X-Fi, Sound Blaster, ZEN MP3 players, Speakers, Headphones, Webcams, Vado Pocket Video Cams, inPerson Video Conferencing, ZiiO Tablets, Wireless Bluetooth Speakers
Here are the nominations for Best Music Gadget in The Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards:
iPod nano 4G Creative ZEN X-Fi SanDisk Sansa Fuze Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin iPod speakers Creative T3 speakers
The Pocket-lint awards are the longest running gadget awards in the UK (that we know of) with 12 categories in total, including the coveted Best Product of the Year 2008.
The awards, voted by a panel of leading gadget journalists, including the staff from the Pocket-lint team, will decide the real must-have gadgets of the year, rather than those simply deemed cool or anticipated, and be the definitive guide for consumers looking to buy gifts this Christmas.
Winners will be announced at an Awards evening in London on Thursday 6 November.
Fixes: -Ensures a smoother operation of your player's FM Radio. -Enables seamless playback for more types of videos.* -Ensures the correct playback pattern for the Shuffle playmode. -For players with wireless networking features, this firmware enables your player to effectively set up the IM chat gateways.
*This firmware provides a fix for users encountering issues during video file playback. However it does not increase the number of video playback format on the ZEN X-Fi. Although not stated, this firmware also improve the X-Fi enhancement on audio playback.
CNET's Jasmine France takes a look at the Creative ZEN X-Fi. She made a mistake at 1:05 where she said that the Premium EP-830 in-ear earphones are only bundled with the 16 and 32GB version. That is incorrect as all the versions - including the 8GB one - will have the EP-830 earphones.
The good: The Creative Zen X-Fi is an incredible value given its low price and laundry list of features, which include photo, video, Audible, and subscription music support; an FM radio and voice recorder; an SD card expansion slot; WiFi capability; multiple EQ settings; X-Fi sound enhancement technology; and upgraded EP-830 earphones. Sound quality is top-notch, the screen is lovely, and the rated battery life for audio is impressive.
The bad: The Creative Zen X-Fi plastic construction does not feel high-quality, and the SD card content does not get integrated into the general libraries. Videos often need to be transcoded through the included software, and the button pad can be confusing at first.
The bottom line: The Creative Zen X-Fi's plastic design leaves a little to be desired, but that doesn't detract from the fact that the player is an incredible value overall: for an extremely competitive price you get a boatload of features and great sound quality.
I'm sure many of you have seen the latest ZEN X-Fi advertisements but have you ever wondered what went into making them? I had the privilege of asking Wayne Khin, the composer of the two pieces of music some of these questions. Wayne -a sound designer and composer - was an ex-employee of Creative Technology who now owes his own company called Homestudio.
1. What was the campaign brief for the ZEN X-Fi?
Just like most X-Fi integrated products, beginning of the music has to be simple and at certain point in the video, the music has to be full, just to show the contrast (with and without X-Fi). And it has to be an original composition.
2. How long did you take to come up with the music?
I am normally given a week or two to get the first idea of music done.
3. What is the message that the music is trying to communicate to the audience?
Similar answer to your question 1. No ad agency involved, so things are much simple.
4. You mentioned that you composed the "Taiko" track for theater ad. So far, I have only seen the ad in Creative stores. Will we see it in cinemas soon?
That's what I was told.
5. What other works have you done for Creative?
A couple of them, including WebCam, the early ZEN series. You may find some of them at http://www.homestudio.com.sg/
6. Lastly, do you own a ZEN X-Fi? If so, what do you think of it?
I do not own one, however I always had one while working on the music for the product so that I could test out the music on the product itself.
It's really tough being a Creative fan. Some people think you are crazy, most don't understand your obsession but you still do what you do although it's a thankless job really. You faithfully buy their (almost) every product, you try to promote the products through word of mouth or if you're absolutely crazy, you set up a blog dedicated to everything Creative.
However, an encounter at the Creative Store at the International Business Park today left me disheartened. I know in many parts of the world, Creative do not have a physical store selling only Creative products. In these areas, Creative rely mainly on its online store or authorised retail partners to sell its products. Therefore, many Creative fans around the world, who do not have the opportunity to come to Singapore to have a look at an actual Creative store will be able to – from a few pictures posted on this blog.
