Home > Consumer Reviews > Creative Labs Zen X-Fi 2 16 GB MP3 and Video Player with Touchscreen and Built-In Speaker (Black and Silver)

I've owned many MP3 players incl. Creative's Muvo, Zev V, and Zen. What drew me to the X-Fi2 was the larger screen, the video out, the RSS, plus the touch interface and speaker somewhat.


Display: Very pretty, 400 X 240. Good quality video and images look sharp and bright.

Audio Quality: I did A/B comparisons between the Zen and the X-Fi2, and the X-Fi2 wins. The top end is smoother, and the bass is tighter and deeper, and the overall sound is more open. They're similar in max volume, but the X-Fi2 sounds better.

X-Fi: I don't use it.

Creative Centrale: Install it, then forget it.

Audio Storage: Album art is a problem. The art has to be "embedded" in the ID3 tag for it to appear, it's possible Windows Media Player automatically does this. This can also be done with an app like "Mp3tag". Which meant going back and doing that to all 350 albums I had on the old Zen. Note that I don't use any services like Rhapsody, or files with DRM, so for me playback itself was fine.

Viewing Photos: Some jpgs don't show up except as "?" marks. Not sure why.

Videos: Nightmare. With the avi or wmv that worked fine on the Zen, the audio would break up or the vids wouldn't be recognized. Creative Central was unreliable and slow, and coverts vids to wmv.

I tried about 6 other converters, and either audio or video was messed up, or just not recognized (XVid, Divx, or wmv). Finally tested Handbrake, and the X-Fi2 was happy playing those XVid files, with very specific settings, about 90% of the time. And when it works, it looks great.

Video Out: Works surprisingly well, but no one will think it's a DVD.

RSS: Run a sync program from the X-Fi2 when it's connected to your PC. Kind of a pain, but it works.

Battery: Seems like the charging time and life are on par with the Zen.

Interface: Not easy. A quick light touch mostly doesn't work. Pressing down a larger area takes longer to process, so sometimes the fingernail trick is best. And sometimes it just takes a long to to respond in general. It also misinterprets gestures frequently. But with practice, it's usable.

The volume control is not immediately accessible (3 steps) on most levels, and not at all from the main menu. So trying to quickly turn it down on a sunny day (hard to see the display) is almost impossible.

Trying to do things one-handed is difficult (e.g. walking to the train, X-Fi2 in one hand, coffee in other).

Summary: It feels that the X-Fi2 was launched before development was complete. The touch interface is quirky, the video support is very finicky, and the menu design needs refinement. I'm hoping further firmware updates improve things. ITMT, the average user will NOT be happy.

First of all, I own the Zen Vision: W,the Zen Vision: M ,the Zen Media "Flash" Player 32gb , the Zen X-Fi 32gb player
and NOW the Zen X-Fi 2 32gb player. So I'm am quite familiar with way these players sound,operate, etc.
With the advent of the X-Fi technology there's Nothing out there that can beat this sound. (I own the Zune HD 32gb player too, slick but not as good sound wise).
This latest player takes a little getting use to as far as the touch screen is concerned. It is NOT as sensitive as the Zune HD, But with a little practice it works just fine. Using your finger/thumb nail as a stylus works great! Using the flat end of a finger,not so much (it'll frustrate you).
Like I said, having prior experience with the previous iterations of this player will help immensely.
It beats the hell out the tiny buttons (controls) of the X-Fi.
There is a short learning curve with this device. (as with most device's, including the Zune HD)Well worth the effort as there are many options to tweak to your particular taste. And it's expandable with it's memory card, A BIG plus as you can plug in play any media you have what so ever from a SD micro card.
This is the most versatile MP3 "music" player out there.
It this player perfect ? NO,................ But it's another step in the right direction.
One last observation, The Creative Centrale software STILL Sux !!! Because,
The ripping program STILL fails (just like the previous version) (errors) after only two consecutive rips....................
and you have close the Centrale software program and restart. That's If you're lucky !
If not, you'll have to REBOOT your computer to make the program run properly,..................

BUY/GET/STEAL a stylus, you'll need it !!!

Alright, I'm going to write this first: I do not use Napster to Go. This product is NOT compatible with Napster to Go and never was claimed to be on the manufacturer website. In fact, it says directly that it's incompatible with protected music. If you use Napster to Go, this product isn't for you.

Now, you might be reading bad reviews over the touch screen. Well, it's a bit iffy. BUT, it's not as bad as everyone says. I work at K-Mart and their registers are touchscreen. They're worse than the screen in the Creative Zen X-Fi2 and they're almost perfect. I will admit when going through the music list, you'll encounter some weird things with scrolling. You'll try to scroll and accidentally select an artist you didn't want to. That's the ONLY problem with the touch screen.

But, the touch screen problems are well made up for. The sound quality is amazing. My computer has HD sound output and these are near, if not exactly, the same in sound. The music is crisp and high quality (note: I usually don't accept anything under 320kbps so, my music is high quality before hand) and exactly how you would want them. I do recommend turning on Bass Boost. No matter what you're listening to (metal, rap, I listen to it all), it'll add that kick you want with your music.

