Curiously that dongle was the best showcase of the technology, on it it worked flawless from day1 and with a severe improvement of the audio.
After those dongle due the improvement of the audio i purchased also with Sxfi the Outlier Gold (even with the Sxfi tech in theory the improvement is not even close to the dongle, it just a very minor improvement and the live environment it creates is just a joke in comparison) and the SXfi Air for my child gaming pc that while not so bad as the Outlier it was not even close again with the dongle.
Early this year due the two previous experiences i test the Sxfi Theater (before purchasing it) and while not bad i found it again worse performing that the DAC and very expensive for the performance you get, btw i dont purchase it even it even with the discount xD
It's curious that the first Sxfi they released was way better in my opinion that any of the later items using the same technology.
Do the later products use ear and face mapping like the Super X-Fi stick? I assume so? Maybe your pictures weren't as good for the calibration mechansim? I've played with my config and mapped a config for my wife and my friend and our individual configs all sound VERY different. I'm a big guy with a big head and I don't think my face fits the template very well because the virtualization for me is not very good. Frankly it sounds like a cheap 5.1 system in a small tile bathroom when I map it to my head.
The directional mapping, however, is very good, sounds convincingly come from behind you or from the side or from in front of you --- the placement works well playing back something like the Dolby Digital 7.1 Ball Bounce Demo, or any of the Dolby Digital audio demonstrations, but the sound quality as mapped to my ears/face is tin'ny and reverb'y and not particularly good. When I take it out of virtualization mode it's just a neutral DAC/AMP and works well for that. You can still apply manual EQ if desired without the virtualization.
For my purposes I've kept my unit for non dsp/virtualization mode use as a USB DAC for my computer headphone/headset gaming in standard amp mode. It works better than my onboard realtek sound card, and has less (no audible) line noise.
Someone asked if works with headsets/mic. Yes. It does. It's been a good device for me in that regard.
If you are lucky enough to have the algorithm work well with you unique head, ears, face - I've read many people really rave over what this product can do. Worst case you get a nice quality little headphone/headset DAC and use it without the virtualization features. I bundled this in shipping with my JBL CBT 70j-1 and 70je-1speakers that amirm recently measured, and I'm glad he had the chance to measure this too.
I've actually missed the little device while it's been away, so I guess that means I recommend it - even though I personally don't use it with the virtualization mapping. I don't know that Creative ever sold it through regular resellers like BestBuy or Newegg. I bought mine from the Creative store at launch after reading the glowing review from Mark Henniger of AVSForum.
Best of CES 2018: Creative Super X-Fi Headphone Technology | AVS Forum
It came initially bundled with a pair of Creative headphones, that weren't very good, IMO. I use the Super X-Fi instead with my Philips X2HR, which are my headphones of choice. I used it also with a pair of HDX-6XX from mass drop. Both headphones were powered just fine by the Super X-Fi. You do need to select the headphones you have in the software to help it map a generic EQ baseline to that specific headphone. There are many popular headphones to chose from in the list.