CREATIVEStage SE Under-monitor Soundbar with USB Digital Audio and Bluetooth 5.3, Clear Dialog and Surround by Sound Blaster

I’ve been searching for a small and inexpensive speaker setup for a while, and the options seem to be dreadful £20 setups, or spending over £100 for often bulky setups.For me, this soundbar hits a nice spot in the middle. It fits easily under my monitor, and setup is very easy, either plug in usb, or pair to Bluetooth. Volume is decent, and more importantly the quality is good. I can more than happily listen to a range of music that is all handled well. YouTube videos are also good, with clear dialogue cutting through. All as good as you can expect for £50.There are a lot of different tone and sound options which make a slight difference if you listen closely, but really you can just leave it alone. The volume knob is excellent, and I’m surprised I’ve not seen this style before given how well it works. The supplied remote feels cheap (and didn’t come with batteries), but again, for the price, is acceptable and a nice bonus.Overall would heartily recommend at this size / price point.

It's a pretty good soundbar, especially taking the asking price into consideration.It's main selling point is as a replacement/ improvement over integrated monitor speakers, and in that respect, it delivers in droves.It's capable of reaching impressively high volumes. The bass production is reasonably good, certainly far better than what could be conceivably delivered from integrated monitor speakers.One slightly curious element about the bass is that it seems as if you can feel it more than you can hear it. To explain, if you touch the soundbar, you can clearly feel the speaker diaphragms thumping, and you can feel some of that vibration through your desk. Yet it somehow doesn't sound as bassy as it feels.Still, the bass is adequate for what it's trying to achieve, and especially when you take the asking price in to account.Sound quality is pretty good. As others have mentioned, enabling surround sound results in a dramatic improvement to the sound stage and just improves the experience overall.My personal sweet spot is Surround On, and Tone +1.I'm deducting one star for a slightly finicky Bluetooth connection; although I'm not sure it's the products fault, at least not entirely.When I first got the soundbar, I almost returned it, when the music would stop playing every 2 minutes on average when streaming bluetooth from my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. I'd have to pause and resume the music for it to start working again. The very next day, the problem went away, with no action taken on my part.A week or so passed by, and my phone did a software update. The problem then returned, and it took a lot of messing around to resolve it. I'm not even sure what 'fixed' it, in the end, but I unpaired it in my phone, factory reset the soundbar, and restarted both. Since re-building the pairing it has been working fine.Since a software update re-triggered the issue I understand my phone could be considered to be the problem, but the phone is used with multiple other Bluetooth audio devices and never had this issue, so it's something specific about it's connection to this soundbar.Other than that little annoyance that I've managed to resolve both times it's happened; I'm very happy with this soundbar, and don't think you'll find much better at this price.

The speaker is reasonably compact, and fits well underneath my monitor. The sound quality is good, maybe not the highest of hifi, but plenty good enough for listening to the audio whilst editing my videos of blues and rock gigs, and for listening to blues, rock and Bach whilst working on my PC. It is solidly built, with no rattle or vibration. The remote is quite handy, especially if I have to pause or mute the music when my phone rings. Overall, I'm very happy with this product.

It's not shown in the amazon images but there is what appears to be a 'bass reflex' port on the left side of this soundbar. Bass reflex AND a passive radiator? Well it must be some fancy bandpass setup with a second passive radiator hidden inside, I hear you cry! Actually, the reflex port is totally blocked off and is therefore a bizarre inclusion to say the least. It even features a fake mesh grill to presumably obfuscate the fact that there is no actual port or opening of any kind. My best guess is the designer(s) changed their mind during the development process and switched from bass reflex to a passive radiator system. I'm also guessing then, that the tooling had already been made for the endcap with the flared port entrance, so instead of starting again, they simply blocked it off and called it a day. It's either that or they really want you to think there is a bass reflex port exit on the side (for whatever reason).Aside from this, the audio quality is alright, if not a little bit overemphasised in the 200 Hz region, which gives the midbass an almost overbearingly 'punchy' quality. This can be tamed with a bit of simple DSP trickery. I recommend the free and open source Equalizer APO program for windows. There is one more flaw however. Because the large passive radiator in this soundbar is physically unopposed by another equal moving mass (see: the Bose Soundlink Mini or the JBL Xtreme, which have been designed properly with two passive radiators, arranged opposite each other, firing 180° out of phase) all the vibrations from said passive radiator are transferred directly into the enclosure, and are therefore coupled with whatever surface you place the soundbar upon. Not great if your desk has loose articles on it, for example. If there weren't any rubber feet on the bottom, I'm sure the soundbar would be off walking whenever a bass note is played, probably right off the edge of your desk if it could.This is all a great big shame really, as otherwise the design and form factor is solid. It also makes the Creative Stage SE Mini, this speakers smaller and cheaper cousin, look like an even better deal, especially at just £24 with a voucher! Already owning the Mini, I was hoping for the same level of efficient, well polished design and excellent value for money but this simply isn't the case. Hope this helps!