Parrot Zik Sport headphones do noise canceling, heart monitoring

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/04/parrot-zik-sport-headphones/

Parrot's Zik 2.0 noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones may not be ideal for workouts, but fans may want to give the new Zik Sport a spin to get a similar experience. Granted, these are actually in-ears instead of the earcup type, but Parrot and Philippe Starck still managed to tuck in eight microphones -- six for noise-canceling, two for voice calls -- in addition to a heart rate sensor, pedometers and a five-hour battery (and that's with all the features turned on). That's a very impressive package given how much smaller these headphones are.

Understandably, the Zik Sport is made out of plastic and will be coated in a chrome finish, in order to achieve the impressive 75-gram weight. What's more, it's designed with five contact points -- the top, the two black boxes (which store the battery and circuitry) and the earbuds -- with your head, so that it can be worn securely with great comfort. That's certainly the case with the prototype we played with at CES.

These headphones have a dedicated companion app that not only lets you adjust the level of noise cancellation and sound effects, but also monitors your heart rate, running speed and even finer details like vertical oscillation (the less the better) plus left and right step detection (they should be in sync). Thankfully, the fitness data can be shared with most other sports applications, but we'll hear more about that in the near future.

What remains unknown are the price and the exact launch date for the Zik Sport, so we shall keep an eye out for them later this year.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Wearables

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