Hi-Fi Corner: Parrot Zik 3 debut in Europe with wireless charging, Apple watch control

By Ryan Waniata Published September 13, 2015

parrot zik 3 headphones announced at ifa 2015 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Parrot may be best known for filling the skies with drones, but the company has proven to have an impressive aptitude for transferring those skills into the wireless headphone world. The Parrot Zik, and Zik 2 wireless noise cancelling headphones were both among the most advanced headphones on the block in their successive debuts, and today at IFA 2015 in Berlin, the company showed us the next evolution: Say hello to the highly-advanced Parrot Zik 3.

The new Zik 3 are a gorgeous pair of cans from the inside out. The exterior is cloaked in leather stitched in different available designs, including a diamond stitch pattern and a crocodile-style texture that’s pretty striking. The cans will also come in several different colors at launch — including classic black, emerald green, ivory, brown, and a brash tone of candy-apple red — along with some extra padding on the band for added comfort. But as you might guess, it’s what’s under the hood that makes these headphones really stand out.

Recommended Videos

Parrot has added some seriously state-of-the-art new features, not the least of which is wireless charging via a specialized stand, claimed to offer an impressive 18 hours of runtime on just a two-hour charge. Naturally, the Zik 3 offer NFC touch pairing for Bluetooth with compatible devices, and advanced active noise cancelling that can run with full isolation, or be switched into “Street Mode” to let in some of the ambient sound around you for the sake of safety.

Like the Zik 3’s predecessor, noise cancellation and EQ can be adjusted with a dedicated app, which also works with the Apple Watch and Android Wear. Through an advanced algorithm, the cans even alter how you hear your own voice to make you sound more natural (to yourself) during phone calls.

Commands are embedded into the earpiece for an elegant solution to controlling pause/play, volume, etc. with just the swipe of a finger, and the headphones also offer so-called “head detection,” pausing your music stream when you take them off. In addition, though the cans are designed to be used wirelessly, the micro-USB charging port doubles as an input to source music digitally from a wired source through an on-board DAC.

Pricing for the Zik 3 is expected to be around $400, and the headphones should be available in the coming weeks.

This article originally appeared at The Manual’s “brother” site, DigitalTrends.com

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ryan Waniata is an audio engineer, musician, composer, and all-around lover of all things tech, audio, and cinema. Hailing…

Culture

The best sci-fi shows streaming right now

From Lost to The Twilight Zone, these are the best sci-fi shows ever made

The cast of Lost.

Sci-fi television has been around since the earliest days of the medium, and it's evolved along with the rest of television. In every era, though, there have been great sci-fi shows that remind us of how well the genre can fit on television.

Great science fiction can reflect on the world we know, even as it expands our understanding of what's possible. Regardless of exactly what these shows are about, though, each of them tells their story in gripping fashion, taking full advantage of what TV is capable of.

Culture

‘The Brutalist’ director Brady Corbet says he’s made no money promoting the film

The director said that he makes more directing commercials than he does making movies.

Adrien Brody in The Brutalist

It can be wonderful to get nominated for a bunch of awards, but The Brutalist director Brady Corbet said that it's not exactly a profitable one. In an interview on WTF with Marc Maron, Corbet said that he hadn't actually made any money promoting the movie.

“This is the first time I’ve made any money in years,” Corbet said, saying that his first real paycheck in a long time came from directing three advertisements in Portugal. “Both my partner and I made zero dollars on the last two films we made. Yes, actually zero. So we had to just live off of a paycheck from three years ago and obviously, the timing during an awards campaign and travel every two or three days was less than ideal, but it was an opportunity that landed in my lap, and I jumped at it.”

Culture

John Malkovich said that he rejected Marvel movies prior to ‘Fantastic Four’ over low pay

He explained that Marvel movies took a lot of time, and he wanted to be paid accordingly.

John Malkovich in Fantastic Four

Over the course of its 15 years of existence, Marvel has lured a number of surprising actors into its orbit. We live in a world where Angelina Jolie and Harry Styles have both appeared in Marvel projects (actually the same one).

John Malkovich was one of the last Marvel holdouts, but that's changing with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. In an interview with GQ, Malkovich explained that he had been approached to do Marvel projects in the past, but had always turned them down.
“The reason I didn’t do them had nothing to do with any artistic considerations whatsoever,” Malkovich explained. “I didn’t like the deals they made, at all.”
He explained that he simply wanted more money to work through the conditions required to make a movie on this scale.
“These films are quite grueling to make…. If you’re going to hang from a crane in front of a green screen for six months, pay me. You don’t want to pay me, it’s cool, but then I don’t want to do it, because I’d rather be onstage, or be directing a play, or doing something else," he continued.
Malkovich is, perhaps unsurprisingly, playing villain Ivan Kragoff, also known as Red Ghost in the film. He explained that working on the movie was actually like stage work in some respects. "It’s not that dissimilar to doing theater,” he said, “You imagine a bunch of stuff that isn’t there and do your little play.”