[REVIEW] These Headphones Scan Your Head For Better Sound. Legit Or Just A Gimmick?
It maps your head and ear shape to give you the most optimum audio experience.
By Hafiz Zainuddin — 30 Aug 2022, 11:06 AM
"I misplaced my phone. Boleh tolong call-kan tak?"
At one time or another, we've all uttered the sentence above in an attempt to hurriedly look for the phone that we've misplaced. We would ask a sibling or a friend to ring us up, so we can follow the direction of our ringtone according to its sound.
This is because our ears have been trained to recognise sound from various directions.
With the Creative Zen Hybrid headphones powered by Super X-Fi technology, you'll be able to listen to sound like it's coming from different directions, all packed into a singular headphone.
Here's my review!
First off, let's look at what the Creative Zen Hybrid has in store for us as a wireless over-ear headphone option
Out of the box, the Creative Zen Hybrid comes with the headphones, a 3.5 mm AUX cable, a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, and a soft pouch for travel.
As for its features, the headphones pack:
- Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling (ANC)
- A single microphone
- 37 hours of battery life with active noise cancelling (ANC) off, 27 hours of battery life with ANC on
- Charging time of 1.5 hours for a full charge
- Quick charge of five minutes for five hours
- Bluetooth version 5.0
Once you put on these headphones, you'll realise this is not just your typical listening experience
The most significant thing to note about the Creative Zen Hybrid headphones has got to be the Super X-Fi technology.
This unique innovation mimics the listening experience of a multi-speaker studio by utilising computational audio. Computational audio works by merging complex algorithms and computationally extensive techniques to tailor custom fit audio for each individual.
Here's how it works:
The Super X-Fi app takes a picture of your face, right ear, and left ear to determine how your physical traits perceive sound.
By mapping the listener's head and ear shape, Super X-Fi technology expands and recreates your listening experience so you can feel like the sounds are coming from outside of your headphones.
Through my initial testing of the app, I realised that the virtual surround sound option is not just a gimmick
After testing out the headphones myself, I can say that the audio, when paired up with Super X-Fi technology, feels both immersive and detailed.
I was watching a nature documentary just the other day, and was able to fully-appreciate every sound, be it a leaf falling from a tree, a stream passing stones, or every raindrop hitting the ground.
There's a button that you can click on the Super X-Fi app itself to compare sounds with and without Super X-Fi enabled, and you'll really hear the differences.
However, it should be important to note that the Super X-Fi technology is not compatible with streaming services
What this means is, the Super X-Fi only works on music files downloaded into your phone.
However, you can opt for the Super X-Fi amp, which is essentially a dongle with a built-in Super X-Fi Chip. This device allows your headphones to embed Super X-Fi sound on all content, which includes streaming applications, movies, and games.
In terms of comfort and build quality, Creative gets the job done
The Creative Hybrid Zen headphones are designed with a reinforced steel inner core as the backbone of the headphones, plush ear cushions, a padded memory foam headband, and 90° swivel earcups.
A good quality-of-life feature is that they're made to be compact and light, making it easy for travel with the soft pouch that comes in the box. The headphones are also foldable in three ways which are flat fold, half fold, and compact fold.
The headphones are appropriately sized, feeling snug and not forceful when worn. You can even extend the headphone according to your own preference.
Hybrid active noise cancelling (ANC) makes the Creative Zen headphones a worthy contender to other noise cancelling headphones
Hybrid active noise cancelling means that these headphones instill a combination of feedforward and feedback ANC.
A feedforward ANC system has microphones installed outside out of the headphones, while feedback ANC has microphones placed inside the headphones. As such, in hybrid ANC smartphones such as this one, microphones are present both inside and outside of the earcups.
So, a bonus point to having ANC installed both internally and externally means the headphones are able to pickup and cancel out a broader spectrum of noise frequencies.
Personally, I found that in low to medium noise environments such as small bedrooms and pantries, the noise cancellation worked exceptionally well
Even my mother's screams were no match for the anime lofis I was listening to with ANC on ;P
That being said, when I wore it on a train ride to work, which is a generally busy and loud environment with noises coming in from everywhere, there were a few that cut through the noise cancellation — which is fine, because the ANC still worked reasonably well, in my opinion.
With over 37 hours of battery life with ANC off, and 27 hours with ANC on, you won't be rushing to charge your headphones anytime soon
You can enjoy your music, games, and Netflix shows with little to no interruptions.
My personal experience of using the device for online gaming, work calls, and watching videos showed that even after extensive use of the product for a full week, it still had juice in it.
Even if you run out of battery, Creative claims that you'll be able to have up to five hours of battery life from just a five-minute quick charge.
Unlike the Creative Outlier Pro earbuds that we reviewed earlier, the Creative Zen Hybrid is not compatible with the Creative app
What this means is, there's no way to adjust the equaliser, crank up the bass, or alter the ANC and ambient noises in any way.
Despite some minor drawbacks, the Creative Zen Hybrid earphones definitely pack a premium package for a midrange price, showcasing excellent battery life, a flexible build, and a fresh listening experience with Creative's signature Super X-Fi technology
You can snag a pair of these headphones with free shipping through Creative's official website!
The Creative Zen Hybrid comes in two colours:
White: RM442.43
Black: RM710.57
