At first we would like to thank Creative for offering us a sample of their Sound BlasterX Kratos S3 2.1 Speaker System for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About Creative:

 

“Creative is the worldwide leader in digital entertainment products. Founded in Singapore in 1981, Creative started with the vision that multimedia would revolutionize the way people interact with their PCs.

 

Famous for its Sound Blaster sound cards and for launching the multimedia revolution, Creative is now driving digital entertainment with cutting-edge audio solutions, premium wireless speakers, high performance earphone products and portable media devices. The company's innovative hardware, proprietary technology, applications and services enable consumers to experience high-quality digital entertainment - anytime, anywhere.

 

Since launching the phenomenally successful Sound Blaster sound cards and setting the de-facto standard for PC audio in 1989, Creative has been able to leverage on its leading-edge audio technology, a huge user base of 400 million, and strong brand name to expand into the exciting lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment (PDE) market.

 

Creative is now well recognized as a global leader for product innovation in the audio and PDE segments, offering consumers a complete, high quality digital entertainment experience through Creative's hardware, software applications and services. Finding the perfect balance between form and function, Creative strives for every product to be a sensory feast for the eyes and ears.

 

Today, Creative is spearheading new product categories with its groundbreaking Sound BlasterAxx audio enhancement devices and solutions, highly-acclaimed Creative D5xm Signature Series of modular Bluetooth wireless speakers, Aurvana premium headsets, Sound Blaster wireless gaming headsets, and cross-platform Sound Blaster Recon3D for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC or Mac.

 

These products and solutions are marketed to consumers and system integrators through a worldwide distribution network that includes traditional marketing channels, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the Internet.

 

Moving forward, Creative's mission is to expand its leadership role in the lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment market, using groundbreaking technology and leading-edge designs for not just the technically-savvy consumers, but for everyone who enjoys entertainment. With strong focus on user-friendly interface, multiple features and cool industrial designs, the Creative brand is synonymous with lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment.

 

Creative's global corporate headquarters is located in Singapore, in the heart of the Asia-Pacific region. It has regional business units in the US (Milpitas, California), Europe (Dublin, Ireland) and Asia (Singapore).

 

Creative is a public listed company on the main board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) since June 1994.”

 

Product Features:

 

Crafted for the Finest Acoustic

 

Built entirely out of wood for better resonance damping, the Kratos S3 enclosures deliver fuller, warmer, more natural sound than plastic-based designs. The full-range satellites are optimized and designed with larger volume capacity to produce clear highs and detailed mid-range audio. The custom-tuned, down-firing subwoofer with port-tube design pumps out deep dynamic bass for massive gaming, superb movie and rich bass-centric music playback without distortion.

 

Pwn the Battlefield

 

Specially designed for the intense gamers, rev up your audio experience with 92 watts of pure power to give your entertainment or gameplay an extra “oomph”. Alternatively, you can connect to other media players via analog cable.

 

Be in Control

 

Adjust the volume control knob to bring out the best in your music, movies and games. Going for a scrim or perhaps some late night mayhem? Plug in any analog headset into the right satellite for a hassle-free change from speakers to something discreet.

 

Sound BlasterX Acoustic Engine Lite

 

Although the speakers sounds great on their own, we have tapped into our rich history of creating class-leading audio algorithms to take the sound of the Kratos S3 beyond the realm of its physical limitations through audio enhancements optimized for your gameplay.

 

 

Product Specifications:

 

General

System Configuration

2.1 system

Dimensions (H x W x D)

Satellites: 158 x 95 x 102 mm

Subwoofer: 227 x 170 x 227mm

Weight

Left Satellite: 0.5kg

Right Satellite: 0.6kg

Subwoofer: 2.4kg

Color

Black

Recommended Usage

Movies / Music: Yes

PC Gaming: Yes

Controls / Connectivity

Connector Type :Analog

Volume Level Control: Yes

Bass Level Control: Yes

Headphones Out: Yes

Features

Power Output

Satellite : 2 X 11W

Subwoofer: 24 Watts RMS

Peak Power: 92 Watts

RMS Power: 46Watts

Frequency Response

60Hz ~ 20kHz

Drivers

Satellite: 2.75″

Subwoofer: 5.25″

 

After trying out two different portable speakers from Creative, it is now time to take a look at one of their analog 2.1 systems, which takes part of the Sound BlasterX series, mainly orientated at the gaming crowd. This set does integrate two 2.75’’ satellites and a port-tube design 5.25’’ subwoofer for a total RMS power of 46W, which should satisfy crowds that are looking for a budget system of this kind.

 

The product is shipped inside a medium-sized cardboard enclosure, which sports the product logo on top, on a red background:

 

 

On one of the box sides, we will get to see a photo of the speaker system, along with the rated power, along with the PMPO:

 

 

 

More details can be checked out on the opposite area:

 

 

 

Here we will learn more regarding the Kratos S3 technical specifications, along with the benefits of the BlasterX Acoustic Engine:

 

 

 

 

Creative does also highlight the extra controls on the satellite but also shows the benefits of the product construction:

 

 

 

 

After opening up the box, we will get to see a thick layer of cardboard protecting the inside contents:

 

 

 

Its removal will uncover the product documentation:

 

 

 

Moving on, we will find the satellites along with the subwoofer, which are carefully wrapped in transparent plastic bags so they will not damage during transit:

 

 

 

Getting back to the documentation, we will receive the User Guide, one Worldwide Warranty document, but also the “Important Regulatory Safety Instructions”:

