At first we would like to thank Creative for offering us a sample of their Outlier Pro TWS Sweatproof In-Ear Headphones 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.”

 

PERSONAL SPACE, PERSONALIZED SILENCE

Block the world out and have your own personal space wherever you go. Featuring hybrid ANC that utilizes feedforward and feedback microphones on each earbud, the Creative Outlier Pro detects your surrounding sounds and monitors what you hear, effectively cancelling out surrounding noise so you can focus on what truly matters to you.

Feedforward Mic:

Placed on the outside to detect surrounding noise, which is then cancelled out by the ANC technology's anti-signal in response to the noise detected

Feedback Mic:

Placed on the inside to monitor what users actually hear, so the ANC technology can respond and correct the signals accordingly

When you need to hear your surroundings, you don't have to pause the music or take the noise cancelling earbuds out. Simply double tap on the left earbud to switch over to Ambient Mode and let in just the right amount of surrounding sound—just enough to order a coffee or hear the traffic when cycling. You can also customize the amount of sound to let in via the Noise Control module in the Creative app!

 

INDUSTRY-LEADING BATTERY LIFE

The Creative Outlier Pro comes with a whopping 60 hours of total battery life! For an average user, you can charge them as sparsely as twice a month!

 

BE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR

The Creative Outlier Pro has three microphones built into each earbud, working together to ensure you sound loud and clear on voice calls—whether you're chilling in a park or working from home. The microphones detect the environmental sounds and focus on picking up just your voice, suppressing the background noise and chatter around you.

 

COMMAND AWAY

Better voice pickup also means you won't have to repeat yourself to Siri and Google Assistant. Activate your preferred assistant with three light taps on the left earbud, and command away!

 

CUSTOMIZABLE TOUCH CONTROLS

Skip through your playlist, answer calls, or toggle between ANC mode and Ambient Mode—control them all just with a few taps on your earbuds. For more freedom, you can even customize your own tap controls via the Creative app and use them in the most intuitive way to you.

 

UNINTERRUPTED WIRELESS AUDIO

Experience full, rich audio with the Creative Outlier Pro, which is equipped with 10 mm graphene-coated driver diaphragms that efficiently delivers pristine and accurate sounds for any type of content. Coupled with improved wireless stability of Bluetooth® 5.2, the wireless experience with Outlier Pro is both reliable and enjoyable.

When it's time to catch up with your favorite TV series or play some mobile games, head over to the Creative app and turn Low Latency Mode on. This new feature reduces the latency of Outlier Pro by more than half, effectively minimizing that Bluetooth transmission time-lag, so you can enjoy fully synchronized audio and video!

 

MUSIC ALL DAY LONG, RAIN OR SHINE

Whether you're caught in a drizzle on the way home, or need to focus on your strength training at the gym, you don't have to worry about the Outlier Pro. With IPX5-certified water resistance, the earbuds can withstand the occasional splash. Work out in peace to your favorite beats with the Outlier Pro and keep going whether rain3 or shine.

3 IPX5 water-resistant devices are protected against low pressure water jets from any direction, including light or moderate rain.

 

PERFECT FIT, PERFECT ISOLATION

Passive noise isolation is just as important for effective noise suppression. That's why we want to make sure our earbuds fit perfectly in your ears. Select your best fit from the three sets of soft silicone ear tips, try on the different sizes for each ear, and find the optimal ear tips for you!

 

AWARD-WINNING SUPER X-FI® HEADPHONE HOLOGRAPHY

Super X-Fi technology recreates a professional, multi-speaker system experience in your headphones so you can hear sounds naturally like how it's meant to be heard. Creative Outlier Pro is a certified Super X-Fi READY* headphone that is specially tuned for optimum performance with the SXFI App. By utilizing the SXFI App on your mobile, you can enjoy a preview of Super X-Fi Headphone Holography on local content and enjoy cinematic audio even while on the go! Read more about the highly-rated technology and its numerous accolades.

