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Creative Aurvana® Gold and Aurvana® Live!2 Headsets Win Coveted Red Dot Awards for Outstanding and Innovative Product Design

SINGAPORE – 8 April 2014 – Creative Technology Ltd today announced multiple wins in the prestigious German-based international “Red Dot Award: Product Design 2014” – the largest and most renowned design competition in the world. Creative’s premium Aurvana® Gold wireless headset and Creative Aurvana® Live!2 headset, together with its flagship Sound Blaster® Roar portable wireless speaker were awarded the esteemed “Red Dot Award”, which recognises excellence in product design for their degree of innovation, level of functionality, quality standard, ergonomics, durability, ecological compatibility, among other factors.

The Red Dot Award is often seen as the ultimate accolade in the world of product design. For 2014, the Red Dot Award competition received the highest-ever number of submissions from designers and companies from all over the world. At the same time, many new countries were added to the competition’s list of participants. Out of the record number of 4,815 entries from 53 participating countries, only one in every four product entries was selected as winners.

Creative Aurvana Gold
wireless headset

Creative Aurvana Live!2
headset

In this year’s competition, the international Red Dot jury was increased in size once again to ensure a high level of professional appraisal of the quantity and diversity of products. With a panel of 40 design professionals from 25 countries, it is the largest-ever Red Dot jury to-date. Over a jury session spanning several days, the team of experts tested, assessed and deliberated every product entry – to reach a consensus and select the best products of 2014.

“The Red Dot Award: Product Design gives design professionals from all over the world a chance to measure themselves against each other. Year after year, this results in a higher level of design and also motivates the participants to enter their best products in the competition.” said Professor Dr Peter Zec, the initiator and CEO of the Red Dot Award, explaining the reason why the competition is not only very relevant to industries, but is also constantly rising in significance at an international level.

“It is a great pleasure to learn that two of our latest Aurvana headsets had again attained one of the highest seals of quality approval by winning the much coveted Red Dot Awards. The premium Aurvana headset range is designed with Creative’s long heritage in audio technology and many years of research and expertise in headset design. In designing any headset product, our engineering team not only seeks to deliver the best in audio performance, at the same time, it also strives to achieve the utmost in user experience – by paying great attention to functionality, quality standard, comfort level and aesthetic excellence.

When we first launched the Aurvana line of premium headsets, we focused on delivering the truest audiophile-grade sound with minimum processing, so users could hear exactly what was recorded in the studio. With the latest Aurvana Gold and Aurvana Live!2, we’ve not only continued this legacy, we’ve also gone the extra mile to incorporate a full range of innovative and groundbreaking technologies to make our headsets truly the best in their class, and a favorite among audiophiles and tech enthusiasts alike.” said Ting Lai Chu, Vice President for the Advanced Multimedia Group at Creative Technology Ltd.

Creative Aurvana Gold Wireless Headset
Creative’s flagship Aurvana headset range – comprising the premium Aurvana Gold and Aurvana Platinum wireless headsets – delivers true-to-life high performance sound and represents the most feature-rich headsets among the Aurvana lineup, and possibly among other headsets in the market. Built with precise 40mm drivers, the Aurvana Gold is capable of delivering powerful audio performance with stunning bass, pristine highs and remarkably clear vocals. The headset’s soft ear cushions made with premium memory foam allow the listener to indulge in long hours of music listening in great comfort.

The headset has incorporated many key advanced acoustic features for superb listening experience in a premium headset in its class.

