Review: Creative Outlier Air V2 True Wireless Earbuds

Creative has finally launched a successor to its widely successful Creative Outlier Air, with their new Creative Outlier Air V2. The original Creative Outlier Air was very popular due to what it offered for its price at that point in time. The Creative Outlier Air V2 brings about changes in terms of battery life, operations, comfort, microphone, and a refined sound tuning from its predecessor, and it is still retailing at the price of S$119.

Unboxing

The Creative Outlier Air V2 comes in the same sized box, and inside you’ll find following items:

• Creative Outlier Air V2 earbuds
• Charging case
• Round pair silicon ear tips x 3 (S, M , L)
• Flat pair silicon ear tips x1
• USB-A to USB-C cable
• User manual

Tech specs

Build quality and features

Let’s start with the case. The design is largely unchanged, with its round rectangular looking shape. To differentiate it from the predecessor, the Creative Outlier Air V2’s case comes in a new dark metallic blue black mix. The overall size of the case still remains largely the same, which means it is chunky if you’d put it in your jeans pocket.

Comparing the cases side by side, the Creative Outlier Air V2 is just slightly longer than the version 1. Build quality is improved. The push/pull hinge feels sturdier and the magnets in the new Creative Outlier Air V2 case also feels much stronger now, so shaking the case does not cause any rattling. The indent in the case for the nozzle is also much larger on the Creative Outlier Air V2 than the predecessor, so if you happen to use larger ear tips like ones from Comply, the earbuds should be able to latch on to the pins in the case. This was something the Creative Outlier Air was unable to do.

As for the earbuds, the design is also largely the same. The only difference you’ll notice is the colour being metallic blue, and that the face of the earbuds are now glossy instead of matte on the predecessor. Another thing that you may notice is that the new Creative Outlier Air V2 no longer flashes the blue light if no media is being played. Once connected, the Creative Outlier Air V2’s lights dim and no longer lights up unless it loses connection. The charging pins of the Creative Outlier Air V2 are also different, and it is much smaller compared to the Creative Outlier Air.

The Creative Outlier Air V2 continue to offer IPX5 water-resistance rating so you will be able to use during your workouts. As many users complained about the buttons on the Creative Outlier Air being too hard to press, the new Creative Outlier Air V2 utilises touch controls.

Controls

The touch controls on the Creative Outlier Air V2 is able to control everything from play/pause, adjusting volume, skipping of tracks, and handling calls.

I like how Creative decided on requiring a double tap to trigger a play/pause rather than a single tap. This helps to reduce accidental tapping of the touch controls which I so often encounter on other touch-controlled earbuds. The touch controls is generally responsive but requires getting used to. The timing between the taps cannot be too short if not the touch sensor will not recognise.

Battery life

The battery life was long on the original Creative Outlier Air, and with the new Creative Outlier Air V2 – it’s even longer. The Creative Outlier Air V2 features 20% longer battery life, giving you 12 hours of play time per full charge. The charging case is also improved, now providing 22 hours. This brings the total battery life to 34 hours.

USB-C is thankfully still present at the back of the case as the charging port. Unfortunately, we are unable to get wireless charging on the updated Creative Outlier Air V2.

Fit

As the design and shape of the Creative Outlier Air V2 is mostly unchanged from its predecessor, I’m getting largely the same fit as the Creative Outlier Air. The only change you’ll get with the Creative Outlier Air V2 is the supplied ear tips.

The new ear tips have a rounder shape compared to the flatter ones on the Creative Outlier Air. The round ear tips are more comfortable to wear for extended periods of listening as it provides more cushioning.

As for the fit, the Creative Outlier Air V2 is still able to provide a tight seal and sits pretty snug in my ears. If you prefer flatter ear tips, Creative actually supplied one pair of those flatter ear tips in the box as well. Due to the good seal, the sound isolation on the Creative Outlier Air V2 is still top notch.

Pairing, connectivity, and latency

The pairing process of the Creative Outlier Air V2 is more or less the same. One side of the earbuds will be paired to your phone first, then the your phone will prompt you to pair the other earbud. The Creative Outlier Air V2 comes with Bluetooth 5.0 and the connection during my time of testing is stable.

There was no latency or audio lag when watching YouTube videos from the YouTube app on my iPhone 11. And if you want to use just one earbud, you can use either the left or right earbud. The connection from one earbud to two resumes instantly the moment you remove second earbud from the case.

Sound quality

The audio signature of the Creative Outlier Air V2 remains very similar to the predecessor – strong emphasis on both ends of the frequency spectrum meaning a V-shaped sound profile. Bass is punchy, immersive and boomy, with good sub-bass presence to deliver reverbs in songs. Bass seems to hit slightly cleaner on the Creative Outlier Air V2 compared to the predecessor.

As for midrange, it offers enough balance in the overall mix but can feel a little laid back when there’s too much bass going on. Treble on the Creative Outlier Air V2 sees the most change compared to the predecessor. It now offers a brighter sparkle that sounds cleaner and more detailed. Treble also avoids getting grainy like how the Creative Outlier Air can on certain songs. Soundstage continues to impress on the Creative Outlier Air V2, with it being wide and offering accurate instrument separation in your songs.

If you have ever tested the Creative Outlier Air can wished for it sound little more refined and clean, then the Creative Outlier Air V2 sounds like a polished version of the original audio tuning but retains the fun sounding V-shaped sound signature.

Super X-Fi

The Creative Outlier Air V2 now comes with the Super X-Fi Ready feature that allows you make music seem like its playing from your natural sounding. The Super X-Fi mode can only be activated though audio tracks played via the SXFI App.

Microphone quality

Creative stated that they have used Qualcomm cVc 8.0 Technology for their microphones for improved call clarity. The microphone quality of the Creative Outlier Air V2 is truly much improved over its predecessor – my voice sounds more clear, forward and also fuller. When using it in a noisy environment, the microphone is still able to pickup my voice clearly. But if the environment is very noisy, then the microphone struggles to isolate my voice clearly and it sometimes can washed up together with the surroundings.

Conclusion

The Creative Outlier Air V2 brings mainly improvements on its usability, microphone and battery life. Sound quality is tuned very similarly to its predecessor – a dynamic sound signature with emphasis on the low and high frequencies. You also get aptX codec support which are sometimes not found on premium priced devices. Even though it doesn’t feature newer audio technologies like ANC, with the price still remaining the same at S$119, the Creative Outlier Air V2 continues to offer lots of value at its price point.

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