Creative SXFI Carrier soundbar review: A complete, compact home theatre experience

Note: This review was first published on 10 May 2021 and is republished again now as Creative has reduced the price of the soundbar to just S$999, making it an even better consideration than when it was new.

Bringing home a theatre experience without the hassle

When I moved into a new flat last year, one of the most important projects I had in mind was an up-to-date entertainment centre where I could enjoy movies, music, and games from the comfort of home, especially with a pandemic raging outside.

But like all apartment dwellers, I soon ran into the very real problem of space. Or the lack thereof.

Fitting a nice 4K OLED TV along with all the necessary gaming consoles and entertainment boxes was no big deal. But what about an audio system? Try as I might, there is just no way I could include a traditional 7.1-channel set-up without sacrificing a whole load of space. Not to mention the wiring required and buying the right amp.

A high-calibre soundbar seemed like the best solution to simplify setup needs while not losing out on audio quality. So when Creative reached out with a pre-launch unit of their new SXFI Carrier for review, it sounded like the perfect unit.

Announced more than a year ago at CES 2020, the SXFI Carrier checked all the boxes on paper: Dolby Atmos audio, 7.1 drivers, a 10-inch wireless subwoofer, built-in support for its proprietary Super X-Fi technology, relatively compact form factor, and a price point that promises not to break the bank (in relation to their US$6,000 Sonic Carrier). After much waiting, the SXFI Carrier finally debuted locally last month (April 2021).

On top of it all, the SXFI Carrier brings a lot of “firsts” to the table: it’s the first soundbar in the world to be developed and fine-tuned in collaboration with Dolby, and so it’s also the world’s first Dolby Atmos Speaker System (DAAS) soundbar. Naturally, it’s also the first soundbar in the world to have Super X-Fi (SXFI) built-in (although that’s only over headphones, which we’ll cover in more detail later).

Primarily, Creative wanted to bring their elaborate and super expensive Sonic Carrier to the mainstream where everyone can enjoy its sound traits in a smaller form factor. Creative thinks it has managed to capture that essence with the new SXFI Carrier that’s more accessible and less imposing. After using it for months on end as a daily driver, we’re ready to give our verdict. Should you open your wallet up for the SXFI Carrier? Read on to find out, but better yet, if you would like to experience what my editor found, here's a video version of the review with our detailed account:-

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Design and looks

There’s only so much you can do with the design of a soundbar. Think of a black bar that produces sound, and you’ve probably covered most of the designs on the market. 

So, it’s the little things that make all the difference.

In the case of the SXFI Carrier, Creative has done an excellent job differentiating itself from the competition, striking a balance between sleek and stylish and a little bit of geek flair. In some ways, it actually looks more like a more sophisticated and powerful Sound BlasterX Katana (without its RGB lighting of course) than the statement-making Sonic Carrier. Even so, Creative has managed to make the SXFI Carrier look unique among the hundreds of other black bar solutions.

On the top of the soundbar, you’ll find a smooth, matte, soft plastic finish forming the centre, with a bunch of buttons for turning it on, controlling the volume, and switching between listening modes.

The soft plastic gives way to a glossy panel as it flows down to the front of the soundbar. Here, you’ll see a simple LCD segment display that conveys basic information, a 3.5mm headphone-out, and a little speaker grille for one of its seven drivers.

I was surprised at how basic the LCD display was. It does have a bit of a retro vibe, which some people might like, but it’s so primitive that it could have come straight out of the 1990s. An actual LED display that offers richer information would have been better here but the current display suffices for the given functionality and options provided.

Both ends of the soundbar are wrapped entirely in grilles, housing more drivers. The sides stick out at an angle, giving it a more edgy look compared to a traditional boxy design.

Creative says this angling helps it arrive at the perfect Dolby Atmos acoustics signature, and tells us we shouldn’t place anything on either side of the soundbar to achieve the best results. While that might be difficult given all the various gadgets and gizmos crowding our TV console these days, it’s worth noting nonetheless to help you get the best out of the SXFI Carrier. In short, while this is a compact soundbar for its capabilities, given the various speakers all around, it’s best to give it the breathing room to help it perform.

