Stage 360

Overview

The Creative Stage 360 is a 2021 soundbar from Creative and the Stage model with Dolby Atmos. The bar is 565 mm wide, 75 mm high and 88 mm deep and comes in black. A separate subwoofer is tethered to the bar with a cable of about 2 m.

Creative lists two racetrack drivers in the bar and a 5.25-inch high-excursion driver in the long-throw subwoofer, rated at 60 W RMS for the bar and 60 W RMS for the subwoofer (up to 120 W RMS, 240 W peak).

The TV connects over HDMI ARC or optical. Two more HDMI 2.0 inputs take a console, Blu-ray player or set-top box, and the bar passes the picture through to the TV. Phones and computers connect over Bluetooth 5.0.

The included IR remote control switches sources, adjusts the volume, selects audio modes and switches between far-field and near-field listening. The bar also has touch controls. The box contains the subwoofer, the remote control, the power adapter and cable, an optical cable and the manuals.

What the specs mean

• 2.1 speaker setup: two main channels plus a subwoofer channel. The ".1" is the wired subwoofer. The bar has no dedicated surround or up-firing height drivers; Creative describes a "Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 experience" with simulated height. The system cannot be expanded with extra speakers.
• Dolby Atmos: a surround format that adds height effects. The Stage 360 receives it from the TV over HDMI ARC or from a source on one of its HDMI inputs. Lossless formats such as Dolby TrueHD need eARC, which the Stage 360 does not have.
• HDMI passthrough (HDCP 2.2): a console or streaming box connects to one of the two HDMI inputs, and the bar passes the video on to the TV. The inputs support HDCP 2.2 copy protection.
• Audio formats: Dolby Atmos.