There were no signages or notices noticeable in the store that says “photography is prohibited”. I kept in mind what Creative's CEO Mr Sim Wong Hoo once said about NUTS (No U-Turn Syndrome) where "when you want to do something and you seek approval of a higher authority. When there is no rule saying that you can do such a thing, then the standard answer is NO … When there is no rule, we cannot do anything. We become paralyzed.". Since there were no signs saying that I cannot take pictures, it simply means that I can do so until I'm told not to. No?
After taking a few shots of the products display, one Creative staff (who was walking round and round observing me) finally drummed up the courage to approach me to tell me that photography wasn't allowed in the store before asking me my intentions. I politely told him that the photos were for my blog, a Creative fan site. He smiled and nodded his head and left. He went back to the counter and were whispering something to his colleague while looking at our direction. I didn't really care much about it and went back to look for the webcam that I wanted to buy.
To tell you the truth, I could spend the whole day at the store, trying out every one of the products or simply just ogle at the packaging. But I really can't do it when the sales people are keeping such a close watch on us as if we are planning to shoplift their ... erm I can't think of any products that people would want to steal. Just as we were at the webcam booth trying out the various cam's resolution, the same person approached us again, trying to peek into what we had in our hands (2 webcams btw) and asked us if we needed help. I proceed to ask him why one of the webcam's video quality was so mediocre and he fiddled with it for a moment (which did nothing to improve the quality) and then went on to tell me that it's because that laptop is using Vista, so the quality is abit laggy and something about the video isn't supposed to be stretched till this big therefore causing the pixelation. From that short conversation, I now know that Creative's webcams are not competible with Windows Vista (which is not true btw) and lousy (which is subjective). Well done!
In the end, I decided to get the Live! Cam Notebook Pro so I proceed to the counter to pay for my purchase. Just as the guy was processing my payment, that guy who served us suddenly reappeared behind the chashier and whispered something to him and promptly floated away. I REALLY CANNOT STAND THE WHISPERING/BITCHING. Anything just say lah. The next moment, the chashier handed me a piece of paper and pen and ask me to write down my blog so that "he can answer to his PR people". (Actually, I didn't know cashiers liaise with the PR department you know? Now that you do, maybe you do have alot to answer for.)
Upon seeing the "nothingbutcreative.blogspot.com", he went: "Oh, you're the one with the unboxing of the ZEN X-Fi right?" I nodded and smiled, thinking someone actually knew my blog! Until he say: "Your blog quite popular but brought us alot of trouble. People think that the (ZEN) X-Fi is a gimmick and we had a very hard time explaining." [-_-] I presume he was referring to the "Is there really an X-Fi chip in the ZEN X-Fi?" part of my ZEN X-Fi review. Dude, consumers deserve to make an informed decision when buying a product. If the ZEN X-Fi really does contain an X-Fi chip then why don't you just say it. If yes, I will be more than happy to update that information on this blog, if not, I will stand by what I say.
I know this might not be a very big issue but good customer service is paramount to Creative, a company that pride itself to provide the best technical support. I feel that some sales staff of Creative just do not have pride for their job. They should really read what Mr Sim Wong Hoo has written in the article No U-Turn Syndrome (NUTS) from his book Chaotic Thoughts from the Old Millennium. Especially the NUTS #6 - More Creative NUTS section. It's a pity that I have to experience such bad service, if it was others, I'm sure they will not patronize that particular Creative Store again. However, I do have very good experience shopping at the other two Creative Stores especially the Marina Square brunch. The staff there are so much more friendly and knowledgeable. Is it due to the fact that these two brunches are not operated by Creative. Com'on Creative, as the flagship store at the headquarters, the level of service should have been nothing but world class.
Photos taken today:
UPDATE:
I messaged Creative about the ZEN X-Fi chip in the ZEN X-Fi and this is what they say:
Dear Kingone,
With regards to your enquiry, you might wish to know that the Zen Xfi contains the Xfi Technology within the player and not a physical Xfi chip.
Creative finally came up with a video converter for the ZEN X-Fi. Previously, all videos have to be converted with the Creative Centrale and you have got no control on the video output. The Creative ZEN X-Fi Video Converter is basically the Creative Video Converter that was bundled with Creative previous players like the ZEN Vision & ZEN V series. It allows you to choose the output quality (Good, Optimum, Best) of the video and an option to crop your video to fit the screen resolution.
The new firmware manages your player's audio enhancements to give you the optimum X-Fi listening experience. Apparently, the new firmware makes the X-Fi effect less dramatic.
