Creative SXFI Amp Review (with E-MU Teak headphones)

Rating: 7.5.

Audio and headset manufacturers have long been trying to recreate surround sound through a pair of stereo headphones. In fact, there's a whole catalogue of different software standards all trying to give you that immersive experience – think Dolby Surround, DTS 7.1, THX Spatial Audio and so on. Creative has chosen to go another route, however, with its Super X-FI (SXFI) Amp – a hardware solution that is designed to offer the ‘listening experience of a high-end multi-speaker system' … but through your headphones. Is it any good?

After the KitGuru team got hands-on with the Creative SXFI Amp back at CES 2019, we have been testing the amp at our labs for the last couple of weeks and can today present our full review. As this is a review of the SXFI Amp and its ‘holographic audio' experience, we obviously need some headphones to use it with, and Creative also supplied the E-MU Teak closed-back headphones for our testing today.

Specifications:

Audio

• DAC: AKM AK4377
• SNR: Up to 120 dB
• SUPPORTED INPUT FORMAT: 2.0/5.1/7.1 channel, 24 bit/96 kHz
• THD + N: Up to -110 dB (0.0003%)
• IMD: < 0.0022%
• CROSSTALK: < -75 dB

Amplification

• GAIN: 3X
• MAX POWER (16 ohm): 425 mW
• MAX POWER (32 ohm): 370 mW
• MAX POWER (300 ohm): 51 mW
• MAX POWER (600 ohm): 26 mW

Connectivity

• PC / Macs: Windows 10 Creator's Update (ver. 1703), macOS 10.13 High Sierra, Linux
• CONSOLES: PS4, Nintendo Switch
• MOBILE: Android 7.0 and above only
• USB: Low-jitter Asynchronous USB UAC2, No drivers required

Physical

• PRODUCT TYPE: Wired
• CHASSIS: Aluminium Unibody
• FINISH: Matte-Black Fine-Textured Anodized
• DIMENSIONS: (In mm) 9.7 (D) x 17.5 (W) x 67 (H)
• WEIGHT: 15 g
• CONNECTOR: (Input) USB Type-C , (Output) 3.5 mm TRRS jack

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