[Cornan]

DS. The link is from a crowd funding site...but the XTZ Devine wireless headphones are now available in the market. Check www.xtz.se.

 

[Deckardk]

^ No ANC. $179. No meaningful reviews yet. Looks bulky.

Specs:

http://www.xtz.se/headphone-divine

Shop US:

http://www.xtzsound.us/shop-en/headphones

 

[Cornan]

The DSP actually helps you to with the noice cancelling...so there is no perticular need for ANC. I would actually prefer DSP to normal ANC. However, they only support IOS st the moment....but are working with an Andirod app. It's just an Idea for a siutable testing object...

 

[Sound Eq]

^ No ANC. $179. No meaningful reviews yet. Looks bulky.

Specs:

http://www.xtz.se/headphone-divine

Shop US:

http://www.xtzsound.us/shop-en/headphones

looks interesting wonder how they sound
 
but doesnt sony also have one with dsp over bluetooth

 

[Cornan]

Quite possible that Sony have headphones with DSP...but are not sure. Sony do have the knowledge to make superiour headphones. I only know that Dirac make the DSP for XTZ and they are extremly capable in this perticular area. It is actually possible to try the iOS software for any BT or wired headphones (search for XTZ player)...but DSP software is extremly tailored for XTZ's own headphones...so you will need to have some luck for it to shine with other brands.

 

[Giogio]

I totally agree that for the money the sound is questonable. The quality though is top notch!

It depends on what you call "quality". The build, for sure.
The accessories, no way (bad cable, bad bag, no adapter to charge a second battery, no second battery)
the ANC, read my review. As said, hiss, bumps, distortion. No, not a good ANC.
So. I do not buy headphones for their build. I buy them for their sound. If the build is better than the sound, something went wrong in the design process.
 

DS. The link is from a crowd funding site...but the XTZ Devine wireless headphones are now available in the market. Check www.xtz.se.

I was wondering. Now I understand. I check it out. Thanks
Anyway, to say "world first DSP enabled Headphone they must have missed the Parrot Zik... The Divine Kickstarter begun on october, the Zik 2 were if not available at least announced on september.
And, although the Zik 2 do a major use of the App, the old ones already had an App. It is not clear to me anyway if that is DSP too. @kayandjohn, do you know if Zik 1 and 2 use DSP?
Still, they seem interesting. I surely would like to test them...

but doesnt sony also have one with dsp over bluetooth

Maybe you refer to the SBH20. Not exactly headphones. Mostly a transmitter where you can plug any headphone.

 

[Sound Eq]

  It depends on what you call "quality". The build, for sure.
The accessories, no way (bad cable, bad bag, no adapter to charge a second battery, no second battery)
the ANC, read my review. As said, hiss, bumps, distortion. No, not a good ANC.
So. I do not buy headphones for their build. I buy them for their sound. If the build is better than the sound, something went wrong in the design process.
 
I was wondering. Now I understand. I check it out. Thanks
Anyway, to say "world first DSP enabled Headphone they must have missed the Parrot Zik... The Divine Kickstarter begun on october, the Zik 2 were if not available at least announced on september.
And, although the Zik 2 do a major use of the App, the old ones already had an App. It is not clear to me anyway if that is DSP too. @kayandjohn, do you know if Zik 1 and 2 use DSP?
Still, they seem interesting. I surely would like to test them...
Maybe you refer to the SBH20. Not exactly headphones. Mostly a transmitter where you can plug any headphone.

i have shb2 not 20 and i use it with some iems and sounds good

 

[Cornan]

It depends on what you call "quality". The build, for sure.

The accessories, no way (bad cable, bad bag, no adapter to charge a second battery, no second battery)
the ANC, read my review. As said, hiss, bumps, distortion. No, not a good ANC.
So. I do not buy headphones for their build. I buy them for their sound. If the build is better than the sound, something went wrong in the design process.

I was wondering. Now I understand. I check it out. Thanks
Anyway, to say "world first DSP enabled Headphone they must have missed the Parrot Zik... The Divine Kickstarter begun on october, the Zik 2 were if not available at least announced on september.
And, although the Zik 2 do a major use of the App, the old ones already had an App. It is not clear to me anyway if that is DSP too. @kayandjohn
, do you know if Zik 1 and 2 use DSP?
Still, they seem interesting. I surely would like to test them...
Maybe you refer to the SBH20. Not exactly headphones. Mostly a transmitter where you can plug any headphone.