Around the back, you’ll find a range of ports, including dual HDMI 2.1 inputs, one HDMI-out (eARC) port, optical-in, aux-in, USB-C audio input, and of course, a sub-out for the accompanying subwoofer (more on that later). All this means the soundbar works great with even the latest TV standards like 8K TVs with HDR and high refresh rates, along with multi-channel uncompressed HD audio streams that you’ll find in some of the latest shows delivered via Netflix or Disney+ from your TV. If you own 4K Blu-ray discs and a suitable player, you’re covered too. Optical and USB Type-C connectors come in handy to pipe high-res audio from your game console(s).

The ports are however quite well recessed at the rear of the soundbar, so they are not readily accessible until you tilt the 3.6kg soundbar up to get clear access. This is not a task you would often want to perform, though it’s manageable when the soundbar is placed in front the of TV. If you choose to wall-mount it, accessibility is a chore, but that is a common issue for most soundbars given their form factor.

You’ll also find a SXFI-enabled USB audio output, which you can use to hook in Creative’s SXFI Theater headphones via a special SXFI USB dongle. This enables the soundbar to transmit an ultra-low-latency, high-performance wireless audio to the SXFI Theater headset, so you can enjoy late-night movies and games without disturbing anyone else in your household. In fact, it’s arguable that the experience is even more immersive and enjoyable with the headphones, rounding out the SXFI Carrier’s complete proposition as an all-in-one soundbar.

Despite the impressive build quality of the soundbar, Creative seem to have skimped on its remote control. It feels cheap and plasticky, and doesn’t seem to be very responsive. There is a noticeable lag every time I input a command, which is an annoying tick that shouldn’t exist in the year 2021 – especially for a home audio product that costs north of four digits.

The lag makes it a chore to perform many basic functions you’d expect to do easily. Perhaps the most annoying one is the frustration of having to switch between playback modes on the soundbar, such as “Movie” or “Music”, as you better adapt the sound experience to match the content played back.

To do so, you must cycle through the options to arrive at the one you want. However, if you happen to get impatient and hit the button one too many times (remember, because the input lags)… you’ll have to cycle through the options all over again. Other functions like switching inputs, Bluetooth on/off and toggling between speakers or headphones also face a similar experience.

If you choose to use your TV’s remote to control the soundbar, you might find some respite, but you can’t stay off not using Creative’s own remote for all functions unless you have a universal programmable remote (though the leader in this space has stopped producing them). Thankfully, the soundbar's companion app can double up to replace the remote for a better control experience.

While we are on the subject of lag, do note that you would also experience a minute audio delay as you switch sources or pause/play content. The video would have started ahead of the audio by a second or two, and this is yet another annoyance we had to come to terms with. These may seem like nitty-gritty matters, but they can be enough to annoy some people. Creative explained to us that the delay is intentional in advanced hardware such as the SXFI Carrier handling many audio formats/decoders and it helps prevent unexpected audio spikes that could occur while switching between scenes or sources and thus hurt the audio hardware and/or cause discomfort for the users. Perhaps a future firmware might tighten the delay period perceived? Time will tell. But don’t let these bits detract you from what it’s really good at; read on.

The setup process

Although it’s billed as a compact soundbar (relatively speaking), you’ll still need a certain amount of space around your TV to place the SXFI Carrier comfortably.

The first thing you’ll notice is the size of the box that the speakers come in. You’ll need a fair bit of room to open it up and lay everything out before piecing the components together into their final ensemble.

Once that’s done, you’ll still need to find a suitable spot for it in your existing living room set-up.  

If you have a small-ish TV console or cabinet, and a TV with a large base, you might not have the space for the SXFI Carrier. It measures 128mm from front to back (its depth), so you’ll need to make enough space in front of your TV. At 76mm high, the soundbar is a little taller than average, so a bit of headroom under your TV will also be necessary to ensure you don’t block subtitles shown or the IR remote blaster location on your TV.

Optimally, your TV should be mounted on the wall, so there’s plenty of space under it for the soundbar to shine. If your TV is using tabletop stands, ensuring the necessary clearance shared above would help you use the soundbar effortlessly with your TV (though it is a tough ask going by modern TV stand designs).