**DO NOT INSTALL THIS FIRMWARE IF YOU LIKE YOUR CURRENT X-FI SETTINGS**
Qns: Can we surf the web with the ZEN X-Fi? Ans: No, there's no in-built browser on the ZEN X-Fi. Furthermore, it would be technically impossible to surf the web on the ZEN X-Fi looking at its navigating controls. Although a worker at the Creative store told me it might be possible soon with a firmware upgrade, I believe he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Qns: How much space does the ZEN X-Fi comes with? Ans: 30.637GB although mine is a 32GB version. Should I sue?
Qns: Is there really an X-Fi chip in the ZEN X-Fi? Ans: Creative has never claimed that there's an X-Fi chip in the player and I believe there isn't. As explained below, i think they used a software to emulate the effects of the X-Fi, which worked pretty well IMO.
Qns: Is the ZEN X-Fi louder than the ZEN? Ans: In my opinion, i think and feel it is :)
Qns: Does the ZEN X-Fi have SD integration? Ans: Do pigs fly?
Qns: Does the player turn off its speaker when you plug in your earphones? Ans: Yes. And it automatically turns on the speaker when you plug out the earphones. Best of all, it remembers the volume when you're using the earphones and when you're using your speaker. You can also set your shortcut button to ON/OFF speaker.
Qns: Is the back shell of the X-Fi actually made of metal, or is it just plastic with a shiny paint job? Ans: It is plastic with a shiny paint job.
Qns: I guess the ZEN X-Fi has the "Extras > Removable Disk" option.. like the Zen right? Ans: Nope. However, it does act as a MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) removable disk and also as an SD card reader.
Qns: Do you need to install software in order to put music/vids? or is just apears as an external hd? Ans: The ZEN X-Fi is a MTP device therefore it will appear as an external hard disk. You are able to transfer music, photos (although you cannot automatically re size them as you transfer) and video (it will accept all video, however, if the format is incompatible, it also cannot be played on the ZEN X-Fi). Thus, the installation of Creative Centrale is recommended.
Qns: Youve tried the Xmod, and so have I.. now youve tried the Zen X-Fi.. Is the Zen X-Fi as good as the Xmod ? Ans: No, the ZEN X-Fi, to me, don't sound as good as the Xmod. Mainly is because with the Xmod, you can control the degree of effect the Crystalizer have on your music while the X-Fi only has ON & MAX.
Qns: Just being sure, X-Fi expand.. same as CMSS 3D rite? Ans: If the X-Fi expand is the same as CMSS 3D, couldn't they just call it "CMSS 3D"? According to the website: X-Fi CMSS-3D"expands music from your headphones outwards, so that it sounds like you're surrounded by multiple virtual speakers." while the X-Fi Expand"intelligently moves a conventional left/right earphone stereo source away from your ears, virtually expanding it for an audio experience with a breathtakingly realistic depth of field."
Qns: I would like to know if the ZEN X-Fi wireless lan needs an open network or you can use keys, like the WEP ? Ans: You can use the wireless function of the ZEN X-Fi on both open and secured network (provided you have the WEP for it).
Qns: I have been using iPods and would like to get the player, but was thinking of adding a 16GB card into it, and was wondering how it would affect me if there were no SD card integration. Ans: The ZEN X-Fi has no SD Card integration. Which means the files on your SD card will not appear in your main library. To access the songs/photos/videos on your SD card, you have to access it in a separate menu. It's just really inconvinient. But do keep in mind that you are able to download the files onto your ZEN X-Fi. So if you want to use the ZEN X-Fi as a storage device for your photos while travelling, it's good enough.
Qns: Kingone, do you think you could compare the sound quality of the Zen X-Fi to another well known DAP? For e.g. the Rio Karma or the newer iPod Classic perhaps? That would be much appreciated! Ans: Sure. I do not have or know anyone who has a Rio Karma, so i shall compare it with the ipod. Without the X-Fi on, the sound of the ZEN X-Fi sound alittle louder and richer than the iPod. But with the X-Fi on, your bass is so much deeper and the vocals are much clearer. Ok, I might not be very professional sounding here, but all i can tell you is that, with the X-Fi on, the difference is much bigger.
Qns: Can you please explain how easy or difficult is to use the messenger via Wi-fi on the Zen X-Fi, I will really apreciate your answer thanks - Ans: It's rather difficult to really chat on the ZEN X-Fi, considering the small buttons and the lack of a T9 dictionary that we are already so familiar with. Nevertheless, it is a good to have function that porvides you a quick and easy way to communicate with your friends.
