Performance

Let's tackle the easy bit first. As we saw before, the Creative SXFI Air has RGB LED rings around the earcups, which can be configured to your choice of a static color in software. Above are three such colors in near darkness, as they are not bright enough for a difference in daylight but do provide accent lighting indoors should you wish. These also act as indicator lights (both static and blinking) for Bluetooth pairing, Super X-Fi status, a factory reset, and a couple of other things better described in the manual. Once on your head, however, they are not very relevant for wireless headphones on the go; maybe as an attention grabber before you really wow them with Super X-Fi.


Besides the many dedicated controls on the left earcup, there are gesture controls on board the SXFI Air courtesy of the touch pad. This is also on the left earcup, so we clearly know it hosts multiple processors for signal encoding, deciphering, and the Super X-Fi DSP. The touch-pad controls include volume and media playback, specific onboard storage media player controls, initiating voice assistant on your mobile platform of choice, and the very interesting option of call panning, which is hilarious in hindsight because I went in thinking it would be a gimmick. Panning it to left or right makes you think someone is actually there in the room with you, and as long as it does not freak you out, it can result in a potentially clearer sound. I left it in the center channel as I only make a few calls these days anyways.

Wireless functionality on the SXFI Air is excellent, with use of Bluetooth 4.2 LE for mobile devices that support it allowing for 7–8 hours of playback at full volume with Super X-Fi on and the LEDs off, and as far as 10 meters in an uninterrupted straight line from the source. Standby power draw is next to nothing. In fact, I had an extreme test of this wherein the headset was after some use packed up for shipment to another country, and it was over 9 months before I took it out again. The headset picked up where it left off and gave me another 4 hours of use before I charged it. Charging does take longer than I'd like, however. I would have liked to see some form of quick charging with the Type-C connectivity here. Expect to charge overnight for a full cycle. The smaller indicator lights will only give you a rough idea (red for <40%, orange for 40%–70%, and green for >70%), so there is also no way to tell whether it is fully charged unless you let it charge for a while.


Using the SXFI Air in USB mode with Windows provides more options than on mobile phones—here, with the headphone configuration. With Super X-Fi, you can designate the SXFI Air as a set of speakers with stereo/5.1/7.1 surround options (Super X-Fi Gen 2 supports 9.1 surround emulation now). Similarly, you can select a playback sampling rate of up to 24 bit/96 kHz, but be sure to turn off the spatial sound option and let Super X-Fi do it's job instead. Finally, the NanoBoom microphone can be configured to disable the "Listen to this device" option, which minimizes any sound leakage or echoing. macOS users have a more detailed setup, which can be found here for those interested. There is also console support with the usual suspects, although you may need a Bluetooth audio transmitter for such devices as the PS4 or Nintendo Switch with this "unofficial" Bluetooth headset.


I have written a lot about Creative's Super X-Fi headphone holography before, be it in its first retail iteration with the SXFI Amp or the latest Gen2 version that launched at CES 2020. The SXFI Air has the same DSP as in the amp before, and this ends up possibly being the best of both worlds should you want to buy a new set of headphones without breaking the bank. I mentioned before how Super X-Fi can be a hit or miss, but Gen2 has tilted things more in favor of hit. Additionally, the surround sound experience is best with headphones that are not high-end or tuned to specific sound signatures. Good quality music on extreme audiophile gear will generally be a better experience than on the SXFI Air, and it is with more challenging sources that the SXFI Air punches well above its weight.

Given the market and price point this is targeting, there is little to complain about Creative's decision to include it here. With Super X-Fi off, the SXFI Air is a capable Bluetooth headset with very decent audio, especially in the lows and mids, and an adequate microphone. Turn it on after having a personalized profile, and you suddenly experience a soundstage beyond what should be possible with the 50 mm neodymium drivers. At the risk of losing some clarity even with stereo devices, you will feel like you are in front of a live studio performance. True multi-channel audio comes off accurately in surround sound with these, and with my eyes closed, I found myself inadvertently moving my head around based on where the audio was coming from.