Creative Sound Blaster Katana V2 soundbar review: Game on
(Pocket-lint) - One bit of information that should be known outside of avid tech lovers is that even the average soundbar universally makes for an upgrade to the TV's built-in speakers. Despite major advances in screen technology over the years, even fancy TVs usually sound just a tad mediocre.
In an ideal world, however, you'd snag a soundbar and it's a huge improvement - but they can often cost a small fortune. That's where Creative's second-gen Katana fits the puzzle, delivering eye-catching goods with deafening goodness, including a separate subwoofer.
We can attest to the astronomical volumes the Katana V2 can easily reach, but how good is its overall quality and is there something missing in this package?
draft
- Soundbar: 600 x 95 x 62mm
- Subwoofer: 150*367*367mm
- RGB backlight, LCD information display
The last generation of Creative's katana already had a pretty solid look, so Creative decided to refine that rather than start from scratch. The new version is very similar in size, falling slightly into the compact end of the market.
Our regular soundbar is the Sonos Beam, and the Katana V2 is actually a lot smaller than that already tiny bar, so we're definitely impressed by how shrunken it has been. This makes it easy to place under a TV on your stand or any other arrangement you might use.
However, it obviously has an attached subwoofer that's significantly larger, and fitting it into/around your setup is probably a little more of a challenge if it's anything like our situation. However, once you find a way, we think the soundbar looks pretty solid.
It has an LCD display on the front that tells you at a glance what source you're playing from, along with volume and other information that's visualized as you change it. Below the bar is RGB underlighting, which creates a nice effect - similar to Ambilight for soundbars (as you might have seen on some Philips TVs).
This lighting has a music response mode that's on by default, but we found that to be quite twitchy and flickered a lot more than desired. That faded into the background much nicer when we disabled it with Creative's app.
The Katana V2 is finished in a nice brushed metal finish, although we did find that it's been collecting dust like it's nobody's business. The front has a grid, as do two sections at the top of the bar.
The separate subwoofer is the definition of inconspicuous in the optics department and as such should be better hidden. That's kind of the point. But you want it to be as central as possible to deliver the bass where it should be.
sound quality
- 5.1 virtual surround system
- Dolby audio (but not Atmos)
- 50 - 20,000 Hz frequency range
Of course, if you're happy with how the soundbar looks, the biggest variable is how it sounds. We've found the Katana V2 to be something of a grab bag on this front, full of positives and negatives.
On the one hand, from the moment we plugged it in, we were struck by its maximum volume. This thing can actively generate anti-social noise levels, far more than we can really imagine anyone needing in a normal home environment. We were usually on the third or fourth rung (of 50+) down, an absurd level of performance that could easily fill large rooms.
That's all well and good, but luckily there's a richness to that sound too, meaning it should sound good even at high levels thanks to that chunky subwoofer, with plenty of warmth and bass. Switching between sound profiles also brings noticeable changes, which comes in handy for different types of content – movies, sports, games, news, late-night TV, and so on.
This is first and foremost a gaming soundbar, though, and we've used it across a variety of genres to see how it pulls up. In shooters like Call of Duty: Warzone, we found that we could actually make out the kind of footstep noise that's typically reserved for headset users, albeit not 100 percent.
In the sprawling RPG Tales of Arise, on the other hand, the waves of the soundtrack sound excellent. In the soundbar's Gaming mode, however, we found that the dialogue was a bit undercooked and tended to get lost in the mix - something we had to address with our own equalizer edits.
Overall, while we're impressed with the raw power of its volume and the warmth of its tone is generally something you can count on, we're still a little let down by the Katana V2's subtlety -- or lack thereof. You won't necessarily be impressed with how consistently it handles lows and highs.
features
- EQ adjustment
- lighting control
To be fair, this isn't a feature-sparse soundbar. So if you want lots of options, she has more than enough up her sleeve. For one, the remote control is far better than last time, with many more controls, including custom buttons that you can map to shortcuts in the creative app.
In the same app, you can control (or turn off) the RGB lights with impressive precision and play around with your favorite sound settings. Creative has been around the block more than a few times, so you'll actually find balance settings specific to games and series you might be into for a quicker setup.
There are also plenty of ways to connect to the soundbar, including Bluetooth 5.0, HDMI ARC, optical in, AUX in, USB-C and SXFI out. That should be more than enough for most people, and the addition of HDMI ARC - audio return channel over the HDMI port, allowing picture and sound to be handled from a single source - is a huge bonus compared to the last version, the it was missing.
There's also a headphone jack on the front of the bar for those who sometimes want to pass their audio on for more sociable listening at later hours, and we're impressed with the thoughtfulness this layout shows.
As we said in our introduction, it's better to pick up a soundbar than not - but if you're looking for a gaming-specific option, the Katana V2 is a real contender. While we're not convinced anyone will need the staggering volumes it can offer, it's definitely nice to have the option.
If a version without a subwoofer was offered for sale that would probably be an even more reasonable value too, but with the included sub it's capable of delivering low-end wobble that standard tellies just simply can't deliver otherwise.
If you're the kind of person who's committed to RBG lighting and wants a soundbar that you can control, then the Katana V2 is definitely worth a look. For general, less gamer-centric use - and particularly when you want absolute confidence in being able to discern the subtleties of dialogue over background noise - other options might just make more sense.
Also consider
Sonos Beam
It's another notch more expensive, but the best compact soundbar on the market remains likely to be the Sonos Beam, with a 2021 revamp that brings Virtual Dolby Atmos to the table. It's beautiful to look at, easily surpasses Creative's options when it comes to music, and fills a room with balanced and carefully tuned sound.
Writing from Max Freeman-Mills. Editing by Mike Lowe.
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