Creative SXFI Amp review: stunning sound that will change your headphone experience
Device’s Super X-fi technology configures itself based on photos of the user’s ears and the headphones they are using, delivering the effects of multi-speaker sound that is like being in a cinema
More than 20 years in the making, the company best known for its Sound Blaster sound cards has released the Creative SXFI Amp, a portable audio amplifier that promises to reproduce the listening experience of a professional studio from your earphones or headphones.
We find out how this claim stacks up.
Hardware
The SXFI Amp comes in an anodised chassis cut from a solid block of aluminium. The circuitry is slotted into the hollow, with a USB-C port on one end and 3.5mm stereo jack on the other. The hardware itself sports just four buttons: two for volume, one to toggle between pause and playback, and one to disable or enable Creative’s sound processing, which the company calls “Super X-Fi”.
To use, you plug the SXFI Amp into your Android device using the included short USB-C cable and connect your wired headphones to it. You can also use the SXFI Amp with consoles such as the PS4 and Nintendo Switch, or even a PC or Mac with the appropriate USB cable that supports USB OTG mode. People with iPhones are not left out as the device, once configured, will work with the handset using the Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter, though this isn’t a supported configuration.
