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Creative Sound Blaster Katana V2 Gaming Soundbar Review | MMORPG.com
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Creative Sound Blaster Katana V2 Gaming Soundbar Review | MMORPG.com
The best soundbar for gaming just got better. The Sound Blaster Katana V2 from Creative is finally here and we have the review.
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Creative Labs hasn't been "creative" for over 15+ years.
Vizio makes good soundbars, yes, but I've tested them and, no, for its intended purpose, this is way better. 1) more features for the price; 2) more compact, 3) actual gaming features; 4) better sound scaling for the size.
Monitors will give you great sound, yeah. This is going for the compact form factor that you can slide under a monitor. Creative's sound customization is really excellent too. Their crystallizer is genuinely great as long as you don't overdo it.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
I use mine for multiple purposes, but I prefer them over any gaming speakers I've owned even if they take up room; putting them on stands helps. I have them hooked up to an audio interface and switch so I can switch them back and forth between pc gaming/working in ableton and my Prime 4.
Reason for buying the product:
For the last few years, I've been slumming it when it came to my non headset audio for my PC, using the terrible integrated speakers on my Asus PG348Q. I have a set of Logitech Z906 speakers , which sound great, but are also a nightmare to cable manage and take up an tremendous amount of desk space. After recently upgrading to a Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 and discovering it's lack of terrible integrated speakers (they just didn't bother including them at all), I went on the search for a more compact audio solution that still had good performance.
I discovered the Katana V2 during my search, and though it had no real independent reviews that I could find (what I did find appeared to me as more of a paid product showcase in the guise of a review), I ended up taking a chance on it anyway, as it had the look, form factor, and connectivity options I was looking for, and was just recently released. Normally there wouldn't be much risk involved in this, as these kinds of things are normally available at the usual line up of online retailers with free no hassle return policies, but as for now this is only available directly from Creative's website (though, my unit was definitely shipped from an amazon warehouse).
Thoughts:
I've had the Katana V2 for about 5 days now, and so far I'm pleased with it. It's compact, sounds great, blends in nicely with my setup and integrates it's volume control seamlessly into windows (I love not having to adjust the volume in windows and on the speaker itself, which was not something I had even thought about before picking up the product). I do have a few nitpicks that I cover below, but I'd say that most people should be happy with their purchase if they pick one one.
Note that I have only used the USB-C connection with my desktop PC and use this primarily for watching content or listening to music while I work, or gaming solo (no headset). So I haven't tested the other connectivity options as of now.
Nitpicks:
The remote could really use a backlight (look up the xbox one media remote). The remote has a ton of buttons on it, most of which are exactly the same size and shape, so while gaming or consuming video content in a dimly lit environment, you end up having to the remote up to a light source to find what you are looking for. Now this may be something that gets better over time, as I get more use to using it, but for now its a minor inconvenience. Also at this price point, you could of thrown in some batteries for the remote. Have 2 AAA's around when this shows up.
The wake time from the auto sleep is pretty long. The Katana V2 ships with it's power saving auto sleep mode enable, it kicks in after no audio has been played for a set amount of time (I wanna say it was 15 minutes?). For the first day, I wasn't sure what was going on. I would play a video and the sound wouldn't come in for 20-30 seconds, which lead to me searching in windows for whatever was causing the volume or connection issue. I finally realized that the sound bar was going to sleep. I may have realized this sooner if I hadn't turned the display screen on the sound bar into it's "OFF" mode (it only displays info if you change volume, inputs, etc.) Luckily you can disable it, but it requires downloading Creative's app on your phone (though you will want to do this anyway to access all the features of the soundbar) and find the option in the settings menu.
If you set a custom color on the RGB lighting, and then change the RGB with the remote (personally I was turning it off to watch something), when you turn it back on, you will only have the preset lighting options, unless you go back into the app. Again, not the end of the world, but it would be nice if there was some way to add your custom lighting to the remote and not have to reach from your phone. (I know there are custom things you can assign to the remote with the app, I don't think custom lighting was one of them, but I will have to go back and double check) One other thing, that Creative may want to look int, is the app crashes on my phone (Iphone 12 Pro Max) if I try to drag the color picker circle in the color wheel.
Probably not the most in-depth review, but if you are considering picking one of these up and have any specific questions. Just lmk and I'll try to answer them.
I can assure you, there is nothing paid or sponsored in this. I'm just a big fan, same as the V1.