Design and features:This Bluetooth wireless noise-canceling home/studio-style over-ear models has a closed design and electronic noise canceling feature to reduce both outside noise and sound leaking out into your environment.
Additional features:Has integrated volume control, microphone, and call connect/disconnect control. Creative app download for Apple and Android mobile devices adds EQ presets, additional features and software updates.
Sound quality:We found the Zen Hybrid (Gen 2) delivers sound quality that falls in the acceptable range - it reproduces music and voice reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound and good active noise reduction. With the ANC turned on and the EQ turned off the
bass (as in bass drums, bass guitars, stand-up bass, etc.) has good impact and goes deep but is somewhat prominent and boomy. The
midrange (voices, guitars, horns, etc.) is somewhat grainy and a bit congested (think sonic traffic jam) and nasal, a touch hazy and the lower midrange is subdued. The
treble (cymbals, the upper range of violins, etc.) is fairly extended but is a bit prominent and smeared and somewhat smeared. The sound also has a decent sense of liveliness and is somewhat open--sound-wise it almost seems like you don't have anything plugging up your ears, and does a decent job of recovering room ambience. Mixed character; warm bass, neutral midrange and coolish treble. The overall sound can be summarized as boomy, grainy and a bit nasal. A very faint rush can be heard in very quiet envronments when there is no audio program material to mask it.
Noise Canceling: Good noise reduction across the entire frequency range with the low frequencies reduced the most. Orientation does not changes the noise reduction characteristic. A very faint rush can be heard when there is no audio program to drown it out.
Comfort and Fit:There is a sense of moderate pressure on the ears. As typical of on-ear models the ear pads might feel hot and/or sticky after prolonged use.
Large
Users with larger heads might find that the headband does not have enough adjustment range resulting in the headband slightly pressing uncomfortably on the top of the head and the ear cups not sitting properly on the ears; the less-than-ideal fit on the ears might interfere with the ear pad seal and may reduce the bass response and/or noise reduction capabilities of the headphone.
Stability
Some users may find that when they lean far forward the headphones feel unstable and shift forward , possibly to the point of falling off.
When wearing this model while walking the muffled vibrations from each foot step can be heard slightly through the headphones regardless of whether the headphones are in noise cancelling mode.