Qns: I wud want to know if the zen is able to read the SD card well enough. Unlike the previous zen. Also cud u tell me if the body is scratch resistant? - Peter
Ans: The SD function on the ZEN X-Fi is almost the same as the ZEN. The back of the palyer is rather scratch resistant. However, because the front of the player is made up of glossy hard plastic, you might want to protect it with a silicon skin or a 2.5" screen protector.
Qns: Would also like to know if the SD card is truly integrated this time. This is what drove me to return my creative zen … it was very annoying not to have it integrated. Additionally - can it read video files that are encoded at resolutions greater then 320×240? Having to recode video was also very annoying on the original zen. I suspect this is still the case on teh X-Fil but hoping it is not. Finally - I can it listen to streamed files over WiFi from any Upnp server or does it have to be creative’s server?? - David
Ans: No, the SD card is not integrated. No, you have to recode your video to 320x240 to make it playable on the ZEN X-Fi. Yes, you can stream files from any Upnp server.
Qns: Anybody know if it’s possible to plug the device to the TV using a cable or somehow ? - Evans
Ans: No, the ZEN X-Fi does not support Video Out, unlike the ZEN Vision series of players.
Qns: How did you get the input to work like a phone? I tried instant messaging with it and I had to navigate using using the arrow keys to the corresponding keypad. - Optimus Prime
Ans: In the chat screen, click on the option button. Once the drop down menu is out, choose text input > keyboard input.
Qns: I love creative Players! Im glad they incorporated WiFi into this one, but they could add a simple text browser or a text and image/html/css web browser and maybe youtube support. that would be awesome. - James
Ans: Haha, me hope so too. Let's hope Creative read this blog and see your request!
Qns: Does it get TV out from the headphone jack as old ipods and zune do? - Leo
Ans: Nope it doesn't.
Qns: I would want to know if you can replace the battery easily.. unlike creative zen M or ipod - Shashank
Ans: No, you can' replace the battery for the ZEN X-Fi.
Besides the X-Fi, the other selling point of the ZEN X-Fi is its Wireless Lan (Wi-Fi) function. The Wi-Fi function here has two main capabilites. One is to stream/download media content wirelessly from your PC or to your ZEN X-Fi. The other is to chat with your friends via MSN or Yahoo! Messenger. The player's WiFi operates on the widely used 802.11b and 802.11g protocols. And it works on both secured (encryption key needed) and unsercured network. Once you successfully connect to a particular network (e.g your home network), you can save it as a (up to 10) preferred network, so that you do not have to manually key in your username and password every single time you connect.
Secured Home Network - Connecting to your home wireless network is effortless. Once you enter the player's ONLINE menu and select MEDIA SERVER, it will automatically display all detected network. Choose the one that is yours and key in your username and password and you're ready to go.
Public Unsecured Network - If you're using the free wireless at cafes or shopping mall, repeat the above steps, the only difference is that this time, there might be many more network detected.
Streaming/Downloading Media Content to your ZEN X-Fi I must admit this is one of the coolest function with the ZEN X-Fi. Because with the X-Fi, you still have to explain to your friend what the hell is xtreme fidelity and how it restores the blah,blah,blah. But once you tell them your ZEN X-Fi is able to stream your porn from your PC to say the toilet, suddenly they will all look up to you with new foudn respect.
Ok, I digress. Once you sync your ZEN X-Fi to your PC using the Creative Centrale, you are able to view (no lag) and download music, photos and video to your player. However, it will not stream ALL your videos, below is the recommended video formats for wireless streaming:
Besides your own media files, you're also able to access the Creative Mediabox. Basically, the Mediabox is like a mini ZENcast.com where you can stream podcast from many different channels in categories like "Comedy", "Education", "Envirnonment" etc. You can access this anywhere with Wi-Fi connection. However, you can't download, rewind or fastforward the podcast.
Below is a video demo of the ZEN X-Fi's ability to stream/download music, photos and videos from your computer to your ZEN X-Fi:
MSN / Yahoo! Chat on the ZEN X-Fi
To chat on MSN or Yahoo! on the ZEN X-Fi, you have to firstly register for an ZEN X-Fi Chat Account with Creative. The account will act like a gateway for your MSN or Yahoo!, so instead of the chatting interface that we are already very familiar with when using these chat services on our PC, the ZEN X-Fi's chat interface is quite different.
