Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality - Oscar Wilde
THE LAST MAJOR PC HARDWARE brand in Singapore, Creative, has ventured into many markets over the years with varying degrees of success. Zen MP3 players, 3Dlabs and its fresh successor Zii, even professional music authoring systems.
But the core Sound Blaster brand, where Creative set the benchmarks for high-performance PC audio, feels like it has been pushed aside. Creative did refresh the brand more or less regularly in the X-Fi period including, of course, forays into matching speakers and headphones.
Here we take a look at Gigaworks T3, Creative's new entry level speaker sytem. While it has just a subwoofer to pump out the rumbles and two front speakers for medium and high frequencies, Creative has put in some work both on their X-Fi cards and on the speaker to enable more of a surround-like sound for less bucks in these tough times.
The kit uses the SLAM design (Symmetrically Loaded Acoustic Module) with three drivers to improve the bass, and balance the mid and highs to the satellites. Low Standby Power technology reduces power consumption when the speakers are resting and, for the terminally lazy, there's a wired remote with volume control, plus handy Aux-In and headphone connectors.
I installed it on the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum audio card on a dual Xeon 8 GB system running Vista 64-bit, my eldest son's favourite online gaming rig. We had two sound quality references, both subjective of course: a pair of cheap Altec Lansing stereo speakers, and Creative's bigger 5.1 speaker set. Play segments included World of Warcraft online gaming, DVD playback and a raft of music files.
Overall impression is that, even using the default settings, the T3's sound quality, and spatial depth, might even stand up against some full-size 5.1 sytems, and is definitely way ahead of your average two-speaker setup. The virtual surround does seem to help recreate some - though of course not all - of that cinema experience.
The mid tones were fine, and the highs were... well, highly pronounced even without the use of graphic EQ. You may have to manually tweak the subwoofer settings to suit your personal space, though, as it doesn't seem to respond in the same way to the different usage.
I had to tone it down for gaming (bass became too bone-shaking in the violent gore-fest I was forced to test out... which I otherwise deplore), while it did need some re-adjustment listening to some cheesy 80s pop... they just don't make songs like that any more.
At an attractive £199, this is more proof that Creative should focus on the long-standing Sound Blaster brand that made it successful, rather than messing about with gadgets.
The Good
Nice design, compact subwoofer, decent sound for 2.1
The Bad
There could be an added subwoofer stand holding it an inch from the floor
The Ugly
Please stop fiddling with gadgetry and focus on Sound Blaster
Bartender's Verdict
8 out of 10
"The Ugly Please stop fiddling with gadgetry and focus on Sound Blaster" When I read that I seriously starting laughing out loud - completely caught me off guard! Well done! lol
Logitech Z5500's can be found new for a tenner less, are full 5.1 surround, support coax/optical SPDIF, 6-channel analogue in or 3 separate stereos with fourth line in, headphones out, remote control, loud as you want too with fantastic sound reproduction. I thought these Gigaworks were gonna be 90 quid tops. I'd never buy these EVER.
Darn righ, i though they would be in the 60-100 range. For that price you might as well buy a component system and upgrade little by little when better stuff comes out. You guys take your gaming too seriously, go play with yourself.
It'll be like the Z5500s, which are much the same price and vastly better value for money being 5.1 with an integrated decoder.. The midtones are supposed to be 'fine' on that one too, because the oversized sub covers up deficiencies in the tiny speakers. Turn the sub off and retest with non bass heavy music. Bet you'll find the sound changes for the worse.