This short review will cover two of the latest In-Ear Monitors from Knowledge Zenith: The ZSN Pro and the ZS10 Pro. They both were released last month at around the same time and share so many similarities, I won’t bother making separate reviews.

The ZSN Pro is a dual driver – Single Balanced Armature and Single Dynamic Driver, while the ZS10 Pro is a five-driver setup with 4 Bas and 1 DD. Both are updated models from the previous ones released last year. I never had a chance to listen or review the ZS10, but I did really enjoy the ZSN as a budget pick with it’s neutral-ish sound signature that was only $20.

So what’s new?

Well, first off, the shell design on both is slightly changed. They both feature faceplates on their respective shells that are quite similar. The ZS10 shell faceplate actually looks like the ZSN original but in a reflective chrome color, while the ZSN Pro’s chevron marks are lifted off the faceplate, as opposed to the cut-out look on the ZS10 Pro.

The accessories package is the same as before with the newer 2-pin cable and attachment style.

The major difference, of course, is the sound tuning.




For me, these sound almost identical except one thing: the ZSN Pro is brighter and I don’t really recommend it. The ZS10, however, is tuned to have less treble and that makes it more listenable.

In general, both IEMs have similar bass and mid performance, and are improvements in that regard over the original ZSN. The bass is slightly elevated making the overall sound profile a tad warmer, and the mids are not as recessed as before. The upper-mids, which boosted on the ZSN original, has been tamed down, and the lower treble is more even on both IEMs. The ZSN Pro, again, has more treble in the middle to upper portions of the treble region, making them pretty bright.

If you’ve listened to the T2 Pro and the T2, the ZSN Pro is similar to that tuning, albeit slightly warmer. The ZS10 Pro is closer to the T3, but tamer in the upper-mids and treble. Detail retrieval on the T3 seemed better, from memory, but that could also be due to the boosted treble.

Quick Conclusions

Again, this is just a quick review. The ZS10 Pro is worth consideration. I would skip the ZSN Pro altogether, as I prefer the ZS10 Pro more and the ZSN more as well – along with a host of other budget IEMs like the Tin Audio T2, Final Audio E2000, and others.

I’d like to thank Lillian for Linsoul for providing the KZ ZS10 Pro for review. I personally purchased the disappointing ZSN Pro myself from their Amazon storefront at LSR-Direct. They are also located at http://www.Linsoul.com if you are interested in either of these two IEMs.

This review shoot-out will take a look at three IEMs I have been listening to lately that are all in the same price range: $179-199. They are new, but very hyped-up Chinese brands that have seen a lot of discussion in the headphone world lately.

The first IEM is the BGVP DM6, which has been in limited supply for months now due to their overwhelming amount of orders and inability to keep up with demand, since they are all individually hand-made. This headphone was provided to me by Linsoul for the purpose of review. You can find this headphone for $199 through Linsoul.com or LSR-Direct on Amazon.com.

The second IEM is the Tenhz T5, which was also provided by Linsoul for review. This headphone is also priced at $199, and is the successor the next step up in price from the P4 Pro I reviewed previously.

Finally, I will compare both to the Moondrop Kanas Pro, which I recently did a full review on and gave high marks to. As a reminder, this one was purchased by me and was not given to me for reviewing purposes.

Build & Accessories

All three of these IEMs come with premium braided cables and a selection of tips. The Moondrop Kanas Pro only came with 1 style of silicone tips in a variety of sizes, while the other two came with foam and different silicone tips and sizes. None of these came with a proper carrying case. The Tenhz package actually came as a surprise since the lower cost P4 Pro came with a very nice carrying case, so not seeing it in the more premium T5 model was a surprise.

The T5 and DM6 have nearly identical shells, with the DM6 just slightly larger. The Kanas Pro is quite a bit different with a smaller metal alloy shell. Of the three, I think the Kanas Pro and the T5 are most comfortable with the slightly larger DM6 trailing behind. All three are comfortable for long periods of time though, with the DM6 sealing off significantly better than the other two.

The T5 and DM6 both use MMCX connectors while the Kanas Pro uses 2-pin connection. This is really preference, but I prefer the 2-Pin connection more since they are easier to handle and more secure. They also don’t freely rotate after being inserted.

Sound
These three IEMs share some similarities in sound but primarily have distinct sound signatures. The most neutral of the three is the Kanas Pro, which strictly follows the Harman Target curve except with upper end emphasis. The T5 is a warm, rich and laid-back sounding IEM which does roll-off in treble significantly, while the DM6 is a U-shaped IEM with emphasis in bass and treble.




Bass
The bass response of the DM6 is the greatest, and surprisingly not muddy. It’s generally very clean however elevated. The T5 and Kanas Pro have similar bass responses in terms of punch and impact, but the T5 does have a richer and more filling sound compared to the Kanas Pro. The DM6 is easily the punchiest of the three and also extends well down more than the other two. I like the Kanas Pro signature the best as it’s just north of neutral for me and it’s easily the cleanest and most detailed of the three bass responses. The DM6 is the most fun though.

Mids
The mids is where these three start to divert even more. The DM6 mids are recessed compared to the rest of its sound profile. It’s not completely missing though, and is generally coherent. Some female vocals tend to be a little harsh as the sound response starts to elevate again in the upper mid region. The T5 has excellent male vocals with rich and full sounding low mids and coherency through out this region. The Kanas Pro is similarly very coherent, but with a more leaner sound. The T5 does start to sound a little compressed in the upper mids due to some drop off in this region and completely rolled off treble.

Treble
Like I mentioned, the T5 treble is rolled off and generally very tamed down. This keeps the signature very warm and laid-back and lacking clarity and distinct details. The Kanas Pro finds a good balance in the upper mids and treble hovering around neutral generally until the upper treble where it does spike up. Some people may be sensitive to it, however I am not one that is. The DM6, on the other hand, does have elevated treble and unevenness in this region which can be harsh on many tracks. It has a pretty large peak around 6-7KHz which can sound piercing in some songs. I never found music to be sibilant though, as it does drop off in the sibilance range. Generally, I found the DM6 to be a slightly harsh, especially on bad recordings or treble-focused songs.





Overall
The Kanas Pro has already been heavily reviewed by me and was given high marks. When comparing it side-by-side in detail with these other similarly priced contenders, I find no reason not to continue to recommend it as a great all-around IEM for many listeners. It strikes a great balance in sound and should work across many genres, giving users a very clean, detailed, and balanced sound signature.

The Tenhz T5 is definitely on the warmer side, and it’s roll-off on treble even more defines its target. While it seems to be lacking detail and sparkle, it does provide a very comfortable listening experience that can easily be used for hours and hours at a time. The soundstage is also a bit forward and really accentuates vocals, particularly male vocals. I generally am not a fan of this type of sound signature, but I can see users of mid-tier Sennheiser over-ears and Audeze LCDs to like this sound profile.

The DM6 is the fun one of the group. I don’t believe this deserves as much hype as it has gotten, but it is a step up from the DMG and the Whizzer Kylin which are a tier below in cost with a V-Shaped sound signature. The DM6 does provide coherent mids, despite being recessed, but the treble is a little harsh and disjointed sometimes. There also seemed to be a little shoutiness going on in the upper mids, which led to music just sounding LOUD. I don’t know if I would recommend this IEM when compared to the other two, and especially with the highest price tag and longest wait time. It's still a good IEM, but I personally like the other two more.

The TRN V30 is one of the latest budget IEMs on the market and priced at around $20. It's just below the price point of the TRN V20, which I disliked, and half the price of the TRN V80, which I enjoyed. This new one was provided to me by Linsoul for review.

The TRN V30 comes with a similar package to their other units -- a basic box, with a nice black braided cable and, in this case, a basic mic. There is also a small selection of tips. The V30 itself has clear plastic shells with a circuit board look to it that is reminiscent of KZ's latest set of IEMs like the AS10 and ZS10. The plastic shell looks rather cheap and you can see the mold and shell lines pretty easily and overall looks a little tacky and something that looks like a freebie. It is also extremely lightweight.

In actual listen, I found the V30 to be very bright. It's a single dynamic driver with two balanced armatures -- triple driver at $20. That's pretty incredible really, but it sounds quite mediocre. The bass is actually pretty clean and generally lean, which is nice to hear in this price range where many earphones are very bass heavy. The mids are recessed a little bit but aren't really a problem. The problem lies in the extra boost in treble, which I found very harsh and sibilant in some cases.

The accentuated treble makes the V30 have more clarity and brings some upper end details out but it makes it a tough listen for any long period of time.

For the same $20, the KZ ZSN, Focal Spark, and even the new KZ ZSN Pro are better buys. All three of them are more balanced, and despite all having boosted treble, they are more listenable than the V30 overall due to a more well-rounded profile. The ZSN Pro will be reviewed in the near future, and is a brighter, and perhaps more detailed ZSN but some may not like it's brighter signature either.

Introduction
Moondrop’s collection of headphones have similar traits. They have a specific target curve they came up that lies somewhere between the Harman Target Curve and the Diffuse Field Targets, but with an upper end energy above 10KHz. This seems like it’s an approach they’ve used on every IEM across their small collection from $40 to $670.

The Kanas Pro model sits in the middle of their IEM lineup at $179; just above the regular more bassy Kanas, and less than half the price of the Blessing. As a note, this is the first Moondrop headphone of any type that I have listened to, and after this review, this won’t be the last.