All that said, it’s good to remember that the SXFI Carrier is still among the most compact soundbars you can buy, and definitely, the smallest in its class (just 880mm in width) if you throw in the Dolby Atmos certification, Super X-Fi capability, and other goodies.

The SXFI Carrier is accompanied by a wireless subwoofer, which, unlike the soundbar, is humongous.

Measuring in at 45cm tall and 43cm deep, it’s quite a size to behold. You’ll also need a space that’s at least 23cm wide in order to accommodate the subwoofer comfortably.

If your TV cabinet mainly consists of built-in carpentry, you might struggle to find a place for the subwoofer since you can’t just move furniture around to accommodate it. Not to mention its near 13kg weight.

Even if you manage to find a good spot for the subwoofer, don’t forget that it needs to be near a power socket, or it’ll just be a black box sitting pretty. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll still find it to be an eyesore taking up too much space. Notice how I attempt to blend it in with some décor around it.

The bottom line is that the SXFI Carrier is not something you should buy on a whim, then realize you don’t have space for. Definitely put some thought into whether you can fit it into your existing set-up before opening your wallet.

On the upside, the subwoofer connects to the soundbar wirelessly so you can really place it anywhere in the living room that has a power socket within reach. There’s no need to go through the headache of running a cable from it to the soundbar.

This creates a lot more possibilities for the placement of the subwoofer. You can place it right beside your sofa to feel the deep vibrations more closely, or by the side of the TV console without too much rearrangement.  

A “low-tech” option for connecting the subwoofer to the soundbar directly via a double-headed 3.5mm jack is also available, should you have a room configuration that somehow interferes with their wireless signal.

Once the hardware is set up, it’s a decent looking kit that adds to the sophistication of your living room set-up. It has a bold but calm look to it that makes its presence felt, but it’s not as imposing or ‘loud’ as the Sonic Carrier.

With the hardware stowed neatly, all you’ll need is a single HDMI cable between it and the TV to get it going. But to make the best of it, it’s time to fire up the software to optimize the SXFI Carrier’s usability.

The companion Creative app

The soundbar comes with a companion app that greatly simplifies its set-up, and allows for several customization controls, including firmware updating needs

Firstly, and most importantly, you have to define the physical dimensions of the room where the SXFI Carrier is placed. This helps the soundbar work out its magic calculations and present the best sound for your room size. It helps to have a measuring tape handy at this point. The SXFI Carrier relies on maths to get its sound right, so the more accurate a number you can give, the better your experience will be. There’s no limit to how big a room you can specify in the app, but if you go beyond 1.8m, the app will warn you that it might be too far away for the soundbar to handle.

You might wonder why a mic-based setup to sense the room’s audio feedback for self-calibration isn’t made available. To that, Creative clarified that it is ultimately about getting the time alignment right to help ‘calibrate’ the right audio output for a given room size. As such, the mobile app and its distance-based measurements are sufficient to get the SXFI Carrier ready.

The power of the subwoofer can also be adjusted through the app, so you can either pump it up for house parties or tone it down when watching sitcoms.

The app also lets you cycle through several sound pre-sets like “Music” or “Movies”, which are pretty standard fare.

If you have a pair of the Creative SXFI Theater headphones, you can also set it up by plugging in the dongle into the specified USB port at the back of the soundbar.

Once that’s in, you only need to hit the “HP” button on the remote — which we assume stands for “headphones” — and the soundbar will automatically pipe whatever’s playing into the cans, wirelessly.

To switch back to speaker mode, just hit the “speaker” button.

If you don’t have the SXFI Theater, Creative has kindly provided a 3.5mm audio jack right in front of the soundbar. Any headphones plugged in through this port will also be able to enjoy Super X-Fi audio, though a good pair of cans helps improve your headphone holography experience. Just make sure you have a really long 3.5mm jack cable on hand if you want to lean back on your sofa while doing so.

Overall, the majority of the set-up is easy and fuss-free. Once you get through the process, everything mostly just works.

Now, it’s time to sit back and listen in.

