Product Listing

Creative Sound Blaster Evo Zx Headphones - Every Feature You Could Ask For

By Hurrairah bin Sohail - 27 Aug 2013
Launch SRP: S$299

Final Thoughts

Features or Fluff?

When any product shows up with a long list of features, it is always a smart idea to exercise caution. Marketing spiel has a tendency of blowing every tiny element into the next revolutionary, game changing feature. That being said the feature-heavy Creative Evo Zx seems to deliver good functionality on the back of all of its features.

At its core, the headphones are of the wireless variety. NFC and Bluetooth go together like bread and butter, so Creative has added near field communications compatibility to the Evo Zx. While the idea is good, the implementation could have been better. Trying it out for ourselves, the process of bringing up our smartphone to the right ear-cup and waiting for a connection to be established felt clumsy and not intuitive at all. Of course, you could also do the pairing prior to wearing the headphones, so that's just a minor quirk.

On the other hand, the features made possible due to the SBX Studio Pro Technologies, CrystalVoice and the SB-Axx1 processor give a glowing account of themselves. The Sound Blaster Evo Control Panel is a simple, clean program which allows you to tweak the sound output according to your own preferences. Further to that, the same suite of features is available for control through your smart device. The ability to fiddle around with sound profiles on the go is a big plus point in our opinion. It also retains all the functions and settings seen on a desktop application.

The feature set of the Creative Evo Zx makes the headphones functional and adaptable to different usage scenarios.

Besides the major features, Creative's attention to detail should also be complimented. The beam array microphone removes the need for an intrusive boom microphone-arm which we loved. The cardioid mic was also exceptionally good at picking up our voice and CrystalVoice ensures good, clear transmission. On the whole, we find the features of the Evo Zx add to its allure.

Now if only the audio performance and comfort of the Creative Evo Zx matched the levels of its features, it would have been an excellent all-round lifestyle and gaming headphones. As detailed in our performance test sections, the headphone's audio profile was definitely bass heavy and while it worked for certain tracks such as Elements Of Life, for the most part of our listening tests the low frequencies dominated the rest of the mix. While the music performance was not stellar, the headphones make some ground up with good movie performance. Audio during our gaming trials was also reasonable in our opinion. This makes the Evo Zx a decent sounding pair of headphones, but not one that truly stands out from the crowd.

Creative Sound Blaster Evo Zx - Summary of Audio Performance
Test Type Score
Music MP3 Testing 7.0
Movie Testing 8.0
Video Game Testing 7.5
Overall Audio Performance  7.0

If you are quick at mental math, you will realize that the Overall Audio Performance score is not the average of the individual test scores. During our listening, we tweaked the settings and EQ levels for each individual track so as to get the best possible audio. Unfortunately, we were unable to find one particular profile of presets that would help the Creative Evo Zx tackle each track effectively. Seeing that regular users will not be fiddling with bass, mid or treble levels for after song to get the best out of the headphones, we've brought down its overall audio performance down a notch.

The Creative Evo Zx is priced at S$299. If your priorities when choosing a pair of headphones are the most impressive list of features with a trendy design, then this might be the product for you. The only feature it seems to have missed out is active noise cancellation, which can be found on the Evo ZxR model (S$399). But if your priority is set upon audio performance, then you might want to look elsewhere.

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
7.5
  • Design 7.5
  • Performance 7
  • Features 9
  • Value 7.5
The Good
Full Range of connectivity options
Impressive app for smart devices
Good microphone
The Bad
Bass heavy tone
Requires constant tweaking of audio settings
Uncomfortable fit for some people
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.