Creative Spatial Holography known as Super X-Fi is available as built-in hardware feature in the new Zen Hybrid SXFI wireless headphones retailing at S$149, available at the Creative Online Store.
Super X-Fi: Since 2018
Creative first announced the Super X-Fi (SXFI) technology in March 2018, and months later in Oct 2018, released the first product – the SXFI Amp. This technology makes you experience music as if the sound is coming from speakers in the room.
Fast forward to 2024, most of us are familiar with spatial audio technology through Dolby Atmos, Sony 360 Reality Audio, to name a few. But these technologies need the file or the player to both support the spatial audio mode. SXFI, on the other hand, can work with any audio source regardless of the encoding format. Whether you are using a laptop or any brand smartphone or any streaming site, you can experience SXFI.
Essentially the technology mimics the sound source coming from physical speakers around you instead of coming from the headphone speakers next to your ears. This can relieve listening fatigue and allow you to enjoy audio for longer periods of time. It works terrific in gaming, in movies, and especially in consuming video content from your social media platforms. It is equally liberating when using it for long hours of audio conferencing at work.
Super X-Fi is now in Gen4 that boasts enhancements in dynamic range, clarity, and spatial awareness. You can now upgrade your existing SXFI products by redoing your head mapping through the Creative SXFI App. There is no need to replace your existing SXFI products if you still own them: it’s a free upgrade!
Built-In SXFI Headphones
There were a few SXFI headphones in the past, like the SXFI Air (Bluetotooth), SXFI Theater (2.4GHz), both launched in 2019. No follow-up products occurred until now, 2024. Most Creative headphones do support SXFI in software mode (called “SXFI-Ready”) which require music to be played through the SXFI Music App. With Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI, you will be able to play any audio source in SXFI mode – Spotify, YouTube, Netflix, TikTok, anything.
The Zen Hybrid SXFI uses the design mould of the Zen Hybrid 2 with distinctions in colour, gold accents, and prints of “SXFI”. Here’s a quick comparison between these two models:
| Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI | Creative Zen Hybrid 2 | |
| Noise Control | Adaptive ANC, Hybrid ANC, Ambient Mode | Hybrid ANC, Ambient Mode |
| Super X-Fi | Hardware Built-in | Software SXFI-Ready |
| Multipoint Pairing | Yes | Yes |
| Codec | AAC, SBC | AAC, SBC |
| Headphones Playtime | 70 hours | 67 hours |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.3 | Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Price | S$149 | S$119 |
For $30 more, you get a Super X-Fi powered headphones with longer battery life and adaptive noise cancellation. I would say it’s definitely worth the upgrade.
From the Creative app, you can apply custom EQ, adjust ANC and Ambient Sound levels, do firmware updates. Note that the EQ applied on the SXFI app does not show here, so beware of double-apply of EQ.
All the control buttons are located on the right earcup. The power button works as play-pause and Bluetooth pairing, the volume buttons also change tracks when press-hold.
The ANC and SXFI buttons are located facing the front, accessible with your fingers instead of the thumb.
Your personalised Super X-Fi head map profile needs a separate SXFI app to generate. If you already have an existing head map, you can also upload the profile.
Audio Quality
Testing the headphones without SXFI mode, the sound profile of the Zen Hybrid SXFI is bass-heavy, midrange-forward, and slightly treble-recessed. You get good low presence but not sub-bass heavy, the vocals are warm, the upper instrumental air is not prominent. It generally offers a good comfort listen that is not fatiguing.
With SXFI mode on, the sound staging is expanded outside the ears with more instrumental separation, more spatial feel. The bass is now expanded with more impact, while the treble is still on the tame side. You should really play with the EQ to further finetune your listening expectations, and the Zen Hybrid SXFI has no problems pushing the frequency range.
There are slight audio deviations among the ANC modes, with the most pleasing on the “ANC On” mode as its upper midrange is less harsh. Listening with “Ambient Mode” makes the headphones sound like an open-back.
Verdict
It is a shame that the Creative SXFI technology has not gotten as much market attention as other spatial sound tech. I think the main reason is that listeners do not think they want headphones that sound like speakers. They want their headphones to sound intimately close and not three feet away.
But now with this spatial technology built into the headphones, it is easy to switch between the modes conveniently based on the content type and listening preferences. I find SXFI excellent for watching videos as it makes the audio more spatially natural, almost as if it’s coming from the real world. Best of all, it can be enabled for any audio content regardless of the source. The result is quite convincing as long as you do not attempt to switch A-B modes as it breaks the illusion. Spend some time fine-tuning the EQ curve to achieve the same sound that you expect from your speakers. And once you get the EQ right, wearing the SXFI-enabled headphones is like an AR headset for the ears.