 

Interface: USB-C (Charging), Wireless Charging Enabled and Qi-compatible

Product Type: True Wireless Headphones

Weight: Earbuds: 7g (0.24 oz), Charging Case: 73 g (2.57 oz)

Color -> Charging case: Metallic Umber, Earbud: Metallic Umber

Frequency Response: 20–20,000 Hz

Cable Length: 30 cm / 0.98 ft

Driver: 10mm Graphene-coated Diaphragm Driver

Battery Type and Life -> Battery in Earbuds: 1 X Rechargeable Lithium-ion Polymer Battery 85 mAh in each earbud; Battery in Charging Case: 1 x Rechargeable Lithium Polymer Battery 900 mAh

Charging Time: 2 to 3 hours

Connector Type: Bluetooth 5.2

Bluetooth Profiles: HFP (Hands-Free Profile), A2DP (Wireless Stereo Bluetooth), AVRCP (Bluetooth Remote Control)

Bluetooth Operating Frequency: 2.4 GHz

Audio Codec: AAC, SBC

Operating Range: Up to 10m / 33 ft

Wearing Style: In-ear, True Wireless

Microphone: Frequency Response: 100–10,000 Hz

Sensitivity: - 38 dBV/Pa

Type: Omni-directional

Weather-proof Resistant: IPX5

Operating Temperature: 0–45°C

Built in microphone: Yes

Music playback and calls control: Yes

Controls: Touch controls (Volume and Playback controls)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

For Creative App:

iOS

iOS 11 and above

Bluetooth with A2DP stereo support

Android

Ver. 7.0 and above

Bluetooth with A2DP stereo support

 

Creative has updated the Outlier line of in-ears with the Pro model, which features an improved battery life, hybrid ANC and Ambient mode, no less than 3 microphones per each headphone, IPX5-certified water resistance, touch controls, a charging case with Qi capabilities, support for the latest Bluetooth 5.2 technology and more!

 

The product is shipped inside a compact cardboard box, which shows the headphones along with the charging case on the top cover, but also the SXFI Ready logo. What does that logo mean? Well, the drivers are prepared to work with the technology, but there is no dedicated internal hardware; because of this, the Super X-Fi Headphone Holography effects will be created through software, the dedicated SXFI App and only works with music preloaded on our device.

 

 

 

On the side, we will note some details about the Creative App, the list of inside contents but also some extra details such as the product code name (earpiece and charging case):

 

 

 

The opposite side will inform the user regarding the Super X-Fi technology:

 

 

 

On the back, we will note the main product features shown as pictograms, the power rating, details regarding the Creative worldwide offices but also the product serial numbers:

 

 

 

After lifting the top cover, we will note that Creative has included the instructions right on the back; this includes the recommended charge to full level before the first use, the first-time pairing procedure but also how to install the dedicated mobile application. The charging case along with the headphones can be seen on the top layer, secured inside a black plastic mold:

 

 

 

The underside layer comes with the hardware bundle, but also the documentation:

 

 

 

Here is a look at all the items, when out of the box:

 

 

 

Regarding documentation, we do have some information regarding the Super X-Fi technology, a Quick Start Guide but also another leaflet concerning Safety and Regulatory Information:

 

 

 

The Super X-Fi holography guide does inform the user regarding which steps need to be taken to benefit from it:

 

 

 

The Quick Start Guide explains how to access the mappings, where all the interfaces are, how to operate the charging case, but also how to charge the headphones when not used:

 

 

 

Creative is offering two more sets of ear tips (small and large), the set preinstalled being the medium one:

 

 

 

The supplied cable for charging purposes is USB-A to USB-C:

 

 

 

The charging case comes with a nice-looking aluminum top shell, while the interior is made of plastic. The top area does also include a Creative logo in the middle:

 

 

 

On the left side, we will note some indicators, but also the USB-C port:

 

 

 

On the opposite side, Creative has placed the Super X-Fi Ready logo:

 

 

 

The bottom area of the charging case is made of plastic, in order to make Qi charging possible:

 

 

 

After opening the charging case, even without the buds installed, the charging status LED will illuminate:

 

 

 

The inside was perfectly designed to fit the buds and not to allow them to move during transit. The charging process is done via two gold-plated contacts for each earbud:

 

 

 

