Creative Stage Pro review

Apparently someone thought it was a good idea to give the Eartha Kitt disco-era defender a soundbar and subwoofer to review. Not only that, they gave it to the person who's never known the delight of having such a snazzy sound setup before. Will she go drunk with power? Will she stop referring to herself in the third-person? Is this what happens when you listen to I Don't Care at full volume one too many times? Well friend, if that's simply not your cup of tea, I'm afraid the playlist is only going to get much, much worse from here.

Once I'd got my grubby little mitts around the Creative Stage Pro sizeable box, and subsequently torn into its cardboard prison with a scavenger's frenzy, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the setup process was. Yes, this is a beefy sound device that requires a lot of wires plus its own power plug, but you're only setting up one soundbar alongside one subwoofer, and it all comes with straightforward, easy to understand instructions in the box.

Also inside the box is a remote, though this runs off of 2x AAA batteries that are very much not included. The soundbar features a few rubberised control buttons too, so it's not the end of the world if picking up batteries isn't top of your to-do list. The heftiest thing coming out of the box is the subwoofer, but that's easily tucked away under even my tiny Micke Ikea desk. The soundbar itself is a fairly chunky thing too, though still sits comfortably enough under my monitor—it even offers a little extra surface area for my smaller Vocaloid figurines to perch.

Visually, it's similar to other soundbars within the Creative Stage range, but features a more rounded design plus some snazzy gold bits at both ends of the device. Beyond that bit of flair, it's a fairly understated black soundbar without even a whisper of RGB lighting. However, the bulky footprint of the Stage Pro might prove something of a spatial conundrum for anyone working with even less desk space than me.

The Creative Stage Pro offers a wealth of connection options, from plugging into the back of your PC via a USB-C to USB-A cable, or being an absolute menace by connecting your phone over Bluetooth. You don't strictly need a 3.5 mm aux cable to inflict your eclectic musical tastes on those around you, but the Creative Stage Pro does offer that option too. Also interesting to note is that the Bluetooth connection is limited to about 10 metres—but the Creative Stage Pro's room-filling sound ensures there's no escape from your playlist.

Testing this soundbar has been a real treat but, for my neighbours' sake, I don't dare listen to it for extended periods above about 15% volume. The Creative Stage Pro can get roof-raisingly loud, though unlike its distant forbear, the Creative Stage 2.1 PC speakers, it is possible to keep a lid on all of that sound.

Unsurprisingly, DOOM: The Dark Ages proves an absolute belter with the soundbar and subwoofer. However, between shotgun blasts and shield bashes I found myself frequently eyeing the volume knob on my keyboard. To enjoy all of the audio's little viscera-squelching details, you really will want to crank the volume slightly higher than perhaps is comfortable should you have roommates or share a somewhat thin wall with your neighbours. If you do happen to live in a cabin in the woods, then I envy the audio experience you'll have with the post-2016 DOOM trilogy.

The fact the Pro manages to retain an impressive amount of audio detail at louder volumes means that the temptation to turn it up even just a smidge is always there. Combined with the bassy kick from the subwoofer on the floor, I'm immensely enjoying rediscovering some old favourites with the Creative Stage Pro.

Speaking of, I unearthed my teenage playlist to really put the Creative Stage Pro through its paces. Diving ear-first into Unlaced and Organ Grinder by Emilie Autumn, I did feel the demanding higher frequencies of these electric violin-focused tracks were well-rendered—though I will no doubt be begging for my neighbours' forgiveness. Being able to adjust the bass and treble separately via remote control is a power I'm glad my teenaged-self never had access to.

Setting aside my 'Ugh, you don't even know what a harpsichord is?' phase, the Creative Stage Pro offers a number of EQ presets, geared towards either movie-watching, music-listening, listening to more voice-led audio such as podcasts, or gaming specifically. These are most easily cycled through via 'MODE' on the remote, but there's also another button just above this dedicated to something called 'SuperWide.' You can swap between 'near' and 'far' field profiles, or turn this off entirely—though I feel a lot of oomph is lost without the SuperWide profiles in play.

At my desk, I tend to stick to the 'near' profile as I found that room-filling enough, but if you're hosting a function and want to make sure your captive audience really appreciates all the nuances of Lemon Demon's Two Trucks, you may instead prefer the 'far' profile. I definitely found this profile compelling, especially as Une vie à t'aimer off the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 soundtrack becomes an even more sweeping, tortured ballad when given an appropriately expansive sound stage to dominate. As much as I got a kick out of that, the 'far' SuperWide profile was definitely slightly overpowering for sitting at my desk—to say nothing of the noise complaint I'm sure belting out Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club has earned me by now.

Anyway, enough about my eclectic tastes and related music crimes. Allow me to expound a little more on how well this bit of kit lends itself to gaming specifically. The gentle soundscape of Against the Storm becomes its best, 'rainy forest ASMR to fall asleep to'-self over the Creative Stage Pro, but as much as I love this dark fantasy city builder, I know it's hardly putting the sound bar through its paces.

Rather than annoy my neighbours with yet more doomslayer shenanigans, I hopped over to the slightly less aggressive soundscape of Hi-Fi Rush. Staring down an oversized quality control bot, Nine Inch Nails' accompanying soundtrack is flattened at around 10% volume. Thankfully, you don't need to crank it up too much to enjoy this rhythm-combat game's finer details, like the on-the-beat crack of your improvised axe and the jangle of your robotic cat companion's collar.

In-game, the Creative Stage Pro offers immersive, detailed sound without the horse-blinder effect of a traditional gamer headset. So as impressed as I was by the sound quality—not to mention the appealing lilac colourway—of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3X, it may finally be time for me to hang up the headset and live the soundbar life.

Personally, I don't mind feeling the bass through the subwoofer on the floor, but if you want a more localised rumble, you may be interested to read up about the BlueAnt Soundblade with its built-in subwoofer. The Soundblade is currently our top pick for the best wireless gaming soundbar in our best PC speakers guide, owing to its low-profile design and sound quality. While the Creative Stage Pro's various cables mean it's hardly going to steal BluAnt's wireless crown, it does have the sleek wonder beat on price, as it costs about $30/£70 less at $170/£130.

The Stage Pro may well best its predecessor, the Creative Sound Blaster Katana V2 Soundbar, on at least a few fronts too. For a start, the Stage Pro is far cheaper than the Sound Blaster Katana V2's $350 MSRP while still boasting the same great suite of connectivity options and banging sound. The Stage Pro isn't quite as pretty as the Katana V2, but it's also not as long; despite being the bulkier of the two, the Stage Pro measures just shy of 22 inches long compared to the Katana V2's 24 inches. That shorter length coupled with the lighter price tag may well mean the Stage Pro slots into a wider variety of set ups—and it may well squeeze out our current top pick for the best gaming soundbar.