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The Parrot Zik ($399)
I'm an audiophile, but I'm a human first. I like sexy. I like cool. I like to have fun. Human stuff...I'm human. The human in me gets a big kick out of these headphones. The audiophile, not so much. And therein lies the conundrum: whether or not you will like these headphones will depend on whether you can successfully identify with your basic human self, and put your inner-audiophile in the corner for a time out. It's just a matter of focus. In this case, I choose to focus on being human, and my inner-…

The Parrot Zik is an unbelievably complex headphone. It includes four microphones (2 inward facing, and two outward facing) which are used for noise canceling. The two outside mics do double duty in noise canceling and as mics for…

Sound Quality: Wired, Passive
Yeesh! The Zik will play music when the battery is dead or the unit is turned off, but it doesn't do it well at all. The sound in this mode is horribly sucked out, sounding rather like listening through a couple of Dixie cups on a string. Really bad. All I can say is buy the optional extra battery and keep it charged. You don't want to run out of juice with these cans.

Sound Quality: Wired, Active
Wow! Much better! With the Zik powered on and operating on the wire, but none of the app modes engaged, it sounds quite good. The overall balance is…

Measurements

The Parrot Zik has a vibration sensor in the right earpiece that puts it into pause mode when no skin vibrations are present. Because my measurement head is dead (poor thing) it doesn't have vibrations in its skin, and therefore I was unable to measure these cans in anything but passive, wired mode. Unfortunately, these headphones sound pretty darn sad unless their internal DSP is doing the necessary corrections. So, the measurements shown above are NOT indicative of their performance when turned on.…

V-Moda M-100 ($310)
Please forgive me. I try to be even-keeled and objective when I write headphone reviews. I try to draw a careful balance in describing the beauty and the warts of a particular headphone. But in this case I might not be able to be quite so objective. In this case I might not quite be able to keep my shit together. Because in this case, I'm in love. The V-Moda M-100 is the coolest, sexiest, grooviest headphone I've had the pleasure of reviewing...as long as you're okay with listening just for the fun of it.…

Sound Quality
These headphones rock! I don't think I've been impelled to bob my head or sing out loud as strongly with any other headphone. I can nitpick at them (and I will in a minute), their measurements certainly weren't all that great, but at the end of the day what matters is headphones that make your juices flow, and the M-100 does that in spades...if you want a fun headphone for contemporary music.

This is a great basshead headphone. Tight, punchy, driving. The low notes hit like a sledgehammer, while the highs sparkle without harshness, and the mids don't go…

Measurements

Here's a perfect example of Steve Guttenberg's objection to headphone measurements for consumers. If I'd have seen these measurements prior to listening to these cans I wouldn't be able to tell if I would like them or not. They're quite good in some ways, and pretty odd in others.

Raw frequency response plots show these cans don't change much with positional changes, and the seal remains good throughout. Compensated frequency response plots show a headphone with a significant warm tilt…

The Sennheiser Momentum ($349)
There's long been frustration amongst Headphiles with getting good quality sound from sealed headphones. It's hard to make a good sounding headphone with the rear of the driver pumping sound into a small, sealed chamber. Historically, the good sounding sealed cans really didn't seal all that well (Denon AH-DX000 for example). Earlier this year, when Denon discontinued its D-X000 line, a collective groan was heard from the headphone faithful: there simply weren't any other good choices. When Denon'…

Sound Quality
Man, oh man, oh man, these headphones sound really good! Right about here a whole lot of people will expect me to say something like "these sound really good for a sealed headphone" or "these sound really good but aren't quite audiophile grade." Well, I'm not going to do it. These sound really good...no, really, really good, period. Okay, they don't have open airy highs like a well amped HD 600 or HD 800, but the bass on the Momentum is substantially better, and the treble, though not airy and open, is neither veiled nor shrill. And, okay, the bass is not as tight and…

Measurements

Raw frequency response plots show a headphone with few peaks and vallies in the treble response and little in the way of change in the seal in the lows. This headphone should be fairly stable in its sound with any positional changes on the ear.

Compensated frequency response shows only mild deviation from flat from 10Hz to 2kHz. This is quite a good showing. Treble response from 5kHz to 15kHz is remarkably flat, though probably 3-5dB lower than what I suppose perfectly neutral would be. None…