[Hung Tuan]

I'm not a basshead, but I bought Castor Bass out of curiosity. Way too bassy for me.
Yesterday I replaced the stock nozzle silver filter with a 5mm 500 filter. The transparent area is much bigger in the 500 filter.
Filters held up against a window:


Stock filter to the right. (It's silver, but looks black due to the backlight.)

I must say they sound amazing now. Great extension but never sibilant. Still very bassy, but it's not bloated. I'm using them as my "fun set" for hip hop and edm.
Setting 0011 and using Tang Sancai balanced tips.

haha, I guess you are low volume listener. Main weakpoint of Castors are their bright treble.... But their build is like a tank...

 

[SpaceOperaVillain]

Main weakpoint of Castors are their bright treble....

I just ordered these on that strength! Bright (more like bright'ish imo) treble is one of the consistent reasons that I'm a proud but sensibly limited member of the KZ fan club.

When I was leaving my mini-review I saw that AmericanSpirit lamented the sonic absence of the 30095 in the ZEX Pro despite being listed on the build sheet, and he's absolutely right. The top end of that set was capped in the knees and took away a lot things that make KZ's awesome special.

 

[MightyBalzaq]

I'm not a basshead, but I bought Castor Bass out of curiosity. Way too bassy for me.

So you're not a basshead but you bought a basshead set and then complain of too much bass.

Seems like a major logic fail there.

 

[Okcerg]

haha, I guess you are low volume listener. Main weakpoint of Castors are their bright treble.... But their build is like a tank...

I actually experienced more sibilance with stock filter. 500 mesh is more dense than stock and it usually reduce around 4k to 6k and can also even out peaks. So maybe the treble is less pronounced relative to the mids now? Less V.

 

[Okcerg]

So you're not a basshead but you bought a basshead set and then complain of too much bass.

Seems like a major logic fail there.

Not complaining, they're probably great if you're a basshead. Just my personal preferences. Bought both Castors out of curiosity since they´re dirt cheap.
Someone recommended a 450+500 mod on Bass version, so I tried that. Like it better with only 500 though, but YMMV. Tamed the bass and treble became less harsh with the mod. I like the modded Bass version better than the Silver version now.

EDIT. Did some more listening with two 500 filters stacked. Also very good!

 

[rsbyrs]

Has anyone tried the new AS16 Pro X? I'm a bit reluctant to get them as they're not available in the official kztws store.

 

[jbfps116]

Has anyone tried the new AS16 Pro X? I'm a bit reluctant to get them as they're not available in the official kztws store.

well they are on the KZ Global Store on Aliexpress for 37$... seems like a steal for 8 BA earbuds... Not sure I need it though because I have the AS24.
The AS24 has adequate bass, but it helps to use it in 0111, 0011 mode, and with a bit more narrow bore tips, and hooked to any of KZ's AMAZING AZ Bluetooth adaptors and put it in Full power mode, which helps with the bass. They sound pretty bassy then! but the AS16 Pro X has 2 drivers for bass so...

 

[Vanika]

The KZ Vader High-Resolution version caught my eyes. I'm looking for something neutral and this look fair enough for the price. Now just waiting for a review before buying

 

[r31ya]

The KZ Vader High-Resolution version caught my eyes. I'm looking for something neutral and this look fair enough for the price. Now just waiting for a review before buying

Third party measurement by PaulWasabi

Against trio in balanced mode (1111/switch all up)

Against trio is default bassy mode

---

Per Paul Wasabi early impression,
Vader High res is attempt to give Trio better treble
with some success but noted its still "thin" sounding tough he EQ his Vader and apparently it have good treble with EQ

 

[greymousetaxi]

I'm not a basshead, but I bought Castor Bass out of curiosity. Way too bassy for me.
Yesterday I replaced the stock nozzle silver filter with a 5mm 500 filter. The transparent area is much bigger in the 500 filter.
Filters held up against a window:


Stock filter to the right. (It's silver, but looks black due to the backlight.)

I must say they sound amazing now. Great extension but never sibilant. Still very bassy, but it's not bloated. I'm using them as my "fun set" for hip hop and edm.
Setting 0011 and using Tang Sancai balanced tips.

too bassy???it's bass for babies, not enough!

 

[grogg]

In Akros' XuanNV review, at the Trio comparison part, he said since his Trio review he changed from L to M tips and got a deeper fit. Apparently that did wonders to the mids and treble and he called the Trio "a beast".

Ok i tried smaller tips to get a deeper fit and they do sound a little more airy now but can get a bit hot on the high end if i keep it on UUUU.

But smaller tips and UDUD sounds amazing.

 

[Hung Tuan]

Ok i tried smaller tips to get a deeper fit and they do sound a little more airy now but can get a bit hot on the high end if i keep it on UUUU.

But smaller tips and UDUD sounds amazing.

that's the beauty of having switches. You can use UUDD to eliminate the hotness hhehe

 

[Nimweth]

Ok i tried smaller tips to get a deeper fit and they do sound a little more airy now but can get a bit hot on the high end if i keep it on UUUU.

But smaller tips

 

[Viber]

Can anyone PLEASE explain this weird shoot-themselves-in-the-leg promotion for the AZ15 ?? I think they use this again for the AZ20

Does it mean i'll get below 2 hours of battery time on Bluetooth 4.2 for example?

Anyone tested the battery time on Bluetooth 4.2 or older??

 

[r31ya]

Can anyone PLEASE explain this weird shoot-themselves-in-the-leg promotion for the AZ15 ?? I think they use this again for the AZ20

Does it mean i'll get below 2 hours of battery time on Bluetooth 4.2 for example?

Anyone tested the battery time on Bluetooth 4.2 or older??

the official store is this one,
https://www.kztws.com/

and the KZ latest earhook dongle is this one, KZ XZ10 ($64, QCC5171, APTX Adaptive)
https://www.kztws.com/products/kz-xz10

---

regarding that marketing blurb on Bluetooth 5.0 vs 5.2
thats more of the old Bluetooth chip with older manufacturing method that is more power hungry
compared to the newer chip that uses smaller transistor and more efficient design.
while the number is a fair bit exaggerated, it is true that the newer gen could have more than 1~2 hour battery life with same battery size.