Alongside the Zen Air SXFI, the Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI is another pair of audio gear that comes with built-in Super X-Fi in the form of a pair of wireless headphones, retailing at S$149.
Unboxing
Inside the box, you will find the following items:
- Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI
- USB-C to USB-A Charging Cable
- 3.5 mm AUX Input Cable
- Quick Start Guides
- Carry Pouch
Design, build quality and others
Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI comes in two colours – white or black. The unit I have is the white colour variant. It has clean and minimalistic design, with light brass accents. I think the overall design actually looks quite premium, probably one of the better designed headphones from Creative so far. Build quality is decent – it is made completely from plastic which isn’t the best I’ve felt but certainly not cheap-feeling.
Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI can also be folded down which makes it easier to carry it around. Creative Zen Hybrid can provide 40 hours of music playback with ANC turned on/ With ANC turned off, you get a whopping 70 hours of play time.
Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI has support for the Creative App where you can set custom equalizer and tweak with ANC and Ambient Mode settings. Do note that the SXFi setup requires another map. It is nice that there is multipoint connectivity which is useful when using the headphones with 2 devices. It is also nice to see Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI retaining the option to use it wired via a 3.5mm audio jack. As all the buttons are located on the right ear cup, the SXFI and ANC button being on the other side of the ear cup means that you have to use your finger instead of the thumb to click it – feeling a little unnatural.
Fit and comfort
Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI is quite comfortable. The headband is well cushioned and the clamping force isn’t too firm. It would have been a little better if there was slightly larger space in the ear cup. The ear cushions are soft enough as well.
Sound quality and Super X-Fi (SXFI)
The default tuning of the Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI is warm sounding, with bass being more pronounced and treble feeling slightly subdued. Bass has depth but doesn’t extend too deep in the sub-bass territory. Vocals are forward and warm. Treble is tame and can feel a little lacking for those more used to brighter highs.
Since Super X-Fi (SXFI) is built into the headphones, this means that you can now stream any audio in SXFI mode such as Spotify, YouTube, Netflix, TikTok, etc. With SXFI mode on, you can instantly feel the soundstage open up. Instrument separation is more distinct, bass feels larger and spread out in its presence. I must admit that not everything sounds better with Super X-Fi. Songs streamed of Spotify tend to sound more echoey and usually lack the intimate feeling of bass notes and vocals playing right into your ears. But I found that Super X-Fi works really well with live music, movies, and open-world gaming.
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)
ANC capabilities of the Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI is average, and is pretty much what I expected at this price point. It still does a great job at removing consistent low-end noises such as engine on a bus. Higher frequencies noises are then usually harder to combat, but at least have reduced volumes.
Conclusion
If you have always been interested in Creative’s Super X-Fi but haven’t own a device capable of it, then the Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI feels like a good first purchase as it offers strong versatility of using SXFI in any setting. SXFI Gen 4 feels more polished than old generations as well. If headphones are your main mode of audio, the Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI is worth a shot.