SONY, while you build wonderful products, this hardware without a music ecosystem is utterly useless and shouldnt even be on the market. All my friends say the microphone sounds very clear with slight occasional static /echoes. Zones are now customized, so no longer you have "Zone 1" or "Zone 2" etc on your dumb dial. The subjective perception of "burn-in" is, in my opinion, the users hearing being re-trained and adjusted to the frequency response curve of the headphone. Its sad because I like the design of the device, it just doesnt work as advertised. This one is fairly noise cancelling and I get comments that it sounds great by my co-workers. They do take some breaking in for me but having had Birks before, I know its worth it. These deck shoes were the closest I could find in my size. I?m usually between size 7 - 7. It is not uncomfortable, or bad in any way, just not super comfy or soft and meld with your both kind of fit.