Zalman Dual Stereo Headphones

It’s all about the look, baby

So, how do these bad boys look? Well, if you’ve read this far then you’ve obviously already seen the pictures and come to your own conclusion about whether they look good or not, but there are few things to bear in mind.

Firstly, you’ve got a choice of two colours for the DS4Fs – black or white. Not an enormous selection, true, but something to bear in mind if you’re like me and don’t like wearing white headphones for fear of being mistaken for an Apple fanboy. Unfortunately though we only got the white set in to review, so I was left no choice but to look like Steve Jobs’ best friend.

The other thing to bear in mind is the folding design, which is a real benefit for the headphones and shows how the folding design used on the Zalman RS6Fs should be used.

It’s a simple enough premise, the headphones have a hinge at both the top and bottom, as well a pivot for the ear cups themselves. This lets the headphones collapse from the traditional ‘n’ shape to a more compact ‘M’ shape, with the ear cups held in between the headband. Unlike other headphones which use a similar design, the DS4Fs aren’t at all fiddly or hard to use and the headphones can be collapsed and opened easily and with a minimum of fuss.


What’s more, the ear cups themselves are incredibly comfortable. As a glasses wearer I often find myself preferring either normal earbuds or earcups which completely surround the ear – just as my HD215s do. Anything which sits on the ear tends to push the top of my ear onto the frame of my glasses, which can hurt after a while.

With the DS4Fs this isn’t a problem and the headphones are light enough that I can wear them for extended periods, either with an MP3 player, DS or, heaven forbid, a Tapwave Zodiac.

Conclusions

The Zalman Dual Stereo’s are a hard product to give a score to, but we’ve got to try. There certainly is a lot to like about them at first – they’re small, foldable and just basically ultra-transportable. They also look good, with even the iPod white pair looking pretty striking and inspiring confidence as you wear them down the street.

However, there are also some drawbacks. The bass response isn’t much of an issue in handheld gaming, but for music it can be a real track-killer and the cable makes them unsuitable for use in some situations. In normal PC gaming the headphones were OK, just about, but the lack of cable length and the awful bass again made them a secondary choice at best.


Still, the headphones are comfortable to use and are just about pocket sized if you wrap the cable around the headband and, when you get right down it, that’s what matters most in a pair of portable head-phones for most people. That and the price, which is another plus point for the DS4Fs. The headphones cost about $25 - $30 in the USA, or £16 in the UK which means they’re hardly heavy hitting on your wallet and anyone can justify picking up a pair for their DS or PSP.

This low cost makes them perfect for entertaining yourself in the car when you’ve successfully blagged yourself a ride to work.

Eh, Bindi?

• Build Quality
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
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• 7/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• 9/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

What do these scores mean?