Review: Zagg buds
Recently I got sent some shiny new headphones to try out. They’re called Zagg Buds (Audio Z), a rather bizarre and random name for headphones but catchy none the less. These little headphones are meant as an alternative to the iPhone ones and come in a few different colours including red and black. I got sent the black ones, but the red looks pretty funky. However looks aren’t everything, so let’s see how they performed.
These headphones have active noise cancellation and an integrated mic built into the sound leveller. they also include a headset loop which actually sounds like a good idea. However when you use them like this you then find the mic and sound option are in totally the wrong place at the back of your neck, which is a bit of a problem really. This oversight therefore makes these headphones less useful than they first seem on the spec which is unfortunate. (although it wasn’t the first thing I noticed about them.) I quite liked the cable and how light they were.
I also compared the sound quality of the headphones to my Shure passive noise cancelling headphones and to be honest on the train there’s not a whole lot of difference. Granted I’m comparing some fairly expensive Shure headphones to these but neither are all that cheap with the Zagg Buds being around the £50 price mark and my Shure ones are these days about the same price as I’ve had them for some time. The Zagg Buds do provide plenty of base so if you’re looking for something that is not so tinny sounding as the standard iPhone headphones these are a reasonable option. You have all the usual trimmings and the sound leveler isn’t anywhere near as heavy as my Shure ones so in that sense they are more comfortable and don’t get pulled out of your ears so easily.
If you click on the picture of the Zagg Buds you’ll find a few more pictures. I was planning on doing a few more bits of detail on the sound quality of these but unfortunately whilst in London a short while back I managed to mislay the headphones & my beloved iPod! If anyone finds a Red Nano with “Failure is not an option – Inspire & Encourage!” on it then you know who’s it is!
Something that got me thinking this week was a random encounter with the Ken Blakeslee who arranged the Cool and Connected gadget fashion show at the World 3GSM Congress in Cannes back in 2004. Ironically I was there at that event and managed to blag my way from a standard pass to a Gold members pass by going to this event. B
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