Given this is the first review, I will be thorough.
I've owned the Creative D100 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker for two months (paid $78.47). I'm very pleased. The sound quality is excellent for this type of speaker. The volume is loud enough to completely fill a room or a small outdoor area (e.g., patio). I've enjoyed it on the beach and found quality does not suffer much at high volumes.
Like with any small speaker, if you crank it to max volume, there is some distortion on bass-heavy songs. But the distortion is slight, and the bass sounds great if you have the volume appropriately set for the type of audio you are streaming.
On that note, there is no remote. The only way to control the volume is the `volume up' and `volume down' buttons on the front of the speaker or directly from streaming device ONLY IF it allows it. That is, my iPhone (3G - iOS 3.1.3) CANNOT change the speaker's volume while streaming, but my laptop can. In my use, I have not needed a remote. Usually I directly set the speaker's volume for the environment (e.g., bathroom, patio) and forget it. No remote also means you must control the streaming media from your device. There are no media control buttons on the speaker.
There is an auxiliary input on the back of the speaker, if you want to hook up a non-bluetooth device, or maybe just to save battery by not using Bluetooth.
Pairing with Bluetooth-capable devices (in my case, iPhone 3G and HP laptop) is simple and quick.
Battery life (four AA) is excellent. It is so long I cannot even put an estimate in terms of hours. It also came with an AC adapter, but I have never used it. The battery compartment is underneath the speaker.
The speaker is fairly small and very light. I actually carry it from room-to-room to enjoy while I am doing chores.
My only concern with the speaker is the build quality. The plastic casing is sturdy, but the front face of the speaker (surrounding the name plate and volume controls) is made of cloth. The cloth is spongy, but I am worried that it will inevitably tear with my heavy use of the speaker. There is no travel case included with the speaker.
Looking for a portable Bluetooth wireless speaker, I also considered the Logitech Z515 ($90, smaller and cloth-free). I've never used that Logitech speaker, but I ultimately chose the Creative D100 based on superior reviews for sound quality and bass quality. Look into both. There are good reviews for them and a comparison on CNET, if you want more information.
On the front of the speaker:
Volume up button
Volume down button
Bluetooth connect button
On the back of the speaker:
Power (on/off) switch
Aux input
5V AC adapter input
Underneath the speaker:
Battery compartment (four AA) Creative D100 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker (Black)
I was looking for speakers that provided acceptable music reproduction, that were portable and easy to use, and could connect via wireless Bluetooth to a mobile phone (Motorola Droid) and iPad. I was also looking for something I could give as a gift to someone who would appreciate the same features but who does not have as much patience as I do for making these things work. The Creative D100 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker is perfect for our needs. As one reviewer mentioned, the Creative D100 is light-weight and simple to unplug and move from room to room. It has a battery option too, but I haven't used it with batteries yet.
The one-time Bluetooth pairing setup is simple. All you need to know before you begin is how to instruct your music device (phone, computer, iPad, etc.) to scan for and 'pair' with other Bluetooth devices. The rest is covered in the Creative D100 instructions. Power up the Creative D100 (turn on the power switch on the back side), make the D100 'discoverable' (press and hold the Bluetooth 'pairing' button on the front side), turn on the Bluetooth feature on your music device and begin scanning for other Bluetooth devices, and presto, it will pair and connect to the Creative D100. For those who would be using the music player on their phone and are concerned about taking calls while listening to music, I discovered that when using my Motorola Droid (Android OS v2.2), the music will connect via 'media audio' to the Creative D100 while 'phone audio' maps separately to my Plantronics Voyager Pro headset. Cool :)
Don't expect this speaker system to make the walls, roof, and windows shake, although at 3/4 volume the sound fills my 20' x 20' living room area very nicely with Christmas jazz at a pleasant, undistorted level. It's perfect in the master bedroom and in my home office too. But if you're looking for bass that you can feel in your gut, that's not what the Creative D100 is built to do. You may want to experiment with speaker placement as I did. I found that the music was enhanced by moving the speaker from an open space on a table to a shelf in an entertainment center where it was partially enclosed. I'm not a sound engineer, but my guess is that the shelf placement that sort of surrounds the unit assists the functionality of the rear speaker port on the Creative D100, helping to capture and direct the sound towards the listener. I also tested the Bluetooth range by placing the speaker in the living room and moving my phone (and iPad) to a bedroom down the hall, probably 25-30 feet away from the speaker. I was impressed that there was absolutely no device-to-speaker signal loss all evening regardless of which music device was connected. I'm very pleased. I got a black one for myself, and a pink one to give as a Christmas gift.
I had the D100 for two weeks of light use before it went bad. It paired easily with an iPod Touch 4G and a Kin TWOm phone and played music well with decent quality and volume controlled from the iPod/phone. Portability was useful too, but it mostly stayed on a shelf. Battery life with four rechargeable AAs was excellent.
Then the sound went bad. It was distorted and raspy and had exaggerated stereo separation. This persisted on battery/wall power and with Bluetooth and wired connections. Creative Labs customer support was no help. I am returning it for a replacement and paying for shipping. If I had bought it from Amazon they would have covered the shipping, but the refund/replace period is shorter than the other big national online electronics seller. - Wireless - Bluetooth Speakers - Bluetooth - Speakers'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
