I pride myself on being an avid music lover. Music surrounds me and consumes my every movement.
Growing up, I’ve been listening to different genres of music. RnB, Rock, Ballads, even New Wave! Cassette player or CD player, I’ve had them both. Then came the era of mobile phones with memory storage for awesome songs. Heaven! I felt so cool walking around, with my earphones and music on, not having a care in the world. Except when crossing the street, I guess.
Being the audiophile that I am, I soon became discontent with the earphones that came along with my mobile. I felt, or rather heard, something lack in the music quality of the songs I’d listen to. In the want for that immersive, ‘in my own world’ feel, I decided to ditch the old-school earphones and upgraded to the real deal headphones, to be precise- the over-head types.
One fine day, somewhere around last week, having arrived to work after my commute, I was preparing to start the day when I heard someone say, “Hey! Who wants to review the Parrot?” At that instant I caught myself thinking “Wonder what species we’d have to review next, the Parakeet or the Cockatoo?” While silently laughing at my lame joke, I looked up and saw the brown box being held up. I stopped whatever I was doing, looked at my own headphones and within a split second, my hand was up in the air, and like a classic case of word vomit, I annoyingly repeated ‘Me! Me! Me! Me!’
Design and Packaging
I’ve got to say, this one is a looker! It comes packaged in a medium-sized box and you can already see the awesome-ness inside without having to open it. Simple yet elegant, the Parrot Zik Wireless surely catches one’s attention.
The minute I got home I immediately put down my bag, opened the box and carefully took out the headphones, as though it was a fragile baby. First thing I noticed was the weight; it was a bit heavier compared to other headphones I’ve held. This particular Parrot Zik that I had was the Classic model, with a smooth, matte black leather-like covering for the headband and ear cups. The portion connecting the headband to the ear cups and the control panel on the ear cups is in silver metal. The striking contrast of silver against black definitely gave it a sophisticated overall look. Me likey.
That is what you get when a product is exclusively designed Philippe Starck, a celebrated French product and interior designer who is known for incorporating ‘democratic design’ into works. I could almost imagine him say ‘Magnifique!’ while designing this baby.
After staring at the headphones for a good 5 minutes, I quickly rummaged inside the box to see what else was included. Aside from the standard quick start guide, the headphones also came with a Li-Ion 800mAh battery, a micro USB cable for charging and updating the device, a 3.5 mm mini jack cable (if in case the juice runs out!) and the most important of all, a lined black pouch to protect the Zik. You don’t want to get a scratch on these little beauties of course!
Branding wise, I’d say the Parrot team is a humble lot. No outlandish, in-your face name or logo anywhere; just that simple word ‘Parrot’ embedded on top of the headband. Unless you know your headphones, you probably won’t know that this is a Parrot Zik.
Performance
It was almost with feverish anticipation that I put on the headphones, without even setting it up first. Numerous songs were running through my head. What do I listen to first? Red Hot Chili Peppers? Bob Marley? Chris Brown? Rick Astley? I went on to set up the Bluetooth connection and my Mac seamlessly connected with the device without any hitch. YouTube-ed ‘Never gonna give you up’ and lo and behold! Rick Astley’s suave, bass voice flooded my ears and instantly took me back to the time when going out of the house with unkempt, tangled hair was acceptable.
I was so busy ‘Rickrolling’ that I didn’t noticed my friend literally shouting to get my attention. The active noise cancellation feature on these headphones really works well! Apparently, having 4 microphones indeed eliminates ambient noise that may interfere with the quality of sound. These are located inside and outside on each earpiece which is better than having only 2, which is the norm for standard headphones.
Outside noise was barely audible the minute I put on the Parrot Zik (no volume on yet) and with minimum volume, noise was completely canceled out. What I also noticed was that sounds are fuller and richer. A quick comparison between my headphones and the Parrot Zik- with mine, the sound came out flat but with the Parrot Zik, you can clearly distinguish the different notes and instruments in the song! Impressive indeed.
The Parrot Zik also boasts of the ‘Parrot Convert Hall’ effect that gives you the feel of being in a live concert! Unfortunately I was not able to test the same since this can only be configured via the Parrot Audio Suite App, downloadable on iOS and Android devices. Yes, I am a BlackBerry user.
One feature that also got me nodding was the touch panel. On the right earpiece is the touch control wherein you could either fast forward or go back to a song by sliding your finger horizontally and vertically to adjust the volume. Tap to play and tap to pause. Now, if your hands are a bit shaky like mine or you have the habit of tucking your hair behind your ear, you might find this feature a bit annoying at times. The touch panel is quite sensitive. Sensitive such that even the slightest flick of the finger will have you listening to the next song or have your ear drums blasted with loud volume. Trust me, I know how that felt and it was not pleasant at all.
So far so good, I told myself. The only con would be the weight. It was a bit heavy for my liking. After a while of wearing it, with my heading bobbing from time to time to different tracks, I finally had to switch it off and give my head and neck a rest. Too bad, I was just about to ‘Jump Around’ with Cypress Hill.
Verdict
To be honest, I am not really that hard to please. Throw me the cheapest earphones you got there, I’d gladly use it but if you have something so much better like the Parrot Zik Wireless, I’d definitely trade in my run down headphones anytime of the day. Beware of the price though as this device also comes with a hefty tag that is not for the faint hearted. Prepare yourselves, you’ve got some saving up to do but I assure you, it is definitely worth it.
Now who wants to Rickroll with me?