Creative Iroar Go Intelligent Splash-Proof Portable 5-Driver Bluetooth Speaker with Superwide Technology

After several years years listening to my JBL Charge 2+, and bemoaning its lack of upper mids and anything resembling a treble range I decided I needed to do better. Much Better. I was to the point where I was no longer enjoying listening to the Charge 2+. After months of going through the myriad of reviews, and listening to others at Bestbuy and other retailers, I decided to purchase, unheard, a bluetooth speaker by Creative Labs, the iRoar Go. It's previous bluetooth speakers had gotten very good reviews and held up quite well on YouTube videos when compared to others.I still wanted good sound in a small package, portability, lasting battery, and balance. Well, I seem to have found that in the Creative Labs iRoar Go. I am mighty impressed with this solid little performer. In just 2 days, I have retired the Charge 2+ forever.It took 5 hours or so before ithe iRoar Go started to sounds it's best. So yeah you will want it to burn in some before you really test it out, but the waut will be worth it. I can hear all of the music that I sorely missed listening the the JBL. While the Charge2 + excelled in lower end grunt, it was overly so at the expense of everything else. It sounded like a wet washcloth was over it. The iRorar Go, not so much. Sound was open, clear and detailed, AND had bass. There was balance there, except perhaps when listening to certain voice settings that emphasized the upper range frequency's. There are several options for tailoring the sound and it didn't take long to find what I liked. Again, for the $150 I spent, I am extremely satisfied already.Another feature I found useful and necessary is the app that allows me to alter the sound to my liking. It is very helpful in the initial stages of locating the sound that appeals to you. All of the main voice settings, along with EQ options are done from the app. My only regret is that Creative did not give me the ability to change speaker settings when using my laptop via Bluetooth. For some inexplicable reason the app will only work when the iRoar Go is connected via USB, not bluetooth. That was a mistake that I hope gets corrected. I also would have liked to see more EQ options directly on the unit itself to allow toggling between at least to voice options in case I didn't want the "superwide" voice to be my only choice.I love this little perfectly sized speaker for its sound above all, but there are many many other features that you will enjoy should you need them, so yeah, put this one on your list of under $200 Bluetooth speakers to audition. Especially if you own a JBL Charge of any generation. It just blows it away. At $150 you can't go wrong. For me at least , it rocks!

I love this small Bluetooth it is so awesome I saw it years ago it was expensive but I wanted one so remembered so I checked it out after a while and they still had it so I bought 2 and I'll get it again and again if I lose it or give it as a gift if you need one that is clear sound this is the one to get you won't be disappointed

