Customer Reviews

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Wireless Audio Transmitter and Receiver Bundle

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Having used a myriad of devices from the squeezboox boom and the squeezebox duet system -- as well as a few other devices that are not worth mentioning, I'll say that this is by far the easiest to use, install and operate.

Let me walk you through my set-up ... which took about 10 minutes ...

1. Unpacked the box and did away with all the plastic detritus.
2. Installed and registered the software on my laptop.
3. Plugged in the transmitter to a USB port in the back.
4. Rebooted my laptop, turned on iTunes and played a U2 album.
5. Plugged in the receiver (using a nicer set of cables) to my Sony Stereo Receiver on Aux 3. Was tempted to go optical.
6. Hit the find button on the underside of the little device and walked away.
7. 15 seconds later -- music played.
8. Stuck the batteries in the remote and turned it up.

That simple and absolutely no stumbling blocks to speak of.

Sound Quality? -- Better than I expected for this, but I wasn't looking for Mark Levinson to come out of my office and sit down on the couch with a glass of wine. The sound quality is more than adequate for casual home listening and the better your system is, the better the device will sound to you.

Responsiveness? -- I'm constantly unplugging the transmitter from my laptop and taking off somewhere, only to come back replug it back in, and find it working almost instantly and flawlessly. Windows and iTunes are not always asking questions or looking for drivers. It seems that whatever iTunes needed to do to make this thing be compatible with itself, was worked out ahead of time by Creative Labs and Apple. That's a first.

The Software -- is quite good and quite simple. You can customize it to play in zones, if that's your thing or adjust the quality of the sound and other minor changes. The software, from what I saw, doesn't appear to be a resource hog, nor has it been the culprit of crashes or bluescreens. If you don't use iTunes , you don't like to, or don't want to, this may be the only *real* problem one could face. The good thing is that it doesn't require you to depend on it as a player like other companies, or other devices do.

I can find no fault with this and I'm happy with the success of this device. I use it everyday now and I'm thoroughly pleased.

Well done ... a great idea to give as a gift for young or old as the ease of use with this is simple and the learning curve low. How about that for innovation?

...

Everything works and sounds great once I figured it out. The instructions that came with it made it sound simple, plug this here, plug that there and (viola!) you're up and running. Don't believe it. After checking the Creative website for troubleshooting tips (again, no help), I stumbled upon the answer on my own. Using Windows 7, I went into the Control Panel, then Hardware & Sound, then the Sound option, where I had to select the Sound Blaster Wireless card as the default sound option. That redirected the sound from my computer speakers to the Blaster transmitter. I had to then reposition my computer in my home office so that my kitchen (with its big appliances) weren't directly between the transmitter and the receiver in my family room before the reception improved. But it does now work as expected. The lesson here is that, if it is made to sound simple, you can bet it is anything but. But if you know about changing the default playback device to the Blaster USB card, then make sure your transmitter won't have big obstacles (like metal appliances) between it and the receiver(s), you'll be fine.

Now, in theory this is a great device and it's really easy to setup: plug in the stick into the USB Port, hook to the receiver to your Audio System, press the connect button. Driver installation from CS is only needed if you want some of the advanced settings or things like listening to incoming sound from a Microphone. When it works, it is a really great device. Sadly for me, most of the time it doesn't work, the connection drops constantly for a fraction of a second which gives the sound quality of a radio that loses it's tuning all the time. The distance between the USB Stick and receiver is about 6 Meters, with no walls in between, only a wooden desk and human body. I do not know if the Wireless LAN is interfering, but that works perfectly fine. Overall, I had to replace it with a cable again.

I was very excited to test out this product. I have several iPods and Touches in the house. I used to use Apple Universal Dock for iPod (White) to listen to music through my stereo and watch videos when needed. I paid about $100 for the Apple Dock (at the time) and must admit did not like all the wires and the fact I had to have the iPod (s) in the dock. I then bought several iPod docking stations so I had them for each room of the house. I use one in the bathroom for when I shower and get ready, Homedics SS-6510 SoundSpa Fusion AM/FM Alarm Clock Radio with iPOD Docking Station, 6 Natural Sounds and LCD Display. I also use a docking station on my nightstand to play white noise through my iPods at night. I had a docking station in the kitchen which is next to the living room but this unit has since replaced the use of the old Apple Dock I used and also the dock in the kitchen.

