CES 2007: No New Zen Portables From Creative, but Plenty of X-Fi
I was disappointed to see that there was no new player released by Creative this year at CES. Many of us were hoping for a follow-up to the Zen Vision:M. (They could be holding out until after Apple makes their announcement. It's a long shot, but possible and would make strategic sense.)
Despite the letdown, the X-Fi they showed off sounded really good. It would be safe to say that it is not just hype. It carried more depths and sounded brighter. The best way I can describe X-Fi is that it sounds like you're pulling back curtains that were in front of speakers.
More photos and info below.
The main X-Fi product in the portable realm was the Xdock in a few different configurations. First and least important but still interesting enough to report on, the Xdock for the iPod. This is the fallout from the Zen patent skirmish between Apple and Creative. In addition to Creative receiving $100 million from Apple, Creative signed on to make accessories for the made for iPod program.
What sucks, though, is that Creative Zen owners got shafted. The Xdock for the Zen lineup will be released months after the Xdock for the iPod. If you take a look at the photo of the Xdock for the Zen, it's not the real thing. It's just a piece of plastic glued onto the Xmod Wireless holding the Zen Vision:M in place.
For both players there are two flavors of the dock, the basic Xmod Dock and the Xmod Wireless, which includes a wireless dock and receiver. The cool thing about these docks is that they do 5.1 surround with digital out. It is simulated and extrapolated from two channels. I did not get a chance to hear the full-on surround so I cannot comment on how it sounds.
The last of the Xmods steps away from the portables and connects directly to your PC or Mac. The receiver unit can then be placed in any room in your house and ties in to any speaker set up that accepts a standard audio connection. On the computer end, the Xmod uses Creative’s media player to deal out the tunes to the units.
Again, a big disappointment with no announcement of any new players, but the X-Fi stuff is something worth checking out.
Comments
jehhuty on January 9, 2007 6:13 AM
X-Fi is predestined to death (and others creative soundboards as well). Vista OS will kill the most valuable eye candy: EAX.
kjtrl on January 9, 2007 2:42 PM
LOL. You do not know anything. Just wait... ;)
Michael on January 9, 2007 3:00 PM
X-Fi is great technology, but the lack of any players so much is quite sad. If they don't release a new player within the next months, I can see them backing out of the DAP industry. This is coming from someone who runs a fansite dedicated to Creative players. It just makes no sense that they wouldn't release something when they've won Best in Show last year and other awards prior to that.
jhaks on January 9, 2007 3:35 PM
@ jehhuty
Errr... how is EAX eye candy... also EAX is proprietary and moving to an unified standard (OpenAL) is a good thing. Once there is a standard library interface it should be easier for everyone (software and hardware). It's the same reason why DirectX and OpenGL are better than having a bunch of different graphics libraries. Abstract the top layer so it is standardized and then the lower levels can have different implementations.
rahul on January 9, 2007 5:29 PM
I think you guys worry too much
Creative might not show any new players at CES, but thats probably because apple might have cut prices, which would mean they would have to cut their prices too
now that they are in the clear, i'm predicting an annoucement of a new player before Feb. to be realsed spring 2007, quote me if you like
Michael on January 9, 2007 6:24 PM
Creative already cut prices soon after Apple did. They wouldn't stop the release of a product just based on the price. Last year the ZVM was announced at 329.99 when eveerything else was 299. That didn't stop them then and they got Best in Show for the product. They eventually reduced that price to 299 two or so months later.
Utew on January 9, 2007 6:39 PM
Hope springs eternal...
Creative gained a huge amount of competition with the numerous great players shown at CES. It's going to be difficult for them to wow us now that Sandisk and iriver are hitting their stride in the design dept. Not to mention Samsung, who btw also.. did not show anything new in the DAP/PMP arena... Samsung had a full plate with the myriad other things they announced.
So it's possible that Creative and Samsung are being smart here and waiting for the roar of the greasepaint to diminish from the big show(s) before wading in with something new.. we'll see.
I for one, believe that Creative needs to focus on SQ in differentiating themselves.. and to that end X-fi could be a definite plus. Now if they'd just support lossless and they could advertise themselves as the High Quality sound option.. they might be on a better track.
btdown on January 9, 2007 8:45 PM
I've been holding off buying a personal video player till I saw the new offerings from CES...so far, nothing is even worthy of a second look.
Plus, nothing new from Creative makes me think I shouldn't waste my time with them, as they dont seem to be in it for the long haul.
mike123 on January 10, 2007 12:42 AM
I've been looking to buy a player that I could dock/connect to my home audio system. I want something that I can store all my music on, be easily accessible and sound good when connected to my stereo system, and be able to take with me to play in the car or where ever. I was going to just go ahead and buy an Ipod since it was the only player which I've seen that seemed to have a good docking system. I'm not really interested in Itunes and so this announcement may sway me back to looking at the Creative Vision. I think your right, if the Creative pad and dock sounded better it could make a difference in going in that direction.
ErA on January 15, 2007 8:02 AM
If Creative brings out a new Player, it should support A2DP bluetooth. Now THAT will make me swop out my Vision:M. That and built in X-Fi of course :)
rodman91 on January 25, 2007 2:36 AM
whats news with teh zen vision m player is there any rumors about new 120gigs or new design or anything
Rick Davis on February 5, 2007 11:06 AM
Here's an idea, that if someone would move on right now would clean up on... A simple docking adapter that would match the Creative ZVM to any and all IPod docking accessories! No patent infringements possible, the device would be cheap to produce, small in size and would capitalize on the multi-million dollar aftermarket IPod mania. If you own a ZVM you wouldn't you buy one?
Simon on April 7, 2007 2:44 PM
Rick ... I have been thinking the same thing for a long time!! If there was a connector adapter that would let me dock my ZVM to any of the HUNDREDS of iPod accessories, I would definitely buy one! There has been such a lack of any accessories for the ZVM. I am at least cheered to see the new x-doc and x-fi, although truly annoyed that the already accessory bloated iPod will get it first.
Trevor on October 22, 2007 5:34 PM
I remember reading somewhere on here that someone created an iPud to Zen adapter and even sent a sample to the guy at Sharper Image. Guess nothing came of it.
I'm also disappointed that Creative has yet to deliver on it's X-dock for its own devices - still only available for iPud. What the...?
AT3283 on November 6, 2007 8:18 AM
The Xdock for Zen looks amazing! I've been hunting the internet for good docking station for Zen. Does anyone have any ideas as to when the Xdock for Zen will be released in the UK?
In the meantime, can anyone recommend a good docking station (preferably one that isn't designed for Ipod, that Zen users need to use a separate line-out cable?)