Creative Sensemore Air

The Creative Sensemore Air has been given a completely new charging case, which weighs 38 grams making it significantly lighter than with the previous models; it also has a handy format. The earpieces are compact and water- and sweat-resistant according to IPX5, which protects the system from weather-related moisture and makes it suitable for sports activities. Although the in-ears are not intended to be subjected to strong vibrations, the housings embed themselves well in the ears and have a fairly stable fit. The Sensemore Air do not protrude far, so they can be worn under a winter hat if it is not too tight.

Battery life of the Creative Sensemore Air

With maximum noise cancellation and the volume turned up, a listening time of nine hours per charge can be achieved, and this increases to around eleven hours when used in basic mode. The earpieces can be fully charged twice in the case, giving a total runtime of 27 hours in ANC mode and up to 33 hours in standard mode. If the batteries are empty, the Sensemore Air can be fully recharged within 90 minutes, while a ten-minute quick charge provides capacity for just under two hours. The case can be powered via the USB-C port or wirelessly via Qi. If the included USB-C to USB-A charging cable is used, the battery reserve is quite quickly restored after 75 minutes.

How to use the Creative Sensemore Air

Pairing the Sensemore Air, which supports Bluetooth standard 5.2 and single-sided use in single mode, is done by removing them from the case. This turns the system on and automatically puts them into pairing mode while placing them back in the charger turns them off. Alternatively, it is possible to switch on and off manually via the touch-sensitive earpiece surfaces with a long hold. Multipoint connections with two devices at the same time, however, are not provided.

The touch control is well implemented and can be adapted to your own preferences via the app. In factory settings, a double tap on the right surface controls playback, and on the left side, this is used to switch between basic, ANC and ambient or Sensemore mode, and it can determine via the app which function will be used to amplify outside noise. Calls can be accepted and ended on both sides by double-tapping. Tap the right headphone three times to skip to the next track, and use the left side to call up a voice assistant. Volume control is also possible, as the playback level can be increased by holding the right side and decreased by holding the left. Depending on how long it is held, the adjustment will be either gradual or in larger steps.

The Creative App

In addition to using the touch control, the Sensemore Air’s app (for Android and iOS) can be used to adjust the noise control by providing five intensity levels each in ANC, ambient and Sensemore mode. You can also configure whether noise cancellation or Sensemore technology should be used when making phone calls. For sound adjustment, there are 43 ready-made EQ settings to choose from, covering many music styles from “Hip-Hop” to “Classical”, but also special settings for computer and video games such as “League of Legends”, “Fortnite” or the “Call of Duty” series. In addition, genre-typical orientations are available with “Driving Simulation” or “RPG”. An EQ with ten bands can be used to make your own settings, and these can be saved as pre-sets. Other app features include a battery level indicator for both earpieces and the option to perform firmware updates.

SXFI technology: audio holography for headphones

If you wish, the Sensemore Air can also be used via the SXFI app, which allows you to try out the manufacturer’s own Super X-FI technology, which is designed to enable spatial listening via headphones as if using multiple speaker systems. However, streamed content via Spotify, Tidal, YouTube or Netflix is not supported, as the function can only be used with local music files via the app player or in combination with other devices that are “SXFI Ready”. The sound effect shifts the virtual stage more into the room, resulting in very different results. The SXFI technology’s main area of application is definitely the film and gaming sector, while it often makes modern music styles sound quite bizarre, as the bass range seems powerless and insubstantial.

Speech intelligibility during phone calls

Even if the representation of one’s own voice seemed a little muffled, the Sensemore Air made it easy to make intelligible phone calls in a quiet environment. Wind noise hardly affected speech intelligibility, as there was effective filtering even in strong gusts. However, loud background noises were transmitted sequentially at varying volumes, which reduced the call quality, but communication remained possible.

Noise cancellation (ANC), ambient and Sensemore mode

While the noise cancelling was quite weak in the lower settings, low and high-frequency noise in particular was noticeably attenuated in the higher settings. This was not quite as effective with voices, but they at least appeared to be shifted further into the background in the maximum setting. There was no background noise in ANC mode, which was very pleasant, and this was missing when switched to ambient or Sensemore mode. Although the outside amplification seemed more powerful overall, there was noise present in transparency mode from the second setting onwards, which increased from level to level and affected playback at full intensity. However, outside sounds were amplified clearly and distinctly, and this allowed for a better perception of the surroundings, even at the lower levels. In Sensemore mode, the amplification was even more intense, meaning that even distant sources were surprisingly audible. However, voices sounded more unnatural than in ambient mode and were also harder to understand in a busier setting, as the higher background noise created a diffuse mix. For individual sounds, the hearing amplifier function worked quite well, but in a busy environment, the benefit seemed rather small. In such cases, the transparency mode was the better choice.

How does the Creative Sensemore Air sound?

The Sensemore Air are tuned for fun and have a full-bodied bass response that reaches far down and doesn’t ever seem too slim, even in the lower registers. On the contrary, the low bass was quite powerful. If you want more pressure instead of fullness in bass-oriented productions, you can easily lower the lower bass range with the EQ, and it still sounds rich but more defined. This was followed by a warm midrange with an assertiveness that brought out voices with appealing clarity and good intelligibility. Details such as picking were also deftly revealed. The upper registers could be characterised as energetic and lively, and they did not drop off and open up the sound. As a result, the full basic sound was not constricted or closed off even at moderate playback levels and was harmonious all the way up to room volume. However, if these headphones are turned up loud, the prominent high-frequency presentation can overshoot the mark somewhat and overdo the accentuation, but this can be corrected using the EQ.