Welcome to our Creative SXFI Air Headphones Review. In today’s review we are talking about Creative’s SXFI Air Headphones that are making waves among the gaming amd movie-fans industries.
Creative has long been known to set the bar for its audio products very high. Moving away from the somewhat limited framework that wants it to design and manufacture Sound Cards for PC (who doesn’t know sound blaster), in recent times it has raised its shares sharply on the stock market and the other audio-based peripherals that can take off the audio experience of any audiophile fanatic.
The soundbars (see Katana) and its speakers are doing great, while the same is true of the rich line-up of its headphones, which are connected to the high build quality.
In fact, Creative has managed to steal the impressions with the existence of 3D holographic technology Super X-Fi (SXFI), which creates the right conditions for a fully personalized audio experience that breaks the boundaries of conventional sound.
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The 2nd generation of AI-based personalized SXFI technology recently introduced at CES 2020, if anything, stepped on the solid foundations of the first version and now the results are even better with even greater 3D sound fidelity, improved personalized settings and better energy management (the update passes to all Creative products that support this technology).
Having owned Creative SXFI Air for a few months now is the time to bring you the experience we had with them.
Creative SXFI Air Headphones Review – Pros & Cons
Pros
Cons
Main Characteristics
Design
Observing the “external appearance” of Creative Air it is evident that the well-known company preferred to take a more serious and traditional approach.
If you’re looking for a headset that’s discreet and elegant, Air probably can’t justify the aforementioned ratings, as they’re quite sable, weighing close to 338 grams (you certainly don’t call them light).
This is because we are undoubtedly dealing here with a proposal that is more geared to home entertainment enthusiasts than to mobility fans who want their headphones to cover them on their daily commutes to the city (which is why their lack of folding).
However, Creative’s design team has made no compromises on both the durability and the admittedly quality materials from which Air is made.
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Pads
The pads are super soft and made of premium memory foam fabric, which serves to better channel the heat, which means you can wear them for hours without getting tired.
At the same time, what we found is that they stand quite well on the head, they can be easily adjusted and that in general high comfort is among the main advantages of Air.
As soon as you wear and activate them, it won’t be long before you see the high level of isolation. Even though they don’t have a noise cancellation function, they offer a pretty good isolated environment from the surrounding sounds.
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Controls
All controls are mounted on the left earcup with the round Power button accompanied just below a nano boom microphone that if anything is so distinctive that it doesn’t even appear, taking up minimal space.
The Source button allows you to switch the various interface features (Bluetooth 4.2, classic 3.5mm line-in, USB-C or USB Audio using the special adaptor found in the package).
In fact, for the more “traditional” gamers out there, Creative SXFI Air Headphones includes a microSD slot, in which you can add a card loaded with audio files and enjoy your favorite music tracks easily (especially if you are on-the-road for many hours). Finally, the Super XFI activation button is located in the same place.
Touch Headphones
It is worth noting that the left earpiece is touch-sensitive, which is why with simple movements you can control the volume, accept or reject phone calls and skip your music tracks (here you will have to get used to it a little, as you will need practice).
Illuminated Earcups
Finally, the outline of earcups (ring) is illuminated with a series of different lightings (the standard is in green when activated, red when off and blue when in Bluetooth mode) giving a more “atmospheric” character to Creative’s proposal, choosing from 16 million available colors (via the SXFI Air Control app).
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Holographic Sound Technology!
Creative’s products have already acquired an excellent name when it come to performance and Creative SXFI Air could not be the exception to the rule.
Inside, the existence of a dedicated UltraDSP audio chipset (which essentially activates SXFI technology) reveals the “wild moods” of the well-known company.
According to Creative managers, most classic headphones fail to create the feeling of the right sound, so you feel like you’re in an open environment. So, this is where the holographic SXFI technology steps in – through which the obstacle of “static” stereo sound can essentially be overcome that cannot capture natural sound and approach reality to the maximum.
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SXFI App
By downloading Creative’s special application (SXFI app), you will be asked to map your face and ear position, taking a series of selfie photos with your smartphone and creating your account.
In this way, the application wants to create a unique personalized profile, which essentially carries out a calibration according to the shape of the individual user’s face.
And it may seemingly look like a high-tech impression drive or a marketing firework, but we were pleased to find that the result produced after using the app is much more upscale than before.
In addition to this application, for even more control Creative SXFI Air users will have to download to their Smartphone and the SXFI Air Control app, which enables the adjustment of equalizer and other personalized settings, such as RGB lighting that accompanies earcups.
Undoubtedly, we would prefer a unified app for greater ease of use than two separate apps that might confuse and tire less “searched” users.
Performance
By putting the performance of Creative SXFI Air under the microscope we can easily stand on the special emphasis given to every acoustic detail. And the difference between simple sound and SXFI is just… Day and Night!
Activating the SXFI Button opens up a completely different audio world, with the main element that you can hear and understand even better the sense of “space”. Especially if you watch a movie that is extremely rich in sound effects (such as Avengers: End Game or any other action movie) or if you ‘melt’ with a first-person shooter (such as Battlefield V or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare), the feeling you get is like participating in the action yourself.
Especially in gaming: explosions, passages of sound from left to right, bullets and pacings can all be attributed to perfectness.
And certainly Creative SXFI Air do not do well only in movies and video games, but they are also ideal for Podcasts, as well as traditional audio tunes that act as reference points (such as Daft Punk’s all-time classic One More Time, where sound gains more depth).
If anything, the three-dimensional sound that comes from Creative’s headphones is much more dynamic and extends to a wider range, which means you feel it in full. And once you go to SXFI you’re not coming back!
Creative SXFI Air Latency
At this point of course it is worth adding that in Bluetooth mode the sound effect seems to be “tormented” by some kind of lag, so for an even better result (and a flawless sound) we would recommend you to use some wired headphone connection.
Creative SXFI Air Review – Conclusion
Creative SXFI Air Headphones with autonomy of up to 10 hours is an ideal solution for fans of quality sound who are looking for more than just their headset and are oriented mainly to a set that will meet their home entertainment needs.
While there is certainly room for even more corrections and improvements, they are currently among the most flexible and technologically advanced headphones in their class. Since they do not require a fortune to obtain them (they cost around 140 dollars) they are undoubtedly worth the slightest euro you will spend on their purchase.
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