The hardware under the hood

The SXFI Carrier is powered by seven drivers and one subwoofer, combining into a 5.1.2-channel system with five speakers, one subwoofer, and two speakers dedicated to overhead (or also known as height) channels.

Here’s the specific speaker configuration under the hood:

• Two 3.50-inch midbass drivers – for center channel midbass and Dolby Atmos height channel
• Two 2-inch by 4-inch racetrack drivers – for surround channels and L/R channel midbass
• Three three-quarter-inch dome-design tweeter – for L, C, R channel Hi frequency
• One large 10-inch subwoofer driver – for low distortion, low frequency extension handling and is more efficient than using smaller, higher-powered drivers

With all of this tech packed into a straight bar placed directly in front of you, it’s easy to assume that the sound will come out flat and one-dimensional, which is the norm for most low-cost commercial soundbars.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the SXFI Carrier pumping out full-bodied and immersive sound that does indeed fill my whole living room with consistent action.

Even when I stand next to the soundbar and lean in close (but not too close), most of the time I still can’t quite tell where specifically from the soundbar or subwoofer each frequency is coming from, which is a testament to its sophisticated sound signature.

If you’re coming to a soundbar from a TV for the first time, the upgrade will be immediately obvious. In fact, if you are stuck with one of the low-cost ‘free’ soundbars that you got from your TV purchase, chances are the Creative SXFI Carrier would also come across as a definite upgrade in soundbar audio capabilities with its 450W RMS of sound power.

TV shows, movies, music and games sound like they are coming from a lot more directions compared to the flat sound from my TV speakers.

What about when compared with the best TV speakers in the market, the Acoustic Surface Audio powered Sony OLED TVs? To answer that, my editor also gave the SXFI Carrier a closer listen and it was clear that the SXFi Carrier is miles ahead of any TV audio subsystem. We figured it might be tough for the soundbar to outdo Sony’s vocal delivery, which might be true If we pegged it against low-cost soundbar options, but the SXFI Carrier is extraordinarily strong at delivering clear and loud vocal performance in shows and movies. You’ll never miss a dialogue with this black bar at home.

Vocals aside, the SXFI Carrier was able to expand the sound sphere appreciably over the TV and it’s likely due to the powerful speakers it packs in the carefully designed chassis that enhances its presence. No matter how many speakers a TV might pack (such as Samsung’s latest QN900A Neo QLED TV that packs a 6.2.2-channel audio system), they can’t quite pack the same punch as a dedicated and capable sound system with purposely designed speaker and amplification hardware.

Of course, it’s nowhere near as immersive as a proper home theatre set-up, but as far as soundbars go, I was blown away.

Surround audio experience

Furthermore, I discovered that there are several small little spaces where the surround sound performance appears to be perfectly optimised. It is like a sweet spot where the sound is nearly 360-degree.

This was best exhibited in none other than Dolby’s very own Amaze trailer clip that is the poster boy for Doby Atmos surround sound capability. Using Dolby’s Blu-ray test disc with their test tracks to sample the most optimized performance you can get from your sound system, what we experienced was just awesome. Accurate object positioned audio that’s unreal as you hear the patter of raindrops all around you, thunder rumbling across, insects chirping in such clarity, and the mix of instruments that convey the entire audio range that comes up at the tail end of the clip all add to the SXFI Carrier’s testament to really deliver a great Dolby Atmos performance. This test clip alone is probably convincing enough to help you part with S$1,499 to splurge on this soundbar.

However, it is also the only clip that we have been wowed to this degree and that too without much height audio presence that we were hoping to hear. The reality is that actual movie and show performance would hardly match the surround audio capability seen on the Dolby test clip, even if you are listening to uncompressed Dolby TrueHD sound or Atmos labelled content.

Does that mean the SXFI Carrier is unworthy of its Dolby certification? On the contrary, what it means is that you would need exceptional source content such as the highly tuned Dolby test clip to really move you, and it is no fault of the soundbar. Physics also dictates the possibilities and there is no getting around the fact that you will need a true surround audio setup to have accurate positional audio all the time. Considering all this, what we've experienced with the official Dolby trailer clip is quite amazing. What you consistently get from the SXFI Carrier are powerful performance and expansive audio, but most of the ‘surround sound’ performance typically takes place in an undefined bubble in front of you, which is not to be unexpected from soundbars without discrete physical surround speakers.

