Thank you Creative Labs for sending us this soundbar to review!

I've been a long-time user (and fan!) of Creative Labs products.  My first (I'm dating myself here) was when I saved up my money as a teenager and purchased a Sound Blaster 16 for my 386 gaming PC at the time.  It worked great, and I enjoyed many a game with perfect compatibility.  I've purchased many of their products over the years since, with the most recent being the Sound BlasterX G6, a really nice USB DAC/AMP that makes most headphones sound great.  So, when we were offered an opportunity to review their latest soundbar, the Sound Blaster Katana SE, I leaped at the chance.

The Sound Blaster Katana SE is Creative's latest entry into the Katana line, which seems to be their midrange (but not flagship) line of soundbars.  The Katanas seem to be built to fit most common use cases, including PC and living room setups.  They have lower cost (and capability) models in the 'Creative Stage' line, and one much higher-end model with Dolby Atmos support, at a much higher price according to their website.  At a glance, the Katana line seems to represent the best intersection of features, sound quality, and price.  This model is also unique in that the Katana SE does not have an external subwoofer, overall requiring less space than the other Katanas they offer.

Now, I should probably mention that soundbars in general are a bit of a mixed bag.  While they do offer some real practical benefits (that we'll explore more in a moment), there is no getting around that for proper stereo imaging, you ideally want speakers that are separated by a fairly wide angle, with tweeters (at minimum) that are pointed at the listener.  There are also limitations because of how small soundbars are, as speaker drivers need space to perform their best.  The Katana SE tries to mitigate this, but it's worth pointing out that compromise is the name of the game here; like anything, you have to choose your priorities.  For classic speaker systems, they sound better at the cost of, well, cost, and the space taken up in your room.  Soundbars represent the opposite type of compromise: some aspects of sound quality are sacrificed for a really great form factor.

The Sound Blaster Katana SE is a decent sized soundbar, at 25.6 x 4.3 x 3.1 inches.  My in-laws have a larger one from another manufacturer, while I have seen smaller ones primarily meant for computers.  It's an interesting size, as it straddles the two - it is a large computer soundbar, or a small TV soundbar.  Yet it's still loud enough to be useful for a TV in many cases, though I found that over HDMI, when connected to my PS5, it isn't quite as loud as the TV speakers on my 65" LG C1.  It is louder when connected via other sources, so it could just be a quirk with how my PS5 outputs over HDMI, or how the LG handles ARC (Audio Return Channel).  Either way, when I connect to it via Bluetooth, it gets much, much louder.  So how loud it can get seems to vary a bit.

In this soundbar, there are two sets of active drivers, and two passive radiators.  The active drivers are two up-facing 3" midwoofers, that handle the midrange and bass in one driver.  3" is a bit on the small side for a woofer, but it can definitely reproduce those lower frequencies, just not as loudly as larger drivers can.  The two front-facing 0.75" dome tweeters are a well-understood technology and should do the job just fine.  Lots of high-end speakers use dome tweeters, and 0.75" domes should be just fine given the output constraints of a soundbar.  

All speakers are limited by physics, and outputting bass frequencies requires volume, in both the speaker driver and enclosure, to bring the output to a usable level.  A lot of setups use a dedicated subwoofer to do this, and my own desk setup has a subwoofer to fill in the lowest frequencies.  Creative sells other soundbars that do the same.  The Katana SE has decided to go a different route.  Rather than use a separate driver for bass frequencies, they instead put four passive radiators, two in the front and two in the back, to help fill in the bass.  Since all bass reproduction benefits from more surface area, the internal air pressure inside the enclosure causes the passive radiators to move along with the main driver, causing an emphasis effect.

I tried to determine if the passives were separated by channel (two left, two right) or if all four are connected to both midwoofer drivers; from what I can tell, it’s the latter.  To be clear, ‘connected’ in this case means exposed to the same air; passive radiators have no electronics outside of the original driver. They are driven purely by the change in air pressure of the cavity they are in. The plus side of this arrangement is additional surface area for the radiators, but the downside is less stereo separation and clarity (which is a source of compromise for soundbars anyway, so compromising that a bit more is an understandable trade off). The main downside of this arrangement is a bit less ‘punch’ than subwoofer-based systems, and potentially a bit less clarity in the mid and bass regions. Unfortunately, I can’t directly compare this implementation with another, so it’s only theoretical; as they say, the devil is always in the details.

The enclosure is all plastic from what I can tell, but it uses a thick-grade plastic, and feels really solid to the touch.  I think it likely would survive a drop, though I don't intend on (or recommend) finding out.  It's heavy enough to feel quality, but not so heavy as to be burdensome.  It also looks really good, and the RGB strip on the bottom, which is customizable via the Creative app on both Windows and Android/iOS.  The nice thing about this is even if you are using it on a device that doesn't have the app available, you can still do everything you need over Bluetooth and your Android (in my case) phone.

Speaking of which, there are a ton of features on this thing.  The feature set is closer to an AVR (audio/video receiver) than just a simple speaker system, though this device does not route video.  If you decide to take advantage of the HDMI ARC (audio return channel) feature by plugging your TV into this device, be aware that you can't route video into the TV through that HDMI port, only audio out to the soundbar.

Outside of that limitation, the soundbar supports audio input via HDMI ARC as previously mentioned, USB (ideal for PC use), Bluetooth (ideal for mobile phones), 3.5mm stereo aux in, and optical in.  HDMI ARC is accessed via the 'TV' input.  Each of the inputs can be selected directly via the included remote control, via the 'SOURCE' button on the top of the soundbar, or via the Android/iOS app (Android tested).  You can only listen to one source at a time, but having five inputs available like that is actually pretty impressive.

Also, knowing that this soundbar might be used for PC gamers, Creative made sure to make it a great option for those who might want to use it this way.  It has a built-in microphone (only usable in USB input mode, sadly) that sounds decent enough, and you can even override which mic it presents to your operating system (Windows/macOS/Linux), as the front-facing headphone jack has a four-pole plug, so if your wired headset has a microphone, it can use that.  It's a nice touch, and in the app you can choose which mic to prioritize; the built-in or headset one.

The sound is quite customizable, with built-in modes as well as tweaks you can make via the app.  It comes with onboard Movies, Music, and Games modes, as well as an 'Effects Off' mode for those who want the purest audio.  The headphone jack is decently powerful and sounds clear to these ears, though I lack the measuring equipment to prove it.  But out of the box the noise floor is quite low, and I couldn't hear one.  The headphone amp built into the bar isn't going to set any records, but I was able to get my Fostex planar headphones to a reasonably loud volume; it should be able to handle all common headphones not known for being difficult to drive.