X-bit labs

Creative Inspire Monitor M80 Review: First Budget Monitors from Creative Labs (page 4)

Category: Multimedia

by Sergey Samarin

[ 02/23/2005 | 03:28 PM ]

Performance

To test the acoustic performance of the given system we took a test CD-disk of the IASCA association. This disc is universal. It contains phonograms, which allow making subjective and objective evaluation of the tested acoustic system.

We equipped our testbed with Creative E-MU 1820 sound card. To measure the frequency response of the sound system according to the sound pressure in real time we used a Euraudio PRO600S audio analyzer with an external calibrate microphone. The results are given on a picture below:

The measured frequency response shows the real range of the reproduced frequencies

The maximum acoustic pressure reached 102.7dB (this is a peak value we detected at certain frequencies). The unevenness of the frequency response rate is not that dramatic (it is about 5dB), which indicates almost no acoustic distortions or dissonance.

The system boasts very wide dynamic range. The sound picture doesn’t lose any of the smaller components. It means that the system is really accurate at playing complex classical compositions, except for the number of low-frequency instruments. The entire musical scene appears perfectly precise with the easily identified all sound sources.

Despite relatively small size, the system made a very good impression. I think I can state that Creative Inspire Monitor M80 is ready for absolutely any type of musical content, which makes it a universal solution. The system boasts excellent macro-dynamics and provides good feeling of volumetric environment. Among the drawbacks we revealed during our test session, I can mention the absence of any tangible power reserve. However, the acoustic sounding wasn’t suffering from any excessive workload with all the resulting echoing effects and resonance.