That said, it isn’t a complete myth, and we did manage to sample some titbits of surround audio in real-world usage, even if they aren't Dolby Atmos encoded content. For example, I first heard it when watching Bones on Disney+. I could discern conversation coming from my 3 to 4 o-clock as if they were talking right next to me, and the background noise of the forensics lab blanketed the room. It was as if I was physically in the lab with Agent Booth and Dr Brennan.

Another spot revealed itself when I was lounging on the sofa and playing Luigi’s Mansion 3 on the big screen. The eerie atmosphere of the eponymous haunted mansion materialized in my living room, and I could hear Luigi’s timid wails as if he was right beside me.

Unfortunately, these spots are very narrow and elusive, and I usually fail to find them. And the last thing I want to do at the end of a long workday is hunt for them before getting down to the real business of playing video games or binging brainless TV shows.

It’s easier to just enjoy the SXFI Carrier’s standard immersive sound without the extra work. And that in itself is plenty impressive.

Testing shows and movies over video streaming services

We put the soundbar through its paces with a variety of music, movies, and TVs, and most of the time, it delivers on its promise. To simulate real-world usage, we relied a lot on streaming services like Disney+, Netflix and Spotify. As such, your mileage may vary slightly due to factors like source quality and bandwidth conditions. However, this also means we are testing the soundbar exactly as you would be using it in your home, so these should yield the most relevant verdicts. We’ll also cover expectations using high quality and controlled sources such as playback from Blu-ray discs later in the article.

In an action movie like 6 Underground (which has Dolby Atmos audio encoded), the dialogue came across as clear, loud, and strong, almost as if I was sitting in a cinema. The voices were well-balanced against sound effects like explosions and gunfights, which I could feel from the pit of my stomach as Ryan Reynolds raced around Florence.

Another example is watching Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation over Netflix where I noticed “Movie mode” helped deliver impressive dialogue that was strong and forthcoming in a cinema-ish soundscape. While sound effects felt a little restrained that lacked the punch or resolution expected (this is an older title with no Atmos audio), the overall audio sphere for the movie was pleasant.

Science fiction and fantasy fare that tend to have more unusual sound effects also performed well, both young and old. Lightsaber fights in the original Star Wars trilogy hummed and buzzed across the screen, and the atmospheric music of The Expanse on Prime Video blanketed my living room to great effect. Also probably helps that both of these sci-fi titles have Dolby Atmos support via their respective streaming services.

However, every so often the soundbar will slip up and display its limitations.

Certain dialogue, for example, will sometimes dip and sound muted for just a second or two before reverting back to normal. A manual firmware update that was supposed to fix this problem didn’t manage to completely eliminate it.

Every once in a while, the surround sound magic slips and you become acutely aware of the sound blasting in your face from just one direction – the front of your TV.

The hit musical Hamilton on Disney+ could not reproduce the effect of actually being in a Broadway theatre. The soundstage was just not wide or tall enough. I know, I know, that’s a very demanding request especially for a mere soundbar even if it had a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, but it’s worth noting all the same to set expectations.

And there’s absolutely no excuse for a movie musical to sound bad, which is exactly what The Greatest Showman managed to do. The entire movie was lacklustre in the audio department despite its spectacular visuals. Soundstage was muddled and flat, and Hugh Jackman went from great showman to utter disappointment. Could it be because this doesn't have a Dolby Atmos audio track? It could be one of the factors, but it could also be the limitation of soundbars in general.

Disney’s Aladdin live-action remake yielded a similar shallow performance and narrow soundstage, despite having Dolby Atmos audio, so it’s definitely not just a one-off fluke.

I tried cycling through the various modes offered by the SXFI Carrier, but they only changed up the EQ without improving things.

“Movie” mode, for example, pumped up the lows, while “Music” mode highlighted the mids. There’s even a “Superwide” mode that cranks up the dimensional audio effect. You have to really pump up the volume to hear a difference in Superwide. It’s fun for a while, but my ears strangely got a bit uncomfortable after extended listening, so I defaulted back to “Movie”.

