The Zen Air SXFI are brilliant-sounding earbuds hampered only by the Creative app

ZDNET's key takeaways

• The Creative Zen Air SXFI earbuds are available now on Amazon for $80.
• With outstanding lows, smooth mids, and crisp highs, the Zen Airs sound far better than their price would suggest.
  
• If your phone is of the Google Pixel type, I'd avoid these (and any earbuds that depend on the Creative app).

Every time I review a pair of Creative headphones or earbuds, my first thought is, "Please, don't make me use the Creative app!" Over the past few months of reviewing Creative products, I've found the Android app to be, well, less than ideal. It's prone to crashing, doesn't always connect to devices, and can quickly become rather frustrating, which is sad because the Creative earbuds and headphones tend to be quite good.

Such is the case with the Zen Air SXFI earbuds, a brilliant-sounding pair of earbuds that struggle because of a poorly designed app.

Also: The best earbuds I've ever listened to are not by Bose or Sony (and they're on sale)

Now, from what I understand (based on a discussion I had with a gentleman who previously represented Creative), the problem with the app is centered around Pixel phones. Most other phones allegedly don't suffer from the same issues, although I attempted to connect the earbuds to another Android device and I had the same issue. So, I returned to my Pixel 8 Pro and decided to work with it. I was able to finally get the Creative app to open long enough to connect to the earbuds, so I could test out some customizations.

I'll speak to that more in a bit. In the meantime…

The specs

• 10 mm Neodymium drivers
• Pure latency mode for near-zero lag
  
• Active Noise Canceling to cancel up to 98% of ambient noise
  
• Ambient Mode
  
• Bluetooth 5.3 for multipoint connection
  
• AAC audio codec support
  
• 12 hours of listening time per charge and 39 hours with the charging case
  
• 6 mics for improved voice pickup
  
• IPX5 water resistance
  
• Customizable touch controls
  
• Weight - 1.79 oz
  

My experience

As I've clearly stated, working with the Creative app on Android is no picnic. It crashes, loses connectivity, and doesn't always find your devices. When you do manage to get it working, however, you can easily update the firmware on your earbuds and customize the sound.

Before doing any of that, I connected these earbuds to my Pixel 8 Pro and did my usual testing with Rush's "Signals" album. To my surprise, the sound was quite good. The only problem I had with the sound was the volume, which was too low for my taste. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the volume to a high enough level to really get immersed into the sound; which is sad, because the sound is brilliant.

Also: I gave these $79 headphones a second chance, and they surprised me in the best way

To further test this, I attempted to pair the earbuds to an Android tablet and my System76 Thelio desktop… both attempts failed miserably. On the System76 machine, the earbuds would appear in the listing, but when I'd go to pair them, the listing would immediately change to null and disappear. On one Android tablet, the earbuds simply refused to appear. I finally was able to connect them to yet another Android tablet and hear the full glory of the Zen Air SXFI. Wow, they are great. Unlike the Pixel 8 Pro, I could crank the tablet up and get some seriously big sound.

Also: I was skeptical of these $350 wireless earbuds - until they knocked my socks off

One of the first things I listened to via the Android tablet was the Primus/Puddles Pity Party cover of Dio's "Holy Diver." If you know Les Claypool, you understand that bass is absolutely crucial to enjoying his sound, and the Zen Air SXFI delivered. Without the slightest EQ tweak, it felt as if Claypool was standing right next to me, slapping at his beautiful Carl Thompson bass in the way that only he can.

Thankfully, the Zen Airs aren't just about bass. I was shocked at how good YouTube content sounds through these earbuds. This is yet another case of the sound punching way above its price point.  

Speaking of sound, when I was able to use the Creative App, I tweaked the EQ of the earbuds and was really surprised at how well the EQ performed on them. Sometimes earbud app EQ is marginal at best, but with the Creative Zen Airs, even the slightest shift makes a huge difference.

If only I could get enough volume through my Pixel 8 Pro, I could see myself grabbing these earbuds before any other. Although they may not equal the near-perfect sound of the Denon PerL Pro earbuds, the combination of beautiful, smooth sound and the comfort make these babies a real winner.

ZDNET's buying advice

It all boils down to the phone (or other device) you plan on using with the Zen Airs. If you have a Pixel phone, avoid these (and other Creative earbuds) like the plague. If, however, your device works with these earbuds, you'll love them. Hopefully, in future updates to the Creative app and the Zen Air firmware, Creative will solve the connectivity issues. Until then, these earbuds will be relegated to the one Android tablet that I could connect to.

Fortunately, you can purchase these on Amazon, so if you find they don't work with your device, you can always return them.

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