When was the last time you put on a pair of headphones so comfortable you didn't want to take them off? The new Parrot Ziks I played with the other day were a pretty close contender, but those couldn't touch the soft pillowy goodness of the AKG N90Qs.
Honestly, if there wasn't more work to be done at IFA, I might still be in the Harman tent, listening to Dave Brubeck on the attached Pono player. Wearing the things are like strapping a pair of bedazzled marshmallows to your head – ones that have the added benefit of being extremely excellent music-replication devices.
The noise canceling, too, is ridiculous. A combination of passive (the aforementioned giant, pillowy marshmallows) and active, the world around you fades away when you pop the things on.
Once on, pressing AKG Acoustics' TruNote button does an audio sweep of the wearer's ears to determing the best playback configuration and then the player goes to work. When legendary producer Quincy Jones put his name on the headphones – and a big ole "Q" on their sides – it was more than the standard celebrity branding.
These are serious headphones – seriously large, seriously comfortable, and seriously great sounding. They're also seriously expensive for a pair of consumer cans, clocking in at $1,500. Honestly, everything about them is over-the-top, mostly in a good way, save for the gaudy design.
Though, what better way to let the world know that you've spent a month's salary on a pair of headphones than a couple of giant Quincy Jones Qs?