The biuld quality is top notch...for sure not the cables. According to my fairly limited knowledge in BT headphones the sound quality is accetable....but I would'nt buy them for the money. I am happier with my own setup...soundwise anyway.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

   
And, although the Zik 2 do a major use of the App, the old ones already had an App. It is not clear to me anyway if that is DSP too. @kayandjohn, do you know if Zik 1 and 2 use DSP?
Still, they seem interesting. I surely would like to test them...
Maybe you refer to the SBH20. Not exactly headphones. Mostly a transmitter where you can plug any headphone.

Both the Parrot Zik 1.0 and the Parrot Zik 2.0 use digital signal processing (DSP) in the headphone, with a 16-bit data data width on the 1.0 and 32-bit width on the 2.0.  Some folks say that while 16 bits is adequate for straight playback, you need more bits for the actual arithmetic operations that DSP performs to avoid truncation or roundoff error as numbers combine... hence the 32 bits in the Parrot Zik 2.0.
 
With that DSP, you can change equalization, angle subtended by the music ("sound stage"),  reverberation ("room size"), and active noise cancelation (ANC).  The DSP runs in the Zik headphone (not in the app)... so you Do NOT need the app to get the DSP effects, you just need the app to change the parameters.
 
Just because a headphone has DSP does NOT mean it performs ANC.  (@CoMan comment above that DSP helps with noise canceling so you do not need ANC).  Active noise cancelation requires additional microphones to measure outside noise and subtract it, in real time, from the music coming through the headphones.  Parrot Zik 1.0 had 5 such microphones;  Zik 2.0 has eight.  Zik 2.0 suppresses up to about 30 dB of noise; Zik 1.0 only suppressed about 25 dB.
 
More info on the Zik DSP here:  http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/zik2/#adaptive-noise

 

[Sound Eq]

  Both the Parrot Zik 1.0 and the Parrot Zik 2.0 use digital signal processing (DSP) in the headphone, with a 16-bit data data width on the 1.0 and 32-bit width on the 2.0.  Some folks say that while 16 bits is adequate for straight playback, you need more bits for the actual arithmetic operations that DSP performs to avoid truncation or roundoff error as numbers combine... hence the 32 bits in the Parrot Zik 2.0.
 
With that DSP, you can change equalization, angle subtended by the music ("sound stage"),  reverberation ("room size"), and active noise cancelation (ANC).  The DSP runs in the Zik headphone (not in the app)... so you Do NOT need the app to get the DSP effects, you just need the app to change the parameters.
 
Just because a headphone has DSP does NOT mean it performs ANC.  (@CoMan comment above that DSP helps with noise canceling so you do not need ANC).  Active noise cancelation requires additional microphones to measure outside noise and subtract it, in real time, from the music coming through the headphones.  Parrot Zik 1.0 had 5 such microphones;  Zik 2.0 has eight.  Zik 2.0 suppresses up to about 30 dB of noise; Zik 1.0 only suppressed about 25 dB.
 
More info on the Zik DSP here:  http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/zik2/#adaptive-noise

can someone review parrot zik2 sound signature

 

[ruthieandjohn]

  can someone review parrot zik2 sound signature

Since you can alter the Zik 2.0 sound signature so vastly with its app, it is sort of hard to review unless you also specify what app settings you used.
 
I did a three-way compare of the sound signature of the Parrot Zik 2.0, the original Parrot Zik, and the Jaybird BlueBuds X Bluetooth IEMs (the IEMs were the only other BT headphone I had available).
 
I ranked each relative to each other on 10 sonic features such as transparency, etc, giving each a 1st place (blue), second place (red), or third place for each.
 
I did this first with the app off, so that NO EQ, soundstage, or reverb was applied.  Here are the results (remember, a score of 3 means Best on that criterion):
 

 
I then set the app to a setting I had conceived that gave me as much transparency as possible, similar to the Grados that I love, plus a stronger subbass than the Grados can provide (more like what I've seen from the HiFiMAN HE-500).  With that setting, here are the results:
 

 
I'd still like someone more immersed in the variety of other Bluetooth headphones mentioned on this thread (e.g. @Giogio) to review the Parrot Zik 2.0, both with app off and with what they consider the best EQ and such via the app (and state what those EQ and reverb and soundstage settings were).
 
