Creative Stage SE Mini Review: You Get What You Pay For?

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Greetings mate and Welcome aboard!

Stuart Charles here, HomeStudioBasics.com helping YOU make sound decisions, so…

Creative’s Stage SE Mini is an entry-level soundbar priced at just under $30 (Subject to change).

Today we’ll find out if it’s ultimately worth a purchase based on price to performance; highlighting its overall build, aesthetic, functionality, and sound profile.

By the end of this article, you’ll know if it’s right for you, and if it isn’t, I’ll steer you in the direction of something that is.

Deal?

Cool.

Let’s dive in!

All specs, box contents, and pricing towards the end.

To start, the SE Mini is rather light, coming in at around 2.2 lbs. (1000g). It’s bordering on “cheap” but does have 2 built-in pads on the bottom to prevent the unit from sliding around on your desk or entertainment center.

The material on the front that covers the speaker cones and drivers is rather flimsy; you can finger it and it’s rather fun to do but I can see it ripping over time – even if you don’t finger it. That said, I haven’t had any issues and as long as you don’t finger it much it should be fine.

The side of the unit contains the combo on/off/volume dial and works off of bus power via USB-C. Supporting both USB audio and Bluetooth 5.3, it’s rather convenient and fits almost anywhere.

Next to the Volume control knob is the source button which toggles USB and Bluetooth. The unit will flash blue while it’s waiting for a connection, and pairing it with my iPhone 11 was a breeze.

There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack for private listening, and the back reveals the rear-ported bass hole and some misc. information.

Creative also makes it rather simple to connect with your PC or console (I’m using PS4), and it’s recognized immediately no matter the source.

Sound

Playlist: Here, Here, and here!
Source(s): Spotify, PS4, FLAC

With only 12W RMS power and 24W peak power, the SE Mini does provide a rather weak output, but I suppose this is to be expected at its price point.

Required Reading: RMS Power vs. Peak Power: What’s The Difference?

Unfortunately, the sound is also rather weak and perfectly represents what you’re getting for $30.

The good news is that the bass isn’t overdone like your mom’s meatloaf, but there’s almost none to speak of.

And the overall sound is just… not good.

It’s scratchy, thin, tinny, metallic, dull, and kind of hollowed out. It sounds almost exactly like what you’d expect if you walked into a drugstore looking for a cheap soundbar hanging pitifully on the shelf.

In all honesty, it kind of reminds me of my grandma’s AM radio from 1950; the treble is essy and artificial sounding, the mids have weird resonance issues, and the profile is honky and uneven.

Overall tone? Fuggetaboutit. You’d probably be better off buying some thrift store speakers or these that I bought specifically to find samples from vinyl that I plan to use for making beats. I say that to say that as far as sound quality goes, I couldn’t care less. I just need to hear the samples DOGGG.

There’s no realism to the sound either and the soundbar does a decidedly poor job of even filling up a small space.

In other words, Soundstage is rather abysmal and there’s no sense of spacing or separation of instruments and voices. It all just sounds like a mish-mosh and the stereo image is extremely underwhelming.

I will say that if you can somehow situate it at about ear level, it does sound a bit better and fuller. But you may as well just invest in monitors by that point.

So in terms of punching above its price point, the SE Mini does not. I’d even shave $15-$20 off the price of this for a true representation of what you’re getting.

I haven’t had any issues with the sound cutting out/dropouts, etc. but your mileage may vary.

While it does technically work for PS4, the sound doesn’t get nearly loud enough; even after maxing out the volume in the sound settings. This is somewhat common in products that weren’t specifically designed for console use, but I thought I’d give it a try anyway.

For use with your phone or PC, the volume is mostly fine and loud enough though you will be nearing max volume to get a decent output.

In addition to that, there’s no battery so you have to use it wired full time.

Here are some other caveats that I read online. You may or may not experience these things.

Sleep mode

The unit may fall into sleep mode after a couple of minutes of inactivity, and to wake it up, you must turn the volume dial. This is a huge pain since there’s no way to adjust the default setting.

Sound output issues

These can range anywhere from distorted audio, to dropouts, etc. I read quite a number of folks having problems with this, but I have not. I will update this article if anything changes.

Final Verdict

I was rather disappointed in the Stage SE Mini only for the fact that Creative makes fantastic products. This wasn’t one of them. Yes, it’s only $30, but I wasn’t expecting this level of abysmal.

In addition to the poor sound, you can’t use it with your TV via traditional methods and it’s not usable with a console because of what we discussed earlier about the sound output.

So what do I recommend?

Well, let’s have a look at the next soundbar in the lineup and see if it’s any better.

NEXT: CREATIVE STAGE AIR V2 REVIEW