No Parroting The Competition With New Headphones

• NFC technology
• Come in at just under $500
• Active noise controls

Parrot unveils its first wireless audio and telephony headphones: the Parrot Zik, which offers active noise controls, a “spatialised” musical image, a touch panel that enables intuitive movements, a head detection sensor, a bone conduction sensor, five microphones and a powerful digital signal processor.

Listening to music should be a harmonious and profound experience so with Zik, Parrot has focused on the sound creation for the ultimate listening experience.  These headphones are equipped with DSP (Digital Signal Processing) algorithms that build a natural melodic image. This is the ‘Parrot Concert Hall’ algorithm: rather than being heard from right and left, the music is ‘placed’ in front of you, recreating the acoustics of a concert hall for a much more natural listening experience. A free application for iOS or Android allows the user to define the parameters of the ‘Parrot Concert Hall’ effects.

To be able to block out the surrounding noise, Parrot engineers have developed a patented, high-performance active noise cancelling technology which eliminates up to 25db, giving listening comfort, even in extreme conditions. So how does it work? Two microphones, located on the external part of the headset, capture surrounding noises. Two other microphones –one in each headset- analyse residual noises (low frequencies) that could disrupt the listening. The analysed noise outside is thus cancelled by opposite acoustic waves (noise cancelling) to create a silent environment.

Parrot Zik enables the user to receive or answer phone calls, hands-free. It offers both the user and the person on the other end of the line the ability to have a conversation with good sound quality, even in noisy environments.

Parrot Zik is equipped with two technologies, which work together to cancel out the surrounding noise in order to keep only the voice:

• Bone Conduction Sensor  – this sensor, located in the cushion of the left earpiece, detects and analyses jaw bone vibrations and compares them to the all the surrounding noise. By matching the users’ movements with their speech, Parrot Zik is able to extract and separate the speech from the surrounding noise.
• Active Noise Reduction (Parrot patented) – two microphones record the sound and determine its direction, in real time. The digital signal processor of the Zik can then determine the origin of the unwanted noise and eliminate it. How does this work? Using high-quality Neodynium magnets, the Parrot Zik gives a powerful and subtle sound with a frequency from 10Hz to 20kHz and a sensibility from 110dB SPL per volt to 1kHz.

Access to the Zik’s functionality is intuitive thanks to a touch panel, which is located on the surface of the right headset. Move one finger vertically to control the volume. Move one finger horizontally to launch the next or previous music track. During a phone call there is no need to look for your smartphone, just tap on the right hand side of the headphones to answer a call or touch the panel for two seconds to reject it.

A movement is enough to pause the music: just remove the Zik from your head and place it around your neck. Replace the Zik on your head and the music plays again.

An extension of smartphones and tablets, Parrot Zik is equipped with the latest wireless technology and is compatible with all brands of mobile phones available on the market and works with a large number of music sources: audio with Bluetooth stereo or via a three-point mini jack cable for the connection to audio and video systems. (eg: aeroplane headphone ports.)

The Parrot Zik also integrates NFC (Near Field Communication) technology to allow simple Bluetooth pairing, thanks to a tag located on the left headset.

RRP
$499