Quote:
Or are they just another pair of crappy overpriced cans with cool looking features?
I had a chance to try these yesterday at a demo station in a Brookstone store - if there's a Brookestone near you perhaps you can check for yourself.
I'd never heard of them before.
My first impression was "Wow, great looking set!"
The build quality is good, they feel solid without being too heavy despite their large size. They headband adjustment is smooth and the eary cups seem to naturally seal nicely over the ears without too much pressure.
Moving along, there were questions about features -
The micro usb port for charging is a nice touch. However, they take a proprietary 3.7 volt Li-Ion battery pack.
I guess the cornicopia of features demands the juice that cant be had from a AAA.
The battery pack is replacable which is a plus, (as opposed to not being accessible at all), but a new one goes for $30. But the proprietary nature just turns me off.
I already simple charger for basic NiMH and NiCad AAA, AA, C, D, 9V, etc. and I pile of batteries to my son's toys and my ANC headphones running. Enough about that.
Speaking of ANC, let's talk about that for a sec.
I'm familair with both Sony and Audio Technica ANC's, used mostly for travel. What I never thought about was that both of these have a positional on-off swich, which allows me to tell whether or not ANC is on without looking. Plus they have each have a bright little red LED that lights when turned on.
The Zik has a single pushbutton that is in the same position whether the ANC is on or off. This makes it hard to tell whether it's on or off.
I know what you're thinking, it should be easy to tell just by listening whether the NC is on or not. That was the odd thing. They isolate pretty well, and I actually couldn't tell easily whether or not they were on without out looking. Another odd thing is that the volume level drops significantly when NC is active.
So as for sound:
I'm not really in the market for another set of ANC's so i was primarily focussed on the sound with NC turned off.
The isolation was good, as mentioned above, and the sound quality was not poor. I'm open to feedback on my next point, which is that I think their strength is not bass. The mid range was good, and they produce a certain quality of imaging that that allowed me to hear nuances in some of the more intricate tracks on Led Zeppelin II and Electric Ladyland.
The crisp bass line from Daft Punk's "Voyager", which I always put through every headphone had the idenitity I've come to know so well.
However, all that said, these felt like they were missing something - for me.
Tech:
It's a free country, so I'm going to go ahead and say they went overboard with the tech. Keep in mind, this all the gadgetry has got to be a component of the price. My guestimate is that there's $100-$150 of non-driver tech in a pair of these at least. So I'm guessing if all you care about is sound, these ought to be thought of as $250, not $400 headphones.
All this tech, mind you, is geared towards use with a smart phone. there's an integrated mic for phone calls - no biggie.
Also there's a feature to pause, play, change track and adjust volume, all by sliding your finger against the surface of the right shell.
We're they really took it to the next level of gimmic-dom is automatically pausing the music (played from a smartphone) when the headphones are removed, and starting it up again when you put them back on.
Bottom line.
If you're in the market for a portable set, you don't mind large cans, and phone controls trump sound quality, these could be for you.
As I said, I tried these in Brookstone, where they were on display right next the Beats Studio ($299). I'd written off Beats because of their fashion caché, but I decided to try them to contrast with the Ziks. Putting them through the same paces. If I had to buy one of the two, I'd go for the better overall sound, and simplicity (including phone controls and ANC) of the light and compy Beats Studio, and save myself $100 to put in my amp fund.
cheers,
-r