Parrot Zik Pro Reviews

The Parrot Zik is a masterfully designed, wireless headphone pair, but you'll need to seriously tweak its customizable EQ to get the audio performance up to the same level.

Overall, I really liked the Zik headphones, though I do have some reservations. As I said, I thought the sound quality was excellent for Bluetooth headphones. I found the Ziks' sound to be detailed and balanced, with a sound profile that will appeal to audiophiles. While the headphones are comfortable, they're a bit heavy, and after longer listening sessions, you may come to find them less comfortable (I think they're better for those with bigger heads). My other concern is that these headphones don't feel quite fully baked yet. This is more of software issue than a hardware one, but there are definitely some little kinks, call them bugs if you will, that need to be worked out. That said, I do expect the Ziks to improve with time and future firmware upgrades. That's a bit of a strange thing to say about a pair of headphones, but when you have something like the Zik headphones, which incorporate so many digital enhancements and a companion app, you end talking about them like they're a "smart" device rather than a simple set of speakers that you wear on your ears.

Parrot and Philippe Starck have crafted a truly unique set of headphones with the Zik. There are clearly some kinks that need to be worked out, however -- most of which Parrot can hopefully remedy via firmware updates. As it stands for now, we have seriously enjoyed using the Zik despite the product's various shortcomings. The touch control and head sensor make for a fun, intuitive way to control music and calls on the go, but in some regards, an inline remote is still a more practical design. The Zik is also massively comfortable, making it great for long periods of wear, but one battery doesn't score you too much runtime -- not to mention that charging it can get tricky. If you're set on silencing the world around you, the 25dB of active noise-cancellation works well in loud environments, and the passive noise isolation isn't shabby, either; if you need a set for flights, look no further. The sound quality is very good, and the headphones won't sound fatiguing during long listening sessions. But even with all the sound shaping options, the headphones fall ever-so short of offering the audio quality of cheaper wired headphones -- and potentially other Bluetooth cans. Perhaps the biggest problem with the Zik is that Bluetooth functionality is limited, and downright frustrating for some usage scenarios -- a shame, given Parrot's know-how in the area.