Inventive holds a legendary standing on this planet of audio and its Zen Air SXFI TWS earbuds are the primary TWS earbuds to help the model’s Tremendous X-Fi spatial audio tech natively. They achieve this whereas additionally delivering adaptive noise canceling, twin gadget pairing, wi-fi charging, and a mixed battery lifetime of 39 hours.
These options are wrapped in a compact type issue with a sub-$100 price ticket. Having used the Zen Air SXFI for every week we will affirm that they’re a worthy choose because of their wealthy characteristic set and nice sound copy. Whereas spatial audio was not our major focus, we did get pleasure from our time watching films and TV reveals on supported platforms like Netflix with Inventive’s SFXI encompass sound tech.
Design
Zen Air SXFI characteristic an all-plastic construct with a matte end. The buds are of the in-ear selection with interchangeable silicone ideas and brief steps. The highest halves home remapable contact sensors and every earbud is outfitted with a trio of microphones.
The earbuds and their case are available at 51 grams with every earbud contributing 5.4 grams. The in-ear match is nice although we needed to swap up the default ear tricks to the smaller dimension to get a correct seal. The size of the case are available at 64 x 43.85 x 29 mm which is a bit bigger than most rivals.
You may get the Inventive Zen Air SXFI in any colour so long as it’s gray. The matte end on the case and buds helps fend off fingerprints. There’s a shiny silver end on the within of the case which reminds us of the copper hue on the Inventive Aurvana Ace 2 we reviewed earlier this 12 months.
The case contains a 4 LED battery indicator and a pairing button on the entrance and a USB-C cable on the underside for charging. The excellent news is that additionally they help wi-fi charging and may work with any Qi-compatible pad.
The retail package deal contains the usual array of equipment with a brief USB-C cable, spare silicone ideas, and one thing that we don’t see that usually – a material pouch that matches the carrying case and protects it from scratches.
Options and companion app
Inventive Zen Air SXFI are outfitted with 10mm Neodymium drivers. They pair over Bluetooth 5.3 with help for multipoint pairing however are restricted to the legacy AAC and SBC codecs, so that you received’t be streaming high-bitrate audio right here. The buds additionally help Adaptive Lively Noise Cancellation with a devoted Ambient Mode and a four-stage guide management contained in the Inventive app. Every earbud homes triple microphones for optimum voice pickup.
The important thing promoting level is the SXFI spatial audio system which makes use of Inventive’s computational audio to create a encompass sound expertise tailor-made to your ear and head form. It’s important to obtain a further SXFI app in your telephone which prompts you to scan your face and ears.
After the SXFI setup, the earbuds ought to ship a extra immersive audio expertise with a wider sound stage and a multi-speaker-like expertise. Inventive has been creating this spatial audio tech for a number of years now and the Zen Air SXFI are the primary TWS earbuds to launch with hardware-ready SFXI.
The main breakthrough with hardware-based SXFI on this iteration of the Zen Air is that when you’ve achieved the preliminary head mapping it really works with any media on the gadget – native or streaming.
The Inventive app brings all the primary features you’d count on from a companion app. You get to toggle between the noise cancelation modes with ANC, Adaptive ANC, and Ambient Mode. The ANC and Ambient Modes characteristic four-level stage management so you possibly can fine-tune how a lot outdoors noise is canceled or let in.
The app additionally means that you can customise the contact controls with single, double, and lengthy faucets. The lengthy press is used for quantity management which is at all times a welcome addition to any TWS product.
Inventive additionally delivers a myriad of EQ presets with 17 media-based ones and a further 25(!) for gaming titles together with well-liked fan favorites just like the Name of Obligation collection, DOTA 2, and CS: GO. You may as well tweak your personal EQ profile with the slider.
Rounding out the options part are the low latency mode and IPX5 score which is only for the buds and never the case.
The one characteristic we had been lacking right here was a put on detection sensor which pauses media while you take away the buds out of your ears and resumes it while you re-insert them.
Efficiency and Sound high quality
By default, Inventive Zen Air SXFI presents a notable bass presence and clear mids. We loved the instrument separation which is superior to most earbuds within the sub-$100 class. The general sound profile is pleasant and presents sufficient element so far as Bluetooth audio streaming goes. Remember the fact that you might be restricted to the AAC and SBC codecs right here.
As for the SXFI efficiency, we’d steer clear from utilizing it whereas listening to music. It tends to shift sounds to the entrance of your face, for lack of higher terminology, and ends in much less detailed sound with muffled mids, weak bass, and a flat-sounding sound stage. That’s additionally the case when watching movies and flicks the place the SXFI didn’t contribute to a extra participating expertise. The dearth of head monitoring is one other missed alternative.
As anticipated, the default equalizer leans on the bass aspect however you might have greater than sufficient built-in EQ presets to select from. Classical stood out as the best choice in our expertise however you might be additionally free to customise your personal EQ profile.
Noise cancelation is best than many of the price range earbuds we’ve examined just lately and delivers a noticeable discount in surrounding noises with out distorting your audio an excessive amount of. The nice in-ear match absolutely contributed to the strong ANC efficiency.
The six built-in microphones (three on every earbud) ship good name high quality in quieter environments however battle to choose up your voice in louder areas. We didn’t expertise any connectivity issues throughout our evaluate interval. The contact controls labored flawlessly and registered all of our faucets with none points.
Battery life
Inventive claims you possibly can stand up to 39 hours of whole listening time from the buds and their case with the buds alone lasting as much as 12 hours (with ANC off). In our utilization, we bought 7.5 hours of utilization from the buds with ANC on and quantity set to 50%. The case presents 5 full recharges and you’ll high up wirelessly on any Qi charger which is a pleasant bonus.
Verdict
Inventive Zen Air SXFI’s major focus is spatial audio however we didn’t really feel a major profit when listening to music or watching films within the SXFI mode. The sound stage felt flat and the absence of head monitoring delivered a lower than preferrred spatial audio expertise.
It was within the regular SXFI-less mode that the buds delivered a vigorous sound stage albeit with a extra bass-heavy signature. The customized EQ choices helped fine-tune the sound output which mixed with the buds ergonomic design and potent ANC delivered an pleasurable listening expertise.
Battery life is nice and once we issue within the $80/€80 retail value (at the moment discounted) and all the onboard options, Inventive Zen Air SXFI will get our approval.
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