Creative seems to have a renewed push in the headphone business. Just recently, we took a look at the Creative Outlier Black headphones, and found that while they had a lot to offer for the price, they still had some pretty major issues.Now, it’s time to look at the Creative Outlier One headphones, which trade in the over-ear form for an in-ear one.
Updated on September 21, 2018, to include frequency response chart and battery data.If you’re headed to the gym chances are, you’re reaching for a pair of. There are still a few brave, resistant souls I see walking around the gym with wired headphones but more often than not, it’s a Bluetooth pair that I see. And although we have our, it’s hard not to recommend them for exercise. Not having to deal with wires is super convenient and Bluetooth earbuds have gotten way cheaper and way better than years past. Case in point: the new Creative Outlier One earbuds. Are they going to be your favorite new pair of headphones? Probably not.
But at $29 you should probably get them anyway because spoiler alert: they’re that good. The Creative Outlier One earbud housings appear large but fit well.Close your eyes, and picture a pair of Bluetooth earbuds. That’s what the Outlier One headphones look like. And there’s nothing wrong with that as two earbuds connected by a wire are a tried and true design, just don’t expect to be wowed by their beauty. To that end though the team at Creative did make some quality choices when it came to build and design. These are certified making them entirely sweatproof which is obviously a necessity for workout ‘buds, but they also added some clever design tweaks to take these from good to great. The flat cable keeps the Creative Outlier One earbuds from getting tangled.For one, they borrow the same angled earbud design from the previous (but more expensive) Outlier earbuds which angle sound directly into your ear.
They also have a nice flat cable which keeps them getting annoyingly tangled when you stuff them in your pockets or gym bag. Sticking with the earbuds, I also found these to be extremely comfortable.
At first glance, they seemed large and I was envisioning having to stuff them in my ears uncomfortably, but I didn’t have to. They fit snugly, sure, but it wasn’t painful at all and I was able to use them for hours without pain. This is probably because of the rubber cushion they have on them, which can be replaced for a similar one with ear wings if you’re having trouble keeping them in your ear.Which brings me to the only thing I’m not crazy about when it comes to the build of these headphones, and the control module. It’s understandable because of the battery life, which we’ll get to later, but that doesn’t make it any less pretty. It’s a large chunk of plastic dangling on the cable with cheap feeling buttons, but on the bright side, I didn’t have any problems with it pulling the earbuds out. Even though it’s big it’s also surprisingly lightweight, so running with them was no problem at all.
ConnectivityWhen it comes to exercise fit is extremely important to me, but a solid connection is even more important. Skipping music and dropouts aren’t that big of a deal to me in everyday life, but when I’m exercising each one causes a stab of annoyance. Luckily, I had no problem with the Outlier One earbuds while using them. Skips were non-existent as long as I was within 10-15 meet of my source device which I always am at the gym. Things do get a little jumpy once you past the 25-foot mark but, again, if you’re going to be exercising you’ll rarely be that far away. But it is something to take note of if that’s an issue for you. An IPX4 build makes the Creative Outlier One perfect for exercise.Another thing that might bother you is call quality.
Even though calls sounded fine on my end, I got plenty of complaints from others that I sounded “far and echo-y”. It’s good enough to answer a quick phone call while exercising but you probably won’t want to have a full blown conversation with these. When I switched back to my phone the person on the end literally said, “Wow, that’s much better.” On to another good feature though, controls are also all that you could want from a pair of workout headphones.
You can switch between tracks, pause music, answer and end phone calls, and control volume with just a few different sets of clicks. Thanks to the humorously large control module the buttons are pretty big, meaning that even though they’re not as raised or as tactile as I would like it’s hard to accidentally click the wrong one. The Creative Outlier One control module is bulky but boasts a 9.4-hour battery life.Now for the reason the control module is so large: battery life.
Creative claims these will last you about 9.5 hours and in, we got 9.4 hours of playback with a constant output of 75dB(SPL). One bad thing is that these do charge via micro USB and in a future where everything should be it’s a little annoying. But hey, that future isn’t here yet and these aren’t that expensive anyway so we’ll give Creative a pass for that. Sound quality.
Angled nozzles help the Creative Outlier One earbuds fit comfortably for extended periods of wear.One area of these headphones that I was pretty surprised with was sound quality. For a pair of Bluetooth ‘buds these do a great job with sound which I think is in no small way thanks to the second pair of rubber sleeves that can go on the earbud. The bass I think is perfect for a pair earbuds you’re going to be using while exercising.
I say while exercising because for casual listening these are definitely too much for me. The Creative Outlier One earbuds reproduce emphasized low-end, which subsequently results in occasionally masked mids and highs.The bass a little all over the place and definitely given the most attention, but they’re not absurdly bass-heavy like some other headphones out there. The bassline in Campo by Toro y Moi was extra groovy and easy to follow, which is great since that’s the song that I usually start my runs with.
These got me nice and pumped thanks because it gave that groovy bassline just a little bit extra, but the same can’t be said for the mids and highs.With everything going on in the song Goosebumpz by Mac Miller his vocals tended to get lost in some of the instrumentation and they also sounded a kind of hollow. Highs were a mixed bag for me. The quick “tsk, tsk” and throughout the song Special Affair by The Internet was fine, but the rhythmic hi-hats in the chorus were a little too forward.At max volume, they toe the line of harshness and at times seem to be even louder than the vocals which is definitely not how they’re supposed to sound.Should you buy the Creative Outlier One?All that said, these don’t sound bad at all considering the price.
