{"id":605,"date":"2013-05-29T12:11:16","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T16:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/?p=605"},"modified":"2013-05-29T12:11:16","modified_gmt":"2013-05-29T16:11:16","slug":"parrot-zik-headphones-ios-and-surface-rt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/29\/parrot-zik-headphones-ios-and-surface-rt\/","title":{"rendered":"Parrot Zik Headphones, iOS and Surface RT"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Over the years, I\u2019ve used several flavors of earphones\/headphone for private listening. Starting in around 2005, I decided to go the earphone (canal phone) route and purchased Shure E5\u2019s, for use primarily with an iPod. They were amazing, but extended sessions seamed to lead to wax build up on the device and in my ears and there were two ear infections that I believe were connected to their use. So, I decided a larger, over the ear set of \u201ccans\u201d was the solution and I\u2019ve been happily using Bose Quiet Comfort QC15 ever since they became available in 2009. While not audiophile phones (because one of my requirements was noise cancellation and there just isn\u2019t any such thing \u2013 yet \u2013 as a set of cans that provides both noise cancellation and audiophile quality), the QC15\u2019s have been great. And as I\u2019ve upgrade to iPhone and iPad devices, these earphones and headphones all continued working and they worked plugged in to any 3.5mm audio jack I\u2019ve used on any device or computer.<\/p>\n

One of my \u201cat home\u201d uses for noise cancelling headphones is to shut out noise of all too frequent thunderstorms, plugged in to whatever device I am using that is running on battery power. This includes some late nights laying in bed on my back,  listening to soft symphonic music while violent t-storms rage for a few hours, usually falling asleep. I\u2019ve always had a (probably paranoid) concern about the headphone cords. So for a few months, I\u2019ve been doing research on Bluetooth over the ear headphones. <\/p>\n

After a bit of research, and a short demo last winter at the closest Apple Store, and three nights of t-storms last week, I decided it was time to purchase Parrot Zik<\/a> headphones. <\/p>\n

\"par\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I picked up a pair of at my local Brookstone\u2019s (5 minutes away vs. 30 minutes for the Apple Store). Brookstone has a 30 day no questions asked return policy, which is how I justified not ordering from Amazon (cheaper), since I had no idea how or if they would work with Bluetooth on my Surface RT, etc. A standard wired audio cable is<\/em><\/strong> supplied for wired connections, but that doesn\u2019t interest me.<\/p>\n

My pre-purchase research indicated that it was likely that before I could use these with iOS 6, I needed to perform a firmware upgrade<\/a> since iOS 6 support required V1.03 or higher. (I had the Brookstone store manager check their stock and the most recent firmware they had stamped on boxes was 1.02, so I took that box). I used a Windows 7 machine to perform the upgrade after charging the battery. The firmware upgrade process was a great experience. You plug the headphones in via included micro USB cable, and drag and drop the firmware, safely stop and unplug, and wait for the red light to stop blinking (the device appears as removable storage to Windows). <\/p>\n

These headphones are software controlled by either an iOS app or an Android app, and since I\u2019m an iPhone 5 user, this is no problem for me. While I intended to connect to other devices, it was the initial setup that needed to be done on a supported device. Tons of settings, lots of experimentation. All of the settings that can be tweaked by an iOS device are documented online<\/a>. You use gestures on the right ear cup \u2013 up and down to control volume, left and right to advance to next track, and tap to pause and restart \u2013 and there are sensors in the ear cup that pause the music if you remove the headphones and dangle around your neck. About a 5 second learning curve. <\/p>\n

Let me say here that I think sound quality is great after settings are tweaked. That is my opinion, others may differ. And once you tweak the settings, they stick. <\/p>\n

I\u2019d read some comments that the Zik can only be paired with a single device at a time (one of the negatives) so before I attempted to pair with my Surface RT, I used \u201cforget this device\u201d on my iPhone 5. After that, it was simple to pair with my Surface RT. There are several steps that will work to get to the pairing dialog on Surface, RT. What I did.<\/p>\n

1. On the Start menu, search for bluetooth by typing the word bluetooth (search Charm, \u201cbluet\u201d is all I needed)<\/p>\n

\"par1\"<\/p>\n

2. I selected Add Bluetooth device<\/p>\n

3. When the Parrot Zik appeared (the firmware version number is included in the device name) I selected it.<\/p>\n

\"par2\"<\/p>\n

4. That was it, a few second later the device appeared in the Devices list<\/p>\n

I opened the Music App and selected an album, and voila, I was in business. All the gestures worked, the quality was terrific, and I was able to roam around my three story condo without losing the connection. <\/p>\n

Pro\u2019s and Con\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a plus, the Parrot Zik\u2019s have microphone functionality as well, and on my iPhone, I can tap to answer and end calls, ignore an incoming call when I\u2019m already on the phone, etc. and if you are playing music, it pauses while you use the phone. <\/p>\n

Well engineered and beautifully styled.<\/p>\n

Great sounding<\/p>\n

Great software for supported platforms (iOS and Android)<\/p>\n

For me, the most serious drawback is that while optional extra batteries are available (I\u2019ve ordered one), no external charger is available. <\/p>\n

No App for Windows\/Windows x86\/Windows RT\/Windows Phone (I don\u2019t have one, but\u2026). As is the case with some other higher end devices (Sonos), the lack of an RT app is sad, but not surprising. I do wish that I had apps for both, but since I have an iPhone and an iPad, it isn\u2019t the end of the world. If you are Windows eco-system only, Parrot Zik is NOT for you as there is no way to set the sound and noise cancellation parameters. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know yet if Parrot Zik headphones work with Skype on Windows RT\/Windows. I\u2019m not a big Skype user so either way, this is not a problem for me.<\/p>\n

Bottom line, I\u2019m happy and if I feel differently within the 30 day Brookstone return policy, I can return for full refund, but I doubt that is going to happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Over the years, I\u2019ve used several flavors of earphones\/headphone for private listening. Starting in around 2005, I decided to go the earphone (canal phone) route and purchased Shure E5\u2019s, for use primarily with an iPod. They were amazing, but extended sessions seamed to lead to wax build up on the device and in my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[47,49,140,122,70],"tags":[],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":""},"post_excerpt_stackable":"

  Over the years, I\u2019ve used several flavors of earphones\/headphone for private listening. Starting in around 2005, I decided to go the earphone (canal phone) route and purchased Shure E5\u2019s, for use primarily with an iPod. They were amazing, but extended sessions seamed to lead to wax build up on the device and in my ears and there were two ear infections that I believe were connected to their use. So, I decided a larger, over the ear set of \u201ccans\u201d was the solution and I\u2019ve been happily using Bose Quiet Comfort QC15 ever since they became available in 2009.…<\/p>\n","category_list":"Connected Home<\/a>, Device Sync<\/a>, Surface<\/a>, Windows 8<\/a>, Wireless Streaming<\/a>","author_info":{"name":"barbbowman","url":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/author\/barbbowman\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pvFKI-9L","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}