The Moondrop Kanas Pro was purchased at full price via Penon Audio, a Hong Kong based online retailer who have great customer service and expedited shipping. This item is also available through Linsoul and LSR-Direct on Amazon, who have supplied me with review samples in the past. They did not send me this one however, but did ask that I compare it to other IEMs that have been provided, which is detailed at the end of this review.

Build/Accessories
The Kanas Pro contains a 10mm dynamic driver within it’s attractive mirror-polished zinc-magnesium housing. Each side is reflects everything around it, but can be a fingerprint magnet. The model name is inscribed lightly in the finish.

The IEM features 2-pin connectors and includes a well-designed copper braided cable that looks as luxurious as the shells. To round out the package, Moondrop added a fabric carrying pouch and a set of tips in 4 sizes.

Given the type of pouch and very small silicone tip selection, I was pretty disappointed in the accessories, especially compared to other IEMs in this price range which come with premium cases and a variety of different tip choices.

Sound
The Kanas Pro was played mostly using my Pioneer XDP-300R and Hidizs AP80 digital audio players. On occasion, they were also powered by the Cavalli Liquid Spark and the Monolith THX-AAA balanced dac/amp. The music selection was scattered throughout different genres, decades, and styles. My typical playlists includes Fleetwood Mac, Alwways, Massive Attack, Chris Stapleton, Vince Guaraldi, Radiohead, Real Estate, Cocteau Twins, Norah Jones, and much more.

In general, I found the Kanas Pro to sound just right tonally, and a completely safe sounding headphone. It’s extremely well balanced between bass, mids and treble, and reminds me a lot of two Campfire products: the Comet and the Orion, as well as the Audio-Technica LS200iS – all three of which, I recently reviewed. These three have tonally balanced sound signatures and all three really focused heavily on the mids. They also have generally similar sound stage to the Orion, though not as wide, but also not as intimate and forward sounding as the Comet. They lie somewhere in-between the two, but closer to the Orion.




The Kanas Pro has just a slightly elevated bass section that is well controlled and tight. The added boost from Diffuse Field neutral, follows the Harman Target quite well, and provides just enough warmth to provide a slightly fuller sound than the Orion, for example. It has a low end that is similar to the LS200iS to me, and extends well, and is lean enough that it does not ever sound muddy and out of control. Some may find it a tad lean.

I originally did with my initial tip selections. After floating around a couple dozen tip choices, I settled on three tips in particular that sealed well and provided the low end the quantity it needed for this IEM to excel – Newbee Foam tips, SpinFit CP145s, and Final Audio Type E tips. I’ll go over some tip choices issues in a little bit.

The midrange has a very smooth nature to it. For me personally, it has a wonderful coherency that is very engaging yet laid back all at once. Where it may falter is that it is so clean and smooth that it can come across as missing a little detail and character.

When we move up to the treble region, there’s a boost in the upper treble which gives the IEM a little bit of air. For me personally, this does not affect anything with the sound signature at all. I find that it provides the needed air and energy that counters the smoothness of the mids and makes the Iave a little bit of fun, when it generally is a smooth and toned-down sound otherwise.




I’ve read on a few forums that there are folks who find the bass a little light (me included early on) and the treble too sharp. As with many IEMs, tips are crucial to sound signature, as they not only provide adequate seal to the outside world, prevent leaks, but also their inherent material properties help reflect or dampen sound out of the driver.

Tips & Mods
I measured several different tips recently and posted the results online. To summarize, it seems foam tips, and specifically NewBee branded ones, provided the more even treble response. All silicone and hybrid tips I tested had a significant valley between 6KHz and 10KHz, while the foams reduced that dip in half. This is followed big a big spike above 10KHz on silicones, which again, is cut in half by the foam tips. In practice, I don’t hear these spikes and valleys in music, or if they are, it’s very subtle. I still tend to like using the foams for comfort though, however the Final E Tips are easier to put on and equally comfortable for my ears.




Following my general review of the Kanas Pro, I tried to do some modding. This was really the result of an accident, as I was trying to make custom tips using Radians ear molding compound, and covered the vent hole and actually ended up pushing some of it in to the vent. To correct this, I removed the grill on the nozzle, which is held in-place as a sticker, and is easily removed and replaced, and then let the mold debris roll out.


Open Vent (Red) vs Stock (Blue)


In doing this, I ended up measuring what happens if you remove the grill completely, which increased the treble pretty significantly (and not super pleasantly). I then found out that there is also another sticker-applied grill covering the vent that is closest to the nozzle and determined that this hole, if fully exposed, controls the bass quantity. Having the hole exposed completely wipes away all bass and most of your lower mids. Don’t do that.

So, this started my journey into modifying things – and mostly because in the process, I lost one of the grill stickers, and still cannot locate it today. I ended up vacuuming my room and who knows if it even exists anymore.

I tried to replace the grill with other materials – mainly craft felt material and varying amounts of cut up ear bud foams. I ended up sticking with a small amount of the ear bud foam that I cut a square out and rolled up and inserted into each nozzle. This actually tames the treble peak slightly, while also keeping the upper-mids and lower treble similarly, if not identically, to the stock grill.

See the measurements below for the mods I performed.


Comparisons

The following are brief comparisons between the Moondrop Kanas Pro and several competing IEMs that are new to market or popular in the headphone industry. The BGVP DM6 and DMG, Tenhz T5, and Tin Hifi T3 were provided for review by Linsoul, while the Campfire Orion was loaned for review by Headphones.com. The Campfire Comet was previously purchased by myself directly from Campfire and later sold, however I also received it on loan more recently by Headphones.com for review.




BGVP DM6
I found the DM6 to have heavier bass and peakier treble – essentially more V-shaped than the Kanas Pro. I also found the DM6 a bit shouty compared to the KP. It does have an edgier sound to it, which can be fun and exciting, but in general, my personal preferences go towards the Kanas Pro. The BGVP DM6 will get a full review in the near future.

Tenhz T5
The Tenhz T5 will also be receiving a full review treatment in the near future. This IEM has a darker tone to it than both the DM6 and the Kanas Pro. It’s actually quite relaxing to listen to but I found that occasionally that the mids and treble sound a bit compressed and low-fi. This could be due to the laid-back tuning or it could just be poor detail retrieval. It also has a smaller soundstage than the Kanas Pro, but does come with a wonderful set of accessories (tips, case, cable, etc).


Campfire Orion
In my previous review of the Orion, I gave them a very favorable review, however I did find them perhaps costing a little pricey given the competition. At the time of their release, I believe they would have been a great value, but there’s a lot more competitive, and cheaper, IEMs out there now that it’s harder to recommend the Orion. The Kanas Pro and the Orion, to me, have very similar traits and sound signatures, however the Kanas Pro does extend better on both ends of the spectrum with a slightly more warmer bass region that is generally more favorable to many. The Orion’s total package of accessories (and there’s a lot them) and customer service can’t be beat though.

Campfire Comet
Like the Orion above, the Comet has accessories included that make other competition seem quite lacking. The build quality of the Comet and Kanas Pro are quite similar, with their shiny bodies, however the Comet has intricacies in their stainless-steel housing that is unrivaled at $199. In terms of sound signature, the Comet is a more mid-centric, thicker, and mid-forward sound and lacks the extension on both ends of the spectrum that the Kanas Pro has. Both are good all-arounder choices however at this price point, however in terms of pure sound quality alone, I find the Kanas Pro a better value.

Tin Hifi T3
The Tin Hifi T3 is another recent release and has a similar neutral sound signature. The T3 has a flatter bass response and a bigger treble peak in the sibilance region that the Kanas Pro does not. The KP, instead, drops off in this same region, and peaks up in the upper treble above 10KHz. Besides that, both excel in the mids for their respective price classes. The T3 is $100 less than the Kanas Pro and is well worth it’s value, as is the Kanas Pro at it’s price tag.

BGVP DMG
The DMG is a small step below in price than the Kanas Pro and really is a different sound in general. The DMG has a traditional V-Shape sound signature that I find tasteful for certain genres due to how surprisingly coherent the mids and mids-to-treble transition is. This is quite a contentious IEM however, as some find it quite bassy and treble harsh, and others (like me) find it only slightly bassy and only slightly harsh. It is definitely song and recording dependent (and perhaps source too). The Kanas Pro, on the other hand, is a smoother and more neutral/balanced listen. Both feature simple metal shells that seem quite well made and durable.



Overall
In general, I found the Moondrop Kanas Pro to be an extremely welcoming IEM at its price range. I think it has a very engaging and enjoyable sound signature that can appeal to many users and genres. It’s not for the bassheads out there, but for someone who wants a neutral-warm sound signature that you can listen for hours on end without fatigue, but still have enough detail to catch little things here and there, this is a great IEM to check out.

The build is exceptional and attractive, and the only major flaws with the overall presentation is the lack of accessories, which is typically more plentiful at this price point, when looking at its competition. However, these small things may not be that big of a deal – I, for one, hardly ever use the tips that come with any product and perhaps only use the included carrying cases half the time anyway. The cable that the Kanas Pro comes with is quite nice and that’s a standout in the package.


So again, this is a recommended pick for me without hesitation, as it’s quickly becoming my go-to IEM over my much more expensive ones I own, including my Custom Unique Melody ME1 IEM.