 

 

 

To be more exact, the manual gives us some short notes on how the installation should be performed, but will also shows a drawing with the compatible devices and how the volume controller is operating:

 

 

 

Let us begin our journey with the first satellite for the left channel, which sports a good quality wooden enclosure, while the driver in the front is protected with a black metallic grill. A shiny black plastic frame also surrounds the grill:

 

 

 

In the bottom right corner of the speaker, we will get to see the Sound BlasterX logo:

 

 

 

The design of the satellite shows us that the chassis is angled a bit upwards, as we have seen with the Edifier M1370BT 2.1 Bluetooth Speaker System satellites design too:

 

 

 

 

In the backside of the satellite we do not have any additional interfaces, except the cable which connects directly to the subwoofer:

 

 

 

 

On the bottom area of the chassis, we will find four small rubber feet:

 

 

 

While the left channel satellite was weighting 500 grams, the right one weights 100 grams more and let us see why! The frontal area is identical to the left channel:

 

 

 

The first difference begins when looking on the right side of the driver enclosure, which shows a volume controller along with a headphone jack:

 

 

 

The volume controller also doubles up as a power switch; power is signaled by the single red LED located on the left. This type of design is a real improvement over the one we have seen along with the Edifier 2.1 speaker system, allowing us to turn off the speaker without the need to go in the back of the subwoofer each and every time; also, plugging a set of headphones has never been easier while this process does also mute the speakers, leaving the volume control available for the newly connected headset:

 

 

 

The cable in the back of the right satellite is considerably thicker since more signals are traveling through it:

 

 

 

Instead of having a RCA plug as we have seen along with the left channel, the right channel does pack a larger, 12-pin connector:

 

 

 

The last component of this system is represented by the subwoofer, which weighs about 2.4Kg:

 

 

 

In the frontal area of the subwoofer, we will get to see the port-tube design, along with a larger Sound BlasterX logo:

 

 

 

On the sides of the unit, there are no additional interfaces available:

 

 

 

Things get interesting when checking out the bottom area of the subwoofer! Here we will spot a central 5.25’’ driver for low frequencies, which does not seem to be protected too much against external factors. The corners feature tall feet with circular rubber in the middle, which sets an optimal distance between the floor and the actual down-firing subwoofer:

 

 

 

In the backside of the subwoofer, we will get to see another interface panel:

 

 

 

To be more exact, we do have a bass-level controller, the left and right channel 8-Ohm driver connectors, but also the power and analog input audio cable:

 

 

 

 

 

Further down, Creative has placed a sticker with the power ratings:

 

 

 

Here is how the speaker system does look like when it is ready to rumble:

 

 

 

The power LED will light up right away while the setup is powered on:

 

 

 

Since this is an analog system mainly driven by your own sound card/on-board CODEC, we were not really expecting to see a software solution for it, but here it is: Sound BlasterX Acoustic Engine Lite. The software is basically composed by a Creative set of preset filters which do help the Kratos S3 in different game genres such as Adventure and Action, Driving Simulation, FPS, RTS or Sports:

 

 

 

This software does not only support the Sound BlasterX Kratos S3, but a wide selection of other Creative analog products, including regular Stereo Headphones. Creative offers the software free, as soon as you supply an email address so the company can send you an activation code (valid on three different systems):

 

 

 

Some other options are available in the top right corner:

 

 

 

The current BlasterX Acoustic Engine software version present on the website is 1.01.10:

 

 

 

The installation of the Kratos S3 speaker system is pretty self-explanatory and much easier than other 2.1 systems, since the left/right channels do use different connectors and there is no way you could plug them in the back of the subwoofer different than the manufacturer has intended. Since the system operates on an analog interface, it sports compatibility amongst a large range of devices such as PCs, smartphones, TVs, consoles, receivers and more.

 

We have started testing the system on our Gigabyte Z170X-SOC Force motherboard that does pack a Realtek ALC1150 high-definition audio CODEC as the audio interface, adjusted the bass levels in the middle from the back of the subwoofer and left the EQ settings at neutral. The next step was to listen to some YouTube music videos at a decent volume level and in this case, the Kratos S3 was able to deliver clear highs, good mids but also deep and clear bass. The obvious step was to try a few games since Creative has thought this set mostly as a gaming setup; the engine of the planes along with the gun sounds were quite realistic in War Thunder thanks to the dedicated subwoofer, but we did also enjoy Mafia III in the same manner with the loud retro-car sounds, while the shotgun sound effects were a real treat. Kratos S3 does pack a similar sound signature as we have seen with other gaming headphones, meaning that this is a great product to be used by casual gamers which do not want to spend a fortune on a more advanced speaker system.

 

Versus other similar setups from other brands, we did really enjoy the volume controller which does also acts as an On/Off switch on the right satellite for easy access and we do also get a headphone jack in the same position for easy switching, without the need of going each time in the back of the computer case for switching between the speakers and the headphones.

 

Creative does also pack a free downloadable Sound BlasterX Acoustic Engine Lite software that installs a separate driver and basically adds different filters in order to create more sound signatures for your speaker system. The software does not ask for a serial number of the product in order to get an activation key, but anyone can try it even if you do not own a Creative-branded product.

 

The entry-level Kratos S3 2.1 speaker system from Creative can be found online for as low as 66 Euros, which is great for the features we are getting with this product.

Creative Sound BlasterX Kratos S3 2.1 Speaker System is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to Creative for making this review possible!