Noontec Zoro - Page 4

They will have a similar comfort level. The Zoro has a replaceable cable and at least to after market cables from other headphones are know to work with it (I am using the Vmoda iPhone cable from my Vmoda m80 with great success so the Zoro is more configurable.

Signature wise the Zoro is very neutral meaning no one area of the sonic spectrum is emphasized the Bose on the other hand is more V shaped meaning the and treble are bit more emphasized. Detail retrieval will be better with the Zoro I think.

Personally I think the Zoro is your better headphone and it also happens to be cheaper.

Thanks for your reply . I want to test it but, sadly there is no audition unit :( how sad :((

At the price of the Zoro I say take a chance on them. But it really does boil down to waht you like signature wise. If you want a heavy bass sound the Zoro might not be what you want at all. So go have a listen to the Beats, if you like the sound of them well then buy them, but if you find the bass a bit to much order the Zoro.

If you're comparing them only to Bose and Beats would I agree. But I would say these are still far from neutral. They have a punchy, but not bloated, bass and crisp highs, which are short of being truly sparkly because of a roll-off at the very top. But for those in the marke tfor a very neutral headphone you may find the Zoro to be too colored.

It's funny how these Dre clones are appearing and now starting to improve on the 'Dre' sound. I have another one made by Fanny Wang. (Don't laugh) I'm British and that means a lot worse than what you guys in USA would think!!!!

 

Lovely looking and solid sounding but in a way, I think they tried to emulate that fat bass at the expense of the top so they are quite heavily skewed in favour of the bass.

 

I have a Zorro coming so it'll be interesting to compare them with the Fanny Wangs!! Tyll's review really sparked my interest so I had a look to see whether he'd heard the FW's (I can't keep typing that word) but so far, he hasn't had the pleasure of a Fanny Wang on his head. 

 

One thing that I am finding with headphones that are skewed into the bass is that they allow you to turn up and drums take on a different timbre - you get more of the note and less of the attack which can give quite an 'organic' sound rather than that 'tish' sound you can get with some headphones making you have to listen at lower volumes.

 

I'm starting to feel after hearing so many headphones over the years that a slightly ramped bass might be a good thing on headphones in order to create a more 'live' sound with the physical vibrations missing. Also having that edgy splash toned down helps the sound of snares and toms quite a lot. Pink Floyd and Queen's drums sound quite different on a Fanny Wang and quite realistic. Yet, they're not a neutral headphone at all.

My m50 will be arriving tomorrow, and I believe my Zoro will be arriving at my parent's place either tomorrow or Saturday (I was gonna drive up to their place, so shipped it there).  I will do a comparison and see if I can post something slightly useful. Unfortunately, I am a big newbie so anyone who reads it will have to pardon my lack of expertise =)

The Zoro arrived and at first I really didn't like it at all!! No bass, cuppy, thin, coloured .....

 

I left it playing and within half an hour or so, it seemed like a different headphone. The bass has appeared and the treble seems more extended. The only other headphone I got that with was a new Superlux which arrived with no bass at all and 30 minutes later, the bass arrived!!

 

I've left the Zoro playing and now it seems to have settled into a pleasant, balanced sound without the flabby Dre bass or the rolled down treble of the Fanny Wang, Much more balanced.

 

Over the space of the morning, I've grown to really like the sound and have been listening for two hours after an initial (non-listening) play of about 3 hours.

 

Has anyone else had theirs kind of change in timbre from new? In mine, it seemed very dramatic. I'm not saying it's 'burn in' but something changed rapidly from new which is a bit disconcerting.

I noticed subtle changes to mine but nothing to dramatic. If I noticed one issue with mine it would a couple of peaks in the upper mids/lower treble that causes some sibilance and piercing qualities on songs with inherent issues. It might be argued the headphone is only reflecting what is in the songs but I have other headphones and IEM's with excellent mids and treble that don't do this as much as the Zoro.

I have a 70ohm impedence adapter coming in because I am curious if it will have any positive impact on the sound. I will post my findings next week.