Introduction

Tin Audio has been one of the rising stars in Chinese earphones the past 2 years with the release of their Tin Audio T2 and T2 Pro in-ear monitor headphones. The T2 and T2 Pro were previously reviewed by me and received high marks due to their clean, neutral sound signature, and budget price.

Tin Hifi is back at it again with their T3 model and this one replaces one of the dynamic drivers with a single BA and is a hybrid model instead of the dual dynamics of the previous generations. In this new scheme, the dynamic controls the bass region, while the BA handles the upper mids and treble.

The T3 is available now at Massdrop exclusively but will be available on Amazon via LSR-Direct, Ali Express and other stores, including Linsoul.com who provided me this exclusive preview sample unit prior to market.

Accessories & Build



The T3 comes in a similar but larger blue faux-leather box with a window cutout to show off the hardware. Inside, you’ll find the T3 with a slightly different housing and a very premium yellow/silver cable that has quality mmcx and 3.5mm connectors. This cable has heat shrunk bends to it so the T3 is meant to be worn over-ears. In addition, three types of tips are included in various sizes in this set. The default tip is a silver memory foam one, which is a bit large for my liking.

I never found the T2 and T2 Pro that comfortable to as an over-ear style earphone, but with the T3 barrel being slightly longer, it does help a little bit with fit. While the new cable is gorgeous to look at, and feels great, the hooked cable along with mmcx connectors, which allow the cable to move around freely, makes it hard to get a good fit wearing up. I switched it out with a cable I have that does not have memory wire and it can now freely move to wear it needs to go quickly without re-adjustments. For this review, I mainly used Comply foam tips.


Sources
This review of the Tin T3 was heavily auditioned on the Pioneer XDP-300R Digital Audio Player using a 2.5mm balanced cable from ****. In addition to this primary setup, I also tried it with the Hidizs AP80, and Monolith THX-AAA Balanced DAC/Amp and iPad Mini.

For music, I listened to some random playlists and various artists including: Norah Jones, Fleetwood Mac, U137, Cigarettes after Sex, Kenny Chesney, Coldplay, Massive Attack, Cocteau Twins, Alvvays, and others.


Sound
Generally, I find the T3 similar to the T2 and T2 Pro where they are all diffuse-field neutrally-tuned but with upper end energy that makes them a little bright. Some people may hate this and find it harsh and sibilant, while others, like me, are perfectly fine with this type of tuning. Let’s try to go over it with some comparisons thrown in-between.



The bass region, measured, remains very similar. And that’s kind of true. The T3 has very clean, linear-ish low end, but it does feel weightier and more extended than the T2 and T2 Pro. In Massive Attack’s “Unfinished Symphony,” the opening few seconds has a much more rumble and punch to it then it ever sounded and felt like on the previous models. Perhaps its due to some slight tuning differences, though the vent holes are pretty much the same size and location as before, but I don’t know if the driver has changed within.

Another explanation is that the mids and treble have been more balanced than before, which would help bring the bass higher up in the mix. The mids are more coherent this time around and thanks to the new BA driver, the details are quite good with improved soundstage that’s similar to the T2 Pro. Male vocals like Kenny Chesney in his popular song, “You and Tequila”, sounds excellent. Likewise, I found Chris Martin’s voice in various Coldplay songs to sound accurate and pleasing.

Certain female vocals, though, can sound slightly off. Alvvays’ Molly Rankin sounds just a little too high and strained, for example, in their song “Dream Tonight.” The T3 treble can be a little hot. The lower treble has been toned down with the new driver and there is no longer as large of a peak in this region, but there is still some elevated peak starting at around 8-10KHz that can cause some sibilance and some harsh graininess in some tracks. In my measurements, a lot of the upper treble is basically missing or rolled off as well. This was an area where the T2 Pro improved upon, adding more extension in the treble, but it also created much higher peaks in the rest of the region causing some to find it very high pitched and unnatural.

The T3 luckily lowers most of the frequency response closer to neutral in general, and with a weightier bass, really balances out better than the T2 and T2 Pro. The treble peak around 8-10KHz can be a deal breaker for some, but I found that EQing this area down just 3-4dB and increasing the 1-2KHz area up 1-2dB can really improve the overall tonality and timbre. It removed sibilance from songs from Norah Jones and other female vocals with emphasized “S” and made some unnatural sounding high pitched instruments sound more normal again.

Wrap-Up & Conclusions

The Tin T3 is an actual improvement over the previous T2 and T2 Pro and is probably the most balanced of the three. I still recommend it only if you like a brighter sound signature or are willing to EQ it but I find this IEM to have good detail, soundstage, and energy at the price point and with the improved bass, I think many will enjoy it over the T2 and T2 Pro.

If you already own one of the other two, the decision is probably a little harder. I’d recommend it over the T2 Pro if you found the Pro too bright. If you have the T2 already, it’s a toss-up. The T3 has some improved details, bass and soundstage over the T2.

In short, it fixes a lot of the user complaints about the previous two models but does open up a new one with the large treble peak that shifted over the previous models to an area that may cause some sibilance. EQ can manage this and make it a very well balanced IEM for the $69 offering price.

The Scottish outfit, RHA, recently released a fully closed IEM that features a planar magnetic driver in it. While planar magnetic in-ear monitors and earphones are not new, there has never been one that has been made in this smaller form factor and fully closed.

The Audeze iSine series was a large unit that was worn as a hybrid between a clip-on headphone a la Koss KSC series and in-ear canal phones. They sound beautifully with the Cipher cable, Reveal plugin, or the right EQ, but sounded pretty wonky in it’s stock form.

The Unique Melody ME1 was released shortly after the original iSine 10 and 20 were released and featured a more traditional in-ear monitor style but with a large Audeze LCD series look. It was a fully open-back planar IEM like the iSine before it. It comes in both a Universal and Custom IEM option. I have owned the iSine 10 and the ME1 universal, and now own the ME1 custom.

More recently, two Chinese brands have come out with their own planar IEMs, the **** MT100 and the Toneking BL1. They both feature vents in them, and are not truly closed backs are are available for around $200 each. I have yet to hear either one of these.

And finally, the RHA CL2 at $899, was released.

RHA graciously sent out a set of these IEMs around the world as part of the Head-Fi Tour and I happened to miss the boat during the initial sign-up. After contacting RHA towards the end of the tour, they did not hesitate to allow me a chance to audition these, so I am very grateful for this opportunity to demo them and provide you my insights.

Build and Accessories


The RHA CL2 packaging comes packed with accessories, all of the highest quality. The first thing I discovered was the various variety of cables. The CL2 comes with a copper-colored standard 3.5mm cable with preformed hooks, as well as a silver-colored balanced 2.5mm cable with hooks. In addition to this is a neckband cable that converts the CL2 into a Bluetooth device. The Cl2 features mmcx connectors, so users can also use other cables with it as well.

A small selection of tips of various sizes is also included in the packaging, as well and product manual, airplane adaptor, and a usb cable for charging the Bluetooth neckband.

The CL2 features a hard ceramic shell that houses the single planar-magnetic driver. The closed shell has a shiny, glossy piano black finish and feels very solid and lightweight in the hand as well as in the ear. With about an hour of continuous playtime, I do sometimes start to feel a little ear pain on my left ear, but not as much on the right. This was a little surprising given the small size and good fit I was getting on initial placement.

For this review, I will focus mainly on using memory foam tips, but I also had lucky with SpinFit CP145 tipes. The Bluetooth cable and it’s quality are not part of this review, and I will be primarily discussing how it sounds based on 2.5mm balanced connections when available.

Sound
First off, the RHA CL2 requires a lot of power. Unlike many IEMs, these have very low sensitivity and require a bit of power output to drive them well. I used the Cl2 in combination with various sources including the Pioneer XDP-300R balanced Digital Audio Player and the Monolith THX-AAA balanced amp/DAC. I also used these with the Cavalli Liquid Spark and on some occasions, the Pete Millet Starving Student Tube Hybrid. Some times the source files came directly from my PC, the XDP-300R or the Hidizs AP80. In all cases, files were either CD-Rip FLACs or streaming through the highest quality Spotify or Tidal Hi-Res or Master quality.

My music selection was vastly varied throughout the time I listened with the CL2. My playlist stretches across most genres and my typical baseline album to listen to is Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, as this showcases various instruments and 4 unique singers. I also tend to throw in the mix Chris Stapleton, Norah Jones, The Civil Wars, Tegan and Sara, Radiohead, Olafaur Arnalds, Daft Punk, The Roots, Vince Guaraldi, and various other artists and songs when demoing headphones.


First off, the CL2 is one of the fastest headphones I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. It’s not as fast as the Stax SR-009, but it’s faster than any of the planar magnetic headphones I’ve listened to and I own and have listened to quite a few. It’s also faster than the Focal dynamic driver headphones I have (The Elex and Elegia). In general, it makes the iSine 10 and Unique Melody ME1 sound slow with longer decay time. The transient speed is a bit ethereal in this sense.

While the bass response actually shows a little bit of a hump, the speed doesn’t allow the bass to bleed over at all. It’s very tight and controlled, and even sounds a tad lean due to its fast attack. When listening to it side-by-side with the ME1, the bass on the ME1 is weightier and meaner, despite it being rolled-off, but also sounds slower in comparison.

