With all due respect, why do KZ (and by extension, CCA) recently decided to use nylon nozzles filters for all their IEMs? They feel extremely cheap, attract dirt easily, and it’s almost impossible to clean them. It’s not as if using better materials would significantly impact the cost either. For instance, TRN provides good metal nozzle filters even for its more affordable IEMs. But the strange thing is that some more old KZ products (let's say ZSN Pro for example) were using metal nozzle filters!
Nylon Filters (Krila) | Metal Filters (ZSN PRO) |
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What puzzles me the most is that KZ is now using the nylon filters across all their products, even for higher-tier ones priced above $100 (such as the AS24 Pro).
A recent (and only) exception was the KZ Symphony, which featured the "good old" metal nozzle filters. Unfortunately, it seems to have been just an irregular occurrence, as all their newly released IEMs (CCA Hydro, Vader, and Merga) continue to use the nylon ones.
Am I the only one who is bothered by this?
Maybe by pointing this out in future reviews, KZ could consider reverting this change? Just a thought.
The mesh plays a part in tuning the sound, usually to damp certain frequencies.
It is their "trade secret", but there must be a reason why they are using certain meshes in synergy with certain driver/shell acoustics.
Such a good point. When will the market be over saturated to the point where people lose interest? I believe it's already past the point of over saturation, but I know there's also a group of folks who look forward to literally every release. The way I see it, nearly every company releases good to great IEMs right now. Internet forums and constant review samples being thrown around are definitely the main culprit here. If you have a sub par release, everyone will know about it, and you’ll be screwed for sure.
I just wonder when the glass will overflow and the market slows down - maybe a year or two from now? We shall see.
Companies nowadays know how to release something that shouldn't sink, eg by following measurebator approved graphs, using a collab name as a crutch, taking feedback from previous failed releases, using waifus or following the flavour of the month (eg tuning switch, 2DD exotic drivers) etc.
Indeed, as of 2024, the majority of budget CHIFI releases are not flops. Most are average scoring, like 3 - 3.5/5, and we have a handful that are very unique or are gamechangers that score higher. But by and large, most are bang average but these are actually much better sounding than the IEMs of 5 years back. Sadly, being average today, is the same as being forgotten after a few weeks, cause a shinier hypetrain releases next week anyway.
Correct. The true mainstream market is TWS. All my kids have them now. ALL 5 of them, plus now my grandkids too. I used to gift them wired, and they'd love it, but now I wouldn't do that unless I wanted to waste money on them. We reminisce about spending a weekend cruising the local audio stores while I went wired earphone and headphone shopping. That is now extremely niche to me and YOU. Go into Best Buy. It's a quarter panel shelf with wired earphones/headphones TOTAL and then 3/4 with TWS of every brand and variety.
Yep, I spoke to a Can Jam Singapore rep at the show (won't mention the company), and they see sales of their products being skewed to 80 - 90% TWS. Wired gear is very niche and the market pool is way smaller than the lay consumers who use wireless for convenience.
I think moving forward, the wired gear segment may just stagnate or even shrink, so companies will go for where the money is, which is TWS. The newer Bluetooth codecs can actually hit quite close to wired sound, and when out on the go in a noisy place, actually one can't really do critical listening too, so TWS may be sufficient sound-wise for the non-hard core folks - convenience is a priority for them.
Bass. MagicOne has passable bass but can’t get my blood pumping when listening to “epic soundtrack”, but this one can do that easily. Like others have said, I think this is the best bass AFUL has ever achieved in their IEMs.
So, the choice is simple to me:
- Want QDC tuning and “kilobuck-like” resolution? P8 (you will trade off bass quantity and midrange naturalness)
- Want great tuning and gentle mid-centric signature? MagicOne
- Want some of magic one signature with bass? Explorer
I can’t recommend P5 for any use caee (sorry aful
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Agree with your findings above. Ya P5 is the worst of the AFUL gang.
P5: Untextured bleedy bass, narrow soundstage, BA timbre. Incoherency - slow bass DD versus faster BAs on top.
Their Snowy Night dongle is not bad too, neutral without harshness, decent power, note edges are not icepick.
