There's a lot to like about the Creative Zen Hybrid ANC Bluetooth headphones. They're comfortable and come with great battery life, active noise cancellation, and a wired connection option that means you can use them without worrying about running out of juice.

That's all you want in a set of headphones, right?

Throw in a decent sound and a price of 100 bucks, and it looks like the Creative Zen Hybrid headphones are a great bargain buy.

Creative Zen Hybrid Style and Comfort

Let's start with the unboxing, which isn't something we usually talk about. It's only a small feature, but the Creative Zen Hybrid cans come in a great microfibre travel bag, a nice touch for headphones that Creative clearly intends for you to travel with. In the bag, the headphones are folded up nicely, ready for you to stick away for a holiday or just for your everyday commute. In that, the Zen Hybrid fits that mold perfectly, coming with a relatively small profile (we're not talking gaming headset size here) and weighing 271g (9.55oz).

The size and weight also contribute to the Zen Hybrid's next feature worth mentioning: comfort. Slipping on the headphones, they're immediately comfortable, adjusting to my head size with ease and without any undue pressure. The headband doesn't cause the earcups to press into my ears, and the whole unit feels like it was made to be. In fact, the headband, which is covered with soft cushioning and a leatherette material, has a lot of give, which should mean that even those with slightly larger heads will find the Zen Hybrid a comfortable wear.

Similarly, the earcups are covered in the same leatherette, behind which is a type of foam. While these are a very comfortable wear, the diameter of the center of the earcups isn't massive, so these will predominantly sit on your ear rather than around it. Still, the Zen Hybrid can be worn for hours at a time, which is ideal when it comes to headphones.

Creative Zen Hybrid Battery Life and Connectivity

Battery life is an area in which Creative products typically excel, and the Zen Hybrid is no different.

The Zen Hybrid headphones last for up to 37 hours of playback with ANC switched off, dropping to 27 hours with ANC switched on. Both of these figures are excellent, and the capacity to provide more than a whole day of playback with ANC enabled is excellent news for those who will use the headphones for travel. The headphones take between two to three hours to reach a full charge, while the fast-charge option will grab you a rather decent five hours of playback on a rapid five-minute charge. Charging comes courtesy of USB Type-C, and you'll find a charging cable in the box.

It's an impressive package, that's for sure.

One thing that is a slight disappointment for the Creative Zen Hybrid is the lack of an "advanced" Bluetooth codec. The Zen Hybrid uses SBC and AAC, which are absolutely fine, but you won't be getting the most out of your Tidal or Qobuz account with these. I can understand why Creative has gone without an additional codec like aptX or its variants—keeping costs down is important—but its inclusion really would have made the Zen Hybrid headphones shine.

On the other hand, one thing I really like about the Creative Zen Hybrid is that you can still use them with a regular old 3.5mm jack, meaning you can plug them into anything you want and start listening. Although most smartphones have done away with the 3.5mm jack, you'll still find one on your laptop, computer, and maybe a tablet, and you're likely to have a 3.5mm jack to USB Type-C or Lightning connector anyway.

Plus, you do get a small performance bump in wired mode, something worth noting, and you can continue using the headphones, albeit without ANC. Let's face it, if you're presented with a set of dead headphones and a long bus ride using a wired connection, you'll be jumping for joy that the option is there.

Please make sure, however, you don't make the same silly mistake I did: attempting to swap to wired mode while still using a Bluetooth connection with the headset powered on!

Creative Zen Hybrid Sound Quality and ANC

Onto the main event: how do the Creative Zen Hybrid headphones sound?

As you'd expect with a name such as Creative, the Zen Hybrid sounds good, delivering excellent audio clarity across the entire spectrum. They're crisp and precise, and an enjoyable listen, and the 40mm Neodymium drivers cover most of the spectrum well.

I say most as, at times, I feel the Zen Hybrid headphones lack a little in the bass department, something that's unfortunately noticeable across a great variety of genres. There is definitely some bass there, but the out-of-box experience is lacking somewhat. I'm not someone that really wants the bass front and center, obscuring the rest of the music, but when you do want it, it's often not there. Or at least, not as prevalent as you'd expect.

Otherwise, the Creative Zen Hybrid headphones sound good. The mid-range has decent room, and vocals come through with clarity. The top-end is maybe a little short of what you'd want, but it doesn't harm the overall listening experience, and for the money, the Creative Zen Hybrid headphones are a good listen.

Creative Zen Hybrid ANC

Considering these headphones retail for $100, the overall package is great, and the inclusion of ANC only furthers that. It's not the most powerful ANC you'll ever use, but it does a job most of the time. For example, it did okay versus a high-pitched airline noise test (not a super scientific test, though, I will admit) and blocked out a reasonable amount of sound while wearing the Zen Hybrid headphones in the local supermarket.

ANC comes in two modes: Active and Ambient. Active does as it says on the tin, and actively blocks the ingress of noise into your listening experience. Ambient does the opposite, allowing noise to pass through your headphones to keep you in tune with your surroundings. The Ambient mode works well and despite my usual misgivings with ambient/passthrough modes in general, the Creative Zen Hybrid does seem to be one of the better versions.

Creative Zen Hybrid and SXFI

Super X-FI is Creative's integrated headphone holography mode that makes your music or other audio inputs sound as if they're playing all around you. It's a bit like a 7.1 virtual surround sound mode, delivering a spatial audio experience. However, the integration doesn't work with music streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music or YouTube, and so on. The only files you can use with SXFI (a separate app to the Creative App, available for iOS and Android) are local music files downloaded to your device.

It's a bit of a problem for those who only use music streaming apps and don't keep any music stored locally. However, once you get SXFI up and running, take your ear scans, and tune the audio to your liking (it does this automatically), the audio quality certainly receives a bit of a boost. Whether or not the inclusion of an audio boost from SXFI is enough to make you begin buying and downloading individual songs to your device is another matter entirely.

Are the Creative Zen Hybrid Headphones Worth Buying?

The Creative Zen Hybrid headphones retail for $99, and given the features, comfort, and overall quality, it's a really good price. You could easily make these your daily driver; their relatively lightweight and foldable design making them the perfect choice for commuting, traveling, or just doing the weekly shop.

Although the ANC isn't the strongest you'll ever use, it does a decent job. Just don't expect a clean sense of isolation.

There is one small gripe, however, which is that the Creative Zen Hybrid headphones don't work with Creative's desktop or mobile app. I hope that this is an oversight rather than a specific design decision because allowing users to create and use custom EQ settings and make other tweaks seems like a feature every user would make use of. The Creative desktop and mobile app is actually quite useful as far as companion apps go, and it would be another feature that would help the Creative Zen Hybrid headphones shine, especially given the price.