By Tim
I’ve been using iPod’s for the last few years, and although I must say the click wheel is far better than the traditional buttons used on the Zen its still quite easy to navigate through large libraries.
The best bit… the sound. With iPod’s it frustrated me that there was no custom EQ, and that the sound got quite poor and distorted when you added extra bass. The Zen sound quality is quite simply amazing… even with the supplied earphones (which are actually pretty good, a first! The iPod ones are crud!)
If you prefer thin, tinny sound with great navigation… get an iPod.
If you want something which gives you truely amazing music on the go, get a Zen… believe me you won’t be disappointed!
By Emalyse
I really did my research. I looked at several other MP3 players on the market, read reviews and really agonised over my choice.
The X-Fi was one of the first players I looked at and read reviews on. The reviews by and large were positive and it was becoming a clear choice for me initially, until it became obvious that the software provided with it was for Windows only. The player then was beginning to sound very Windows centric, which worried me, being a Mac and Linux user. I was put off.
I then dabbled with the notion of getting an iPod. Despite being a Mac fan, I have always had reservations about getting an iPod. I looked at Nano’s and the Classic as alternate options. The price tag, along with reviews about poor sound quality and the need for investment in better quality headphones was a turn off. Also (as far as the Nano was concerned) no way of expanding storage capacity.
I still felt myself drawn to the X-Fi. The final element that swayed it for me was being able to buy the 16GB version of the X-Fi for £106 – compared to it’s RRP of £140. It was the clincher.
I’m glad I jumped at it! I’ve had the player for a two weeks now, and it has been fab!
All the positives in previous reviews are correct. It’s easy to use, the sound quality and video playback are ace. Battery life is great. The expandable storage is fab. It doesn’t integrate as pointed out (the SD memory with the player), but I don’t find that a huge bugbear. It still ID3’s the tracks, so it’s still totally workable. You can’t pull tracks onto the player from the SD card, only photos, but it’s still no big gripe for me.
The biggest positive for me was this. Despite being provided with Windows software and having a program called “Creative Centrale” that only runs on a Windows machine, my Mac can see it. I use a program called XNJB which gives you an MTP user interface to upload/download MP3’s with relative ease. It’s not the MOST compatible way to do it, but if you, like me, are a Mac user and were reticent to buy Zen products due to incompatibility, rest assured.
My only gripes are the fact that it doesn’t come with a mains adapter for charging and the USB cable that comes supplied is WAY too short. The X-Fi feature is bogus. The player has such great sound quality that it’s rendered useless. Unless you have REALLY poor quality MP3 tracks (and frankly, why would you?), I doubt you’ll ever switch the X-Fi feature on. And for me being a Mac user, I couldn’t get the player to recognise AAC tracks. It does on an SD card, ID3 tags them and all, but NOT if I load them on the player itself.
All in all though, the player is fab. I’m glad I went with it. I’m overall very happy. I’d give it 4.5 stars out of 5, but Amazon don’t do half stars. I’d only take half a star off for the minor negs.
By Mr.K.I.Fairbrother
My Zen X-Fi was an impulse purchase. I have a Stone which I use for portability and a Vision which I use for video. Would the X-Fi be a compromise or an improvement on both those products? Here’s my opinion on a scale:
+4: Considering the capabilities of the Zen X-Fi, it is very light and portable. It’s the size of a credit card, though quite a bit thicker, and hardly weighs anything at all. I have pocket calculators which are heavier. Despite this it feels reasonably robust and has a nice finish to it. The only things I can fault with the build are the buttons (see below).
+3: In terms of clarity, the sound quality is superb, with a variety of EQ and X-Fi settings to choose from. I can clearly hear detail in mp3 files which just isn’t there with other players, even Creative ones. In that regard this is the best sounding mp3 player I have ever heard; though once again see below for another comment.
+2: The earbuds which come with it are very, very good. They beat anything from Sennheiser and Shure that I’ve tried below £50.
+1: The Zen X-Fi is very drag and drop friendly, meaning it is not necessary to use the clunky Creative software to manage it. The Zen shows up as a connected device and can be browsed as if it were a portable drive. The only time I’ve had to use the Creative Centrale is when trying to use the wi-fi feature.
0: It has some unusual bonus features which may or may not appeal. I’ve left this as a neutral comment as many of the features I think are superfluous. I’m not interested in sending instant messages over wi-fi or streaming music.
-1: The Creative Centrale software is a step backward from Mediasource, and is even worse than the old Playcenter software. It needs some work. For example, it won’t recognise ID tags when I rip CDs with another program, even when its `watch folders’ feature has found a new mp3 folder. Yet when I drag and drop those files to the Zen, the Zen has no problems with the tags. I’ve also not been able to get the wi-fi to work with Centrale, even though my PC is an access point and the Zen can connect to it. Luckily I didn’t buy it for this feature and also luckily it is not necessary to use Centrale for anything else, so I won’t be using it.
-2: Special mention has to go to the horrible navigation buttons. They really are a horrible style gimmick. They feel very cheap and plasticky, and are a pain to use in the dark, as they don’t light up: it’s like trying to read Braille.
-3: I was disappointed with the screen resolution. I knew it was lower than the Vision, but didn’t realise how this would adversely affect my viewing. It could really do with being a bit higher, so if you’re thinking of buying one of these to watch long movies, I’m afraid I can’t recommend it. I don’t have a problem with the size of the screen though.
-4: Although I mentioned the sound clarity above, which is superb, there is a balancing negative for me in that the sound is a bit weedy and lacking in bass. It just doesn’t have enough ooooommph for my liking, even with the supplied earbuds. My Zen Stone with the rock EQ setting enabled can put out more bass than this player. So I feel there’s a bit of a missed opportunity with the sound.
-5: Although it has native video support, it is very picky about the resolution. Anything above 320×240 has to be converted (apparently to wmv) using the Creative Video Converter. This process takes an eternity (about the time it would take to watch the video). Compared to the Zen Vision, this was a shocker, although I appreciate the X-Fi is a flash based player whereas the Vision has a drive. Nevertheless, it is not very convenient. The solution is to leave the PC running with a conversion, but you end up with a lot of extra files just for use with the X-Fi. I’ve not had many problems with the converted files however and again the results can be dragged and dropped.
Overall I’m a bit disappointed with this player and probably won’t be using it much, only when I need something portable with more memory than the Stone.
Buy It From Amazon Shop: Creative ZEN X-Fi 8GB MP3 and Video Player with SD Card Slot
Comments on this entry are closed.