Creative Outlier Pro, premium features under $90

We tested Creative’s new headphones, the Outlier Pro model which for less than 90$ they offer us functions reserved for much more expensive models.

Creative offers us its new Outlier Pro with hybrid active noise cancellation, autonomy up to 60 hours, wireless charging, IPX5 certification and a very balanced sound equalize it. If we put all these functions together and add that each of them works with a high rating, it is hard to believe that its price is less than 90 $, but fortunately it is the truth. We tried them and we give you our opinion.

Characteristics

When opening the box, the first thing we see is the charging case which also serves to keep the headphones stored and always these to use. The case has a metallic finish that gives it a different look than the usual plastic cargo boxes. The touch feel is very good and although it is a larger case than most, its rounded and elongated design makes it easy to carry in a pocket.

Outside there are three LEDs that do not indicate charge status of headset and case. While the headphones only go from red (charging) to green (full charge), the central LED that refers to the case has three colors (green, orange and red) that indicate the remaining battery inside. When charging the case, red color indicates charging, and green color indicates charging is complete. To see the LEDs, you just need to open the case, which slides out to the side showing the headphones.

In the box we also have two sets of silicone tips (plus those that already come in headphones) to use those that best fit our ears. The charging cable (USB-A to USB-C) is also included, the only thing we lack is the charger, but we can use whatever we have at home or a port on our computer.

The ace specifications of these in-ear headphones are truly amazing considering their price:

Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity
AAC codec
Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation
ambient mode
touch controls
60 hours of total battery life (40 hours with active noise cancellation)
15 hours on a single charge (10 hours with active noise cancellation)
wireless charging
six microphones
Graphene Coated Drivers
IPX5 certified

Hybrid noise cancellation

So far, you may have heard of two types of noise cancellation: active and passive. The passive is achieved through physical isolation from the outside, either with the use of headphones that completely cover your ear, or with silicone plugs that isolate the ear canal. Active cancellation is achieved by microphones in the headset that pick up external noise and cancel it out. These microphones can be outside the earpiece, which provides better cancellation but generally affects the sound you hear, or inside, which generally provides better sound but the cancellation isn’t as good. .

The Hybrid noise cancellation is achieved by combining microphones on the outside and inside, with which you combine the best of both options. In addition, we must add passive cancellation thanks to the silicone plugs. The end result is good noise cancellation, not the best on the market, but yes the best I’ve tried in helmets of this segmentand above all what I like the most is that the sound you hear is hardly affected by the cancellation on or off, which usually happens in headphones of this price range when they include active undo (unusual for now).

Transparency mode is less satisfying than noise cancellation. The sound quality you receive from the outside isn’t crystal clear, and even setting it to maximum, it’s sometimes hard to hear well if someone is talking to you. You can switch between the three modes (transparency, undo, normal) using the touch controls which is located on the outer surface of the helmet. And you can adjust transparency mode and active noise cancellation levels from the app available for Android and iOS.

A very complete application

The Creative app for iOS lets you customize many headset features. It’s also not very common for headphones at this price to have so many levels of customization. You can change the sound equalization, to give more relevance to the bass or quite the opposite. You can also change the noise cancellation levels and the transparency mode, as we have already told you.

Others customization options include touch controls. With different options for the right and left earpiece, you can raise and lower the volume, activate noise cancellation or transparency mode, pause or resume playback, or even launch the virtual assistant (Siri on iPhone and Google Assistant on Android). There are many options for configuring the controls, and that’s much appreciated.

Sound quality

The most important point of a helmet, and these Creative Outlier Pro get a high mark. Without touching anything on the equalization, the sound is noticeable with a predominance of bass, it’s nothing very exaggerated, but they are quite obvious. If you don’t like it, you can change the EQ, or if you think they are still rare, then you have the option to increase them. Personally I like the sound it offers by default

, it has a good level of volume, and the instruments and vocals are quite well differentiated. Its sound comes close to the quality of other headphones that cost more than double.

Creative gives us the sound Holographic SXFi, something we could equate to “Dolby Atmos” of Apple Music with the AirPods Pro For this we have a specific application that we must download (link), and also go through a somewhat cumbersome configuration process, but the end result is worth it. Too bad it only works with music stored on your device, it’s not compatible with streaming services, so its use in microphones is quite limited.

Editor’s review

The Creative Outlier Pro stands out for its excellent autonomy, having a more than acceptable active noise cancellation and a fairly good sound for the price range in which we operate. An application with many configuration options completes a set which, for the price-performance ratio, is an excellent alternative for those looking for good headphones with premium functions below 90 $. You can buy it for $89.99 on the Creative website (link) and if you use the discount code OUTLIERPRO you will get a 25% discount with what remains at a spectacular price.