The mids is where the CL2 starts to fall apart a little bit. Male vocals sound natural and wonderful. Again the bass never bothers the mids, and the lean bass and mids are clean and almost analytical in a sense. It does sometimes needs a little more body, especially if you’re used listening to the Audeze LCD series or the HD6X0 from Sennheiser, or even the ME1. In a sense, the iSine 10/20 have this sort of leaner sounding mids, but the CL2 is even leaner. It is a type of sound I do enjoy though, as is the case in the Focal Elex I absolutely love.

The upper mids is where things start to get a little, well, weird. This is due to an abnormal rise in the upper mids that peaks up around 4KHz in the lower treble and then steeply drops down to 6KHz. Normally, I do enjoy a little bit or presence here, but the CL2 rises over 5-7dB more than I am used to in this region, and it’s an area, again, that I like boosted (see Hifiman HE560, Focal Elex, Tin Audio T2, KZ ZSN, etc as examples of headphones I gave good scores to and share a peak here).

This giant peak does a few things. First, it completely exaggerates string instruments and brings them front and center. It also makes cymbals splash more. In both cases, these sound unnaturally high and harsh. I love hearing the intricacies of guitar work, and that peak does help you hear every last detail, but it makes the timbre off and sound very unnatural. In addition, this peak makes the upper-mids and especially female vocals, sound veiled and compressed and, again, unnatural. I never enjoyed Norah Jones or Stevie Nicks, and Liz Fraser’s crazy voice sounds even crazier.

The rest of the upper treble range is also boosted, but does not suffer as badly with large peaks, though is still a tad uneven. The fast planar speed really helps level off this area though and gives it an electrostatic-type sound to it. Very fast and slightly artificial.

Conclusion

In comparison, the ME1 is quite dark sounding. The ME1 is a shade darker than Diffuse Field neutral, but in general hovers very closely to that sound profile, while can be at fault for a small bump around 1KHz which creates a tad of shouty sound. The CIEM version I have cleans that area up a little bit and it’s less bothersome, while generally evening out the upper mids and treble.

I found that while the ME1 has some unevenness in sound and is darker and richer than my typical preference, that is was much more coherent than the CL2, and that was really due to that large peak in the lower treble.

Luckily with a little bit of equalizer work, and bumping that region down 5dB or more, the CL2 starts to sound more normal, and helps fix some of its biggest flaws. Similarly, the ME1 can be fixed with some smaller adjustments in the raising the treble region a couple dB and raising the subbass up. The iSine can be fixed using the Cipher cable, Reveal Plugin, or some small tweaks using EQ.

What am I getting at? It seems every planar magnetic IEM has some flaws right now, but they benefit from very low distortion numbers and ability to eq to your needs. I think the Cl2 requires the most EQ work to correct it’s flaw, and I find it’s offering price a little high. The overall package is quite handsome and attractive with the nice cables and Bluetooth kit provided though.

Introduction

The Whizzer Kylin is a unique looking IEM with a very attractive blue aluminum shell with a gold-plated Whizzer logo that stands proud of the shell. This IEM retails for $159 and comes in a nice package including a selection of tips and a very nice and attractive PU Leather round case. The case itself, is also engraved with the Whizzer logo and the model name, “Kylin.”


In terms of fit, I found that these were quite challenging to wear. The IEM housing is rather small, which fits very comfortably when you can keep it in. I found the shallow nozzle to be frustrating to keep a good seal and to remain secure in my ear. It took several rounds of tip rolling to finally land on something that worked well enough. I ended up using Symbio-W hybrid tips, though it still occasionally came loose from my ear.




Sound Quality


The Kylin has a general V-shape sound signature with elevated bass and recessed mids. To balance it, the treble is extended and boosted. I found the soundstage to be medium width, and imaging to be good, though not great.



On initial listen, it sound quite bassy, but after swapping around tips, I found the bass to not be overbearing. The IEM features Knowles BA drivers, so one would expect that the bass is relatively tight compared to a dynamic. In general, I found the bass to be mostly clean and tight.


The mids are recessed and slightly compressed. Vocals do seem to fall a little behind the rest of the track, but it’s nothing of major concern. On it’s own, I never felt the mids to be troubling. It’s only when I started A-B-ing with other IEMs that I found the mids/vocals to be slightly compressed and missing something. This was more evident when comparing it to the BGVP DMG, which comes in at the same price range ($149 MSRP). The DMG is also V-shaped but the mids are more coherent and cleaner than the Whizzer Kylin.


When you move up to treble, the DMG also sounds more extended and detailed. This seems to be backed by my MiniDSP measurements when comparing them overlayed on each other.


They both generally follow a similar shape, with the Kylin extend more in the bass, but dropping off more in the treble region. So it seems like you can pick and choose your poison here.




Overall


I found the Kylin to be a decent to good IEM. It has issues with fit for me, and some compression in the mids. It does have good bass response that doesn’t feel muddy or bloated. It’s only when I compare it to the similarly priced DMG that I find some general problems with it. That’s not to say the DMG is a perfect IEM, but in my opinion, the DMG is a better coherent, fun, IEM than the Whizzer – but only slightly more. As they are the same price, I’d recommend the DMG over it.

Note: Bass response can be bloated or not -- depending on tips and seal. I had a lot of trouble getting good seal all the time, so maybe not getting good seal cause a tamer bass response and worse mids, and vice-versa. Either way, there's something slightly off here.

Introduction
Normally, I review one headphone at a time, but since the holidays were a bit busy, my review queue started piling on. In the process, I accumulated two earphones from KZ and decided to do a review/comparison between these two new models from the ever-growing library of KZ products.


The first model is the ZSN, which can be found anywhere between $20 and $25. It’s a hybrid model with dynamic driver and a single balanced armature driver. The second model is the AS06, which features 3 balanced armatures (bass, mid and treble), and is positioned to be in the middle of the KZ lineup with a retail price at around $45.


Both of these products were provided as review samples by Linsoul. As usual, there are no other compensations and requirements besides to provide a review of the product online. As this comes up quite a bit about the legitimacy of these statements – I would like to add that I never send my reviews to the source to pre-review it prior to release, except on Headphone.com which is only to make sure it is properly formatted for the website template. This type of freedom is nice, and allows me to express how I really feel about a product without any pre-disposition from the supplier of the item. In this case, Linsoul has been supportive of my reviews, and has pretty much been hands-off in the process except for requesting I post links to the products as part of my review – which are here:


KZ ZSN:

https://amzn.to/2M5NnkA


KZ AS06:

https://amzn.to/2M5gPXU


Packaging and Build Quality

Both products feature similar accessories and both have acrylic housing containing the drivers. The ZSN differs in that it has a metal faceplate which actually looks quite premium compared to the AS06. The AS06 shares the same housing as the AS10, which I found to be very mediocre and boring. The only difference is that it has an inner metallic plate with “6 Balanced Armatures” scribed on it. It’s sort of a lie, since there’s only 3 in each side.

The ZSN is also a little bit smaller and shaped to conform to my ears better. The AS06 has the same large size that makes it a little challenging to fit correctly in my ears without fear that it will pop out. When it does sit correctly, it does feel large and uncomfortable. In contrast to this, the ZSN is quite comfortable to wear for long time and is lighter weight.



Both feature braided cables with preformed hooks which is a nice change from the previous memory wire cables that KZ was known for. The cables are a bit sticky and can get tangled and messy pretty easily though, but I still find them very attractive and nice for the price range they are being offered at.


Finally, the standard KZ “starline” tips come included in the package and come in the standard Small, Medium and Large sizes. The AS06 also has a larger box and a metal badge that I really don’t know what the purpose is for.


Sound

In doing this contrast and compare review, I ended up having two KZ products that sound different from one another. They really share little in common to be frank. In general, I found the KZ ZSN to have a generally neutral-bright signature which I typically find best suited for my tastes. The KZ AS06 was a darker, and more laid back, warmer IEM which isn’t normally my thing. That said, I do like headphones that can fall into some of this category – mainly the HD58X and HD650 which are a bit warmer and laid back.


For my listening trials, I used a variety of different gear. The main device was the Pioneer XDP-300R Android-based portable audio player, but I also switched back and forth with the newly released Hidizs AP80 and Xudoo X3-II audio players. For desktop use, I did limited listening with these IEMs on the Monoprice Monolith THX-AAA DAC/Amp, Cavalli Liquid Spark, and a DIY Pete Millet Starving Student Tube Hybrid amp. For every use-case here, I used the single ended cable as opposed a balanced cable as I typically do. I did play both IEMs through balanced cables but only on a limited basis.


I spent a lot of time listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album while trying out both of these earphones. I also put them through the paces with various acoustic rock, indie, folk, dance, jazz and alternative rock music.


AS06 in detail:



My very first impression when putting the AS06 on was WHOA! Bass! It was very dark and bassy with the stock tips. In fact, I got great seal, and it was so bassy, that it muddied up everything else. I swapped the tips out to Rebound foam tips and found that the bass levels were more controlled. Still, the bass dominated the overall sound signature and still bled over to the mids, which are quite recessed. Bass extends well but I don’t find the bass extremely detailed or layered correctly. In general, the elevated give the AS06 a warm, lush sound, but nothing exciting.


The mids barely exist on this IEM. They are really messy. I found the significant drop in the mids to really hurt this IEM. There’s about 10 dB drop off slope in the mids followed by a steeper drop in the upper mids, and then a spike up as you head into the treble region. This is classic V-shaped sound but not executed well. I’m wondering if the sharp second drop is due to poor cross-over between BAs.


