Creative’s Outlier Pro is a real mixed bag, and a product that I've struggled a little bit to really nail down my thoughts on, because while it offers quite a few pros, it also has a couple of cons. But for the price, I am confident in saying that they are one of the best value for money sets of earbuds on the market. Let me explain what these pros and cons are and why I think it's such good value for money.
First of all, out of the box, the charging case for the Outlier Pro’s is a weird one. I both like it, but at the same time it feels a little cheap, and I'll be honest is the only thing about the Outlier Pro’s that feels this way. It looks a little more like a power bank than a wireless earbuds case and is quite bulky, but I love the way it opens up to reveal the earphones as opposed to the usual clamshell design of just about all other earbuds. When fully open however the case feels rather flimsy and almost as though you could break it very easily. I am yet to break it and have dropped it a few times, even once or twice when it was fully open and the thing survived so, while it feels a bit cheap and flimsy it's actually pretty strong. If you've used wireless earbuds before, you've probably dropped them at least once or twice, well I know I have, and let me tell you those earbuds yeet themselves out of there quicker than a speeding ticket. This problem is all but eliminated with the Outlier Pro case. This cylindrical case means that it can't just “pop open” on impact and fling your precious earbuds the length of the MCG. They stay in the case every single time which is a massive plus for me.
The design of the earbuds however is one that I actually really like, they are a bit bigger than the likes of Apple’s Airpod's Pro or the JBL Tour Pro+ TWS earbuds, but that just leads to the Outlier Pros having 15 hours of charge in the earbuds themselves opposed to just 5 hours of the Airpod's Pro and a total of 60 hours in the case compared to Apple’s 24! This is a huge difference with the Outlier Pro getting almost as much battery life in the earbuds as the Airpod's do from the case… This can be a very important factor for a lot of people especially if they want to listen for long periods of time.
The audio quality of the Outlier Pro's also far surpassed my expectations. I have been listening mainly to music and podcasts for around 8 hours a day for the past few weeks and then the occasional gaming session specifically on my Nintendo Switch and everything I have listened to has sounded great. I found the default EQ to be a little off, but after a little bit of tinkering in the Creative app I managed to get it sitting somewhere I was really happy with. Lows sounded deep and the highs were punchy and very full sounding. Something I didn't really expect from a $100 pair of true wireless earbuds. They also take advantage of Creatives SXFI technology to create a very satisfying and rather large sounding sound stage which is excellent when gaming.
ANC is where the Outlier Pros are a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong there are certain situations when they seem to do a good job, but for the most part, they struggled. I work in a vehicle workshop and where some of my other earbuds block out a lot of that mechanical noise the Outlier Pro didn't do such a good job, the clanging of metal tools, the whirring of air tools and just the overall noise of the place seems too much for the ANC to block out compared to my Airpod's Pro or JBL’s. I'll be honest though and I'll say I expected this from a $100 set of buds. The fact that this is the only aspect of the Outlier Pros that does in fact reflect its price tag is a very positive thing.
The microphones in these are pretty good. Certainly not as impressive as the microphones on the SXFI Air Gamer headset that I recently reviewed, but they are a definite pass mark. They are actually quite clear and posed zero issues for both phone calls and for chatting online. I'd definitely recommend a step up for your gaming chat, but if it's your only option, you will definitely get by.
Overall the Outlier Pro’s are an excellent value for money product. They offer excellent battery life, great sound quality and aside from poor ANC there's not a lot to dislike. For roughly $100 you'll do well to find a better all round set of earbuds than these especially if ANC is not a huge feature for you. If ANC is a big deal however, then I'd definitely look elsewhere as the ANC here is one of the worst performing ANC’s I've tested for my specific circumstances.
Comments