Creative holds a legendary position in the audio world and its Zen Air SXFI TWS earbuds are the first TWS earbuds to natively support the brand’s Super X-Fi spatial audio technology. They do so while also offering adaptive noise cancelling, dual device pairing, wireless charging, and a combined battery life of 39 hours.
Creative Zen Air SXFI
20% off at checkout
All of these features are in a compact form factor and priced under $100. After using the Zen Air SFXFi for a week we can confirm that they are a worthy option due to their rich feature set and pleasant sound reproduction. Although spatial audio wasn’t our main focus, we enjoyed watching movies and TV shows on supported platforms like Netflix with Creative’s SFXFi surround sound technology.
design
The Zen Air SXFi has an all-plastic build with a matte finish. The buds are of the in-ear variety, with interchangeable silicone tips and small steps. There are remappable touch sensors on the top and three microphones are housed in each earbud.
The earbuds and their case weigh 51 grams, with each earbud contributing 5.4 grams. The in-ear fit is great, although we had to change the default ear tips to a smaller size to get a proper seal. The case dimensions are 64 x 43.85 x 29 mm which is slightly larger than most competitors.
You can buy the Creative Zen Air SXFI in any colour, provided it is grey. The matte finish on the case and buds protects against fingerprints. The inside of the case has a glossy silver finish that reminds us of the copper colour on the Creative Aurvana Ace 2 that we reviewed earlier this year.
The case has four LED battery indicators and a pairing button on the front and a USB-C cable on the bottom for charging. The good news is that they also support wireless charging and should work with any QI-compatible pad.
The retail package includes the standard array of accessories including a short USB-C cable, extra silicone tips, and something we don’t see very often – a fabric pouch that fits inside the carrying case and protects it from scratches.
Features and companion app
The Creative Zen Air SXFI is equipped with 10mm neodymium drivers. They pair over Bluetooth 5.3 with support for multipoint pairing, but are limited to legacy AAC and SBC codecs, so you won’t be streaming high-bitrate audio here. The buds also support adaptive active noise cancellation with a dedicated ambient mode and four-step manual control inside the Creative app. Each earbud has triple microphones for optimal voice pickup.
The main selling point is the SXFI spatial audio system that uses Creative’s computational audio to create a surround sound experience tailored to the shape of your ears and head. You’ll need to download an additional SXFI app on your phone that prompts you to scan your face and ears.
After the SXFI setup, the earbuds should offer a more immersive audio experience with a wider sound stage and a multi-speaker-like experience. Creative has been developing this spatial audio technology for the past few years and the Zen Air SXFI is the first TWS earbud to launch with hardware-ready SFXI.
The major breakthrough with the hardware-based SXFi in this version of the Zen Air is that once you’ve done the initial head mapping, it works with any media on the device – local or streaming.
The Creative app has all the basic functions you would expect from a companion app. You get to toggle between noise cancellation modes with ANC, Adaptive ANC, and Ambient mode. ANC and Ambient mode feature four-level stage control so you can decide how much outside noise is cancelled or allowed in.
The app also allows you to customize the touch controls with single, double, and long taps. The long press is used for volume control which is always a welcome addition to any TWS product.
Creative also offers a myriad of EQ presets, with 17 media-based EQ presets and an additional 25(!) for gaming titles, including popular fan favorites like the Call of Duty series, DOTA 2, and CS:GO. You can also tweak your own EQ profile with the slider.
The features section includes a low latency mode and an IPX5 rating which is only for the buds and not the case.
The only feature we found missing here was a wear detection sensor, which would pause media when you remove the buds from your ears and resume it when you reinsert them.
Display and sound quality
By default, the Creative Zen Air SXFI offers notable bass presence and clear mids. We liked the instrument separation which is better than most earbuds in the sub-$100 category. The overall sound profile is pleasant and offers enough details in case of Bluetooth audio streaming. Keep in mind that you are limited to AAC and SBC codecs here.
As far as the SXFI’s performance goes, we avoid using it when listening to music. It shifts the sound towards the front of your face, for lack of a better term, and results in a less detailed sound with muffled mids, weak bass, and a flat-sounding sound stage. The same is true when watching videos and movies where the SXFI doesn’t contribute to a more engaging experience. The lack of head tracking is another missed opportunity.
As expected, the default equalizer is tilted towards bass, but you have more than enough built-in EQ presets to choose from. In our experience, Classical was the best choice, but you are also free to customize your own EQ profile.
Noise cancellation is better than most budget earbuds we’ve tested recently and offers a noticeable reduction in surrounding noise without distorting your audio too much. The excellent in-ear fit definitely contributed to the solid ANC performance.
The six built-in microphones (three on each earbud) deliver good call quality in quiet environments, but struggle to capture your voice in loud areas. We didn’t experience any connectivity issues during our review period. The touch controls recorded all our taps without any issues and worked flawlessly.
battery life
Creative claims you can get up to 39 hours of listening in total from the buds and their case, while the buds alone last up to 12 hours (with ANC off). In our usage, we got 7.5 hours of use from the buds with ANC on and the volume set to 50%. The case allows for five full recharges and you can recharge wirelessly on any Qi charger which is a nice bonus.
Decision
The main focus of the Creative Zen Air SXFI is spatial audio, but we didn’t feel any significant benefit when listening to music or watching movies in SXFI mode. The sound stage felt flat and the absence of head tracking delivered a less than ideal spatial audio experience.
It was in the normal SXFI-less mode that the Buds delivered a vibrant soundstage with a more bass-heavy signature. The custom EQ options helped fine-tune the sound output which combined with the Buds ergonomic design and powerful ANC, made for a pleasant listening experience.
Battery life is very good and when we take into account the $80/€80 retail price (currently discounted) and all the onboard features, the Creative Jenn Air SXFI gets our approval.