You can't choose a display picture for your ZEN X-Fi chat (though you can see your friend's one). However, you can create your own avatar:
Chatting on MSN:
There are two types of text input on the ZEN X-Fi: the keyboard input and the circular keyboard. Personally I like the keyboard input more as it acts almost like your handphone. The circular keyboard is more difficult to use but some might like the uniqueness of it. However I would like to stress that chatting on the ZEN X-Fi really isn't that easy as the buttons are really small and it doesn't have the T9 dictionary that we are all so familiar with. And also, while chatting, you will not be able to play songs at the same time.
Below is a video demo of how the ZEN X-Fi chat works:
Creative Centrale
Another change with the ZEN X-Fi comes in the form of its software. Unlike previous players which comes with its respective software (ZEN V Plus would have its ZEN V Plus explorer etc), the Creative Centrale is set to be the default software for all past and future Creative players. It allows you to edit the tag information, add album art, rip CDs and organise your music. The best thing about Creative Centrale is that it allows you to rip unprotected DVDs.
Personally, I find ripping DVD a chore even with the iRiverter. Therefore, I wasn't having high hopes when I heard that Creative have included a DVD ripper with the Centrale. But after toying around abit with the ripper and ripping a couple of DVDs, I do find that it does a pretty decent job although there's still much room for improvement.
Once you insert your DVD into your computer, you will be prompted to "Rip DVD with Creative Centrale". I took 28 minutes to rip a 1 hour and 51 minutes DVD. All videos will be ripped into .mpg with the resolution of 720 x 480. One major problem with Creative is that its software is not compatible with its hardware and clearly, it hasn't learnt from its mistake. Videos taken on the Creative Vado (.avi format) is not compatible on both the ZEN and the ZEN X-Fi. Neither are videos ripped using the Centrale. Instead, after ripping your DVD to .mpg, you have to convert the file (which is usually above 4GB) to .wmv to be able to transfer to the ZEN X-Fi which takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r. What I did to overcome this problem is to use the Creative Video Convertor to convert the file to .wmv which took me about 2 hours. Also, you are unable to select the resolution of the video nor subtitles for the video. Hopefully, a software update will provide an improvement in this area.
SD Slot
There are many media players in the market that supports SD intergartion, sadly, not the ZEN X-Fi. This means that files on your SD card are not accessible in the ZEN X-Fi's main library. Instead to view the files on the SD card, you have to enter a separate menu. This has dissapoint many as many of the original ZEN users have feedback that they wanted SD integration. The SD feature on the ZEN X-Fi is almost similar to the ZEN, except that it allows the ZEN X-Fi to act as an SD card reader.
Accessories
The ZEN X-Fi is available in 8GB (no Wi-Fi), 16Gb & 32GB (Wi-Fi) versions. In terms of accessories, there's the armband, leather case, silicone skin, screen protector and the Travelsound ZEN X-Fi. For me, I chose the silicone skin and the ZEN screen protector for my ZEN X-Fi.
Last Words
The ZEN X-Fi is no doubt Creative's best sounding player to date. The X-Fi feature does dramatically enhance your music quality. It's form factor is very much like the ZEN. However, we're impressed at how they managed to squeeze in a speaker, Wi-Fi chip, X-Fi enhancer and yet deliver a longer battery life. The Wi-Fi function on the player isn't perfect but we guess it's a rather good to have. However, we do hope that Creative would improve on the chat function of the player (T9 dictionary maybe?) and also integrate the SD slot with the player's library. It isn't an impossible task as many of the other players in the market already has such a function. Maybe as we listen to Creative's Sound of Prefection on the ZEN X-Fi, Creative should Listen Up, to what it's consumer really wants from them.
Creative released a second ZEN X-Fi firmware in one week. The new firmware promises to improve the X-Fi audio performances on the player and provide full language support for all the different menu languages available on the player.
One of the major selling point of the ZEN X-Fi is but of course the X-Fi (Xtreme Fidelity) feature. Introduced in 2006, the X-Fi is Creative's proprietary audio platform that promises to make your music sound way better than it actually is. Having experienced the X-Fi technology on its soundcard and personally owning a Xmod, i'm impressed at what X-Fi can do to your music.