Here is the link to the full test:   http://www.head-fi.org/t/746519/huge-comparison-of-almost-all-the-best-bluetooth-headphones-post-your-own-comparisons-here/270#post_11365828 

 

[bbuford]

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I was in Dallas this weekend and went into a Bose store. I paired my iPhone 6 with the Soundlinks (on-ear). I called my wife and had a fairly long conversation with her, and also left a voicemail on her phone so I could verify the call quality for myself. It was good - as good as my Jawbone headset, if not better. Music quality was mixed (and had a number of strange dropouts), which I understand as a common problem with the Bose Bluetooth connection to iOS devices.
 
Nevertheless, the comfort was great, so I picked up a pair since these are relatively cheap, and I can't do over-ear for long-term comfort. Some thoughts so far:
 
1. I've never been a fan of the "Bose sound" - it feels overemphasized in places and thin in others, like it's balanced to catch your ear on the shelf in Target or Best Buy but doesn't sound very well-rounded when you start listening to all your music at home. I feel the same way about these - compared to my other gear (Fidelio X2 and Shure SE530), they seem thin, severely lacking in any kind of finesse in the mids, and artificially boosted in the lows. I assume I will find some kind of music that these excel at reproducing, but I haven't found it yet. Imaging feels artificial and slightly claustrophobic on most music.
 
2. Call quality is excellent on both Skype and regular cellphone calls. No complaints, really - good range (I had to go 2-3 rooms away to really get it to deteriorate, and it never dropped) and they stay reliably connected. For that purpose, these actually seem pretty ideal - they're less fatiguing than having a single-ear headset stuck in my ear for two hours at a time. I did 3-4 hours of mixed Skype/phone calls today with no problems at all.
 
3. The built-in announcements and pairing functionality all work well, and the physical controls are intuitive. Nothing tricky here, and all well-implemented.
 
4. Music quality periodically deteriorates in strange ways that I assume is Bluetooth-related, but I can't reproduce it reliably. I'll hear distortion (real distortion, not just harshness or "tinny" quality) on cymbals sometimes that I can only assume is the signal or bitrate degrading somehow.
 
5. Battery life is pretty great. A full day in and I still have a good charge.
 
6. There is no sidefeed of your voice into these, so you won't hear yourself through the transducers. This takes some getting used to.
 
7. They fit my giant head with room to spare, and don't clamp too tightly. They fold up very small.
 
Overall, I would say these are a good choice for non-critical listening - your basic workday jams, podcasts, etc. *if* you want one unit that you can also do a lot of calling with. They're very lightweight, quite comfortable and work well for all forms of voice communication. I probably won't take them on a plane; my IEMs have better isolation. I also won't do any serious listening with them; the X2s are light years better. But I could see a lot of folks being OK with the sound overall - they're still a big step up from many garden variety cans, and the wireless stuff works pretty well. I was on a call today and was pleasantly surprised when I remembered I could walk around without a cord pulling half the crap off my tiny desk.
 
I don't love them, but I'll probably keep them for now.

 

[Giogio]

Bbuford, did you consider trying the Fidelio m2bt?
The call quality may be kind of inferior to the Bose, I'm not sure.
But the sound is just vastly superior.
And it's a Fidelio

 

[bbuford]

Bbuford, did you consider trying the Fidelio m2bt?
The call quality may be kind of inferior to the Bose, I'm not sure.
But the sound is just vastly superior.
And it's a Fidelio

I did. My main concern is that it doesn't appear to be a US-distributed product yet (it's not even on Philips' US website), and I keep hearing a lot of complaints about Philips tech support. Considering that Bluetooth is a whole different can of worms compared to wired, I'm a little bit hesitant until I see more folks using and buying in the states. But I may order a pair regardless, especially if I get on Amazon after a few beers....

 

[Giogio]

I did. My main concern is that it doesn't appear to be a US-distributed product yet (it's not even on Philips' US website), and I keep hearing a lot of complaints about Philips tech support. Considering that Bluetooth is a whole different can of worms compared to wired, I'm a little bit hesitant until I see more folks using and buying in the states. But I may order a pair regardless, especially if I get on Amazon after a few beers....

please do it and let me know what you think and how they compare.
I'll pay for the beer.

The support is cold and impersonal. And depending on the Country also technically not well prepared.
But they don't make problems for a replacement.

And if you buy them in Amazon.co.uk they cost you less i think (not sure, because of eventual import taxes) and you can send them back easy if not happy.
In amazon.com only three sellers, two China one uk. You should ask for return policies...
If you don't need multipoint and nfc, and if you don't mind a slightly less thunderous bass and maybe a slightly less airy soundstage (anyway son of a dsp) you can get the m1bt. Sound the same otherwise.
And due to the noon multipoint have no connection problems. And cost much less.