Parrot Zik

TL;DR: I bought and returned a pair of Parrot Zik headphones.  I liked the way they sounded. I didn't like that it's hard to charge them and that I always had to use the smartphone app to control them.
 
Likes
 
They sound better than the Nokia BT-905 headphones I've been using for years.  The noise canceling is as good as or better than my Nokias.
 
There is an Android application that you use to set up the headphones.  You can control things like the noise canceling (on/off), the size of the sound field (e.g. small room, jazz club, concert hall), and some aspects of the DSP.
 
They pair easily with your phone.  You use the app to do that.
 
When you take them off, they pause the music.  When you put them on again, the start the music.
 
They are comfortable to wear.
 
You can listen to them via Bluetooth or over a cable.
 
They seem well made. I liked the feel of the materials.
 
 
Dislikes
 
The only way to control them is with the Android application, even if you're listening to them using a cable instead of Bluetooth.  That's just too fiddley for me.  It's also not suitable for use on an airplane because you mustn't turn on Bluetooth in flight.  At best, you set up the headphones before takeoff and hope that you don't want to change anything about them during the flight
 
I couldn't hear much of a difference between the various sound field and DSP options.
 
It was hard to charge the headphones.  They don't come with their own charger.  I tried two 1.0A USB chargers.  Neither of them worked.  I tried two differerent laptops.  One of them worked.  Alas, I don't own the one that worked.  I asked Parrot about it and they replied: "We typically see this behavior on some Dell, HP and Apple laptops. This is because they laptops are not giving a high enough output for the headphones to interpret as a charge."
 
I returned the headphones because I couldn't charge them with equipment I already own, equipment that charges all of my other USB devices without fail. The fiddley nature of the controller app would have driven me to return them as well.

The Ziks have a great sound for Bluetooth wireless headphones. They can be wired directly if Bluetooth is not available. They offer a many features, including an innovative capacitive touch-control for volume, active noise-cancellation, and an app for smartphones that acts as a virtual control panel for the headphones. The rechargeable battery is removable and replaceable. Even though they are heavy, they are comfortable. On the outside of the right ear cup there is capacitive touch-panel for controlling music playback and taking calls. Swiping vertically controls volume, while swiping horizontally lets you change tracks. Tapping the panel controls playback, and allows you to pause music, begin and end calls. Another feature is a motion detector, which senses when the headphone have been removed from your head. When somebody talks to you, just remove the headphones and the music will pause. Put them back on and playback resumes.
 
There is a free Parrot Audio Suite app available that allows customization of the sound and check battery level. There is an option to turn the noise cancellation on and off, and also an equalizer to change the sound. Also, there is the Parrot Concert Hall feature, which plays with virtual space and tries to turn your surroundings into a concert hall or jazz club. It’s a fun to move some virtual speakers around. They have added a "Tuned by Lou Reed" setting that reflects the way Lou Reed tuned his headphones. 
 
If the battery is dead, you still can use them as passive headphones. Used this way, the music doesn't have the same punch, but it’s not really how the headphones are supposed to be used, and I really don’t recommend it.
 
They are not the best-sounding, nor best noise-canceling headphones, but they look great and are wireless!

I'll keep this short. As a pair of bluetooth on-ears without noise-cancelling turned on, they sound quite excellent and the ambient sound is noticeably lowered. The bass is certainly boosted, but not excessively so. Mids are not intrusive but clear, and the treble is good and crisp (to my ears anyway).
 
Turning on the noise cancelling definitely cuts out a significant layer of outside noise, but at the cost of shedding some bass and slightly thinning out the overall sound. However, you hardly notice it once you've had them on for a few minutes, and everything sounds normal.I've found that running them with NC off gives me the best experience.
 
The app is clever and gives you lots of control over sound variance, and the soundstage section adds a degree of fun, but you'll quickly find yourself defaulting to the default setting, which gives you the best, but not widest spread.
 
I've had these for a few months now, and they are a top notch pair of headphones offering a very rich sonic experience. they're very comfortable albeit a little heavy on the top of the head at first, but you soon get used to it.
 
Although I've missed out nearly every one of it's great features, for a pair of BT headphones I have to say they are well made and as good as I've personally heard in the past few years. One really nice touch is that when you take them off your ears the music automatically stops and starts again once you put them back on.
 
Well worth a road test and these days you can find them often on sale under $300.

I love my Ziks...period!