Male vocals are the most troubling. I found both male and female voices to sound extremely compressed, with males being worse. Tonality is completely off and distant. Higher pitched string instruments can sound very forward and piercing occasionally due to the elevated treble peak.



An example? Let’s listen to “Dreams” by the aforementioned Fleetwood Mac. Stevie Nick’s haunting distressed voice just doesn’t come out with the emotion I expect to hear on a better IEM. Her voice seems distant and flat – compressed and missing energy. Instead the drum beat and cymbals dominate the mix. The focus of the music isn’t where I think it should be.


On a song like “Marbles” by The Knife, this IEM is a mixed bag. The deep bass notes sound great, and the “marbles” dropping is realistic, but the high screams from Karin and the high frequency cymbals do get a bit piercing at times.


I imagine this IEM will do better in house and dance music, though probably something more along the lines of deep house or bassier music. Anything with extreme highs (and many EDM tracks are, and are extremely distorted and compressed) may not do as well.


The AS06 does provide good imaging, and a wide sound stage which is engaging. Details can be a little scattered as mentioned previously, but overall, the BAs do a good job overall with these three areas.


ZSN in detail:



When I first put on the ZSN, I think my jaw dropped and I was giddy with smiles. This was because up until this point, every KZ IEM I’ve heard had exaggerated bass and treble which didn’t really match my personal preferences. While the KZ ZSN still has some peaky upper mids, as characteristic of every KZ IEM I’ve listened to, it does not boost the bass much at all, to my surprise.


The ZSN has clean unadulterated bass, which I really enjoy. It’s doesn’t bloat into the mids and has enough there to give the IEM a slightly warm signature. For the price point, the bass is good enough. It’s a little lacking in the details and texture, but in general, it does its job sufficiently.


The ZSN mids are recessed but nowhere near how they are in the rest of the manufacture’s product line. Instead, the ZSN has a slightly dry sound that compares to the how recessed the mids are in one of my favorite headphones – the Hifiman HE560. The mids in both are just south of neutral before peaking up in the upper mids. The ZSN, however, peaks up more. This gives them an exciting upper range energy that can sometimes be piercing in poorly recorded tracks or songs that emphasized the higher vocal registers.



A few other things before I do a comparison between the two: The treble on the ZSNs is a little uneven, but doesn’t roll-off significantly, which is a surprise at this price point. In terms of soundstage, I find that the ZSN to have a nice medium to wide stage, and imaging is good, especially at this price (repeat theme here).


Overall Comparison

Obviously, these two KZ products differ quite a bit. The ZSN is closer to neutral than any other KZ I’ve had a chance to listen to, and leans slightly bright. The AS06 is also closer to neutral than a lot of the other KZ products, but leans darker, while still retaining a general V-shape signature. It takes a much more laid back, euphoric approach.


The ZSN and AS06 both can run into sibilance and harsh periods, especially if mastering or bitrate is poor, due to steep slopes from the recessed mids to upper mids and treble. I found both to have some unevenness throughout the treble region, with the ZSN winning due to the cleaner transition between the mids and treble. The AS06, in comparison, sounds quite veiled and compressed through the mids – to the point of sound very low-fi.


The AS06, however, excels in the bass region. It has good low end extension, quality and quantity. If you are looking for something that can shake and bump and overall pleasantly warm, the AS06 does well for its $45 price. The ZSN just can’t match in this department, however, it provides a more audiophile neutral bass response that is cleaner and does not accidentally bleed over and mask vocals with heavy bass lines.

Real Comparisons

KZ AS06 vs KZ AS10



This is the real comparison. The AS10 sounds more detailed and airy compared to the AS06, and this is probably due to its extended and increased upper mids and treble. The AS06 sounds more veiled and compressed instead. I prefer the AS06 in the bass department though, as it does not bleed as much, and feels more controlled in general than the AS10.

The AS10 and AS06 share similar housing and therefore fit should be exactly the same. There’s an approximately $15 gap between the two models, and it’s a tough call. I personally would take the AS10 over the AS06, but in general, I wouldn’t buy either for myself personally.


KZ ZSN vs Tin Audio T2



These two IEMs share a lot of commonalities. They are generally neutral sounding budget IEMs that have a sharp peak in the upper mids (3-5KHz) region that can be prone to sibilance and harshness. The general difference, however, is that the T2 does have better treble extension, but a much leaner bass response. The ZSN has a slightly warmer sound due to having about +3dB more bass response, which I think many will enjoy, myself included.

I had slotted the T2 as one of my favorite budget IEM kings, and the ZSN is going to surpass it as one of the best value to performance IEMs on the market. This isn’t something common for me to bestow on Knowledge Zenith, as I’ve never been a fan of any of their IEMs until now. The ZSN is a really good choice, and a great all arounder with small coherence issues and upper harshness that can occasionally rear its head. Those things are rather small for the $20 asking price though.

Introduction
Normally, I review one headphone at a time, but since the holidays were a bit busy, my review queue started piling on. In the process, I accumulated two earphones from KZ and decided to do a review/comparison between these two new models from the ever-growing library of KZ products.


The first model is the ZSN, which can be found anywhere between $20 and $25. It’s a hybrid model with dynamic driver and a single balanced armature driver. The second model is the AS06, which features 3 balanced armatures (bass, mid and treble), and is positioned to be in the middle of the KZ lineup with a retail price at around $45.


Both of these products were provided as review samples by Linsoul. As usual, there are no other compensations and requirements besides to provide a review of the product online. As this comes up quite a bit about the legitimacy of these statements – I would like to add that I never send my reviews to the source to pre-review it prior to release, except on Headphone.com which is only to make sure it is properly formatted for the website template. This type of freedom is nice, and allows me to express how I really feel about a product without any pre-disposition from the supplier of the item. In this case, Linsoul has been supportive of my reviews, and has pretty much been hands-off in the process except for requesting I post links to the products as part of my review – which are here:


KZ ZSN:

https://amzn.to/2M5NnkA


KZ AS06:

https://amzn.to/2M5gPXU


Packaging and Build Quality

Both products feature similar accessories and both have acrylic housing containing the drivers. The ZSN differs in that it has a metal faceplate which actually looks quite premium compared to the AS06. The AS06 shares the same housing as the AS10, which I found to be very mediocre and boring. The only difference is that it has an inner metallic plate with “6 Balanced Armatures” scribed on it. It’s sort of a lie, since there’s only 3 in each side.

The ZSN is also a little bit smaller and shaped to conform to my ears better. The AS06 has the same large size that makes it a little challenging to fit correctly in my ears without fear that it will pop out. When it does sit correctly, it does feel large and uncomfortable. In contrast to this, the ZSN is quite comfortable to wear for long time and is lighter weight.



Both feature braided cables with preformed hooks which is a nice change from the previous memory wire cables that KZ was known for. The cables are a bit sticky and can get tangled and messy pretty easily though, but I still find them very attractive and nice for the price range they are being offered at.


Finally, the standard KZ “starline” tips come included in the package and come in the standard Small, Medium and Large sizes. The AS06 also has a larger box and a metal badge that I really don’t know what the purpose is for.


Sound

In doing this contrast and compare review, I ended up having two KZ products that sound different from one another. They really share little in common to be frank. In general, I found the KZ ZSN to have a generally neutral-bright signature which I typically find best suited for my tastes. The KZ AS06 was a darker, and more laid back, warmer IEM which isn’t normally my thing. That said, I do like headphones that can fall into some of this category – mainly the HD58X and HD650 which are a bit warmer and laid back.


For my listening trials, I used a variety of different gear. The main device was the Pioneer XDP-300R Android-based portable audio player, but I also switched back and forth with the newly released Hidizs AP80 and Xudoo X3-II audio players. For desktop use, I did limited listening with these IEMs on the Monoprice Monolith THX-AAA DAC/Amp, Cavalli Liquid Spark, and a DIY Pete Millet Starving Student Tube Hybrid amp. For every use-case here, I used the single ended cable as opposed a balanced cable as I typically do. I did play both IEMs through balanced cables but only on a limited basis.


I spent a lot of time listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album while trying out both of these earphones. I also put them through the paces with various acoustic rock, indie, folk, dance, jazz and alternative rock music.


AS06 in detail:



My very first impression when putting the AS06 on was WHOA! Bass! It was very dark and bassy with the stock tips. In fact, I got great seal, and it was so bassy, that it muddied up everything else. I swapped the tips out to Rebound foam tips and found that the bass levels were more controlled. Still, the bass dominated the overall sound signature and still bled over to the mids, which are quite recessed. Bass extends well but I don’t find the bass extremely detailed or layered correctly. In general, the elevated give the AS06 a warm, lush sound, but nothing exciting.


The mids barely exist on this IEM. They are really messy. I found the significant drop in the mids to really hurt this IEM. There’s about 10 dB drop off slope in the mids followed by a steeper drop in the upper mids, and then a spike up as you head into the treble region. This is classic V-shaped sound but not executed well. I’m wondering if the sharp second drop is due to poor cross-over between BAs.


Male vocals are the most troubling. I found both male and female voices to sound extremely compressed, with males being worse. Tonality is completely off and distant. Higher pitched string instruments can sound very forward and piercing occasionally due to the elevated treble peak.



