Closer Examination, Build Quality, and Comfort

The Creative SXFI Trio in-ear headphones are based on a classic in-ear design. They're exceptionally well made. The earpieces are attached to silicone-covered holders. The outer case is covered in metal, while the inner one is made out of glossy, black plastic that is very prone to collecting dust, fingerprints, and earwax, so you'll definitely have to clean these regularly if that is something that bothers you.


The in-ear headphones are quite compact, so they won't excessively protrude from of your ears.


If you bring the earpieces close to each other, the built-in magnets will make them snap together. Unfortunately, the magnets are fairly weak, so they fail to hold the earpieces together through more vigorous movements. The point where the cable connects to each earpiece is well protected—I can't imagine a scenario where it would fail and cause issues. The cable itself uses, to quote Creative, "a Kevlar-reinforced copper for exceptional tensile strength." It is wrapped in an aluminium and copper shield that makes it highly durable. The cable is then finished with a nylon braid for maximum flexibility, and it is capable of high-speed data transfers to drive the maximum potential of the SXFI Trio. It's basically the same cable I ran into while testing the Creative SXFI Gamer (reviewed here) and feels just as sturdy, but also suffers from the same drawback—it's quite noisy. Whenever you touch it with your hands or have it rub against your clothes, your ears will be "treated" to annoying rubbing noise. This shouldn't cause you problems when walking, driving on public transports, or at home, but the SXFI Trio is definitely not recommended for sports activities, nor is it intended for that. The cable is 1.2 meters long, which is why combining the SXFI Trio with mobile phones, the Nintendo Switch, and laptops makes more sense than connecting it to a desktop PC, where you're less likely to have a USB port close enough. Then again, you could always use a USB extension cable.


The sound tubes are angled and fairly wide. Wearing comfort isn't an issue at all, though, because of a rich selection of replacement ear tips.


Creative supplied five pairs of replacement silicone ear tips, along with the factory-preinstalled ones. They differ in size, spanning from 10 to 16 millimeters. Your goal is to try them all out before settling on those that fit you best. Make sure you have a great seal with as little sound leaking out or coming in as possible while maintaining great wearing comfort. If you feel any discomfort at all, switch to a smaller pair of ear tips. The 11-millimeter pair suited me best.


The Kevlar cables coming out of the left and right ear pieces meet at the SXFI Wire, an in-line DAC and headphone amplifier positioned some 35 centimeters below the headphones. The SXFI Wire is implemented as an in-line remote control and cannot be detached or used as a standalone unit. According to Creative, it's essentially a more compact version of their excellent SXFI Amp with identical technical specifications (including the Super X-Fi UltraDSP chip) and real-world performance—more on that in the sound-quality section of this review. The SXFI Wire is equipped with four buttons. The first one is used to toggle the Super X-Fi headphone holography technology on and off. The second and fourth buttons are used for volume adjustments, and between them sits a multipurpose button used for playing, pausing, and answering phone calls (single press), switching to the next song (double-click), returning to the previous one (triple-click), or activating the voice assistant (press and hold).


The headphone cable terminates in a USB-C plug. Creative supplies a USB-C to USB Type-A adapter, so you won't run into any problems connecting them to any device with a USB port.


Also supplied is a practical but entirely optional clothes clip, as well as a silicone carrying pouch.