Review – Creative ZiiSound D3x


19 Mar 2012

We take a look at the Creative ZiiSound D3x, a wireless speaker which aims to offer top sound through Bluetooth connectivity and can form a wireless 3.1 speaker system.

Look and sound

The Creative ZiiSound D3x is a pretty compact device with a clean, black design. It’s rectangular in shape with curved corners and has a black mesh cloth covering the front, top and back.

It’s 3.7 inches high and 16.1 inches long, which is pretty ideal if you want to place it under your TV or on a desk for listening to music. It’s also pretty light, weighing 1.79kg, meaning it’s easy enough to carry around or attach to a wall.

It’s equipped with the apt-X codec, which aims to retain the full integrity of the audio track while optimising it for Bluetooth streaming. It certainly works in its favour, as it produces beautiful audio through this connection. The speaker offers excellent bass sounds with clear mid-tones and higher tones, offering crisp sound for your music or movies.

Bluetooth connectivity

The Creative ZiiSound D3x boasts that it only needs one wire – its plug. You can connect to any device with Bluetooth to the speaker, including budget mobile phones, smartphones, PCs, tablets and more. Of course, you can still connect other devices to the speaker the old-fashioned way, if needed – while there isn’t a dock, it does have an aux input. You can also get a Bluetooth transmitter for any PC which doesn’t have built-in Bluetooth, if necessary.

The Bluetooth connectivity function is straight forward. By holding down the ‘Connect’ button on the ZiiSound D3x, you then switch on the Bluetooth connection on your selected device, pair them together and then listen to music wirelessly. It was quick to set up on my mobile devices, though my MacBook took a little bit longer to link to the speaker, but once I set it up it went smoothly. The speaker can connect up to a device to a range of 10 metres.

The ZiiSound D3x doesn’t come with a remote control, as you can adjust the volume of the speaker from the device you connected it to. This is one of the reasons it doesn’t have a dock – it’s a lot easier to control the device while you hold it rather than being forced to make your way to where it’s docked.

However, it doesn’t cover everything. I connected my laptop up to my TV using the ZiiSound D3x as a sound system. As there was no remote for it, I needed to reach over to my laptop or the speaker in order to adjust the sound. Of course, this is a very specific example, but it would have been nice to have an extra remote, just in case.

Wireless sound system

The ZiiSound D3x can also be paired with other speakers to act as multi-speaker system. It can form a 3.1 speaker system wirelessly with the help of its link button. Again, this is pretty straight forward to set up.

The ZiiSound D3x has three lights representing the left, centre and right speakers. As you hold down the link button, each of these will flash separately, allowing you to assign each speaker to each side. The system can link up each speaker at a distance of 30 metres, which can be quite useful for events such as parties.

Verdict

The Creative ZiiSound D3x is a great sound system for home use. Its sleek minimalist design will look good in most sitting rooms and it provides great sound for music and movies.

Its wireless sound connectivity makes it extremely useful for countless needs, such as playing music from your iPhone, providing better sound for movies from a PC and offering a wireless sound system for parties. All in all, it’s a worthwhile addition to any sitting room.

The Creative ZiiSound D3x costs €149.