Creative Aurvana X-Fi Headphones

(4 out of 5)

MSRP: $299

New headphones from Creative bring the company's sound-enhancing X-Fi technology to an already excellent set of noise-canceling cans.

Priced at a serious $299 and designed to compete directly with Bose’s QuietComfort 3 headphones, Creative’s Aurvana X-Fi Headphones are just as comfortable and do just as good at job blocking out unwanted noise. But Creative has a secret weapon that no other headphone maker offers: the ability to make compressed MP3s sound better. The X-Fi ’phones are considerably larger than Bose’s QC3s. The padded headband and cups are extremely comfortable to wear over a long period of time, and we preferred them to Bose’s design. The cans are bulky, however, so they lose the portability edge to the QC3s. The cups do fold flat, and the entire unit can be zipped into the enclosed case. One nice touch for Apple fans: An adapter for the iPhone and iPod touch is included. From the most basic perspective, the X-Fi headphones sound rich. You can still listen to music with noise reduction turned off, which we appreciate. With the reduction applied, loud external sounds receded to the far background. Barring in-ear systems, Bose’s two QuietComfort solutions are the only other headphones we’ve tested that were as effective at reducing unwanted frequencies.

Read Full Review @ LaptopMag.com by Russ Fischer