SXFI CARRIER

Overview

The SXFI CARRIER is a 2021 Dolby Atmos soundbar from Creative, now listed among Creative's archived products. The bar is 880 mm wide, 76 mm high and 128 mm deep and comes in black, with a wireless subwoofer in the box.

Creative calls it a Dolby Atmos Speaker System (DASS) soundbar, with a driver layout that follows a Dolby-designed acoustics concept. The bar has seven drivers, each driven by its own DSP-controlled amplifier, and the subwoofer has a 10-inch driver. Creative rates the bar at 250 W RMS and the subwoofer at 200 W RMS, up to 450 W RMS in total.

The TV connects over HDMI eARC or optical, and two HDMI 2.1 inputs take consoles or other sources. There are also USB audio, 3.5 mm AUX-in and Bluetooth 5.0. A 3.5 mm headphone output carries Creative's Super X-Fi headphone processing.

The bar works with its own remote control and, through HDMI eARC, with the TV remote for volume and input selection. The box contains the wireless subwoofer, the remote control with AAA batteries, the power adapter and cables, and the quick start guide.

What the specs mean

• 2.1 speaker setup: two main channels plus a subwoofer channel. The ".1" is the wireless subwoofer; there are no separate surround or height speakers. Creative states that the bar supports 5.1.2 and 7.1.2 audio channels with Dolby Atmos. The system cannot be expanded with extra speakers.
• HDMI eARC: the enhanced Audio Return Channel sends the TV's sound to the soundbar over HDMI, with enough bandwidth for lossless formats such as Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Atmos.
• Audio formats: Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus.
• HDMI passthrough (HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision): a console or player connects to one of the two HDMI 2.1 inputs, and the bar passes the picture on to the TV with HDR10, HDR10+ or Dolby Vision. Creative describes the inputs as 8K compatible.
• Super X-Fi: Creative's headphone technology recreates a multi-speaker system in headphones and personalises it with a photo-based head and ear scan in the SXFI app.