However, as explained earlier, Creative have had alot of problems placing the X-Fi chip into a portable media player as it is too power consuming. So, did Creative really manage to find a solution to that problem or does the ZEN X-Fi simply not have a X-Fi chip? In the official ZEN X-Fi commercial, it shows the X-Fi logo slowly falling onto a chip as the "world's first X-Fi engineered media player". On its official page, it's said that the ZEN X-Fi is "built with the X-Fi technology". No where did they claim to have an actual X-Fi chip placed in the player, which makes me believe that it has taken the same approach as the Soundblaster Xtreme Audio, where software is used to emulate the X-Fi effect.
Nevertheless, I'm very happy to say that the X-Fi feature does provide a rather dramatic improvement to your music! Someone asked if we are able to set the extent of the X-Fi effect on the player (like on the Xmod and soundcards), the answer is yes and no. Yes as you are able to set to "ON" and "MAX" while no because you cannot set the percentage of X-Fi you want to on your music.
Okay, I'm calling this section "take my words for it" because i don't really have a way to show you how the X-Fi is able to improve the ZEN's audio quality. With the X-Fi Crystalizer ON, your music immediately becomes more rich and crisp. And if you like music with bass, the crystalizer really increase the intensity of the bass, which would make you really happy. However, when the X-Fi Crystalizer is set to MAX, the bass for certain songs became to overpowering and the vocals also became very sharp. Therefore, to enjoy the most out of the X-Fi, setting it to ON mode is sufficient.
The improvement the X-Fi Expand provides on the other hand is less obvious. What it realy does is to spread out the audio to create a what was like a mini surround sound environment on the earphone. I used the X-Fi Expand purely for watching movie on the ZEN X-Fi as it's nice hearing people's voice projecting from both earphones instead of simply one side.
As with the ZEN, the ZEN X-Fi also comes with adjustable EQ (custom, acoustic, classical, disco, jazz, new age, pop, rock and vocal), Smart volume and bass boost.
Still on "take my word for it", the ZEN X-Fi does sound louder than the ZEN. Before I had the ZEN X-Fi, I used the ZEN with the EP-830 and usually, I listen to it at the volume of 17 (yes i know, i'm going deaf). However, while listening to the ZEN X-Fi at 17, I gradually reduced the volume to 14 because, I almost went deaf. Okay, that's abit exaggerating but you get the idea. Also, with the X-Fi effects on, the music did sound louder and sharper. So for those of you who always wanted a louder ZEN, I guess you've got what you wanted :)
Photo Viewing
The photo viewing function on the ZEN X-Fi very much the same as the ZEN. Photo format wise, it supports JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG & TIFF. It is interesting to note that the zooming function have been improved on the ZEN X-Fi.
Now you are able to zoom in or zoom out and select a particular portion of the photo and then navigate left and right of it.
Video playback
Creative claims that the ZEN X-Fi has wide format support so that we can enjoy "all your music, photos, videos in various formats without the hassle of reconversion". For video, the ZEN X-Fi supports MJPEG, WMV9, MPEG4-SP4, DivX4 4/5 and XviD4. And since that's the same as the ZEN, it means that we are going to spend most of our time converting our videos before we can start enjoying them. I do miss the days of the ZEN Vision: M and W. It truely accepts a wide range of format, so much so that I don't remember reconverting anything for it.
The new Creative Centrale is arguably one of the worst Creative software I have ever used. It does not allow me to create sub-folders in the video folder. And after I manage to create a sub-folder (say "Movie"), the Centrale does not allow me to transfer video to "Movie". Instead everything I transferred simply went into the video folder. And when it comes to conversion, you can't choose what quality you want your movie to be converted to, or whether you want to crop it. To overcome this problem, I had to use the Creative Video convertor to convert first and then drag it into Centrale. If there's a ZEN X-Fi Media Explorer (like the ZEN, ZEN Vision W, ZEN V Plus), it would have greatly improved my user experience. At the same time, I'm having trouble streaming my media content onto the ZEN, because yes you guessed it, it's controlled by the Creative Centrale.
[The final part of the ZEN X-Fi review will be up soon! :)]
Okay, I'm calling this section "take my words for it" because i don't really have a way to show you how the X-Fi is able to improve the ZEN's audio quality. With the X-Fi Crystalizer ON, your music immediately becomes more rich and crisp. And if you like music with bass, the crystalizer really increase the intensity of the bass, which would make you really happy. However, when the X-Fi Crystalizer is set to MAX, the bass for certain songs became to overpowering and the vocals also became very sharp. Therefore, to enjoy the most out of the X-Fi, setting it to ON mode is sufficient.
