they seem to be attenuated, leaving the swoosh and crackles in the Pod Race scene rather unsatisfying. Stereo reproduction, however, was spot on.

We also noticed that despite the DIRECT-THROW technology present in the subwoofer, the Inspire S2 felt a bit lacking in bass. This meant a subdued performance on the T-Rex and Apollo 13 sound effects test tracks. Adjusting the bass levels did alleviate matters slightly, but it resulted in a muddier sound.

Moving on the music MP3 tracks, the Creative Inspire S2 continued to display a significant amount of attenuation in the highs and a lack of quantity in the bass department. It also sounded a little veiled, and altogether, this left the shakers in Hotel California sounding hollow and the bass drums sounding muted.

The weak bass response also reared its ugly head in Tiesto's Elements of Life, making the track seem soulless - we didn't feel like bobbing our heads as we normally would. However, we must commend the Inspire S2 for its warm sound, which made Adele's Melt My Heart to Stone more listenable, compared to the other tracks.

The Creative Inspire S2 performed slightly better in movies, as the audio felt atmospheric enough. But dialogue was noticeably lacking in clarity, especially so in the opening sequence of Swordfish where John Travolta expounds on his theory of modern American cinema. Explosions and sword fights sounded meek too and that is largely due to the lack of bass from the lightweight subwoofer. Luckily, increasing the bass volume helped matters considerably, without affecting the quality too much.

When playing Far Cry 2, we noticed that the Creative Inspire S2 failed to handle the background jungle noises appropriately. Gun shots and explosions also lacked oomph and impact.

Creative Inspire S2 Report Card
CD Testing Scores
Pod Race Scene from The Phantom Menace 4
T-Rex SFX 3
Theme from Jurassic Park 3.5
Apollo 13 SFX 3
Theme from Cutthroat Island 3.5
Fanfare for Louis 3.5
MP3 Testing Scores
Hotel California - The Eagles 3
Sail on Soothsayer - Buckethead 3.5
Melt My Heart to Stone - Adele 4
Elements of Life - Tiesto 3
Movies Testing Scores
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (battle scene in Moria) 3.5
Swordfish (open sequence) 3.5
Games Testing Score
Far Cry 2 3
Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.