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Creative Sound BlasterAxx SBX 20 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £180
inc VAT

This attempt to fuse hardware audio processing with a tablet-friendly Bluetooth speaker is ambitious but ultimately falls flat

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One feature we don’t have any complaints about is the speaker’s integrated omni-directional microphone array. It’s great for voice and video chat thanks to its remarkable clarity and there are even audio processing features that allow you to define a narrow physical area that the mic will listen to while ignoring all sounds from outside that space.

With the SBX 20, Creative has tried to tick all the boxes, with support for iOS, Android, Bluetooth audio, USB audio and plenty of audio processing options for gaming, movies and music. Unfortunately, while the speaker can handle all these things, it doesn’t sound great and controlling the many audio options often feels like more trouble than it’s worth.

If you’re just after a Bluetooth speaker, the Altec Lansing InMotion Air is still available from some retailers for around £120. It doesn’t have many audio processing and enhancement options or a USB sound card, but it supports the higher quality AptX Bluetooth audio standard, has a built-in battery to make it truly wireless and it sounds better, too.

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Specifications

Rating **
Speaker configuration 2.0
Power consumption standby 15W
Power consumption on 3W
Analogue inputs 3.5mm stereo
Digital inputs USB, Bluetooth
Dock connector none
Headphone output 3.5mm
Satellite cable lengths 1.5m USB cable
Cable type replaceable
Controls located main unit, app
Tone controls 10-band equaliser
Price £180
Supplier http://uk.store.creative.com/
Details www.soundblaster.com

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