One of the highlights this year at CES was a private demo provided by Creative Labs. It was in a small room, maybe 14×14 and contained a simple setup, involving a TV matched with a soundbar and sub combo.
This was right after experiencing this year’s demonstration of where they have come with their Creative Super X-Fi amp, which now features Super X-Fi 2.0 (increased sound space with more virtual channels). Walking into this room, we didn’t know for sure what we were going to experience. We assumed it was going to be a soundbar with a basic virtual surround experience. How little did we know!
They introduced the new setup as the Creative Labs SXFI Carrier Dolby Atmos Soundbar (website) and began to share with us a demo that delivered a smile to our face similar to the smile we experienced last year when we first experienced the Super X-Fi amp.
The room lit up on all sides, with sound coming from everywhere, including above and from behind. It truly felt as though we were surrounded by speakers. Similar to experiencing their amp with the right headphones. Not a bad way to sweep the press off their feet.
You can feed it audio via HDMI (supporting up to HDMI 2.1 and eARC), USB Type-C, or Bluetooth (supporting up to BT 5.0). It also includes a 3.5mm output for headphones that is backed by the built-in Super X-Fi, allowing you to experience the virtual sound stage with virtually any pair of headphones.
Something like this would be perfect for living rooms of most sizes. Especially for those not looking to run speakers all over. A minimalist’s wet dream to be a little risque with my words. I think it is more than deserving of this, which is why we gave it the award of Best of CES for 2020. That makes two years in a row that Creative has taken home an award from us at CES.
There is no set price just yet, but they are shooting for less than $1,000, and a release date of around Q2 of 2020.
