Creative's Bluetooth PC speakers deliver impressive sound for their size

The Inspire S2 speaker system costs around $150.

(Credit: Creative Labs)

Over the years, we've seen a handful of Bluetooth speakers make their way into our office for testing, but the category has never taken off despite the appealing nature of wireless audio streaming.

Part of the problem is that Bluetooth speakers tend to cost more than your typical powered PC speakers do. Running about $150, Creative's Inspire S2 Bluetooth speaker system isn't cheap, but it is fairly affordable. It's also very small, especially for a 2.1 speaker package that includes a separate subwoofer.

The idea here is that you'd place the speakers in a fixed location (most probably on a desk or shelf) and then have the freedom to move your laptop around the room and not worry about being tethered to a set of speakers to get your sound (you get a USB dongle for your Windows or Mac machine). Alternately, you should be able to stream any A2DP-compatible Bluetooth audio source to these speakers. The list includes newer iPhone and iPod Touch models, and most media-savvy cell phones.

We were generally pleased with the setup side of things, but what ultimately impressed us about the Inspire S2 package was how good it sounded for its size. Of course, we've heard better sound from larger systems that retail for around the same price. But the key here is that the Creative speakers offered a reasonable amount of bass and good detail. They played fairly loud, too, though they strained themselves when we pushed the volume to the highest levels.

Read the full review of Creative's Inspire S2 Bluetooth speaker system.