Sound Quality

The Creative Metallix has surprisingly well-balanced sound given its small size. Music sounds clear and there is even some bass. It won’t rattle the windows, but it does enhance the lows nicely. It can even get loud enough to fill a medium size room with minimal distortion. It may not be ideal for large gatherings, but works great if you’re having a few people over for dinner, for example,

Design

The Creative Metallix speaker is about half as tall as a can of soda. The speaker is located on the top of the unit. The controls are near the bottom along the side. the bottom of the unit is somewhat tacky to help keep the speaker secure on your desk (but it also collects a lot of dirt).

Features

What I like about this speaker is that it can do more than just Bluetooth. If you attach the charging cable and press the M button, it can be used as an FM radio. Hold down the Play button for 2 seconds to scan for channels, then hold down the plus and minus buttons to navigate through the stations. Unfortunately, there’s no a way to see what station you’re on, but it’s nice to be able to use the speaker without a phone.

You can also load up a Micro SD card with MP3 files and play music directly from the card, but please note that it only seems to play the files in alphabetical order. I would have preferred that it played in a random order.

The Metallix also has an Aux connection to directly connect the speaker to your phone or another music source.

You can access Siri and Google Assistant by double-tapping the Play button while in Bluetooth mode. This is useful if you need to make a quick call or simply want to check the weather.

Battery Life

The Metallix gets up to 24 hours of battery life, which is good given its size. This makes it ideal for someone who is always on the go and doesn’t want to be bogged down by a heavier option (the Metallix weighs less than a pound). The speaker is recharged with a standard Micro USB charging cable (included) but requires that you use your own AC wall adapter (your phone’s charger will likely work fine).

Our Verdict

7.7

Very Good

The Creative Metallix speaker provides crisp sound and an adequate amount of bass to make listening enjoyable on this small speaker. In addition to Bluetooth, the speaker can be used to listen to FM radio, but navigating to a particular station can be difficult since there is no station display. Battery life is impressive and can last up to 24 hours on a single charge.