An example? Let’s listen to “Dreams” by the aforementioned Fleetwood Mac. Stevie Nick’s haunting distressed voice just doesn’t come out with the emotion I expect to hear on a better IEM. Her voice seems distant and flat – compressed and missing energy. Instead the drum beat and cymbals dominate the mix. The focus of the music isn’t where I think it should be.


On a song like “Marbles” by The Knife, this IEM is a mixed bag. The deep bass notes sound great, and the “marbles” dropping is realistic, but the high screams from Karin and the high frequency cymbals do get a bit piercing at times.


I imagine this IEM will do better in house and dance music, though probably something more along the lines of deep house or bassier music. Anything with extreme highs (and many EDM tracks are, and are extremely distorted and compressed) may not do as well.


The AS06 does provide good imaging, and a wide sound stage which is engaging. Details can be a little scattered as mentioned previously, but overall, the BAs do a good job overall with these three areas.


ZSN in detail:



When I first put on the ZSN, I think my jaw dropped and I was giddy with smiles. This was because up until this point, every KZ IEM I’ve heard had exaggerated bass and treble which didn’t really match my personal preferences. While the KZ ZSN still has some peaky upper mids, as characteristic of every KZ IEM I’ve listened to, it does not boost the bass much at all, to my surprise.


The ZSN has clean unadulterated bass, which I really enjoy. It’s doesn’t bloat into the mids and has enough there to give the IEM a slightly warm signature. For the price point, the bass is good enough. It’s a little lacking in the details and texture, but in general, it does its job sufficiently.


The ZSN mids are recessed but nowhere near how they are in the rest of the manufacture’s product line. Instead, the ZSN has a slightly dry sound that compares to the how recessed the mids are in one of my favorite headphones – the Hifiman HE560. The mids in both are just south of neutral before peaking up in the upper mids. The ZSN, however, peaks up more. This gives them an exciting upper range energy that can sometimes be piercing in poorly recorded tracks or songs that emphasized the higher vocal registers.



A few other things before I do a comparison between the two: The treble on the ZSNs is a little uneven, but doesn’t roll-off significantly, which is a surprise at this price point. In terms of soundstage, I find that the ZSN to have a nice medium to wide stage, and imaging is good, especially at this price (repeat theme here).


Overall Comparison

Obviously, these two KZ products differ quite a bit. The ZSN is closer to neutral than any other KZ I’ve had a chance to listen to, and leans slightly bright. The AS06 is also closer to neutral than a lot of the other KZ products, but leans darker, while still retaining a general V-shape signature. It takes a much more laid back, euphoric approach.


The ZSN and AS06 both can run into sibilance and harsh periods, especially if mastering or bitrate is poor, due to steep slopes from the recessed mids to upper mids and treble. I found both to have some unevenness throughout the treble region, with the ZSN winning due to the cleaner transition between the mids and treble. The AS06, in comparison, sounds quite veiled and compressed through the mids – to the point of sound very low-fi.


The AS06, however, excels in the bass region. It has good low end extension, quality and quantity. If you are looking for something that can shake and bump and overall pleasantly warm, the AS06 does well for its $45 price. The ZSN just can’t match in this department, however, it provides a more audiophile neutral bass response that is cleaner and does not accidentally bleed over and mask vocals with heavy bass lines.

Real Comparisons

KZ AS06 vs KZ AS10



This is the real comparison. The AS10 sounds more detailed and airy compared to the AS06, and this is probably due to its extended and increased upper mids and treble. The AS06 sounds more veiled and compressed instead. I prefer the AS06 in the bass department though, as it does not bleed as much, and feels more controlled in general than the AS10.

The AS10 and AS06 share similar housing and therefore fit should be exactly the same. There’s an approximately $15 gap between the two models, and it’s a tough call. I personally would take the AS10 over the AS06, but in general, I wouldn’t buy either for myself personally.


KZ ZSN vs Tin Audio T2



These two IEMs share a lot of commonalities. They are generally neutral sounding budget IEMs that have a sharp peak in the upper mids (3-5KHz) region that can be prone to sibilance and harshness. The general difference, however, is that the T2 does have better treble extension, but a much leaner bass response. The ZSN has a slightly warmer sound due to having about +3dB more bass response, which I think many will enjoy, myself included.

I had slotted the T2 as one of my favorite budget IEM kings, and the ZSN is going to surpass it as one of the best value to performance IEMs on the market. This isn’t something common for me to bestow on Knowledge Zenith, as I’ve never been a fan of any of their IEMs until now. The ZSN is a really good choice, and a great all arounder with small coherence issues and upper harshness that can occasionally rear its head. Those things are rather small for the $20 asking price though.

The Audirect Beam is a new USB-C DAC/Amp that works on computers and mobile devices like Android phones and tablets. This was provided to me for review purposes by Linsoul Tech. I actually was not expecting this item to arrive in my last shipment of stuff, but it came.

I thought it was quite interesting and finally have had time to try it out.

First off, let's get some specs out of the way.

The minature DAC features the ESS Sabre ES9118 DAC and claims to deliver up to 125dB signal-to-noise ratio and up to -114dB Total Harmonic Distortion. Pretty impressive numbers, and similar to what you'd see in ESS brochures. Finally, the output power is the real seller here, as it states it can provide up to 2VRms into 600Ohms.


Background/Experience:

I've owned a few of these type of devices in the past, but none of them have really stuck with me, despite the lost of the 3.5mm headphone jack on my primary phone devices. I've tried cheap stuff from Fiio like the K1 to the SMSL devices to the higher end Sabaj DA3.

All of these devices do their job as intended but have always had one big issue for me and that is the power. Yes, many of them have weak power but I'm talking more about power consumption. These do not have batteries in them, so powering them does drain your device. This isn't a big problem on a computer where it's already powered to an outlet, but using it on a mobile device can be a burden on the device's battery.

Since it uses USB-C, the mobile device can't charge at the same time, unless you carry around a mobile hub with you that has USB Power Passthrough (I actually do have a couple of these...).

So, none of them really fit the bill for me. But I'm still interested in hearing how this one works.

I've had a little more luck with the battery-powered ones like the Fiio Q1/Q1 Mk 2 and the ES100 Bluetooth/USB Amp. They work well and can power themselves, though not as easy to carry around as these tiny little "dongles." (I hate that term!)






Build and Accessories:

The device is made out of lightweight aluminum and is quite small. It's about the same size as the SMSL and Sabaj units I've tried in the past and slimmer than the popular AudioQuest Dragonfly series.

The left side of the device features a very odd springy toggle that controls source volume and when pressed in, controls Play/Pause. This is a unique look, and I must say, I do not like it at all. It's very easy to trigger volume up and down and even more likely to accidentally pause music.

The device does come with a nice selection of OTG cables though. It includes a USB-A to USB-C, USB-C to USB-C, and a Lightning to USB-C cable for use with your computer, android, and iOS devices. The cables are well designed and attractive, more so than the ones that came with my FiiO Q1 Mk2.


Sound/Usability:

I've tried this device with my computer as well as an Android device. I have not tried it on my iPad yet. Pairing it with these devices was as simple as plug and play. Both my Windows 10 laptop and my Android Pie phone was able to recognize and switch over to it immediately and I didn't miss a beat.

Volume on this device is plenty. There's a lot of spare headroom even on my Hifiman HE560 planar over-ear headphone. I originally plugged the Unique Melody ME1 IEM into it and was a bit shocked at how loud it sounded with my Windows volume down at 8.

I then tried plugging in the Campfire Orion, which I have on loan from Headphones.com. The Campfire IEM is notoriously sensitive to hiss and noise, and I am happy to report that the Audirect Beam does not have any noticeable noise at all with the Orion.

Finally, I gave it a good listen through some of my playlists. This IEM has a similar sound to what I find a lot of ESS Sabre DACs sound like -- very detailed, analytical and neutral/cold. The treble is accentuated on these and as mentioned, sound very clean and detailed. What I found missing right off the bat was the low end presence. It lacked bass.

I threw on a test track, Massive Attack's Unfinished Symphony, slapped on my HE560 and didn't feel overwhelmed with rumbling extension. The bass was very clean, but was missing the oomph I expect. Just to make myself assured, I unplugged the headphones and plugged it back into the Monolith THX-AAA amp on my desk and played the same track at a similar (normalized) volume and I could feel the energy of the opening bit of that track and some rumble around my ear pads. It's that sensation I was missing in the Beam.

So just to compare, I decided to plug the headphone into my laptop directly. Now, this isn't as crazy as you think. My MSI laptop actually features an ESS Sabre DAC/Amp system on-board, which was a selling point for me. It has a surprising amount of detail and power to drive most headphones well. With the HE560, again, I felt the low end rumble that was missing with the Beam. It wasn't quite the same as what I heard on a full blown THX-AAA amp with balanced connection, but it was in-between what I had heard on the Beam and desktop amp. My laptop wins.






Wrap-Up

I unfortunately do not have my other portable dac/amps with me to test with as they are on loan with others, but from memory, I feel like the Beam excels in detail retrieval and clarity, while missing low end performance.

The whole set comes in at $99 and is actually a solid choice based on sound quality and package contents. I did not like the controls however, and that's a big thing for a device like this. The missing bass quantity (not quality), is also another strike.

So, in the end, I find that this is a perplexing one to review. It does a lot of things very well. It does a couple important things very average to mediocre. I'll just put it at that.


