14 DAY TRIAL // Zowie can definitely not be accused of lack of originality. Instead of teaming up with some celebrity or thinking of a special material when naming its product, it chose a very specific lake instead.
Lake Mashu is a landlocked endorheic crater lake formed in the caldera of a potentially active volcano. It is located in Akan National Park on the island of Hokkaido, Japan.
It is one of the clearest lakes in the world, and Zowie figured the inherent comparison would be a good fit for its newest headphone set.
The company is basically suggesting that its Zowie Mashu is one of the clearest-sounding headsets in the world.
The set has large over-the-ear cups (long-time comfort), auto adjustment in four directions for said earcups, closed-type design (optimized audio broadcasting), an “exceptional directional sound system” (clear and precise positioning) and a 99,999% Oxygen-Free Copper cable (OFC).
That last bit (99,999% Oxygen-Free Copper cable) is for lower signal loss, and thus a more “complete sound experience.”
“After the headphone was used by the best StarCraft II players from around the world, who competed for the GSL title, ZOWIE GEAR decided MASHU is now ready to be unleashed to all competitive gamers,” the company proudly wrote in its press release.
It took Zowie almost three years to design the Mashu headset, because it wanted to let it indicate the status of the game, and the sense of direction, positioning precision and sense of distance.
Those are quite difficult to render, especially in RTS (real-time strategy) games like StarCraft II. The neodymium magnets in the speakers definitely helped (clean, distortion-free sound even at high volume).
Various online stores should soon start accepting orders for Zowie Mashu in European countries (The UK, Sweden, Spain, Finland, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Norway, etc.). The price will be revealed then.