REVIEW – Creative Outlier Gold True Wireless earbuds are an update to the Creative Outlier Air True Wireless earbuds that Julie reviewed back in May. The new Gold True earbuds are designed to fit comfortably in your ear and to boost excellent sound quality with their new “headphone holography” Super X-fi feature.
What is it?
These earphones come with a convenient charging/carrying case, built-in controls and an app.
What’s in the box?
- Earbuds
- Case
- Instruction maual
- Charger
Hardware specs
- Case dimensions: 3.9 x 1.5 x 4.7 inches
- Item weight: 6.7 ounces
- Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
- Manufacturer: Creative Labs
- ASIN: B07S8V25D9
- Item model number: EF0840
- Batteries: 1 Lithium-ion battery (included)
- Charging time: 14 hours for full charge
- Playing time on full charge: 39 hours
- IP standard: IPX5
- Smart assistants: Siri and Google Assistant
Design and features
The gold color of these headphones is unique and attractive. Plus, it features an IPX5-rated (sweatproof) coating, which means it is resistant against sweat, light rain and accidental splashes.
We found the battery light indicator useful (red flashing means low battery). There are also indicator lights to help with pairing your device, but we did this so easily that the lights weren’t needed.
You press on the headphones for various controls:
- For calls: Press once to answer or end a call. Press and hold to reject a call. Press twice for Siri or Google Assistant.
- For music: Press once for play or pause. Left earbud, press twice for previous track, press and hold for volume down. Right earbud, press twice for next track, press and hold for volume up.
While all of these controls are nice to have, we only used them for testing purposes. In reality, we just use whatever device it’s paired with to adjust volume, answer our calls, etc. The controls may come in handy, for example, if you’re far away from your device, or it’s packed away in your backpack or on your armband while running. But after a full month of use, we’ve never actually needed to use these controls.
Setup
Setup was as easy as taking the earbuds out of the case and pairing them with Bluetooth. Ours arrived already charged and ready to use, and we had no problem quickly pairing them.
When you do need to charge these, you just pop them into the case and plug in the USB Type-C cable to the case and connect it to any USB Type-A charging port.
On a full 14-hour charge, the manual claims these will last 39 hours. Our testing confirmed this, they lasted a very long time!
Performance
We used these to listen to music, Facetime, take phone calls, play video games, use Siri and watch videos. They fit comfortably and stayed in our ears nicely, even while exercising.
These are slightly bigger than your typical earbuds but also have much better sound quality. Sound-wise, we find them comparable to nicer, over-the-ear headphones, yet you can still pop them in your pocket.
We enjoyed the solid base and clear, crisp, well-balanced sound. To achieve this high-quality sound, Creative Outlier uses a 5.6 mm graphene driver diaphragm, “the world’s thinnest and hardest nano-material that is lighter than paper, stronger than steel, and a better conductor of electricity than copper,” according to its website.
We were less impressed with the app and didn’t find it especially useful. In fact, it felt like an extra, unnecessary step to work your headphones. Plus, the “headmapping” function on the app, intended to better your listening experience, didn’t work for us.
That said, you never need to use the app. I’d imagine most people are accustomed to plug-and-play (or pair-and-play) headphones, and that’s how we ultimately use them. My son quickly deleted the app off his phone, but still uses the headphones as his daily go-to because of the excellent sound quality, comfort, long battery life, and convenient size.
What I like
- Sound quality
- Comfort and stability
- Long battery life
What I’d change
- More useful app
Final thoughts
High-quality, easy-to-use, in-ear headphones with an app you may never need.
Price: $99.99
Where to buy: Creative Outlier website
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Creative Labs.
