Page 3 - Subjective Audio Analysis
Testing audio products by ear is a difficult task. There are subjective parts to testing by ear, which unfortunately cannot be eliminated. My taste or preference will bleed into the results. However, taking the time and putting the Creative Outlier Pro through its pace will hopefully eliminate, or at the very least, reduce as much of the subjectivity possible. There is extremely expensive equipment attempting to come to some sort of objective measurement, but it is still a challenge, since every person will pick up a pair of headphones and experience it slightly differently. With that in mind, I will do my best to provide an objective measurement through extensive tests and with a good understanding of my reference pair of headphones. I am testing the Creative Outlier Pro primarily as wireless headphones connecting via Bluetooth to my phone or laptop, as they are marketed as Bluetooth earbuds, so they will be tested as such.
As we have mentioned in my past audio reviews, there are really no true objective measurements for speaker sound quality. As the reviewer, however, I will put it through a series of subjective tests to try to come up with the most objective rating possible. Yes, it is quite a paradox haha. Tests were conducted primarily wirelessly via Bluetooth 5.2 with a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which has support for both AAC and aptX. After over 50 hours of break-in time -- well above the typically required period -- we put the Creative Outlier Pro to the tests. All tracks were uncompressed or high bitrate files.
Starting with the lower frequencies, the Creative Outlier Pro offered strong bass. Some bass boost in the middle to the upper bass range was noticeable when listening to bass-heavy genres. When listening to music with hybrid active noise cancellation mode on, I noticed the bass would be more boosted, especially with EDM music. In my review of the Creative Outlier Air V2, I had described the bass of those earbuds as deep and punchy with the bass drum kicks and bass guitar riffs being solid and smooth. These qualities remain true with the Outlier Pro, with the main difference being that the Outlier Pro offers a more overall defined sound. It was also less boomy, which was a negative characteristic present in the Outlier Air V2.
Like the Outlier Air V2, the midrange on the Outlier Pro was average in quality, although improved. The vocalists had a thicker sound in note resonance in comparison to the Outlier Air V2. I should note that a drop does exist with the midrange where one would expect to hear vocals of the song. Wood instruments, such as pianos or acoustic guitars, sounded slightly improved compared to the Outlier Air V2, but the Outlier Pro's midrange was still felt thin and less than natural.
Like the Creative Outlier Air V2, when it came to treble, the Creative Outlier Pro was quite bright and energetic with instruments like trumpets and violins. Unlike the Outlier Air V2 though, instruments of higher sounding frequencies did not sound as dry, and instead came out with a crisper sound. When looking at the full frequency spectrum, the Outlier Pro forms a V-shape sound signature. The bass and treble were mostly strong. Electronic sounds work well with these earphones. Older music such as jazz or classical also came out strong with a clear kick.
With soundstaging and imaging, the Creative Outlier Air Pro was physically limited due to the size of the earbuds and its drivers. The sound reproduced had a cramped feel with the noise being very narrow. The depth was lacking, making it so the sound did not feel enveloping. The overall image felt undefined and unnatural.
The Creative Outlier Pro had good layering and frequency separation, doing a good job with voice reproduction. The layers could be heard well while maintaining instrumental sounds throughout the song. The sound was clean too, with singing from the vocalists coming in clear. There was very little noise leakage thanks to the shape and size of the ear tips, which fit snugly in my ears.
Hybrid active noise cancellation is one of the main selling points for the Creative Outlier Pro. This will eliminate unwanted noise from the graphene-coated drivers, although enabling this will drain the battery faster. As mentioned on the previous page, hybrid active noise cancellation can be activated by either tap controls or by the Creative application. When testing the earbuds in hybrid active noise cancellation mode, I noticed it did a good job of blocking low frequency noises such as my PC fans or road noise on the bus. It also did a good job of blocking most of the sound from people talking in the office at my job, or general noise at the gym. Hybrid active noise cancellation will definitely not cancel every single noise possible, but I found the Creative Outlier Pro earbuds were able to cancel most noises with this mode on. Passive noise canceling was also good. Inversely, when in ambient mode, the earbuds will route outside noise in, which is helpful if you want to keep the earbuds in while listening to your surroundings.
Above are two sample microphone recordings on the Creative Outlier Pro. The first one was recorded indoors, and the second one was recorded outdoors on a cool winter evening. These earphones performed well when it came to speaking, with my voice sounding very natural and clear. Little to no background noise was captured, which is another positive with the microphone quality on this earphone set. These earphones will work just fine for phone calls and casual recordings.
These earbuds proved more than sufficient when it came to battery life. It lasted 17 hours at 50% volume and ANC off according to my tests, which was very close to, and above what was the advertised 15 hours. Turning ANC on will reduce the battery life by 33%. With the carrying case, you get an additional 51 hours in three charges for a total of 68 hours, making it so you will not have to worry about charging these earphones for long periods. The wireless range was also very strong. I received good audio quality for distances greater than 10m from the source without any noticeable drops. There was some slight latency when watching videos and playing games, but most users will likely not notice this.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Subjective Audio Analysis
4. Conclusion
