Review: Creative Stage Pro Soundbar

Creative’s new Stage Pro 2.1 Soundbar is a mini speaker/subwoofer system designed to complement your TV or your computer, with a splash of Bluetooth wireless streaming thrown in for good measure. It’s not the company’s first product to attempt a dual role; its previous soundbar + subwoofer combos (Creative Stage V2 and Stage 360) had the same mission. But Stage Pro is the first to use Creative’s SuperWide digital signal processing (DSP), a clever bit of algorithmic magic that creates a much wider and more immersive soundstage than normal stereo.

The result is a soundbar that performs at its best when you’re seated directly in front of it, yet can also deliver upgraded TV sound with excellent dialog clarity, as long as you don’t expect it to fill more than a small room.

Nice and Small

Photograph: Simon Cohen

At 21.5 inches wide, its footprint closely mirrors the Stage 360, but the Stage Pro’s curved shape and bronze side panels strike a more elegant note than any of Creative’s previous Stage models.

The new packaging lets the Stage Pro feel right at home in front of a 32- to 48-inch TV, while its smaller width means it’s equally suited to life in front of a 27-inch computer screen. The soundbar’s big, easy-to-read, built-in LED display lets you keep tabs on your source, volume, format, and all other settings. You can keep it constantly on or set it to turn on only when you change a setting, but there’s no dimming option, and it can be blindingly bright in darkened rooms.

The subwoofer is almost unchanged from Creative’s previous models and uses the same front-ported, side-firing configuration. At 4.5 x 10.4 x 16.5 inches, you may be able to slide it under a sofa, but I don’t recommend it; the driver will end up firing into the floor or the furniture, neither of which is optimal. The hard-wired cable is 6.5 feet long. That should work for most desktop arrangements, but could prove a little restrictive with some TV setups.

In keeping with its dual mission of TV and computer use, the Stage Pro has tons of connections: HDMI ARC, optical, 3.5mm analog, and USB Audio, plus Bluetooth 5.0. Each is discrete—you can connect devices to all of them. However, these inputs don’t have their own memory, so your current volume, tone, mode, and SuperWide settings must be adjusted each time you switch. Creative includes a USB-A to USB-C cable for USB audio, but you’re on your own for optical, analog, and HDMI connections.

To control the Stage Pro, the soundbar has top-mounted buttons for power, volume, source, and SuperWide—handy when using it on a desktop—while the included remote has dedicated buttons for all of the system’s options. Don’t lose that remote; unlike most soundbars, there’s no mobile app to act as a backup. On the bright side, the setup process couldn’t be easier: Plug the sub into the bar, the bar into an audio source and the wall, power it on, and you’re in business.

Volume control proved tricky with the Stage Pro. When using the USB, optical, analog, and Bluetooth inputs, the 32-level volume scale provided plenty of range from barely audible to bombastic. The HDMI input is calibrated differently, with a much louder base level. Most of the time, we used level 1 or 2 in the bedroom. Anything higher was too much for casual listening, and we often wished there were a few lower-volume steps to choose from, or maybe a night mode.

Wide Sound

Photograph: Simon Cohen

There are two SuperWide modes: Near and Far. As the names suggest, each is calibrated to deliver extra depth based on your listening distance from the speaker. In theory, Near mode is for desktop use, while Far is aimed at TV viewing. Creative doesn’t specifically say where the boundary between near and far lies, and frankly, it doesn’t matter. Much like the Stage Pro’s content modes (Music, Movie, Vocal, Gaming), I ended up jumping between them as my content and mood changed. You can also turn these settings off entirely.

When you’re close to the soundbar (say, 2 feet away), Near mode creates an intimate sound field that’s wider and deeper than normal stereo (SuperWide off). It’s especially effective for movies and gaming, where the added depth provides a heightened sense of realism. It’s helped in no small part thanks to the included wired sub, which increases the cinematic factor in a big way. Watching Dune Part 2 on Netflix sounded way more immersive on the Stage Pro in Near mode than using a set of Onkyo GX-30ARC.

I also really enjoyed Far mode, even at a desktop-oriented distance. It dilutes the details more than Near Mode, but my brain happily ignored that, choosing instead to focus on the much wider soundstage and the almost wrap-around effect it created.

Photograph: Simon Cohen

I was expecting SuperWide would make dialog harder to understand, but the Stage Pro has exceptional vocal clarity for both Far and Near, even in Music and Movie modes. I found the extra boost to upper-mids and highs in Vocal mode unnecessary.

As a music speaker, the Stage Pro is geared toward lower volumes and short distances. Not that it can’t get loud—it can get absurdly loud—it just doesn’t sound good at these levels. Screechiness in the highs starts to creep in around 50 percent and by the time you’re at 75 percent it just feels like noise.

You’ll get the best fidelity in regular stereo mode, but even in this mode, I needed to drop the treble adjustment to its lowest setting to compensate for the heavily boosted highs. Music in the two SuperWide modes can be a mixed experience. Midrange definition is partially sacrificed (that dilution of details I described earlier), causing an overemphasis of the highs. On some tracks, like Sabriba Carpenter’s “Taste”, it leaves a gulf between the bass notes and vocals. Some songs fared better. “We Are” by Jon Batiste, with its gospel-infused chorus, actually benefited from both the wide soundstage and vocal-forward tuning, but this was an outlier.

The soundbar sits on rubber feet that angle the unit slightly upward to aim the drivers at your head when seated. For my combination of desk, seat, and body heights, it wasn’t enough. I ended up sticking an AA battery under each foot to get a more aggressive angle. While I don’t recommend this particular hack, I encourage you to find a solution that does the same thing. When sitting close, both Near and Far SuperWide modes will sound much better if you get this angle right.

A Solid Bar

Photograph: Simon Cohen

Using the Stage Pro with a 32-inch TV in our bedroom was a different experience. Unlike the bed, our TV isn’t centered in the room. From my wife’s side, the viewing angle is off by about 10 degrees; from my side, it’s more like 30. We can angle the TV slightly to compensate, but the tiny electric fireplace that serves as a speaker stand doesn’t afford us the same level of flexibility for the soundbar. When using our usual speaker, a Sonos Beam, I don’t notice this at all. With the Stage Pro in Far mode, however, my wife’s side was clearly in the sweet spot, while mine received a less immersive experience. Switching to Near mode increased this gap.

As an experiment, I set up the Stage Pro in our larger TV room. The soundbar surprised me, especially in Far SuperWide mode, with an expansive sound that felt like it was coming from a much bigger speaker. Unfortunately, the subwoofer couldn’t move enough air to match the main bar, and the bass performance was too weak to be enjoyable. Lesson learned: The Stage Pro prefers a smaller stage.

For the price, the Creative Stage Pro is a fun and versatile speaker system that excels at providing immersive, cinematic sound, with excellent dialog clarity. Its SuperWide processing isn’t just hype, but you’ll only appreciate the effect at short distances with the drivers aimed directly at your listening position. Don’t ask it to fill more than a small bedroom or office, and you won’t be disappointed.