110 MACWORLD SEPTEMBER 2020
PLAYLIST REVIEW: ZVOX AV50 WIRELESS NOISE-CANCELING HEADPHONESSince AccuVoice is intended to make
voices clearer, I focused on music with
vocals. Listening to Tidal Master tracks
(uncompressed or losslessly compressed
high-res audio), I started with “I Got
Rhythm” from Love is Here to Stay, by
Diana Krall and Tony Bennett. I couldn’t
hear much difference at all between ANC/
AccuVoice on and off. The vocals were
clean and well-defined, the piano was
clear and natural, and the drum brushes
were crisp.
The same was true on “Green Flower
Street” from Donald Fagen’s album
Nightfly. The vocals were slightly more
present with ANC/AccuVoice on, and the
overall sound was a bit warmer and higher
in level, but the difference was subtle.
Marvin Gaye’s classic “What’s Going
On” from the album of the same name
sounded great. With ANC/AccuVoice on,
the lead vocal was a bit more present and
up front, and the overall sound was a bit
richer with beefier bass.
“Free Man in Paris” from Joni Mitchell’s
album Court and Spark was much the
same. With ANC/
AccuVoice on, the
overall sound was
richer, the bass was
bigger, and the vocal
was slightly more
present. On or off, the
track sounded
excellent.
Moving on to
classical music, I
listened to Cecelia
Bartoli sing “Nell’
attendere mio bene”
from Nicola Porpora’s
opera Polifemo on the
album Farinelli with Il
Giardino Armonico
under the direction of
Giovanni Antonini.
With ANC/AccuVoiceThe controls are found on the back of the right earcup near the
bottom. The power on/pairing/answer-call button is flanked by the
volume up/down buttons, which are raised above the central button,
making them easy to find by feel. The ANC button is separated from
the other three by the indicator LED. A 3.5mm jack at the bottom lets
you connect a cable to a sound source, and a mini-USB port on the
bottom of the left earcup lets you charge the battery.