After hearing Creative’s SXFI spatial audio tech, it’s hard to go back
Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI: Two-minute review
The Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI headphones are an interesting proposition. With active noise cancellation, a ‘spatial holography’ mode known as Super X-Fi and a choice between wired and wireless listening (so, it’s tough to know whether they’d be better pitched as some of the best wireless over-ears, the best wired headphones or best noise-cancelling headphones, for example) they have a host of advanced-looking features in a stylish package, all for less than $100.
As a manufacturer of affordable audio hardware, Creative is in the difficult spot of trying to bring premium features to a low price, so there are corners cut in places. However, even the mild levels of noise cancellation are useful for softening outside noise, while a substantial battery life (up to 70 hours) means these cans last a lot longer than some higher-end headphones (cough, AirPods Max, cough). The support for Bluetooth 5.3 certainly helps to increase power efficiency and ensure these headphones last longer, too.
The stereo sound is somewhat to be expected for the price, though Creative’s proprietary SXFI feature does push your tracks harder, ensuring the headphones offer more than the sum of their affordable parts. While we had some issues using these headphones to watch TV shows or Twitch streams, music recreation over a phone or laptop was still lively for what you pay for.Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI review: Price and release date
$99.99 / £89.99 / AU$69.95
Launched in May 2024
The Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI headphones retail for $99.99 / £89.99 / AU$69.95, having been released in May 2024.
As inexpensive as that may seem (when you consider something like the Sennheiser HD 620S headphones, which arrived on June 6 and retail for more than triple that, at $349.95 / £299.99 / AU$599) that MSRP is actually a little more than last year’s Zen Hybrid 2, which doesn’t make use of Creative’s spatial tech, but can now be found for as little as $49.99 / £59.99 in the US and UK.Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI review: SpecsCreative Zen Hybrid SXFI review: Features
Adaptive ANC and Ambient Mode
SXFI app
Bluetooth 5.3
On paper, the Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI headphones pack a lot of premium-sounding features at a very non-premium price.
To start with, there’s active noise cancellation, or ANC, with a button that lets you cycle between ANC (blocking outside noise), adaptive ANC (responding dynamically to variable outside noise), ambient listening (letting all the outside noise in), and no ANC at all. It’s great to see ANC here, but none of these modes feel overly distinct: there’s a minor benefit to listening with ANC, but the effect is quite limited, only mildly softening the sound of traffic of chatty commuters, while the lack of passive isolation in the headphones’ casing means that the ambient mode isn’t much different: you’re hearing most of what’s going on.
There’s also Creative’s SXFI, or Super X-Fi spatial audio tech, which is intended to capture “the listening experience of a high-end multi-speaker system in a professional studio”, by virtually upscaling its stereo audio into something approaching three-dimensional sound. There’s a dedicated SXFI app you need to download, before building a personalized sound profile based on the size and shape of your ears, but it is available for both desktop and mobile.
Elsewhere, you get the option to use either a wired (3.