I noticed on orchestral music that it does lose a little sparkle on string sounds. That 4Khz suck out could be something to do with it. Mine has settled now I think, but the initial change was a bit odd.

 

It's a very capable headphone at that price though. Only £42 in the UK which is really good value.

Edited by iancraig10 - 9/1/12 at 8:30am

Actually I am glad you brought up the sparkle factor or upper mids because I do notice it is a bit lacking in that area too. It's weird that these can be sibilant but lack sparkle at the same time LOL. I guess that just shows they spike in one area and roll of in another. But overal for their price, I agree they are not bad at all.

Interesting...

 

My review pair sounded pretty nice out of the box. But I've burned mine in for about 36 hours (8 hrs at a time using normal music files) and the biggest change I've noted is that it sounds a bit cleaner and less congested at higher volumes and aggressive music. When I first got it, it lost some composure and now it seems like it's not working as hard. I haven't notice any sibilance either.

 

I'll be including it in my roundup review which should be done soon. I'll post the link here. But the Zoro has been one of the pleasant surprises so far.

 

I agree with iancraig10 that there are now many headphones that are trading off the Beats look and styling. I'm expecting some SOL Tracks and Tracks Ultra for review this week. I wonder how those will fare. For what it's worth, I do not like the Beats at all. I have never heard the FW products but I'm sure they're an improvement.

Hi Postrock. Yes, the congestion thing was what mine seemed to have big time out of the box. In fact, I thought there was something wrong with them so I quickly changed to a Senn PX200 in order to check. To some extent, the track I was listening to was quite congested and compressed to be fair, but the Zoro seemed to make it worse. They nearly ended up in the bin!!!

 

About 20 minutes in (I suppose) I listened again and they seemed to have relaxed a bit. Now they've done 9 hours they sound fine. I've only ever had the same happen with a Superlux headphone before.

 

They have a richness in their sound that is really nice and yet listening to speech doesn't produce the boom that you can get with male voices. 

 

After seeing that dip at 4KHz (Thanks to Tyll) I was very aware of it. Psychologically, I was ready to hear a dip and  at first I wasn't sure whether I could hear it or whether my mind was playing tricks after seeing Tyll's graph. Orchestral seemed to highlight that one area though. Some kind of dip in the treble but as Dweaver says, some sibilance as well.

 

I find Tyll's reviews pretty much similar to what I hear and he did it again with his review of this one for me which is why I wanted to try one.

 

Also, in the UK we have that EU law on MP3 players where the volume is limited so a good headphone that's really sensitive at 16ohms is a real bonus. No need for an amp if we can get a good one that goes reasonably loud on a British player!! (or maybe I should go for the Amperior at 18 ohms)

 

I must admit though, I really do like the Zoro a lot. They are better than the FW's which in comparison sound quite 'boxy'. Twice the price here too.

 

I'll be including it in my roundup review which should be done soon. I'll post the link here. Thank you. I'll look forward to seeing it.

Edited by iancraig10 - 9/1/12 at 9:57am

how does this compare to the m80s?

I will do a few direct A/B comparisons early next week.

But off the top of my head. The bass of the Zoro is stronger than the M80 and the treble is similar with both. The biggest difference is the mids, the mids of the M80 is more prominent and smooth. The Zoro's mids are slightly more neutral but also have a spike in the upper mids/lower treble that causes sibilance and a painful effect on some music.

Hey Ian,

 

How do you find them in comparison the PX-200? Just curious...

 

Also, you might find this interesting. The guy who started Fanny Wang, Tim Hickman, has started a brand new company called California Headphone Company. Part of their approach is to make headphones that are not bass-centric like the FW and Beats, etc. They are supposed to be more suited to rock and country music as opposed to hiphop and techno. They are also trying to be more "retro" in their design and choice of materials, using stamped metal and real leather, etc. I'm going to be reviewing their Laredo model in the next roundup and with a list price of $99 USD it will be a direct competitor to the Noontec Zoro. I haven't recieved my review sample yet but they look promising.

Edited by postrock - 9/5/12 at 4:30pm