The Creative Outlier Bluetooth headphones.
(Images courtesy: Creative)
The Outlier may not be a groundbreaking Bluetooth headset, but why fix what's not broken?
Take one look at Creative’s latest headset, and it’s clearly meant for a younger crowd. The design tones, right down to the neon highlights, speak volumes. But what you may not immediately realise that the Outlier is also marketed specifically towards runners.
Sound is great, just something I’ve over the years come to take for granted from a brand like Creative, however, it isn’t necessarily their finest work. Clarity is just great over all ranges, but I can’t help but feel the Outlier doesn’t have some of the bass “oomph” I’ve seen before. However, that’s supposedly what the highlight rings are for. Not just an aesthetic addition, the “Acoustic Rings” also apparently reveal a bass boost when you take them off the headset. Not that I could immediately tell, but I daresay it’s possible I just didn’t pick an appropriate song.
As far as Bluetooth headphones go, the Outlier is pretty standard fare. It’s a decently flexible plastic body, fitted with medium size faux leather earcups. Pretty comfortable even for prolonged use, but you won’t completely escape sweaty ear syndrome. It has your volume and song navigation buttons on the right earcup, as well as a play/pause/call button. In addition to the standard microUSB slot for either charging or USB sound, there’s also (thank God) a 3.5mm aux out as well. I can’t tell you how glad I always am to have the choice to use a Bluetooth headset as a wired device instead.
Added to that is a fourth connectivity option; a built-in microSD card reader. Remember how I said the Outlier is geared towards runners? This is the main reason. Bluetooth headsets are just an absolute necessity for good running music. You can have your music on the go, without having to worry about being entangled by any wires. Unfortunately, Bluetooth headphones also presume that you’re okay with your smartphone bouncing around inside your pocket. The 32GB microSD reader on this device gets rid of that problem, so running can be just you, the music, and the road. If that wasn’t enough, you can also download the Buddy appfrom the Play Store, which reads out all incoming text messages to you, including SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, so you don’t even have to look at your phone
And you can do all of this for quite a while, seeing as the battery is projected to last 10 hours on a single charge. Considering you’re likely to only use this wirelessly while gaming or out on a run, I’d say that amounts to maybe a full week’s use on a single charge at least. Yes, these can be used for gaming too. And not just on the obvious PC. Spring for the Creative BT-W2 Bluetooth dongle accessory and you can plug it into your PlayStation 4 for a set of wireless speakers and microphone.
All of this for Rs 4,800? Sure, that’s still a steep price for a pair of headphones but, to the right audience, all those features for that price is a steal. And on that point, I most certainly agree.