When I opened the box I immediately installed the software on my laptop. I work on my laptop all day in the living room which has my home stereo system. I then hooked up the unit to the Line in on my stereo. Then I plugged in the little USB/wifi device and it is all set! I LOVE this unit! I can now play my itunes library from my laptop and listen to it through my home stereo system! I don't have to have my iPods tied up to any docking devices to hear my music now. I love the fact that it has a little windows sidebar on the right of my desktop which is the control center. I can pick my play list and also play the videos and TV shows I have in iTunes through this unit to my stereo. I can read the headlines through gadgets I add through RSS feeds. This unit has come in so handy! When I am done I just unplug the USB part, put the cap on it and place it in my coffee table until I am ready to use it again.

What is not good about the unit is the remote control. I did not deduct any stars due to it because I don't need the remote if I have access to the play lists and buttons in front of me. For some reason the only thing that seems to work on the remote is to power on the unit and to power it off. Every button besides that does nothing! I think Creative Labs needs to work on that. I know it works since it powers on the unit but not having full function might be a deal breaker for some but not for me.

I am very happy with this unit and use it everyday. I did not think I would use it as much as I do but if I am doing to dishes are making dinner it is nice to have my iTunes library playing on my home stereo. I really enjoy this unit!

Set-up is made tricky, primarily due to the need to pair the USB connector with the receiver--and the pairing button on the USB connector is very small, almost invisible, and difficult to press. It took me a good 20 minutes to get it paired.

Once the device was paired and I took a trip to System Preferences, I got audio coming out out of the speakers. But I never got the remote to control iTunes and it's not clear how to fix this. The audio quality is nice; there's nothing wrong with that aspect of the product. I do wish there was a TOSlink (optical) audio connector on the back to make it easier to plug into a receiver, but the dual RCA plugs are OK.

Another drawback is the size of the USB connect--it's quite large and overlaps with other ports. My MacBook Pro can only use this device on the right side USB port if I want to have the laptop connected to AC power. The case should be narrower and focus on the audio output (lose the microphone port if that's what it takes to make the USB connector narrower).

All of this might be tolerable, except it interferes with my Bluetooth mouse. I didn't notice any WiFi degradation, but my Bluetooth mouse turns into a jumpy cursor--pretty much useless.

The concept is very cool--I have a lot of AirPort Expresses around the house which I control with our iPhones loaded up with Apple's free Remote application, but I thought this device might be a better solution.

It isn't. Especially for such a high price. If your goal is to hear iTunes in another room or on a stereo away from the computer, buy Apple's AirPort Express instead.

I was excited to be able to play Pandora on my home stereo. I intended to use this on my laptop along side my Linksys wireless A+G pcmcia card that communicates with my Linksys wireless router. Unfortunately whenever I had the Soundblaster card transmitting I could no longer pick up the signal from my wireless router. I did try assigning different channels on my router and the Soundblaster unit but with no luck. Creative customer support said there should be no issue so I suspect they have tested mutliple configs where this was not a problem but I couldn't get it to work.

When I played content from my laptop as opposed to trying to play an internet stream it sounded good. Great idea if you can get it to work in your wireless environment.

I have a Bose home system with speakers throughout the house, and wanted to use Pandora for music throughout. My need was to find a product to interface with the Bose system easily and play any kind of music easily. This product worked great right away, and solved the problem for not a lot of money. Other products were more expensive doing the exact same thing . . very pleased with the result.

Creative's Sound Blaster is an easy enough concept to grasp. However, simple set-up is not always guaranteed. Simply plug the transmitter into a USB port in your laptop, plug the receiver into your stereo inputs (or wireless speakers), plug that in and you should be on your way. Nope. Not my experience. I fussed with this for two weeks before I got it to work and that included three Emails to support and a phone call. I even contacted TOP Reviewer Kristen (Modern Blue Argonaut) for help!

