INTRODUCTION

   Even though I’m not really old i happen to be old school so if you've been following my reviews then you should be well aware that I’m not that much into wireless PC peripherals. Sure, several significant technological leaps have in large part closed the gap between wired and wireless peripherals but i always feel more "confident" when using the former rather than the latter. Still i can't really deny that some manufacturers have released several impressive wireless gaming peripherals with no equal wired counterparts. Thanks to their highly acclaimed proprietary Super X-Fi technology Creative has been one of the most popular PC manufacturers for the past year or so and since many of you asked today with us, we have one of their 2nd generation models, the SXFI Theater Super X-Fi Low-Latency Wireless Headphones (GH0380B).

   Creative is a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products. Famous for its Sound Blaster® sound cards and for driving the multimedia revolution - which established a user base of 400 million - Creative drives digital entertainment with cutting-edge audio solutions that include premium wireless speakers, wireless headphones, powerful audiophile-grade digital amplifiers and next-generation home-theatre systems. Aiming at the new mobile networked generation by bridging the worlds of the computer, smartphones, and tablets, Creative continues to reinvent the Sound Blaster, with its ground-breaking Sound Blaster Roar series and USB-audio class of products such as the Sound Blaster X7.

   What makes the Super X-Fi headsets by Creative stand out compared to the competition is their ability to "fool" our ears into believing that the sound comes from an external multi-channel professional speaker system. This is actually a two-step procedure with the first requiring the end user to map his/her head and ear shape via a smartphone app. According to Creative this scan extracts and provides hundreds of anthropometric parameters to an artificial intelligence (AI) engine which via complex algorithms and computationally intensive techniques synthesizes a multidimensional map of the desired room acoustics. That's not all however the SXFI Theater model has up its sleeve since it also packs two 50mm neodymium dynamic drivers (frequency response of 20Hz-20KHz with 32Ohm impedance and 114dB sensitivity), low-latency 2.4GHz wireless technology (with a range of up to 10m/33ft in open space), 3.5mm wired connectivity (Super X-Fi enhancements can't be used with this), detachable uni-directional microphone (100Hz-8KHz frequency response with 2.2KOhm impedance and sensitivity of -42dB), fully customizable RGB LED ring and a 1300mAh (3.7V) rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack which can provide up to 30 hours of playback time (LED ring off). This is actually my very first contact with Creative's Super X-Fi technology so let's move forward with today's review.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

A 360 degrees picture of a country side is placed at the front of the box right over a product picture and next to the Super X-Fi logos.

Two pictures located on the right side are used to showcase system compatibility.

Another product picture can be seen on the left side of the box along with the product specifications and the contents of the bundle.

Several pictures are located at the rear of the box and are used to showcase the main features.

As good as the real thing, that's the first thing you'll see when you open the box (and we do hope it's true).

The box contains the SXFI Theater Headphones, detachable microphone, SXFI TX wireless transmitter, USB extension cable, 2 meter long USB type-C cable, 1.5 meter long 3.5mm cable, user manual, warranty information paper and a quick start guide.

THE SXFI THEATER

The SXFI Theater is made out of hard plastic, aluminum and protein leather and weighs just 339g (346g with the detachable microphone).

As you can easily tell from the above picture the SXFI Theater is a medium-sized model.

On the exterior of both earcups Creative has printed the model name and has placed the Super X-Fi logo right over them.

 Everything is located around the left earcup so here we see the on/off power button (battery level and manual pairing can also be performed via the power button), microphone port, activity LED, USB-C port, 3.5mm port, microphone mute button, volume controller roller and the Super X-Fi on/off button (can also be used to turn the RGB LED rings off).

Large left and right markings are printed on the interior of the large protein leather earcups.

The entire headband is covered with protein leather and is quite soft.

As with most headsets the company name is engraved on the exterior of the headband.

You can extend the headband of the SXFI Theater up to 43mm on each side (86mm total) via 12 increments (11 visible ones).

The detachable microphone is flexible and comes with a windscreen on it.

Creative bundles a wireless transmitter with the SXFI Theater that has a connect button on the right side.

SXFI APP

In order to fully utilize the Super X-Fi feature of the SXFI Theater you will need to map your head and ears by using the SXFI App (available for both Android and iOS devices).

For unknown reasons even both my Android phones feature versions 9 and 10 i had trouble transferring my map to the headset so for this review i used my iPhone 6 Plus.

After you finish your map (i suggest having someone do it for you for the best results) you will need to transfer it onto the headset as seen above.

I was somewhat surprised however to see that the SXFI Theater is not on the list of supported headsets by the SXFI App.

You can also use the app to listen to music and there are also 5 available equalizer presets (you can always make your own one however).

SXFI CONTROL

You can download the SXFI Control software from the official Creative support page and as you can see the first thing to do is to sign in with the same credentials you used for the SXFI App.

After that you are good to go and can use your personal audio map.

The software also gives you the same equalizer as the SXFI App but also allows you to change the color of the RGB LED rings (unfortunately there are no effects available - a rainbow effect would be nice), configure the speaker output (number) and check for both software and firmware updates.

Here you can see some of the colors you can use with the RGB LED rings.

CONCLUSION

   As some of you are certainly aware, I’ve been using Creative products since the mid 90's when they were leading the market with their ground-breaking AWE sound cards. Because of that i always grab any chance i get to test their products and even though i was somewhat sceptical at first about their Super X-Fi holography technology i finally see why people from all of the world only have the best to say about it. I can't say that i was blown away with their performance while listening to some FLAC tracks but watching Blu-ray movies (especially ones with ATMOS support) is an entirely different experience thanks to the deep and quite realistic surround sound offered by the Super X-Fi technology. Mids and highs are also fantastic and as for bass levels i find them more than sufficient, at least for movies (for bass heavy audio tracks perhaps not so much). Granted the SXFI Theater are far from perfect since the Super X-Fi technology is PC only (not even compatible with consoles) and they do lack Bluetooth support thus can't be used with most TV's (i was hoping that wouldn't be the case however). Also, the performance of the uni-directional microphone leaves much to be desired but do keep in mind that the SXFI Theater is not primarily a gaming headset (and we've seen worse microphones with gaming headsets many times in the past). As for battery life even with the RGB LED rings turned on (i seriously hope Creative adds effects with future firmware updates) the headset easily surpasses 22 hours of continuous use which is great but if you don't care about RGB lighting you can easily hit 27 hours if you turn them off.

      Creative currently has a storewide sale which you can use to grab the SXFI Theater Super X-Fi Low-Latency Wireless Headphones for just USD139.99 from their USA website and for just 159.99Euros from their European website. I have to admit that at USD199/199Euros the SXFI Theater weren’t exactly made for the “masses” but now their price/performance ratio has skyrocketed so if you’re looking to join the Super X-Fi Holography craze you should grab this chance. At the end of the day the SXFI Theater may not be perfect but they are priced well and offer what could be the best virtual surround sound available for movies and even games and that’s why they deserve our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Super X-Fi Technology (Realistic Surround Sound)
- Accurate Mids & Highs
- 2.4GHz Low Latency Wireless Connectivity
- Comfortable (Large Protein Earpads)
- Wired & Wireless Connectivity
- Up To 30 Hours Of Battery Life
- Detachable Microphone (Easier To Replace)
- RGB Illumination
- Price (Current Sale)

CONS

- No Bluetooth (Limited Compatibility)
- Super X-Fi Enhancements PC Only
- Microphone Quality