I have an unhealthy number of Bluetooth speakers, so I feel I have a good grasp of what's out there. This is a one-of-a-kind offering that, despite being an old model, makes it compelling even today.The whole reason I bought this was because of its ability to shuffle music from an SD card. Several Bluetooth speakers have SD/TF card inputs, but apparently almost all of them only play the files in order. I was looking for a speaker for work with which I wouldn't have to pair my phone, and this is one of very few that will allow this without playing the same old songs in the same old order. That alone makes this a very unique speaker.Creative is also a reputable brand from my childhood. My introduction to the company was their Soundblaster PC sound cards, and a little later their MP3 players. Both offered sound clarity a healthy step up from their less-prestigious counterparts, and even young me could notice and appreciate it. It's fun for me to revisit a brand that brings such nostalgia. Another reason I was excited to buy this speaker.Fast forward to me having had the speaker for a week or two. I still haven't taken it in to work yet, or even tried the SD card functionality. Why? Because I'm enjoying using it as a Bluetooth speaker at home. There's something extra fun about it despite having better and way more expensive speakers around.First is the form factor. I like that it's just as comfortable laying on its back firing upward as it is firing forward. That makes it essentially a 360 degree experience and fills a room a little better. This is one of the reasons I think the Bose Flex is probably the best overall Bluetooth speaker out there. You can also stand this upright. The lip on the sides means the passive radiators shouldn't touch the surface on which the speaker is sitting.Speaking of the Bose Flex, though, while the Bose sounds considerably better in pure audio muscle and tonality, this speaker still does something sound-wise that the Flex can't. And many people may not like it, but you can turn it off: DSP that expands the soundstage. This is something that I'm surprised more Bluetooth speakers don't offer. Essentially, it uses reverb and fancy DSP trickery (psychoacoustics, if you want to learn a little more about it) to make the soundstage much wider than you'd expect two speakers a mere 4" apart to be able to produce. It's the same way a little soundbar can sound like surround-sound (to a degree), and it can be genuinely surprising in some scenarios. Truly another unique feature of this speaker. It's not perfect. The reverb is too noticable sometimes, and it tends to make the sound more shrill and fatiguing. But it's a neat feature nonetheless, and sounds great with certain types of music e.g. live and acoustic music. You can turn it off with the press of a button and you're left with the more traditional sound of a Bluetooth speaker. The Roar button is the one that cycles between sound profiles: standard, "equalizer" (the aforementioned virtual surround mode), and "Roar," which essentially boosts the bass and treble at lower volumes (like the Loudness button on car stereos).In the non-surround modes, the speaker has a warm tonality. Midbass is thick, and treble is present & capable, but slightly on the shy/veiled side. The bass capabilities are very respectable for a speaker of this size. The aforementioned Bose Flex extends noticably deeper and has more detail, but this is still on the better side of average, and it's perfectly pleasant to listen to. It will still impress people with the size of the sound. Mids are good and balanced. This has the ever-appealing mids scoop that most people prefer, and done tastefully--enough to make it less fatiguing, but not so much that vocal intelligibility suffers. Treble, as mentioned previously, is capable and detailed-enough, but a little on the shy side. If you like bright, sharp, & sparkly treble (like I do), you may wish for a little more, but this is still perfectly listenable and probably a more universally appealing choice. Again, the Bose outshines in this department, but this is perfectly acceptable too.I believe you're supposed to be able to connect the speaker to an app and adjust sound settings, but all of Creative's current apps either don't detect the speaker or are not compatible with any of my devices (I use a Motorola Android phone from 2022 and a Lenovo Android tablet also from 2022). This is one of the unfortunate downsides of this speaker--it's old enough that the support is faltering. The other big con is the charging situation. No USB C. It comes with a 15V power adapter, and a micro USB port may also charge it (I haven't confirmed this). This speaker unfortunately hasn't been updated, so you're stuck with outdated charging solutions. They work, but the dream of one cable for everything isn't compatible with this.I haven't measured battery life, but it seems respectable in mixed use. After about 6 hours total over the course of a few days at moderate to loud volumes it was reading about 30%.I have encountered one slightly annoying bug: while using Bluetooth, if your stop playing sounds for several minutes (5+), the device remains on becomes unresponsive and must be hard-rebooted (hold power button for >4 seconds). Not a deal breaker to me, but worth mentioning.--So there's a lot of good to this speaker. It offers features that you don't see elsewhere, and sounds great to boot. If there's a Bluetooth speaker that qualifies as a "cult-classic," this is it. It wasn't quite successful enough when it first came out for the brand to make a successor, but its niche appeal keeps it around and serves as a unique solution to the relatively few people who are on the search for what this speaker has to offer. If none of the good stuff I've talked about matters to you, it's a 3.5 star speaker and you'll probably be able to find better speakers out there (e.g. Bose Flex) for the same or not much more money. But some of you probably stumbled upon this because of something this offers that others don't, and to you I can say you should get this speaker. It's great and worth 5 stars for its features alone. I'll average it at 4 stars because it's an old model and it's showing.Eventually this speaker will find its way to my office as intended (the fact that it hasn't yet is a testament to how much I like it), and if Creative ever makes a successor with similar features but with updated app support and USB C charging, I'll definitely be in line for it.+ Unique features+ Great sound quality+ Great form factor/ Slightly overpriced if its unique features don't appeal to you/ Older aesthetic- No more app support for sound adjustment- No USB C charging- Mildly annoying bluetooth glitch (for me, anyways)Recommended? Yes.--EDIT--Android users can download an APK from Creative's product support page and the app works. Unfortunately it didn't work quite how I was hoping. You can adjust the EQ with pretty good flexibility, but doing so disables all DSP that widens the sound, making it sound like an ordinary speaker of this size with virtually no stereo effect. I find myself primarily using the "Roar" mode, which is fine. It offers more stereo effect than the flat mode or custom EQ mode, and more tasteful amounts than the dramatic "super wide" mode. The downside is that the midbass becomes overbearing and overpowers the highs at low to mid volumes. If I could dial back the midbass on the Roar preset, I think this would be my favorite small and medium Bluetooth speaker. But unfortunately I'm stuck bouncing back and forth between three modes and none of them are perfect. I thought the app would take this to the next level, but it did not, so I'm leaving it at 4-stars.