Creative Aurvana X-Fi
» $499
» Available from Creative dealers

Honestly, I didn't have high hopes for the Aurvana X-Fi because the phones looked too plasticky at first glance. Sound also seemed to leak from a large mesh-like outlet at the rear of the phones.

But appearances were deceiving - very little noise crept in during the noisy fan test. Acoustic guitars and pianos sounded detailed enough and vocals were, as expected, handled without fuss.

On the same Skid Row and Myrra tracks, the phones reproduced the sounds precisely, though bass could have been tighter.

On balance, I'd say the Aurvana X-Fi phones do pass the grade on most tracks. But I'd choose to turn off the fancy X-Fi Crystallizer and CMSS-3D features that Creative has ported over from its sound cards to 'enhance' plain vanilla audio.

With Crystallizer, I found the bass too heavy, while CMSS-3D, which was supposed to emulate surround sound in your head, did not make much difference to me.

Like A-T's phones, Creative's will still work as normal phones even if the two AAA-batteries used to cancel noise run out.

FINAL SAY: A comfortable fit and clear audio make the Creative phones worth checking out.