• Active Noise Cancellation employs advanced noise reduction feedback control with two dedicated microphones to reduce environmental noise by up to 85 percent.
• Advanced Bluetooth 3.0 technology with aptX® and AAC high-definition audio codec support.
• Aurvana Gold introduces the world’s first Creative ShareMe technology for simultaneous audio sharing between two headsets. This advanced technology allows two listeners of ShareMe-enabled Creative wireless headsets to easily link the two headsets wirelessly to a single smart device, and share their audio simultaneously – ideal for simultaneous listening to podcast or audio book, or watching a movie together during a long commute.
• Features Tap & Play Near-Field Connectivity (NFC) technology for simple, one-touch Bluetooth pairing.
• With Creative Multipoint Connectivity, the Aurvana Gold can connect to two Bluetooth devices simultaneously; allowing user the flexibility to answer urgent phone calls from a smartphone while watching a movie on a tablet.
• When a phone call comes in, the built-in microphones enable crystal-clear conversations via the ClearSpeech enhanced engine.

Great attention to details is evident in the Aurvana Gold headset’s distinctively elegant exterior design. A stunningly clear visual contrast is immediately noticeable between the hard materials that make up the headset’s solid structure and sleek angled lines adorning the ear cups, and the soft materials that provide users with outstanding levels of comfort. With superb audio performance, elegant, comfortable design and many rich features, the Aurvana Gold wireless headset makes a perfect companion to anyone who wants to enjoy digital entertainment anywhere, anytime.

Creative Aurvana Live!2 Headset
The Creative Aurvana Live!2 headset improves upon the highly popular Aurvana Live! headset, which established a cult following for its outstanding audio performance produced by its high quality bio-cellulose drivers. A bio-cellulose diaphragm is an ideal headphone driver material as it delivers the same sound velocity as an aluminum or titanium diaphragm along with the warmth and delicate sound of a paper diaphragm. The Aurvana Live!2 renders a natural and faithful audio experience akin to a live performance with its highly accurate 40mm Neodymium magnet with bio-cellulose diaphragm drivers that deliver tighter bass tones and exceptional audio dynamics. To add to the musical escape, the premium soft protein leatherette ear pads and headband immerse the listener in comfort even for long periods of listening. The Aurvana Live!2 is also equipped with an inline microphone for calls.

Red Dot Awards Presentation and Special Exhibition
The glamorous Red Dot Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner, to be attended by more than 1,200 guests, will be held on Monday, 7 July 2014 at the prestigious Aalto-Theater in Essen, Berlin. Afterwards, the guests and prize winners will celebrate together in the Red Dot Design Museum at the legendary Designers’ Night.

Along with other award-winning products, all three award-winning Creative products – Creative Sound Blaster Roar portable wireless speaker, Creative Aurvana Gold wireless headset and Creative Aurvana Live!2 headset – will be on special display from 8 July to 3 August 2014 at the Red Dot Design Museum on the premises of the ‘Zeche Zollverein’ World Cultural Heritage Site in Essen, Germany. After that, the products will be presented in the Red Dot Design Museum’s permanent exhibition for at least one year. With approximately 1,500 products on more than 4,000 square metres, the Red Dot Design Museum houses the largest permanent exhibition of contemporary designs worldwide.

In addition, the award-winning Creative products will be incorporated into the Red Dot Design Yearbook 2014/2015, and presented in an online exhibition with the Red Dot App at www.red-dot.org/pd.

For more information about the Creative Aurvana Gold wireless headset and the Creative Aurvana Live!2 headset, please visit www.creative.com.

About Creative
Creative is a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products. Famous for its Sound Blaster® sound cards and for launching the multimedia revolution, Creative is now driving digital entertainment with cutting-edge audio solutions, premium wireless speakers, wireless headphones and portable media devices. Today, Creative re-invents the Sound Blaster, which has a user base of over 400 million, with its ground-breaking Sound BlasterAxx that aims at the new mobile networked generation by bridging the worlds of the computer, smartphones, and tablets. Creative’s proprietary technologies, innovative hardware, applications and services leverage the Internet, enabling consumers to experience high-quality digital entertainment – anytime, anywhere.

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This announcement relates to products launched in the Asia Pacific. Availability is subject to change without notice and may differ elsewhere in the world according to local factors and requirements. Creative, the Creative logo, Sound Blaster, Sound BlasterAxx, Aurvana and Live! are trademarks or registered trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.