Creative Stage Air v2 Portable Soundbar

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I wanted something independent of my various notebook speakers and something more convenient to move around than 8" speakers and a tangle of cables for my various synths that I currently mostly use with headphones.

The Creative Stage Air v2 was on sale here in AU for as low as A$60 (about US$39/36Euro). Reviews said it sort of sounds okay and it does.

To my very average ears, it has well balanced mids and treble. Not much but enough bass which is to be expected given the power and size. Fairly similar to my more neutral headphones like HD 6XX. Built-in 6h battery. 3.5mm Aux in cable & USB-A to USB-C included. Great bang for buck. The psychology of pricing is funny in that I think it is a good buy at A$60 but not at the original RRP A$99.

Bonus it has a battery and DAQ built-in so it can just run over a single cable from my computer or PS5. Seems to just plug and play so maybe class compliant.

Oh. It has Bluetooth 5.3 too … not sure if it is any good but A2DP protocol. Likely not good latency. I wonder if it will work with a USB-C iPhone or iPad (I have neither).

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Thanks for the report @pac_71 - I particularly liked the shortened summary of the ‘Reviews’.

Are you using it as Zynthian output, and if so via Bluetooth, USB, Aux in, or…?

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thanks @pac_71
this looks interesting and there’s a promotion on creative french store: it’s priced 39.99€ vs 58.99€ on Amazon:

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It came out in 2021 so maybe due for a refresh. I saw the pricing on Creative in Au too.

At that price, it definitely punches above its’ weight sounding surprisingly okay to me and quite useful with all its connectivity and mobility.

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I have just used it via the headphones socket to AUX In. I should muck around and see if I can get it working plug and play over USB.

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Don’t you have any working Linux box at near hands to give it a try :wink: ?
just plug it and in a terminal:

lsusb
aplay -l
arecord -l #Why not ?
dmesg

It’s definitively a good and appealing deal at that price for sure and it’s already in my shopping cart.

and its hackability hmm ?