Zalman are well known to the computer-building enthusiast for their range of high-quality cooling solutions and power supplies designed to minimize computer noise.  With such an emphasis on silence it therefore came as some surprise when we saw their announcement in August 2003 that they had just launched a product designed to make noise - their new Theatre 6 ZM-RS6F headphones.

I was initially somewhat skeptical that a manufacturer of heatsinks and power supplies would be capable of producing not only a pair of headphones, but a novel new surround-sound design at that.  However, with a little Googling it became apparent that these new headphones are in fact a simple rebranding of MM Gear’s M500FL surround sound headphones - reviewed by New Zealand’s PC World here.  Zalman make little attempt to hide this - even the product packaging is identical, using the same distinctive hemispherical transparent dome case that MM Gear supply their units in, and much of the product description on Zalman’s website is cut-and-pasted from MM Gear’s - grammatical errors and all.  However, availability of the M500FL headphones has been largely restricted to Korea, Japan and New Zealand and so their rebranding with the Zalman name provides a welcome opportunity for worldwide distribution along with Zalman’s other products.

next >

---

• Genuine surround sound (1 of 3)
• Specifications and construction (2 of 3)
• Listening tests and conclusions (3 of 3)