The interface is almost the same as my old Creative Zen (before it became the MX). The main different between the interface of the two is the fact that the icons are all out there to easily access. The menu is easily navigated. I will say that the only way to access volume control is through the "Now Playing" screen, but I'm sure this will be fixed (hopefully) in a later update.

The layout of the player is pretty much perfect. The power button is out of the way and very hard to accidentally hit. Also, it takes about 4 to 6 seconds for it to even begin to start shut down, so if you're carrying it in your pocket, you won't have to worry about it randomly shutting off. The power button, like in almost all Zens, is, as well, the hold button. There is one other button. The menu button. It's just kind of there. Not badly positioned, but not in the best place.

That's pretty much all the goods and bads. To sum it all up:

Pros:
Great Interface
AMAZING Sound Quality
Looks Great

Cons:
No Napster to Go Support

At a mere $130 for the 8GB model, this latest offering from Creative Labs stood out as a major bargain.

The included USB cable is so comically short as to be impractical to use except with a laptop. You probably had at least one spare USB cable anyway, but be forewarned that this pint-sized embarrassment is an example of blatant cheapassery on Creative's part. The Creative Labs ZEN X-FI2 Screen Protector is essential if you don't want a pitifully scratched up touch screen, so definitely get it with the player.

I've seen a lot of negative opinions about the touch screen, but I'm more sympathetic to this aspect of the product (I've never owned a touch screen product before this, mind you). After a good calibration, I found the sensitivity and responsiveness of the screen more than adequate for my needs. Perhaps Creative will further refine the touchscreen interface via future firmware releases.

In terms of battery life, this player delivers with flying colors. A new one on a full charge should last for days upon days of constant listening before needing another recharge. The battery will of course weaken after many months of use.

The sound quality of the X-Fi 2 is another selling point. The sound driver in this player is state of the art, and with the right headphones will perform at an audiophile caliber. The much acclaimed X-Fi 2 sound processing feature is well-worth using, too. The kind of clarity and dynamics it adds to the music must be heard to be believed! It breathes new life into your favorite archaically mastered 80s/90s album, and gives the right amount of dynamic range to that album you bought last year that was rendered nigh unlistenable by the loudness war. I've found 10-15% crystallization and about 30% expand to be the best settings for my own experience. Any more and the sound begins to be too harsh in the mid-ranges and too artificial/processed in general. This player finally includes lossless FLAC file support, but I don't think many will find use for it; FLAC is the most compact of all lossless audio formats, yet still too impractically large to be used exclusively on an mp3 player with so little memory. Ogg Vorbis support would have been truly wonderful, but sadly, no cigar. Creative was also very generous to include a set of high quality rubber-cushioned in-ear headphones with the player. Most mp3 players, iPod included, ship with cheap, uncomfortable earbuds that boast tinny sound. These earbuds are decently comfortable, and the sound quality is top-notch. The buds would be worth at least a $20 purchase by themselves.

I was very disappointed to find out that the micro-SD memory slot has to be accessed separately and can transfer to (but not merge with) with your main library, which is acceptable but very inconvenient. This was probably done to encourage buyers to purchase higher memory (more expensive) versions of the mp3 player instead of the 8GB model and a cheap SD card, but it's a bad move from a quality standpoint. Were it not for this letdown, I probably would have given this product a full five stars.

I have not really used the video feature of the player, so I will not be reviewing that. Other reviewers seem to have a positive opinion about everything but the conversion process.

I found the included Creative Centrale program to be pretty useless crudware. It doesn't work and it has the stench of software included for the sake of having software. The program couldn't sync part of my library, tried to install the latest firmware but failed, doesn't fix mp3 tags correctly, actually wiped some of my tag information, didn't recognize all my album art, and so on. Syncing from Windows Media Player or even simply copying files to the player's music folder guarantees better results.

In summary, this is a fantastic but not imperfect product, and a solid low-cost alternative to better known touch screen mp3 players.

I already own a Zen X-Fi and purchased the new Zen X-Fi2 when it was announced. There are many positive attributes, mainly the sound quality. For anyone who understands that mp3 files are compressed for convenience and storage but are "clipped" versions of the original sound files without the same depth, they will appreciate this player's ability to enhance the sound quality of mp3 files. This makes the sound quality better than virtually any other player on the market.

I also like the larger screen and its enhanced ability to display pictures and videos over the original.

That said, I would like to point out a couple of shortcomings which I hope Creative Labs will eventually overcome.

The main reason I decided to try it was that I thought it might be easier to navigate with the touch screen than the small buttons...yes and no. The touch screen is nice, however, it does not have the sensitivity and responsiveness of the Mac products such as the iPod Touch. It is especially annoying when trying to scroll across or down a list of choices or between screens.

The new X-Fi2 also lacks the ability to work with Zencast Organizer and its Sync Manager. This is important if you like to subscribe to and/or download podcasts to your player. This software works great on the Zen X-Fi.

Creative Labs has also chosen to remove the option of purchasing a version of the player with WiFi, which was great for wirelessly transferring files.

All in all, though, I like the new Zen X-Fi2. It is a quality-built product with a quality sound. It may not have all of the accessories available for it on the market that other mp3 players have. Yet, it gives you the best sound quality on the go, which is what the mp3 player is really all about.