CreativeZen Hybrid Pro Wireless Over-Ear Headphones with LE Audio, with Up to 100 Hours (ANC Off), Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation, Ambient Mode, Powerful Audio, Bluetooth 5.3, Built-in Mic

By most metrics, this headset is incredible and beats its competitors.The sound quality meets or exceeds $300-$400 wireless ANC headphones with no question.The ANC is "just okay" but I would call it 90% of what Bose or Sony does. Transparency mode is also great with no random staticky sounds or white noise.The battery packs 80-100 hours and perhaps a little to spare. It is very pleasing to use the wireless headset for hours upon hours and not worry about the battery life. It feels a lot like you aren't using a wireless headset at all.The comfort is fantastic due to the lightweight design and fairly deep earcups.The build quality is similarly great and it folds up easily. Unfortunately there is no included case.The tactile onboard controls control every action intuitively. The volume wheel is great.This headset has LC3+ (Ultra Low Latency) codec which is the best in the industry. Think of the included dongle as a wire. The audio quality and microphone quality is exceptional with no perceptible latency. Other gaming headsets use outdated codecs with about 1/4 the battery life and worse audio quality, or staticky noises. This one sounds pure and clean.This is the only pair of ANC headphones on the market which can be wireless multimedia headphones, wireless remote work headset, and wireless gaming headset, all in one purchase.I also use this as a gaming headset and I give it top marks. The wireless audio is perfect with no latency and the built-in noise cancelling microphones sound better than most gaming headsets. The boom microphone increases pick-up and sounds decent. Both microphones included on this device are better than the most expensive gaming headsets on the market. The headset also features a handy microphone mute switch which lights an LED on the tip of the boom microphone as a status. I have a high standard for audio quality for gaming. Most gaming headsets sound terrible. This one doesn't sound quite as good as my $160 open-back headphones, but it is quite close.However, there are a few problems. First, the dongle can be confusing to pair sometimes. Be sure to read the manual to understand it. Second, Bluetooth LE Audio is so new that it may have issues pairing with some newer Android smartphones. I fixed this by disabling Bluetooth LE Audio for the headset in my Android settings. I hope that Creative continues to release firmware updates to fix these issues.

I own over 30 pairs of ANC headphones ranging from $12-$100.00 that I have either purchased or received from the Amazon Vine program. I am always on the lookout for new pairs. I had my eye on the Creative Zen Hybrid Pro for quite some time. When they went on sale for $79.99 I ordered them for comparison. They arrived within a week and easily paired to my Motorola G 5G (2023) phone and Nvidia Shield.Basic Specs: Bluetooth 5.3. USB-C.80-100HR Playtime. 40mm Drivers. Aux-in. Multipoint Connection. LE Audio Support.Notes: This is one of three pairs (JLab and Vokalen) that I own that offers LE Audio but none of my Android devices support it. These have a cloth mesh headband like my Vokalen Hyper Pro - $79.99 - but not on the ear pads. They feature RGB lights on the ear cups. They have buttons on both cups and an unusual volume dial (my only pair that has this). They fit on my 23" head with room to spare. I noticed the cups are smaller than many of my pairs but are not uncomfortable. I tested the sound with my usual three songs: Sleep Token - "The Summoning", Lauren Daigle - "Kaleidescope Jesus", and Chris Botti - "My Funny Valentine". They are very balanced and comparable to the Vokalen and EarFun Wave Pro - $79.99. The ANC does a good job of cancelling out background TV and fan noise. The app is very basic with light controls and EQ settings. My other deduction is for lack of a storage bag or case.Final Ratings: Design 3/5. Build 4/5. Battery 5/5. Comfort 3/5. Controls 4/5. Sound 4/5. ANC 3/5. App 3/5. Value 3/5.

Honestly what can I say except wow. They are phenomenal for the price. The earcups are comfortable, but if you're used to real big over ear headphones like Sennheiser or Beyerdynamic, you won't feel as much room in these. They take some getting used to, but they are comfortable to wear for hours with little to no fatigue.Sound quality is good. I wouldn't say it's phenomenal, but as far as noise cancelling headphones go, this is about as good as you are gonna get, even at 2 to 3 times the price. The ANC works great. My only drawback is the dual point connectivity. I'm not sure if it is my laptop driver or not, but I seem to have started having BT connection issues with my laptop on all BT devices right as I got this pair of headphones. Take that with a large grain of salt, since it might just be an issue with my laptop. I will say, phone connectivity has been great.I would recommend using an EQ like Wavelet for these, since they are very bass heavy, and that is definitely not for everyone. I think theyre close to Harman target, but then with a bass boost, so clarity is a bit muddied due to the bass boost. This is easily fixed with EQ though.THE BATTERY LIFEOh my gosh, the best part. Never have I felt like I could easily go an entire work week without charging my headphones, until these. They last me 8 hours a day for almost 2 full weeks. Crazy. My one complaint here is the charging speed is slow, especially at the lower levels, and you can't use them while they charge, at all, which is a bummer since sometimes I'll need them for one last meeting but they're low battery and the charge will take too long to be able to work for the whole meeting.The mic quality is good. Even without the boom mic, these are better than my work issued Jabra with a boom mic, if not at least comparable.