Links

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Audirect-Portable-Earphone-Amplifier-Android/dp/B07HP3719J

TenHz is another one of these new Chinese companies I’ve never heard of before until I started hearing the hype of forums and then getting my own set of these to try out. From what I understand, they recently re-branded from another name, Audbos, who I admittedly had never head of before either.

Linsoul provided me the companies’ latest 4-BA IEM, the P4 Pro, for review purposes. As usual, no compensation was given to me for this review. They have been very good about allowing me full freedom to write honest and fair reviews during our partnership.

The P4 Pro Specs are as follows:
Drivers: 4 Balanced Armature (1xbass, 1xmids, 2xtreble)
Impedance: 26 Ohm
Sensitivity: 110 dB

With all that out of the way, let’s get to the details, shall we?





Presentation, Accessories, Build Quality, and Comfort

The P4 Pro comes in a large white box with a pull-out tray that displays all the accessories and the earphone itself. The presentation is clean and well put together. The first item in the box is a distinctively brown leather carrying case. I assume this case is made of PU Leather and not the real stuff, but it is a nice addition. It’s large enough to carry the IEMs with cable attached, as well as extra sets of tips and a small portable USB amp or Bluetooth adapter. In my case, I can easily fit the P4 Pro along with the Radsone ES100 bluetooth amp in this case, which makes a perfect portable solution.





Just below the case, is are the P4 Pro IEMs and two types of tips. The tip selection comes with standard silicone and memory foam tips, both of which coming in small, medium and large pairs.

Below this insert, you’ll find the silver mmcx cable. This cable is lightweight and very attractive. The IEM ends of the cable have molded hooks that do not contain memory wire, which to me, is a bonus. The cable is a bit springy and therefore does retain some of its coiled shape.

The P4 Pro I received has a black acrylic faceplate with the TenHz logo in a reflective silver on it. Behind the plate is a smoked translucent acrylic housing that reveals the internal components and wiring of the P4 Pro. Overall, the IEM is extremely lightweight due to lack of metals and other heavier materials, but the acrylic body feels well made and durable.

In actual use, the IEM is as lightweight feeling in my ears as they are in my hands. The comfort level of the shape and design is excellent, fitting perfectly into my ear shape without any discomfort over long listening sessions. This is actually one of the most comfortable earphones I think I’ve ever worn. The seal is also excellent.




With the stock ear tips, the actual seal was too much. With them on, I could not hear anything in my surroundings. When I was chewing on food while listening to it, my music would be interrupted with every bite or chew. I was cleaning the dishes, when my fiancée came by and tapped my shoulder and it scared the heck out of me because I didn’t expect her coming. That’s about how good the seal was for me, and I actually didn’t like it for those flaws.

I ended up switching to SpinFit C155 tips and have found them to give a good proper seal, while not hearing every little bite I make or any noise in the cable – no microphonic issues. The remainder of my review will be covered using those specific tips.

Sound

The P4 Pro advertises itself as “completely transparent headphones” on its box and for the most part, I agree with this sentiment. The headphone is probably best described as a tame, neutral sound. I call it tame because it doesn’t accentuate any specific area, and is generally a smooth sounding ear phone. There are no significant peaks in the treble to worry about and the bass is relatively linear but does roll off a little more than some competing BA IEMs in sub-bass region, with less low-end rumble around 45Hz and below than others.

During my time with the P4 Pro leading up to this review, I used the the P4 Pro with the C155 Spinfit tips, along with balanced 2.5mm cables. My primary source was the Pioneer XDP-300R Digital Audio Player, however I also spent some time using it with the Topping DX7 DAC/Amp and the Monolith x Cavalli Liquid Spark amp.





My music selection for this review consisted of tracks from the following records:

The Roots – Phrenology and The Tipping Point
Tegan and Sara - Heart Break
Vince Guaraldi – Live Recordings
Olafur Arnalds – Re:member
Radiohead – OK Computer
Real Estate – Atlas
Common – Be
Chris Stapleton – Traveler

Bass
The bass is lean, and slight but very clean. It does get audibly quieter in the sub-bass region, so those expecting a bit of a rumble may be disappointed. Instead, the bass does provide good detail and does not ever muddy up the lower-mids and provide any bloat.

On hip hop songs like the popular Seed 2.0 from The Roots or the trip hop classic Unfinished Symphony by Massive Attack – the bass doesn’t have the slam and emphasis I’d expect and enjoy, and may sound light and lacking. On jazz songs where the acoustic bass is highly prevalent, the instrument is detailed and easily discernable, though lacking some oomph that some tracks need to carry the song.
When the volume is raised, the bass slam comes back, but other issues arise, which I will discuss more later.

Mids
The mids are very smooth on the P4 Pro. They have a small dip around 600-800Hz in the lower mids but quickly rises again in 1-2KHz range where vocals are very important. I never have any sense of shoutiness based on this and I find vocals to sound natural though with a slightly nasal sheen to it. Overall though, the mids are very coherent and transition very smoothly into the treble.

Treble
On my initial listen with the stock tips, I found the treble to be a bit harsh, but I was also coming directly from the Campfire Comet which doesn’t excel in its treble response. After listening for a little more time and switching tips, I found that the P4 Pro’s treble to be actually tame yet full of detail and air. It does lack some zing and sparkle compared to some other headphones and earphones that have more boosts in this region, but I do not find the P4 Pro lacking at all. It actually provides a very listenable experience that will not become fatiguing in long listening sessions.

Soundstage/Imaging
The P4 Pro does imaging from left to right very well. Depth and height separation are average, while the soundstage is also medium in width. It is not as wide as the recently popular BGVP DMG, but not as intimate as the Campfire Comet.




Power Handling/EQ
One of the things I noticed in this IEM is that it is sensitive to both volume and equalizer changes. This IEM works very well at lower to medium volumes, but once you increase power and add more gain, the P4 Pro starts to become less coherent and grainy.

Slight adjustments to EQ seem to also impact the quality as well. Adjusting frequencies in bass and lower mids quickly muddies up songs and makes them sound bloated. Some people may like the snap changes that the EQ makes – it is very easily distinguishable when a small boost is made, however, for me, subtle changes is usually all I am looking and distortion is not.

For reference, I have tried equalizing the IEMs using Equalizer APO on PC and using the built-in equalizer in the Pioneer XDP-300R, and both have similar sensitivity effects on the P4 Pro. That said, I do not believe the IEM requires much adjustment at all.

This may be explained by looking at the distortion numbers measured by MiniDSP. They are a bit higher than expected across the board. The box even displays a 2% THD value so take that into consideration.




Comparisons
Two IEMs I will write a quick comparison to are the similarly priced BGVP DMG and the slightly higher priced Campfire Comets.



BGVP DMG
The BGVP DMG has an aluminum metal housing that is well designed and simple, compared to the acrylic lighter weight design of the P4 Pro. Both are extremely comfortable to wear for long periods of time.

The DMG offers a more V-shaped sound signature that has recessed mids but more emphasis in bass and treble. That does give more of that bass presence to songs that need it and gives the upper end more energy and spark. Sometimes that does make the mids a little less coherent overall than the P4 Pro though. The P4 Pro is generally more coherent and smooth sounding, and still provides great detail, though will sound leaner in comparison. The DMG gets better with volume gain, while the P4 Pro is the complete opposite.




Campfire Comet
The Comet is the entry level offering from Portland-based Campfire Audio. They feature stainless steel shells that are intricately designed with a reflective finish that is prone to fingerprints. The shape and design is tiny in comparison and can be worn either up or down, while the P4 Pro must be worn over-ears.

While I mentioned in the main review that the P4 Pro sounds a little tame, the Comets sound even tamer. The Comet has a much more fuller body sound to it with a warm, intimate presentation, whereas the P4 Pro has more extension on both ends of the spectrum but will sound leaner and more neutral in comparison.






Overall
The TenHz P4 Pro is a very solid contender in the ever-growing IEM market. It’s one of those ear phones that really makes you appreciate how fast the advancement of low cost, high quality sounding headphones is becoming. Not too long ago, a 4-BA driver IEM was going to cost you at least $100 per BA, and now you can get 4 quality ones for $150 or less.

The P4 Pro does sound like that magical Frequency Response displayed on the back of its box, where it is close to neutral. It offers a good lean sound that is highly detailed at its price point, and will provide a good IEM for long, lengthy listening sessions without any sonic fatigue or physical ear fatigue, at least for me, as long as you like listening at lower volumes.

When volume is raised, or when EQ is used, things can start to sound a little distorted quickly. I do not recommend this IEM if you plan to use extensive EQ or like listening to music loud. If this isn’t you, then you may find this a very good value. The additional accessories are very nice quality and add to the value of this IEM.

Credits/Disclaimers
As mentioned above, the P4 Pro by TenHz was provided to me by Linsoul for review purposes with the expectation that I provide an unbiased and honest review of the headphone. If you are interested in this headphone please check out the links below:

Amazon:
https://smile.amazon.com/TENHZ-P4-PRO-Balanced-Detachable/dp/B07HLZW5NM

Ali Express:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/TENHZ-P4-PRO-4BA-Balanced-Armature-HIFI-In-Ear-Earphone-In-Ear-Monitor-with-MMCX-Detachable/32932428994.html


Measurement Disclaimers
The measurements in this review were taken from the MiniDSP EARS measurement rig. This rig is not an industry standard method for measuring however it is very useful as a comparison tool with other headphones measured on the same rig. Compensation curves, if used, are supplied directly from MiniDSP. IEMs use a Diffuse Field correction which is based off of measurements from the Etymotics ER4 IEM.

