Creative Labs' Pure Music On-The-Go Launch Coverage Down Under

Introduction

On Tuesday the 13th of July, TweakTown made the journey north from Melbourne up to Sydney, Australia. Our destination was the Hilton hotel for the launch of Creative Labs' very latest line of wireless Bluetooth enabled speaker solutions.



The event was called Pure Music On-The-Go which fairly embodies the ethos behind the new range of products on offer, come mid August.



That ethos is to provide fidelity of the upmost quality in a world where portable and wireless is beginning to rule.

Stay with us as we run you over the highlights of the show to give you a full rundown of what Pure Music On-The-Go is all about.

A Briefing on the First Wave of Products

The magic behind the system is contributed to by something we have all heard of before. In fact, Bluetooth has been around for some time.

It's the way in which the musical integrity gets retained when making the journey through the air that makes this new system work so well.

What you see below are the brand new systems!









According to the chaps from Creative Labs, this is a specially tuned Bluetooth codec that maintains the highest level of original musical integrity (in the recording) possible.

The new range of wireless Bluetooth speakers will also feature support for a very large range of devices of all kinds, which is something that is of high importance.

We were also pleased to hear how much Creative were promoting fast and hassle free connection of their Bluetooth products. Bluetooth has not always been a totally reliable method in past experiences, so it's going to be interesting to see what Creative can get out of it here.





Above is the Australian Creative representative with the new D5.

Just briefly again on the premium Bluetooth codecs, they are 'high bit-rate APTX codecs capable of near CD quality audio'. The EQ curve has also been tested and locked in to provide optimal performance.

The processing inside these wireless systems like the D5 is actually quite unique. Full reviews will follow in the future, but just briefly, the digital to analogue converter inside uses a method of sampling the whole sound spectrum in entirety to improve audio quality.

Another interesting thing we were shown was the way in which the iPod volume control interfaces directly with the volume control on the speaker system; a nice touch!

Below were some of the other products on display at the event, including Creative's latest model ear buds and portable media devices.







Another key difference with these new systems is that they improve rigidity of the overall enclosure by implementing a single piece of material to produce the outer shell which houses the components.

So, How Did They Sound Then?

Above, the three systems were set up on a single table upfront for our demonstration. After our initial briefing it was time for a demonstration of the three new wireless models on offer from Creative, come mid august.

On face value it was fair to expect to be greeted with the trademark thin hollow tone produced by a lot of plastic based speaker enclosures out there. However, the results were impressive! - Let me say outright that the D5 is comparable to real wood based Hi-Fi speakers in the departments of timbre and tonality.

We were also very impressed by how the small D5 managed to fill the Hilton's rather large conference room with mellow warm sounding music. There was no hint of a boom box-like assault on the senses within sight.

The way that Creative has used their own construction methods and hand picked codecs along with up to 15 design revisions to produce such a polished line of wireless speakers is a notable achievement, to be sure.

Questions and Closing Time

Questions

Towards the end of the presentation we had question time, during which of course we did just that.

Firstly, we touched on the matter of not using a dedicated tweeter. According to Creative the added expense versus performance of using a dedicated tweeter that would require a crossover network also; this was not a viable option.

Secondly, we enquired about the ability to use these systems as a 'phone dock' of sorts with a built-in mic. To which Creative informed us that these were musical systems of the highest integrity that have no desire, nor time for such frivolity.

...and we agreed.


In Closing

Prices are expected to range from a couple of hundred up to $370 AUD for the top of the line D5.

Expect to see them on store shelves around mid August of 2010.

TweakTown is already signed up to receive demo units once they are ready. So stay tuned for our full coverage on these new systems then.

We would also like to thank Creative Labs for the invitation to this latest product launch.