Most impressive IEM's I've tried - and sub $50 !!!

[mostapha]

I ended up buying some of these out of curiosity, because my last set of earbuds died on me. I went for the upgraded braided silver cable as well. I'm fairly sure the cable doesn't connect properly with the earpieces. There's a very different sound from that set up, almost like it's mono, but it it's definitely not.

Did you have one of them reversed?

Out of phase ear buds sound weird but very different from out of phase speakers.

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[astromech]

Did you have one of them reversed?

Out of phase ear buds sound weird but very different from out of phase speakers.

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I don't know. There's no indicator on the cables, is there? It sounds like one of the bass drivers is muffled or in the distance... Only happens on the Yinyoo upgraded cables.

[mostapha]

I don't know. There's no indicator on the cables, is there? It sounds like one of the bass drivers is muffled or in the distance... Only happens on the Yinyoo upgraded cables.

Try reversing one of them and see if it goes away.

IIRC, with the stock cable, it soudned right when the L and R were facing "in" towards my head. The upgraded cable I had didn't have any markings on it, so I just tried the 4 combinations (however I plugged it in, then swtich one, then switch the other, then switch both) and picked the one that sounded right.

I'm not 100% convinced that absolute phase is actually a thing, but in a theoretical sense, at most 2 of those setups should sound right.

Or your upgraded cable is fracked up.

[astromech]

Try reversing one of them and see if it goes away.

IIRC, with the stock cable, it soudned right when the L and R were facing "in" towards my head. The upgraded cable I had didn't have any markings on it, so I just tried the 4 combinations (however I plugged it in, then swtich one, then switch the other, then switch both) and picked the one that sounded right.

I'm not 100% convinced that absolute phase is actually a thing, but in a theoretical sense, at most 2 of those setups should sound right.

Or your upgraded cable is fracked up.

Looking into it, I might have bought the wrong version of the cable. There's one for the ZST/ES3, and one for the ZS5/6...

[Patch]

Interesting........

[deevey]

Well I got the KZ memory foam tips ...

Sound wise - Zero noticable difference to the highs, a little tighter on the bass end.

Comfort level (initially) - much better than the silicone.

Comfort when trying to pry tip out of ear with a tweezers when trying them for 20 mins - not so pleasant.

You would think they would have the sense to add a rubber insert to the foam like the Comply's, but alas they didnt ... so I'm out $3

Bottom line: DO NOT BUY THE KZ FOAM TIPS. GET THE COMPLY ONES

After spending a hundred+ hours with them at this point I can honestly say that IMHO, yes I think there are harsh points which need some taming with most "regular" 320kbps mp3 conversions that you download. For everyday background listening I would not consider running them flat for long or ear fatigue starts becoming a major problem for me.

A reduction of 2db's at 100-160hz, 2-3db's between 2khz - 6khz and 8-13khz seems to be the best all-round compromise for lossy format tracks.

For most folk over the age of 20 with normal "aged" hearing they probably have everything rolled off in the problem zones already anyhoo though

There is only a handful of tracks/albums that I can say sound absolutely amazing flat through these as MP3, actually better flat as you can hear every little beautiful detail - some productions are just "that good" I guess or many of these may simply have been remastered correctly for delivery as MP3/ACC with proper boosts/reductions in eq and compression pre-conversion to make up for the lossy format.

Notable examples:
Anything by Pink Floyd
Anything by Smashing Pumpkins
Herbie Hancock (Though it was you)
Donna Summer - I Feel Love
Anything by Queen
Anything by Michael Jackson
Anything produced by Giorgio Marauder
Chemical Bros - Surrender
Sparks - Tryouts for the Human Race
Most tracks by Sasha
Orbital - Orbital (Album)
Anything by the Bee Gees
Propellerheads - Deckanddrumsandrockandroll (Album)

WAV files generally sound fantastic with them in just about every case.

