I recently had the privilege to try out some cool toys that I would not even consider buying for myself purely from the point that they are way out of my reach financially. That does not take away from the fact that someday, I will own one of them, each, hopefully. It does not belittle the fact that these products are awesome if you take the price tag away from them and they lie very firmly on top of my wishlist.
These toys are the Parrot Zikmu Solo speaker system and the Parrot Zik bluetooth headset. Both products are placed in the Wireless Music range of products offered by Parrot USA and are exemplary samples of how technology, design and application and bring the best out of any device. If you wish, you can skip to reading about these products by clicking one of the links above. You could, however, read on about these products here.
I got the Zikmu Solo 3 weeks ago. In white, this product is all sorts of awesome. Just to behold. Gorgeous design, slender, stylish. One would be hardpressed to believe that this product actually houses a true 2.1 Surround Speaker System including a well placed Woofer that produces excellent low frequency sounds without jarring the sound or the ears! Positioning the Zikmu Solo and configuring it accordingly via the Android App (I did not have the iPhone for long), ensures you get the best quality of sound at all times. What I was most astounded by: The MULTIPLE ways of connecting with this device and the different sources it could pick up! There was Bluetooth, which is fairly straightforward. Then there is NFC for an instant Bluetooth connection. In addition to this, I could play off the home network shared music library from multiple sources - laptop, media centre or network drive! I thought that was quite cool. I could do this only on my media centre until I discovered this device.
Quality of music was clear. Does not matter what level you were listening at - high or low - the clarity of being able to listen to every instrument on the piece of music you are listening to is ever present. There was no jarring, no over powering bass lines or squeaky tones for treble heavy songs. Every song is in perfect moderation. For your listening pleasure.
At a price point of around AED 3700, this device seems well worth the coin you spend on it, if you can afford it. You will not be let down by the sound, this I believe.
I received the Parrot Zik headset yesterday, and I have been using it since. First of all, for a device that has just one button, pairing it was simple. The controls are simpler still. Basic gestures to Pause/Play, Next, Previous and Volume Control feel like something I could swear, I saw on a Sci-Fi show.
Sound quality is exactly like the Solo albeit channelized into the two sides of the headset for a balanced aural experience. The noise cancellation works well, and the microphone could pick up even my slightest whisper. I had it paired to my BlackBerry Z10 - it was good enough, although the website suggests it is built for Apple devices.
Costing around AED 1700, this is way out my reach and although I would LOVE to own one of these, I don't think I could spend that kind of money on a glorified Bluetooth headset.
Having said that, under different circumstances, I would not be making that complaint! :)
If you are keen to buy these awesome products, do pop by Parrot's UAE online store and pick one up :)