To be fair, it’s tricky to nail down the performance of a soundbar like this, because there are too many factors at play. The quality of the source is just one aspect. You also have to consider the way my living room is set up and how the placement of items like furniture and decor might affect the sound.

After all, things shift around in my living room all the time – like the coffee table off to one side when I fire up Ring Fit Adventure on the Switch and need more space, or a snack trolley in the middle for when I’m feeling munchy. It’s far less predictable than, say, a showroom or a movie theatre.

Performance over headphones and experiencing SXFI

Things became far more predictable when you plug in a pair of the SXFI Theater headphones, which is sold separately.

Once I complete all the prerequisite tasks of the SXFI experience – such as mapping your ears to the app – I could enjoy everything the SXFI Carrier could offer without having to disturb anyone else. Check out our experience of the headphones to learn more about it. If you have a capable wired headset, you can also opt to use that end enjoy SXFI headphone holography performance just as well, which we also tried using a HyperX Cloud Revolver S gaming headset.

Using the headset compared to the speakers is naturally a different experience, but it’s no less entertaining.

SXFI turns whatever I’m watching or listening to an expansive soundscape that sounds like it’s coming from multi-speaker set-ups. In some cases, I actually preferred the headset to the speakers because of its computational audio prowess.

This is especially true in gaming. Playing Star Wars: Fallen Order was just that much more immersive with the headphones. I could hear footsteps from behind me and wild animals grunting off to the sides more accurately than what the soundbar could produce. Watching Mandalorian over Disney+ was also a real treat that transformed my TV show watching experience and catapulting me into a cinema-like audio experience with a far wider sound field. 

Creative’s Super X-Fi audio is truly an understated weapon that can perform miracles when used with a decent pair of cans (and the experience only gets better with better audio hardware) coupled with the right listening materials. For example, Super X-Fi tends to deliver movies and shows with the right perceived outcome most of the time over gaming and music fare which might vary greatly from person-to-person's playlist and nature of the source. Nevertheless, we polled our audience for their inputs on when Super X-Fi works best for them and you can have a look at what they thought about it.

Testing high-quality movie materials over Blu-ray

Taking off the headset, we decided to push the SXFI Carrier further by playing higher quality test materials from test discs and Blu-ray movies using a 4K Blu-ray player connected to the soundbar to decode the audio directly.

Interestingly, while cycling through a variety of our reference materials, we noticed that the SXFI Carrier was able to accurately classify Atmos-encoded audio as “Dolby Atmos” through its LED segment display when you summon it via the “info” button, but for all other Dolby audio formats, be it Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus or Dolby TrueHD, the soundbar just indicates it as “Dolby Surround”. We learned from Creative that this was programmed according to Dolby's guidelines, but quite frankly, we much rather know what audio format is exactly being decoded. Whether there are any implications to how it is processing the audio or if it is just programmed to display such, we’re unable to quantify it accurately.

What we do know is that it aces processing Dolby Atmos encoded content notably over other formats by a good margin. Using 4K Blu-ray movies such as Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, all of them were endowed with a Dolby Atmos audio track and coupled with the soundbar’s “Superwide” audio mode, we found the shows to deliver an enjoyable all-round performance. Of course, as shared much earlier in the article, you can’t expect much in the way of surround audio and height audio is as good as non-existent. However, you can trust the SXFI Carrier delivers commendable performance where it counts such as preserving the movie experience, environmental audio effects that are reasonably accurate (when it's supposed to take place in front of you), good soundtrack and of course the all-important dialogue.

While “Superwide” was actually designed to enhance and expand stereo or standard PCM digital audio to sound more expansive, I actually found it more suitable for these movies than engaging “Movie” mode that overpowered the dialogue and left me wanting to hear more from what’s happening in the scene. “Neutral” will probably work just as well for most users, but you can think of “Superwide” as an enhanced “Neutral+” mode that felt just right for me.

