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Updated April 11, 2024·
The Creative Labs Zen Air are budget-friendly earbuds that are lighter, wireless, and offer good sound quality with sweatproof certification, making them a decent choice for exercise use. However, they may not be the best for calls, meetings, or watching TV due to their sound latency. The Sennheiser 450BT headphones cost more but provide excellent noise isolation, better sound quality for TV and gaming due to low latency, and active noise cancelling, which is great for air travel. If you need versatility and can invest more, Sennheiser may be your pick; for cost efficiency and a fitness-friendly option, consider the Zen Air. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Creative Labs Zen Air
- The Creative Labs Zen Air has no clear advantages over the Sennheiser 450BT.
Advantages of the Sennheiser 450BT
- Very good for gaming
- Very good for TV and video
- Excellent for air travel
- Good for podcasts and audiobooks
Key differences
Music
6.8
6.2
The Creative Labs Zen Air and Sennheiser 450BT are both only fair for music, though the Creative Labs Zen Air is somewhat better.
Gaming
5.1
8.8
The Sennheiser 450BT is very good for gaming, while the Creative Labs Zen Air is poor.
Phone Calls
5.1
6.9
The Sennheiser 450BT is only fair for phone calls, while the Creative Labs Zen Air is poor.
Podcasts and Audiobooks
5.4
7.9
The Sennheiser 450BT is good for podcasts and audiobooks, while the Creative Labs Zen Air is poor.
TV and Video
5.6
8.1
The Sennheiser 450BT is very good for TV and video, while the Creative Labs Zen Air is poor.
Noise Reduction
7.0
9.1
The Sennheiser 450BT is excellent for noise reduction, while the Creative Labs Zen Air is good.
Battery
5.0 Hours
27.5 Hours
The Creative Labs Zen Air has 5 hours of battery life. The Sennheiser 450BT has 27.5 hours of battery life.
Cost
$30
$90
$0
$50
$100
$150
$200
The Creative Labs Zen Air has a price of $30 and the Sennheiser 450BT costs $90.
Build Quality
9.0
8.0
The Creative Labs Zen Air has excellent build quality, while the Sennheiser 450BT has very good build quality.
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How the Creative Labs Zen Air and the Sennheiser 450BT compare to other earbuds and headphones
Spec Comparison
 |  | |
| Creative Labs Zen Air | Sennheiser 450BT |
GENERAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | |||
$30 | $90 | ||
Brand | |||
Brand | Creative Labs | Sennheiser | |
Release Date | |||
Release Date | December 1, 2022 | February 1, 2020 | |
Form Factor | |||
Form Factor | Earbuds | Headphones | |
Connectivity | |||
Connectivity | Wireless | Wired + Wireless | |
SOUND | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Music Score | |||
Music Score | 6.9/10 | 6.2/10 | |
Phone Calls Score | |||
Phone Calls Score | 5.1/10 | 7/10 | |
Gaming Score | |||
Gaming Score | 5.1/10 | 8.9/10 | |
TV and Video Score | |||
TV and Video Score | 5.7/10 | 8.1/10 | |
Exercise Score | |||
Exercise Score | 6.9/10 | 6.1/10 | |
PERFORMANCE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Battery life | |||
Battery life | 5 Hours | 27.5 Hours | |
Wireless charging | |||
Wireless charging | Yes | No | |
Charging time | |||
Charging time | 2 Hours | 2.3 Hours | |
Bluetooth version | |||
Bluetooth version | 5 | 5 | |
Case Battery Life | |||
Case Battery Life | 12 | N/A | |
FEATURES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Active Noise Cancelling | |||
Active Noise Cancelling | Yes | Yes | |
Noise Reduction Score | |||
Noise Reduction Score | 7/10 | 9.1/10 | |
Virtual Surround | |||
Virtual Surround | Yes | No | |
Android App | |||
Android App | Yes | Yes | |
iOS App | |||
iOS App | Yes | Yes | |
Mic Quality | |||
Mic Quality | 7/10 | 8.5/10 | |
BUILD AND DESIGN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Build Quality | |||
Build Quality | 9/10 | 8/10 | |
Comfort score | |||
Comfort score | 7/10 | 7/10 | |
Size | |||
Size | Medium | N/A | |
Weight (headset or single earbud) | |||
Weight (headset or single earbud) | 5 Grams | 240.4 Grams | |
Microphone style | |||
Microphone style | Integrated | Integrated | |
Shopping
Creative Labs Zen Air
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Dig into reviews and images
Headphone Check
Maike Paeßens | February 2023
"The Creative Zen Air’s weak points are its low battery life and rather short Bluetooth range. On the other hand, the strengths of these weatherproof True Wireless in-Ears are the sound and the wide attenuation of the Active Noise Cancellation. Considering the price range, the speech intelligibility during calls is also exceptionally good."
Sennheiser 450BT
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Dig into reviews and images
Sound Guys
Lily Katz | March 2022
"The Sennheiser HD 450BT is a very good pair of headphones for the price, noise canceling is good and sound quality is great—quite rare at this price point. Like any product, this headset isn’t without its faults."
Get a great deal on the Creative Labs Zen Air or the Sennheiser 450BT
About Creative Labs
Creative Labs is a Singaporean technology company specialized in the manufacture of multimedia products. They created the world-famous Soundblaster soundcard back in 1989 which was a staple of the gaming community for a long time. Nowadays, besides still marketing their discrete audio systems, they offer a wide array of headphones, gaming headsets and speakers that still preserve that same heritage.
About Sennheiser
A family-owned company, Sennheiser is a German, high fidelity, audio equipment manufacturer founded in 1945. Their consumer audio division is now owned by the Swiss hearing aid and cochlear implant manufacturer Sonova. Sennheiser offers a wide variety of, very high quality, audio equipment solutions, from headphones to earbuds, full sets of monitoring speakers, amplifiers and microphones. They also make what is widely regarded as the best, and most expensive, headphones in existence, the HE-1 Orpheus, costing a whopping $59,000 dollars.
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This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec earbuds & headphones team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest earbuds or headphones information and makes it digestible for you.
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