Setup, Design & Observations
The build quality is good and firm with quality plastic with metal reinforcement, and seems just a little heavier than the EVO Zx. The earcups are large and surround your ears and the soft leather is very comfortable, this time for those who wear glasses too. An observation to note would be, that unlike with the Zx, when using the 3.5-3.5mm jack, into a PC the sound quality gets distorted and strange, this is solved by using the splitter included to separate the microphone and stereo channels. Otherwise setup is identical to the EVO Zx in regards to NFC and pairing as well as software/drivers.



ANC and Talk-Through
Having experienced ANC with the ASUS ROG Vulcan, I was unsure of what to expect. ANC works by pumping your ears with sound waves specifically selected to cancel out external noise. With the Vulcan, it was audible as 'hiss' and slightly dampened the audio quality. After testing out the EVO ZxR, there was no additional noise experienced, but simply 'felt' as 'pressure' and a dip in surrounding noise, significantly so. The ANC didn't interfere with the audio playback quality either. Ever felt the need to cut out your partners voice? (Well not quite at that level but nearly there!). Most notably I discovered that the ANC did a great job at cancelling noise from PC fans as well as cutting down the noise from busy roads while out and about.

If you have ANC enabled, you can then use another feature called Talk-Through (labelled TT). External microphones on the ear cups pick up and amplify surrounding noises allowing clear conversation with others around you without having to take off your headset. Once turned on, it mutes any music or audio you are listening to, then resumes once you turn it off. Fun for catching people out who are trying to talk to you.

Multi-Media
One of the largely noticeable differences between the EVO Zx and the ZxR while listening to music is the sound stage. The ZxR with larger earcups and likely different driver positioning, there is definitely a step up in quality of engagement you experience with the music. Listening to various music playlists on a mobile device, it becomes clear that there is a much deeper, warmer, smooth buttercream bass, but this comes with slightly dipped highs. Same rang true using USB and jack via PC. Using SBX and the various creative technologies you can create an excellent balanced audio to suit your preference however and certainly doesn't fall short of bettering the EVO Zx, still, some may prefer the sound of the 40mm drivers.

In gaming, the EVO ZxR supports virtual 7.1 via USB and can give an immersive and dominant audio experience as you would expect from a good gaming headset.

Microphone
The microphone was exceptional and transmitted voice conversation clearly and competently through mobile, team speak and skype.