One of the most challenging and appropriate demo checks for a Dolby Atmos encoded movie is Transformers: Age of Extinction’s final battle scene in Hong Kong where Lockdown activates a powerful magnet on the Knight Ship to decimate everything in its path, pulling and thrashing everything a magnet can impose its will upon. This makes it an excellent test for positional object-based audio with active height audio elements playing a huge role in sealing it as the best Atmos test scene to-date. The SXFI Carrier managed to recreate some height effects somewhat in front of me, but none above or behind me and it was not very pronounced either. Suffice to say it’s a very difficult scene to recreate sonically as the director envisioned it without actual multi-channel and ceiling mounted speaker setup.

Dialling a step back, what about Dolby TrueHD performance, which is still a lossless multi-channel audio codec, though not object-oriented like Atmos? This was unfortunately a hit or miss affair. First off, we tried Dolby Blu-ray test discs coined the “The Sound of HD3” and “The Sound of High Definition 7.1” with a handful of Dolby TrueHD movie test clips. Surprisingly many of them like Star Trek, Sahara, and Batman Begins, sounded quite lacklustre, even having trouble balancing the dynamic scene taking place in the tunnel chase scene with the Batmobile. That said, all is not lost. The Dark Knight demo clip from the same disc performed quite satisfactorily, managing the effects, environmental elements and the soundtrack as you would expect it to.

Next, I popped in the Superman Returns disc which supports a Dolby TrueHD track and engaged “Superwide” mode – again for the same reason that “Movie” mode resulted in overpowering dialogue. The best scene is of course when Superman saves the helpless jet, which is a great test to check on audio tracking, audio spaciousness, how the soundtrack is balanced properly against the environmental elements along with the countless audio effects taking place center stage as Superman punches above his weight, right up to the end when the audience in the stadium giving him a standing ovation.

Overall, the SXFI Carrier managed reasonably well and manages to shine every now and then; we really can’t ask for more out of it other than a more consistent performance across different content/genre. Well, almost.

Hang on, what about DTS-encoded content?

That's the catch. Since this soundbar isn't just qualified by Dolby, but designed in collaboration with them, there's no DTS encoder available on the SXFI Carrier. This shouldn't devastate most people as the bulk of the video streaming services seem to only offer Dolby-related multi-channel audio support, either via Dolby Digital Plus or Dolby Atmos. However, if you have a lot of Blu-ray material, chances are you might be a bit disappointed as there are several good titles that are encoded only with DTS-HD Master or DTS:X.

What happens when you play such titles through the SXFI Carrier? Most if not all Blu-ray titles will have a fallback PCM digital audio track, and this is what the soundbar will use for playback. I gave it a shot with titles like Battleship and Oblivion and the resulting output was very middling. The shows were clearly lacking the expansiveness, dynamism and punch we experienced in other shows tested earlier with Dolby Atmos audio tracks.

So if you have a lot of Blu-ray materials, perhaps the SXFI Carrier won't be your cup of tea for all occasions.

Audio performance: Music over Bluetooth

Thanks to its Bluetooth connectivity, the SXFI Carrier also serves as a very capable music player. I just connect my iPhone to it directly wirelessly, and music and podcasts flow through without the need for any additional equipment.

For music playback, I found the “neutral” mode to be the most enjoyable, as it doesn’t attempt to artificially “fix” my songs.

Music came through as detailed and balanced, with clear vocals playing nice with both the lows and the highs.

Jamie Cullum’s voice was bright and clear in his cover of Uptown Funk, without being overpowered by the bassline and melding smoothly into his piano solo.

Similarly great detail could be heard in Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Snow. Soundstage was not fantastic, but definitely above average, providing a vague sense of where each instrument was playing from.  

This average soundstage performance is most evident in orchestral pieces. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos sounded rather one-dimensional and stuck in the middle, completely failing to “wow”.

Bassheads will have absolutely no issues with the SXFI Carrier, especially with its customizable power. EDM tracks pumped so hard that I started to worry if my neighbours will come over to complain. Therein lies its forte as it handles pop and EDM tracks effortlessly, and I found nary a problem streaming from the phone several meters away from the soundbar. One might think amplifying streaming audio might not make for a great audio experience, but we are no longer living in the age of MP3 files. Thanks to my paid Spotify subscription, high-quality audio tracks made it seem like I was playing it off an audio disc or better.