Do they sound amazing? Probably not. But that’s fine because you’re not paying audiophile money to begin with. For headphones, you can just throw in your bag and take to the gym. These check all the boxes.
Sweat protection? Long battery life? The fact that these sound good as well is just an added bonus, so we’ll take what we’re given here.Up next.
Who is the Creative Outlier Air for?The Creative Outlier Air is for general consumers who don’t want to be tethered by wire when out and about. It has the best standalone battery life of any true wireless earbuds we’ve tested, and can carry you through nearly an entire workday. Its IPX5 build can endure most and unpredicted downpours alike.
If you want some of the best true wireless earbuds for a reasonable price, the Creative Outlier Air is for you. What’s it like to use the Creative Outlier Air? The pocketable charging case is sleek but slippery.The Creative Outlier Air earbuds and charging case are all lightweight and compact, making it easy to transport them in a purse or pocket. Pushing the inner portion of the charging case out reveals the earbuds. I was doubtful about since the housings are slippery, but my doubts were quickly quelled after wearing them for an hour.
Each earbud houses what Creative describes as a 5.6mm graphene driver. However, this isn’t graphene through-and-through; rather it’s either a sort of coating laid atop the driver itself.If you’re navigating a high-trafficked area or exercising outdoors, simply engage mono listing by placing one earbud back in the case. This way, you can while still enjoying your music while or just walking about. If you do choose to exercise with the water-resistant Creative Outlier Air, be sure to let the earbuds dry off completely before placing them back in the charging case.
The USB-C charging case provides an additional two charges.Upon, we were able to squeeze a whopping 7.78 hours of playback from the 60mAh batteries found in the Creative Outlier Air earbuds. Although this is less than Creative’s boasted 10-hour standalone battery life, it still outperforms any other true wireless earbuds we’ve tested. The 380mAh charging case provides an additional two charge cycles, carrying you through nearly a full day of listening. Charging takes up to two hours, and the same applies to the USB-C charging case.How do you connect the Outlier Air to your phone? Remove both earbuds to pair to your phone; the LED ring on one will flash red and blue. That is the default primary earbud.Initial pairing for each set of true wireless earbuds is a little different.
For these, just remove both earbuds simultaneously and one of the circular indicators will alternate between red and blue, indicating pairing mode. Your phone’s menu will register two options: Creative Outlier L and Creative Outlier R, choose the one with the blinking LED.
This is now the main unit, while the other is secondary. The Creative Outlier Air is notably bass-heavy, yet produces a realistic representation of three-dimensional space.Unfortunately, the earbuds don’t isolate well, making third-party ear tips a smart add-on.These sound like a fun pair of earbuds that puts bass before clarity. As depicted by the chart above, bass frequencies (pink) are going to be 10dB louder than midrange frequencies (green).
This means that 100Hz sounds will be twice as loud as 1,800Hz sounds. There is a bit of between the two ranges; however, the emphasized treble response (cyan) aids in reproducing a seemingly clearer sound.While the bass response may be overpowering at times, the reproduction of space is quite impressive. Instrumental separation is easy to hear which may not be surprising seeing as it’s the same company that brought us the. Bass frequencies are the star and often overpower vocals.Media playback becomes significantly less clear when. I took these out to my local coffee shop and could hear nearly everything around me. Increasing the volume counteracted this a bit, but doing so. Seeing as these are relatively affordable true wireless earbuds, it’s worth picking up a pair of to improve isolation.Related:Lows, mids, and highsThe song Man On Fire by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros is a great example of how well the Creative Outlier Air recreates a realistic sense of sound.
At 0:29, the guitarist walks down the fretboard playing individually plucked notes as lead singer Alex Ebert vocalizes a melodic “oh.” The light drum and tambourine hits are distinguishable from one another and you experience a sense of spatial awareness that isn’t replicated as well by.There are some drawbacks to the Creative Outlier Air’s sound signature: at 3:16 a triangle hit comes through clearly, but vocal “ohs” are underemphasized and muffled by the overpowering kick drum strikes. Remember when I mentioned that certain midrange frequencies will sound half as loud as bass notes? Case in point: Jade Castrinos’ echoing vocals at 3:26. The harmonic resonances of her voice are completely masked by the underscoring drums and guitar. Is the Creative Outlier Air good for phone calls? Not how the chart above depicts notes below 160Hz as quieter than higher ones. This means if you have a low register, most males, you won’t sound quite as clear as someone with a higher pitched voice.
For reference, 160Hz is the lowest end of my voice’s fundamental frequency range.Creative Outlier Air microphone demo:The example above was recorded while an industrial fan and dehumidifier were running in my apartment just ten meters from me. Even though the machines are slightly audible in the recording, they’re significantly quieted by the microphones.
Safe to say the Creative Outlier Air’s ability to attenuate such loud, low-frequency noises is impressive. Should you buy it? You can choose which earbud is the primary and which is the secondary, or forgo stereo listening altogether by enabling mono mode.Yes. The Creative Outlier Air is a bargain for true wireless earbuds. Sound quality is excellent and both aptX and AAC high-quality codecs are supported. Additionally, battery life is bar none. If you’re looking for a pair of true wireless earbuds that can do it all and do it well for less, then the Creative Outlier Air is a brilliant choice.Read up on our list of the.