You really do need to install the software, even though Creative says you don't need to. This sets up an icon box on your desktop. You also need to open iTunes to select songs. `Pairing' the transmitter and receiver was simple enough after a few tries. Make sure to do them in order. But even after I had all the connections working and `talking' to one another, there was no sound. I had my receiver set to CD input where my L/R cables were plugged in and the RCA jack plugged into the receiver. This is very misleading in the instructions, where it shows the L/R cables plugged into the receiver and the RCA jack plugged into the stereo. However, THAT might be appropriate IF you are only using self-powered speakers.

Anyway, after several deep breathes, I tried again by selecting songs from my laptop and `voila!', it worked. I used the Sound Blaster Jukebox on my desktop to work iTunes. Then the real test. I took my laptop to the far end of my condo and it still played cleanly and crisply through three walls (kitchen included). So I am very happy at this point, even though my sub-woofer is not playing.

All these electronic devices lately are getting smaller and smaller and you are treated to a tiny remote measuring 5-1/2" by 1-1/2". It was clearly `talking' to my receiver, as the light flashed red, then white when buttons were pushed, but it only worked with sound volume. None of the other buttons worked at all. So here is where I called support. They supplied me with the number after three Emails. I went through two support people with the remote control issues when I was told this. "Creative's product is still new and we are working out some of the issues with the remote control, so at this moment we cannot give you information". How's that for support? At least I could understand the people I was talking to.

The Creative Sound Blaster does work, however it is for designed for a smaller sound system. It would be great in a dorm room or in small apartment, but as a wireless remote sound system, it is limited. One nice thing is that you can watch YOUTUBE while listening to it on your sound system. I would recommend the Logitech Squeezebox Duet WiFi Internet Radio, but I also had trouble with that as I had to install a DSL/phone jack in my stereo room (oddly it had none). One reviewer referred to this as the "poor man's squeezebox" and that's fair enough, but I'm not at all happy with the setup time, support or ease factor.

Well, the product its fantastic. Very easy to use and once you connect the transmiter is ready in seconds.

There is a BIG BUT. It happens that this system don't let other wireless work. I have tested everything and it happens that the signal of the Creative is very strong and don't let any other wireless device transmit.
I have a modem-router. When sound plays the speed drops almost 30 times and doesn't work. Even fails sometimes. You remove the creative everything comes to normal.

I've changed channels, everything, but its just the device the problem.

So, if you have a wireless network at home, forget about having internet and music at the same time. Look else where.

The Good: Sound quality after adjusting the equalizer is pretty good - maybe a little better than FM radio. Setup after software installation was essentially automatic, and once set up, the link between the transmitter and receiver has worked well for me every time. The product does what I bought it for - I'm streaming audio from my laptop to my home theater system right now as I write this. It works fine with iTunes, Internet Radio, Internet TV, and every other form of computer sound I've tried. All the cables and everything else I needed to install and use the product was included in the box. The price is very reasonable. The software is very well behaved and stays out of my way. Product works with Windows 7 just fine.

The Bad: As someone else here wrote, I DID need to install the software before the product would work. "Duh" you say. Sure, but the instructions claim the product is plug and play, and software installation only enables extra features. That was not my experience, and it seems needless to set up false expectations like that. If Creative Labs had simply said 1. install software, 2. Plug in the transmitter and receiver, 3. Play your music, my expectations would have been met, and I've been writing here about how easy the software installation and setup was. Sometimes using this product prevents me from using my wireless mouse. Not right now though - seems an intermittent thing. I would say that setting the graphic equalizer in the software utilities that come with the product is almost essential to anyone who cares about sound quality. The lights on the receiver are bright, blinking, and distracting, so I have to hide it behind my other gear. Most remote control features simply do not work. I can only get volume control, mute and power to work. But I wouldn't use the other remote features anyway.

Bottom Line: Good, not perfect product, that does what it says it will do, and for for a very reasonable price.