I’m absolutely blown away by the VZR Model One’s delivery of an immersive audio experience while playing my favorite games.
During my time with TheGamer, I’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity to check out various headphones from recognizable gaming brands such as Razer, which has pulled me into a world of greater appreciation for high-end audio quality while gaming. So, of course, I jumped at the chance to check out an all-new brand that was in the pre-production phase of its first consumer headphones.
VZR – a company co-founded by former Lead Audio Engineer for Apple, Vic Tiscareno, and film and game industry veteran, Michel Henein – has officially revealed its VZR Model One. VZR’s mission is to provide “Winning Sound to All”, with the Model One being developed for everyone, whether they are gaming, producing professional-quality audio, or casually listening to their music in or out of the house. Although I was provided a pre-production sample of the headphones, I’m absolutely blown away by what VZR Model One already delivers in terms of an immersive audio experience while playing my favorite games.
A little background of my own audio experience: I have always appreciated good audio quality stemming from the recording studio that I have been building up since college – my pride and joy being the JBL LSR4328P studio monitors that adorn my desk and are connected to my recording interface, as well as my PS5 and gaming PC. You’d think that with such beastly monitors, I’d have a bit more respect for my ears when it came to gaming with headphones, but that just hasn’t been the case… until now. The VZR Model One changed my mind immediately – quite honestly, from the second I opened the box that the headphones came shipped in.
Upon unboxing, I’m met with a black, square, hard-shell case with a red zipper and the VZR logo printed in the bottom corner. It’s sleek and durable, automatically making me wonder why other companies shipped their high-end headphones in eggshell-hard cases or simply encased in thick cardboard. I’m already impressed.
Opening the case reveals the intense-looking Model Ones, along with its various cords and adapters for using the headphones on different devices. I was personally a fan of the ¼” adapter, since my gaming and music setup runs through a Behringer USB interface. The headphones are standalone, meaning they don’t have a cable affixed to them permanently (they also aren’t wireless headphones). Attaching the cabling is simple enough though – one input for each earcup – with the cord being a generous 55” long. A detachable boom microphone with foam cover also plugs into the bottom of the left earcup. I plug the 3.5mm jack into the ¼” adapter on my audio interface, position the Model Ones in place on my head, and fire up my go-to inaugural audio test for any audio peripheral that I am checking out: Incubus’ “Circles”.