For those who prefer to notch things up, don’t forget to switch over to “Music” mode where the SXFI Carrier’s intelligent equalizer is said to monitor and restore spectral balance to music played back. It doesn’t raise the audio levels or enhance any verbal lyrics, but the built-in DSP is able to make sense of all the audio elements and improves the ‘presence’ and ‘energy’ level of the track. Of course, if you don’t agree with it, there’s always the ‘Neutral’ mode.

One of the most powerful fuss-free upgrades for your TV audio

Ultimately, it bears reminding that the SXFI Carrier is still a soundbar and no true replacement for a full home theatre system.  This fact is painfully obvious in certain instances where the device fell short of expectations.

But perhaps those expectations were too high to begin with. The SXFI Carrier punches well above its weight for a device of its size, and pairs that with unique Super X-Fi features that take the experience up a notch.

And Creative managed to deliver all of that without an overly expensive price tag. Remember how much the Sonic Carrier retails for? The SXFI Carrier is basically a reworked version of that S$8,000 soundbar that is going for just S$1,499.

That’s not to say you should absolutely rush out to buy one now, at least not before considering that the competition has to offer.

For one, a few hundred bucks more investment can get you a more complete set-up that includes rear wireless speakers, such as the LG SP11RA or the Samsung HW-Q950A soundbars.

These will likely produce audio that’s closer to a true home theatre set-up because dedicated physical speakers are present to steer positional audio better and tackle multi-channel audio accurately. Not only that, these contenders offer several additional niceties to boot.

The Samsung unit, for example, features Q-Symphony, which enables the soundbar to work in sync with that built into your Samsung TV, ostensibly producing even more immersive sound. It also has NFC for one-touch pairing, and supports Apple AirPlay directly.

LG, on the other hand, talks up its soundbar’s compatibility with LG televisions’ AI processors to produce clearer and more consistent sound and is keen to highlight its partnership with British audio brand Meridian, who brought their high-performance audio solutions over to the Korean soundbar.

And if you like your soundbars with a little smart in them, you’ll find these offerings, as well as other brands like Bose and Sonos with Google Assistant built-in. Let’s not forget many of these contenders are also Wi-Fi capable products, meaning they can hook up to other speaker offerings within the brand’s ecosystem to control multi-room audio needs, hand off the audio to different speakers within the home and, more importantly, use your home Wi-Fi to stream audio rather than use your phone’s fixed range Bluetooth range.

As such, while I think Creative does have a winner on its hands, it doesn’t quite check all the boxes of what you might expect of a modern soundbar today. Fortunately, the Creative SXFI Carrier is priced less than the mentioned competitors. If you desire the extra creature comfort features offered by other brands or prefer one that can manage true multi-channel audio with wireless rear speakers, the Creative SXFI unit is difficult to recommend because it won't fulfil those criteria.

Ultimately, the SXFI Carrier is a soundbar that focuses on audio delivery and works great in most circumstances, fares well on content/audio genres that most people will listen to (i.e., not ideal for musicals, symphonies, classical and other non-mainstream genres), a fantastic upgrade over your TV’s built-in speakers, and is suitable for consumers looking forward to a good performer at a decent price point that isn’t overly large or lengthy.

Last but not least, don’t forget that this is an SXFI-enabled product, so you’re in for an overdrive experience on your wired headphones (or wirelessly through the optional Creative SXFI Theater headphones), something that no other soundbar can offer. Is it S$1,499 worthy? Perhaps if it was bundled with the SXFI Theater headphones to complete the full experience out of the box, but otherwise, it is definitely a strong contender to any soundbar solution at its price point once you set your expectations on what you want out of your soundbar sound system.

For those who are excited to jump onto the SXFI soundbar bandwagon, you can purchase one right now through the Creative Store (at their Jurong office and audition it at the same time) or click away to place your order online.

With its current going price at S$999, the Creative SXFI Carrier is now much more appealing than when we first reviewed it, making it very difficult to recommend anything else at this price point.

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