For movies I wanted to use some that had great sound quality and tons of action. I decided to go with Transformers and Appleseed. I must say I was extremely impressed with how well the Zbuds did for this test. The range I was able to hear was unbelievable and everything was crystal clear. The bass of these Zbuds is very prevalent in Transformers, especially when you get some of the cars snarling motors revving up to high rpm’s. I was very impressed over all with this headset. I honestly would never expect that kind of power from a pair of earbuds.

In Appleseed; scenes with debris falling and gun shots were as clear as if I were standing right in the middle of the fighting. The voice acting and explosions had substance and didn’t sound like beating a tin can with a cat (what can I say I am a very visual thinker) like I have heard in the past. If I were to base the Zbudds on movies alone I would give them a 10/10, but that is not all we would do with our earbuds so let's move on.

For gaming I used an RTS and a FPS next to MMORPG’s these would be the two most played genres on the PC. I used Red Alert 3 for the RTS and exteel for the FPS. Red Alert 3 has some top quality cut scenes in the game, with some very well known actors and actresses. If you have never played the game I suggest checking it out. The cut scenes are in HD and the campaign plays like a movie. In game all of the shots and explosions are very clear and don’t detract from the game, but rather, improve the over all feel.

Exteel is a robot based FPS and the Zbuds pick up all the scrapes, zaps, and explosions very well. While they are not intended as a 5.1 or 7.1 gaming headset they are pretty good at giving a three dimensional feel. You can vaguely pick out where you are in relation to the action pretty successfully.

Music and Speed Test:

When doing a music test I grab a number of genres: classical, rap, R&B, Hard rock, punk, folk, and alternative. Of course the odd time I add country, but country and rock have very similar sounds structures, so I prefer to use a genre I like listening to instead of crying over my wife leaving me for my dog and stealing my pickup truck. Slow your roll hillbilly don’t lynch me yet, I was born on a farm and a lot of my family are farmers, I do love country music in limited quantities for nostalgic purposes only.

Tangents aside let’s get into it. The Zagg Zbuds are incredibly bass heavy, so much so that for the rap and R&B (Ray Charles, Timbaland, and Kanye West) songs I had to play with the equalizer in order to hear the vocals clearly. If you love bass, these are the deepest hitting bass earbuds I have ever heard.

Moving on to classical and folk; these two genres are known for there crisp and tranquil melodies and the Zbuds made this music a pleasure to listen to. Again I used Yo-Yo Ma for classical because the cello has incredible range of sound frequencies. I used Yael Naim‘s song "new slang" for the folk song. It has a mellow to upbeat song progression which gives a pretty good range of music tastes all in one song. For these two types of music bass heaviness was no issue because they don’t have a lot of bass to over power the vocals and melody. If you are a mellow head these are a great choice for you.

For the speed test I used punk, alternativs, and hard rock. Most earbuds [with exception of the Yuin OK3’s and Head-Direct RE0’s] cannot keep up with these types of music. Earbuds usually blend double and triplicate drum notes together in one blurred sound, which doesn’t do this type of music justice. Due to the Zagg Zbuds bass heaviness, the fast hits do seem to blend together. The guitar rifts and trebles tons are a bit sibilant rather than smooth. For my taste these earbuds don’t cut it for these styles of music.

Let's see the final thoughts: