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The Creative Zen Air SXFI TWS earbuds offer adaptive noise canceling, dual device pairing, and wireless charging, with a compact design and rich feature set. They support spatial audio and deliver a pleasant sound reproduction, with a battery life of 39 hours and a sub-$100 price tag.
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Creative’s Zen Air SXFI TWS earbuds boast a legendary status in the world of audio, offering the brand’s Super X-Fi spatial audio tech natively, adaptive noise canceling, dual device pairing, wireless charging, and a combined battery life of 39 hours.
The earbuds come in a compact form factor with a sub-$100 price tag, making them a worthy pick thanks to their rich feature set and pleasant sound reproduction. We enjoyed our time watching movies and TV shows on supported platforms like Netflix with Creative’s SFXI surround sound tech.
Design
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The Zen Air SXFI feature an all-plastic build with a matte finish. The buds are of the in-ear variety with interchangeable silicone tips and short steps. The top halves house remapable touch sensors and each earbud is outfitted with a trio of microphones.
The earbuds and their case come in at 51 grams, with each earbud contributing 5.4 grams. The in-ear fit is great, but we had to switch up the default ear tips to the smaller size to get a proper seal. The dimensions of the case are 64 x 43.85 x 29 mm, which is a bit larger than most competitors.
Features and Companion App
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The earbuds are equipped with 10mm Neodymium drivers and pair over Bluetooth 5.3 with support for multipoint pairing. They also support adaptive active noise cancellation with a dedicated Ambient Mode and a four-stage manual control inside the Creative app.
The key selling point is the SXFI spatial audio system, which utilizes Creative’s computational audio to create a surround sound experience tailored to your ear and head shape. After the SXFI setup, the earbuds deliver a more immersive audio experience with a wider sound stage and a multi-speaker-like experience.
Performance and Sound Quality
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By default, the earbuds offer a notable bass presence and clear mids. We enjoyed the instrument separation, which is superior to most earbuds in the sub-$100 category. The overall sound profile is pleasing and offers enough detail as far as Bluetooth audio streaming goes. Keep in mind that you are limited to the AAC and SBC codecs here.
The default equalizer leans on the bass side, but you have more than enough built-in EQ presets to choose from. Classical stood out as the best option in our experience, but you are also free to customize your own EQ profile.
Battery Life
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Creative claims you can get up to 39 hours of total listening time from the buds and their case with the buds alone lasting up to 12 hours (with ANC off). In our usage, we got 7.5 hours of usage from the buds with ANC on and volume set to 50%. The case offers five full recharges, and you can top up wirelessly on any Qi charger, which is a nice bonus.
Verdict
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The Creative Zen Air SXFI’s main focus is spatial audio, but we did not feel a significant benefit when listening to music or watching movies in the SXFI mode. The sound stage felt flat, and the absence of head tracking delivered a less than ideal spatial audio experience.
However, it was in the normal SXFI-less mode that the buds delivered a lively sound stage, albeit with a more bass-heavy signature. The custom EQ options helped fine-tune the sound output, which combined with the buds’ ergonomic design and potent ANC delivered an enjoyable listening experience.
With a retail price of $80/€80 (currently discounted), the Creative Zen Air SXFI gets our approval, considering the features and performance on offer.
