Audio
Creative

Creative Stage 360 Review

It’s all staged...

₹ 19,999

For the uninitiated, Creative has been in the computer peripherals industry for quite a few decades now. At one point, their soundcards were all the rage in the PC building community and if you cared about your audio, you probably installed one in your rig as well. 

Those expertise we’ve seen trickle down to the soundbars and speakers that the brand is now synonymous with. The larger models in the Stage series left us quite impressed with the price to performance ratio, however the Stage 360 seems to be addressing a whole new level.

Design and build

It’s super compact but really well built! There’s an indicator at the front of the bar that’s behind the grill, displaying the mode you’re in which is a nice touch at this price point. The sub is quite thin and compact as well but feels well built.

Before you set up though, If you take a close look at the specs, the Stage 360 doesn’t support eARC. It will however work with HDMI 2.1 but you will be limited to 60Hz. At this price it is a bit of an ask, but it’s something to note if your telly supports it. 

Performance

We hooked it up to the Acer I Series TV that we also have on test and the difference is night and day as expected. The Stage 360 adds in that extra oomph that’s otherwise missing from the telly. Apart from the regular modes, the Stage 360 has an option to set the output according to the distance from you. In ‘near’ mode, it narrows down the field and throws sound directly ahead while in ‘far’, it widens the scape! Impressive. Even though it’s compact, Creative has included options that play around with the phasing so you can get a wider soundstage. Dialogues sound crisp and clean and music via the Bluetooth 5.0 surprisingly sounds full bodied and detailed.

Verdict

There’s no defying physics here... there’s no top firing speakers. So, while it can process the audio signals and surely supports Dolby Atmos, the experience you get is nothing remotely close to what you would with a system that has the top firing speakers and at this price, we don’t expect any either. But Creative got creative elsewhere and apart from the regular ‘Movies’, ‘Music’ and ‘Wide’ there’s a night mode that suppresses the lower frequencies and enhances the mid range so the dialogues sound clear! Clever.

Stuff Says

The most accomplished compact soundbar for the price...
Good stuff
Bad stuff
  1. Price

  1. Ease of use

  1. Balanced sound

  1. ‘Night Mode’ is a win

  1. Only support for HDMI ARC

Specifications
Power Output (RMS): 240W
Connectivity: HDMI ARC, HDMI 2.0 x 2, Optical-in, Bluetooth 5.0
Dimensions: (WHD) 565 x 88 x 75mm
Bar: 115 x 250 x 422 mm