Creative Sensemore Air – BT, ANC, earphones (sound review)

The Creative Sensemore Air is more than a new marketing term. Sensemore technology makes a big difference in hear through details by boosting vocals and selectively dampening background noise.

To position these ‘buds’

• IPX5 sweat-resistant
• 5.2g each
• Ambient Mode
• ANC
• BT 5.2 multi-point and fast pair, SBC, AAC codecs
• Up to 10 hours of play and 2.5 recharges in the case (10 minutes for 2 hours of listening time)
• USB-C and QI Wireless carry/charge case
• Two beamforming voice mics and two ANC mics
• Voice Assistant
• Touch controls
• Creative Super X-Fi ready (App)
• Creative App is fully featured

But the best thing is the price, $134.95 for what you could pay twice as much for.

Australian Review: Creative Sensemore Air

Website	Product page and Guide
Price	$134.95
From	Creative online and CE/IT resellers
Warranty	12 months ACL
Made in	China
Company	Singapore-based Creative Labs (Est 198it 1) make class-leading PC soundcards and, more recently, speakers and headsets. Its Super X-Fi launched in 2018, is just beginning to take hold to produce spatial sound from stereo technology.
More	CyberShack Creative news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Passable (meets low expectations), Pass (meets expectations), Pass+ (near Exceed but not class-leading) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below.  You can click on most images for an enlargement.

First impression – Black Buds – Pass

We should clarify the price/performance equation. These may be BT/ANC, but they are not competitors for far more expensive Bose QC, Sony WF-1000MX5, Sennheiser Momentum 3 etc.

They use an all-in-one chip, 6mm drivers, software ANC, and only have SBC and AAC codecs. They are more competitive with JBL Tune 230NC but offer QI and Sensemore.

The buds are lightweight, moulded plastic with three sizes of silicone ear tips. The case is reasonably standard except for Qi charging – a real bonus.

Setup – No App needed – Pass+

These pair like any BT device to Windows, Mac, Android and iOS – or Linux. The Creative App adds value by being able to customise more and download that to the buds.

Comfort – Pass+

At 5.8g, they are light, and the choice of three silicone tips means good ear fit. These are not ANC earphones that need a jam-tight fit for noise isolation, so they are pretty comfortable even if you experience itchy or hot ears.

Sensemore – Work in progress – Pass

The website says

Designed to improve hearing, our innovative Sensemore technology boosts vocals and amplifies sound waves, ensuring that each sound can be heard louder. In turn, this allows you to communicate and listen to conversations effortlessly, in both quiet and busy environments. As a bonus, when set to a higher intensity, it could even benefit folks with mild hearing deficiencies. Experience a new level of audio clarity and stay connected anytime, anywhere! Simply double-tap your left earbud to activate the Sensemore Mode and invite the vivid sound in!

We understand hearing impairment. What Sensemore does is boost 1-4kHz and reduce background noise. We would not call the sound Vivid – instead, it is a bit ’thin’ as it lacks any bass or treble. Nevertheless, it does deliver clearer speech when you are within a metre or so of the person speaking.

There are five levels. Go about three, and things get too crisp. Don’t use this mode when you are not speaking – it tends to make familiar sounds irritating.

It is better than Ambient Mode when talking. Use that when you are out and about and want to mute your surroundings.

ANC – Pass

ANC is all about filtering out sub-40Hz and above 10kHz sounds. Traditionally there are two parts to effective ANC. First is the physical fit that gives sound noise isolation. Second, the mics help generate anti-noise (cancel out the real noise). These do not have good passive isolation, so they won’t drown out a plane taking off or eliminate a noisy Air Conditioner. They tend to take the edges off and, as such, don’t compress/clip music as much as some. I would rather have better music than the best ANC.

How do they sound? Pass+

Out of the box, they have a fair bit of bass that can overshadow the mid. The EQ does a great job in recessing bass, mid or treble to give you whatever signature you like. We can’t measure in-ear bud’s sound signature, but it is closer to warm and sweet, which is fine for most music genres.

Voice Assistance and Hands-free – Pass

These are fine for Voice Assistance and hands-free calls, but ANC does not do a good job of removing wind noise.

Super X-Fi – not tested

It uses 3D modelling of the user’s head and ears. It digitally processes audio for a sense of spatial multi-channel speakers. Read more.

Battery – Pass

Creative claim 8/10 hours ANC/Ambient/Sensemore mode On/off. That is at 50% volume, and it’s a tad low for my listening. We got around 6.5 hours of ANC on.

But both USB-C and QI charging is excellent. Overall the case charges in about 3/4 hours.

Controls – Pass

A little touchy with no haptic feedback but fit for purpose.

CyberShack’s view – Creative Sensemore Air are full-featured earphones at a great price.

Every Creative product we have reviewed focuses on as many features for the price as possible. This is no exception. I challenge anyone to find better BT, ANC, Qi, Sensemore earphones for the price.

It gets an unreserved buy recommendation for the price.

Rating Explanation

• Features: 95 It is the class leader for this bracket
• Value: 95 – say no more
• Performance: 90 – again, class leader for sound, battery life etc
• Ease of Use: 85 – The Creative App adds value and is worth using
• Design: 80 – more plastic buds

Pro

Qi charge

Con