They're closer to MDR-7506s than HD-25s, if that means anything to you. Though they're not as harsh as 7506s can get.

IMHO... The 7506's have more of a nice crisp analogue "sparkle" to the highs, where the KZ's have more of a digitally saturated type sound on most low quality (lossy) or "modern master" (WAV but louder) tracks. Quite apparent with Electronic synth based music and high range female vocalists.

But for Monitoring/Mixing. If a mix sounds great through the KZ's it should probably sound good on Just about anything ... the sound is almost too transparent. They are ultra revealing, almost to the point of intimidating (especially so in the -100hz and +17khz range). I'm not talking just capable of the frequencies, more the glaring separation of them whilst other elements are banging away. Theres no faux compression of a single driver system when you have a low synth and bass drum kicking along with a high hat and Congos at high volume.

I'm not going to bother with the cable "upgrade" for now - there just seems not to be a point until it wears out or they wear me out.

[mostapha]

@deevey, I can agree with almost all of that.

Except that I have no opinion on listening to lossy compression with them. Because I haven't done it. My listening on them has been 100% Tidal (HiFi setting), CDs, and uncompressed AIFF.

The digital saturation thing you mention is interesting for a couple reasons. First, it's probably your DAC distorting due to intersample modulation rather than any problem with the earbuds. Second, it's kind of awesome that they'll reveal it. Again, I don't have much experience with that, since I duck just about everything (other than my DAWs and DJ software) by a couple dB before they hit the DAC to avoid that problem.

I still haven't actually DJ'd with them, but I really should at some point.

[deevey]

Except that I have no opinion on listening to lossy compression with them. Because I haven't done it. My listening on them has been 100% Tidal (HiFi setting), CDs, and uncompressed AIFF.

Snob

Second, it's kind of awesome that they'll reveal it.

Awesome and yet highly annoying at the same time. When you want to relax, throw on Spotify and then start discovering just how many tracks on your playlist are badly transcoded and/or really bad vinyl rips. The same tracks that no-doubt sound perfectly adequate on "Beats".

The digital saturation thing you mention is interesting for a couple reasons. First, it's probably your DAC distorting due to intersample modulation rather than any problem with the earbuds.

It's 100% not a problem with the earbuds and I would definitely say its more down to Bad Mastering / Bad Transcodes. Which other headphones (7506 and HD25's included) appear to Mask. I'd put it down to the separate drivers.

Lossless files sound picture perfect where you can hear phasing/swooshy elements across a great many 320kbps MP3's (with the exceptions of the tracks I mentioned).

Spotify is testing lossless so crossing the fingers it becomes available soon.

I still haven't actually DJ'd with them, but I really should at some point.

I've never DJ'd out with anything other than full size cans, but I'm sure they are more than up to the task. only thing is you wouldn't look like a DJ anymore

[Patch]

I’ve ordered 2 more pairs of these.

[mostapha]

Snob



Awesome and yet highly annoying at the same time. When you want to relax, throw on Spotify and then start discovering just how many tracks on your playlist are badly transcoded and/or really bad vinyl rips. The same tracks that no-doubt sound perfectly adequate on "Beats".



It's 100% not a problem with the earbuds and I would definitely say its more down to Bad Mastering / Bad Transcodes. Which other headphones (7506 and HD25's included) appear to Mask. I'd put it down to the separate drivers.

Lossless files sound picture perfect where you can hear phasing/swooshy elements across a great many 320kbps MP3's (with the exceptions of the tracks I mentioned).

Spotify is testing lossless so crossing the fingers it becomes available soon.



I've never DJ'd out with anything other than full size cans, but I'm sure they are more than up to the task. only thing is you wouldn't look like a DJ anymore

Yeah. I'm definitely a lossless snob. Hence dealing with Tidal 's smaller catalog and still buying CDs at least occasionally.

I'm not sure how lossy compression has survived this long except considering most people don't care.

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