The earbuds follow the color scheme of the case (metallic umber), and their design was made for a secure fit when in use, to allow usage even while doing sports:

 

 

 

On the side of each earbud, we will note the Creative logo:

 

 

 

Each earbud has the Stereo channel written on it, the two charging contacts but also the Feedback Microphone on the inside, for monitoring what users hear, so the ANC tech can respond and adjust the signals accordingly:

 

 

 

 

The outside area does feature a small circle where the touch controls can be accessed, a status LED but also the Feedforward Microphone for detecting surrounding noise, which is then cancelled out by the ANC technology anti-signal in response to the detected noise:

 

 

 

The third microphone helps with voice pickup of the user, so we have a total of three microphones available per each earbud!

 

 

 

The drivers are 10mm Graphene coated and sport a frequency response between 20Hz and 20 kHz:

 

 

 

Here is a look at the driver with the ear tip removed, which shows the top protective metallic grill:

 

 

 

As soon as we have placed the earbuds into the charging case, it started charging:

 

 

 

The LED indicators from the case activated as well, so we can always check the status of the earbuds’ battery without leaving the case opened:

 

 

 

We can charge the case wirelessly while it is doing itself the charging as well! Each full charge of the earbuds will result in about 15 hours of use and if we do use the charging case, we can total up 60 hours (ANC off)! If ANC is turned on, we can expect up to 10 hours per charge and a total of 40 hours of playtime with the charging case. Regarding the battery capacity, Creative has included 85 mAh batteries (Li-ion) in each earbud, while the case houses a 900 mAh Li-Po battery:

 

 

 

To access more features of the Outlier Pro, we can download the Creative App from Play Store or Apple’s App Store; if the headphones are in pairing mode, it will be detected right away:

 

 

 

The main GUI will show the detected battery percentage for each earbud, we can adjust the EQ, ANC but also remap the touch functions:

 

 

The EQ is readily configurable, and we can adjust Bass/Treble separately as well:

 

 

A ton of presets are available to select from:

 

 

As we have seen before with other brands, the Noise Control feature can function in two different modes: ANC when outside noise is eliminated to enjoy a proper experience and Ambient mode, which picks up the sounds from outside and allows you to have conversations without the need of removing the earbuds. These two functions can be customized on different levels as well:

 

 

The touch interface can be mapped with different functions as well:

 

 

The Device Settings area does allow enabling Low Latency Mode, we can check the firmware version, help area but can also reset the Outlier Pro to factory defaults:

 

 

Firmware updates are possible through the app as well:

 

 

The Super X-Fi application does allow using the preloaded profile in order to enjoy audio holography, but it functions only as an audio player for audio files stored on the device:

 

 

The application has several options from the available menu:

 

 

The preloaded profiles can be switched anytime, or we can start a new head mapping procedure:

 

 

The application will also display a notification that this is a Super X-Fi enabled headphone:

 

 

The EQ can be customized here as well:

 

 

Since this is not a SXFI device, it will not be shown in the list:

 

 

With the introduction of the 10mm Graphene-coated drivers, Outlier Pro impresses quite a lot regarding the low frequency delivery, as we have noted after playing numerous music videos and watching vlogs on YouTube. The treble is not so harsh as we have seen with lower-priced in-ears, making the buds more pleasing during long music listening sessions or conferences. Speaking of calls, the inclusion of the AAC, SBC Bluetooth codecs allows for good quality microphone audio, as we noted when trying Skype, but also Teams.

 

If fitted correctly, the ANC feature really makes a difference when in a loud environment, but the Ambient setting does also assist when walking outside or talking to people in a gym. These are IPX5 water-proof resistant, and the battery life allows quite a bit of running time. Fast charge is also present, so if you are in a hurry, you can only plug in the buds for 10 minutes and you will get 2 hours of extra listening time.

 

We did really enjoy the ability to wirelessly charge the storage case, which can be done over night without any issues at all; the LED indicators are there for us to announce when the charging has finalized, for both case and each earbud.

 

Since the launch, the product has already dropped in price and now can be found online for about 80 Euros!

 

Creative Outlier Pro TWS Sweatproof In-Ear Headphones are Recommended for:

 

 

 

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