BGVP is another company I have only barely heard of. I’ve seen their products and I’ve read mixed reviews about them so I never really tried to buy anything from them in the past. But this newer IEM of theirs landed at my house a month ago.


The DMG is a 6-driver earphone with 2 dynamic drivers, and 4 Knowles balanced armature drivers. The headphone is well constructed with a metal housing that fits very well in my ears. The shiny paint finish looks stunning and its minimalist design is really appealing to me.



The unit comes in a box that has the recycled tan paper look and below it is a nice presentation of two smaller boxes, which contain the DMGs and its accessories. The MMCX detachable cable that is included is silver colored and is very nice. It may be one of the nicest cables I’ve seen included with a Chinese branded IEM. It’s very lightweight, attractive, and soft. It also has a L-shaped 3.5mm connector.


The IEM also comes with 4 different styles of tips, each with varying sizes. There is a pair of foam tips, and then 3 sets of silicone tips in small, medium and large each. In addition, ear hooks are included as well as a cable clip.


The other accessory included are the threaded filters. The IEM has screw-on filters that can change the sound signature, and comes with the stock ones in the color of the IEM (black, red or blue), as well as a silver one for treble boost, and a gold one for bass boost. I found the filters to be very subtle in change and that they do come off very easily – too easily actually, which can be annoying and problematic in the long run.


Sound:



In listening to the DMG, I was quickly surprised by how well it sounded in every genre. I wanted to write a review on these sooner, but I just didn’t know where to start and how to really approach this. It wasn’t a price category I was used to. They’re priced at $140 and everything I have is either half that price, or double that price. I’ve only had a small handful of IEMs in this price point and I no longer hand them in hand. The last one I owned in this range was the 1More Quad Driver and these are significantly better than those in every way. I also had the Campfire Comet for a short-time and I found the DMG to be actually quite similar to it, if not better.


So where to start.


The DMG took me by surprise. They had a very clean sound, and while there is a small bit of warmth to them, I never found them excessive. This is using the stock filter by the way, and my discussion will revolve around the use of this one only to make things simple. Again, the two other filters make very subtle differences, as I will let you see in the Frequency Response graph below.



As shown, the filters have small difference. The gold filter has a more pronounced mid-bass hump and lower treble response giving it a more bass emphasis. The silver filter follows the stock filter very tightly, however drops the lower mids down a couple decibels giving the upper mids and treble more emphasis. The stock filter, overall, is the most balanced of the three.


The DMG has a pretty good warm/neutral sound signature with slightly recessed mids. It’s a very mild U-shape but the treble is also boosted so it gives a lot of detail and air to songs. When looking at it’s frequency response with IEM Diffuse Field compensation; it actually looks somewhat similar to one of my favorites – the Hifiman HE560, though with a slight mid-bass hump (+2-3dB) and earlier drop in mids. Perhaps this similar signature is what has drawn me into this IEM so much.


I don’t want to get carried away. The HE560 is an over-ear planar headphone and it definitely has a more open, tight and richer sound, as well as much more extended on the low end, than the DMG, but from a basic sound signature point of view, they are similar.

In comparing it with the Campfire Comets, and this is strictly off of memory, I found the DMG better extended on the upper end and less vocal-forward. The Comets have an extremely pleasant sound that is genre-independent, and really works well as an all-arounder. It’s only flaw was that it did everything well but excelled at nothing. It plays within the box and doesn’t go out of it – it has no deep bass extension and has a lack of air.


With the DMG, I actually found it to sound balanced well like the Comets were, but extends much more in the upper end. This gives those little guitar plucks in acoustic songs that extra zing, or the cymbals crashing more naturally.


The other IEM I mentioned before that I listened to in this bucket is the 1More Quad Driver. This one regularly goes on sale for around the same asking price as the DMG, at around $140. The Quads have more punch to them, and while still detailed, they lack the cohesion between the bass, lower-mids and the rest of the spectrum. This is really due to the mid-bass hump that’s present to give that warm, punchy bass signature that many people crave. It’s an IEM that’s suited for pop and EDM music, and unfortunately for me, it’s not what I listen to. The DMG on the other hand works really well with what I like – that is indie rock, folk, country/bluegrass, jazz, post-rock and classical.


The DMG does lack a little body sometimes, and occasionally the treble can be a little sharp. The slightly recessed mids does make these points more apparent. So, occasionally, some songs do sound a bit uneven, however, overall I found this IEM to handle my normal listening library with ease and pleasure.




Overall

BGVP really did a fine job on this IEM. It delivers a well built IEM with some small flaws at a price point that’ll make new audiophiles who are ready to step up from the sub-$100 range headphones into the next level very happy. This seems like a very logical step up from the T2/T2 Pro or the TRN V80 I recently reviewed.

The biggest weakness to me, and perhaps are a gimmick, is the filters. They don’t do a whole lot and I don’t really see the value too much in having them. Instead, you get threads that can be easily stripped and become loose over time. I already have found myself unscrewing the filters accidently when changing out tips or just when removing the IEMs from my ears.

The DM6 is the next step up from this brand and I am excited to hear how that will sound. The early impressions on them have been exceptional and the manufacture’s IEM compensated curve looks extremely flat – my ears are anxious with curiosity!



Credits

The BGVP DMG was provided to me by Lillian of Linsoul for the purpose of providing an honest, unbiased review. As with all my reviews, I try to mix an objective measurements/science approach along with my own subjective listening impressions into consideration and to provide readers with my honest feedback.

If you like what you read and are interested in purchasing it, here are some links to the popular marketplaces:


Amazon:

https://smile.amazon.com/BGVP-Fidelity-HiFi-Earphones-Detachable-Audiophile/dp/B07G97FN1P/


Ali Express:

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...with-Detachable-MMCX/2894006_32907564233.html

Focal is a French company with a long history of making high quality loudspeakers and studio monitors. In more recent years, they started developing and releasing headphones starting with their Spirit and Listen lines. More recently, they developed a new driver concept that mimics loudspeaker design – a super-near-field monitor driver – and used it on their flagship Utopia, Elear and Clear headphones. These stunning headphones drew instant praise for many reasons I’ll discuss about in my review.

The Elear is the entry-level headphone of this upper-tier series. They retail at $999 but can be found for about $799 now. The Clear, on the other hand, is the mid-tier at $1500. The Utopia is quite a stretch in price past these others at $4000.

Last year, Massdrop announced a collaboration with Focal and started collecting funds for the Focal Elex. This new model to this lineup essentially takes the Elear, removes it’s pads and puts the Clear pads on them, along with a fresh paint job, improved cables from the Clear, and reduces the price tag by a couple hundred dollars to the selling price of $699. Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.

So how are they? Let’s take a look.

Packaging & Build

The Elex comes packaged in a large magnetic snap box, that opens up with a simple presentation. The headphones are surrounded by thick foam to protect it during shipment, with the two cables (balanced and unbalanced) in another slot in the foam. Pretty simple but effective.

The cables are wrapped in a paracord-like sheath and 6 feet long, as opposed to the really lengthy 10 feet ones that come with the Elear. I found the cords a little stiff, despite looking very attractive. I ended up leaving them in the box and using my own paracord-based braided cables with XLR termination.

The Elex, themselves, feature a darker appearance than the Clear and Elear. The logo is dark on dark so everything blends together giving it a clean finish. The build quality is phenomenal. Everything is well built and sturdy. The alcantara wrapped headband gives a plush feel to the crown of the head, while the metal band and cups feel ultra-premium.
One thing to note with these is that they will leak like crazy. The cups are nothing more than a metal mesh. The driver is fully exposed and completely visible and will leak sound out in all directions. This open-air driver design is all part of Focal’s intent of giving the user a Speaker-like experience.

The Focal Elex is a bit on the heavier side though. Weighing at 450 grams, the headphone is now the heaviest in my lineup of headphones, outweighing the Hifiman HE560 and Audeze Mobius. They are not in the ballpark of Audeze LCD series weight though, so that’s a blessing. You won’t get neck cramps quickly, but for some, the Elex and really, all of the headphones in this Focal lineup may give some neckaches. I found them more comfortable to wear than say the LCD-2 and the Monolith M1060 but the additional weight over my daily driver HE560 shows.

Sound



The Focal Elex has all the characteristics I love about headphones. It has a neutral sound-signature that leans bright, providing additional detail and air, and retains a good deep bass that chooses quality over quantity. That’s not to say the Elex isn’t fun.

The bass on these can really hit you. It’s a dynamic driver that pushes the limits of a dynamic driver, with an excursion distance unlike any other headphone. The most impressive thing about it is that the decay is fast and this provides a surprisingly planar-like bass that has punch and dynamic detail. I really have nothing bad to say about this region.

The midrange is ever so slightly forward. This makes the Elex have a more intimate feel to it. Vocals typically sound fantastic, but with the upper-mids being on the brighter side of neutral, they can sometimes have a metal sheen to them, maybe a little more so than the HE560.

Speaking of the two, in my measured MiniDSP EARS responses, they look very similar, outside of the region between 1-3KHz. In this area, the HE560 becomes a little recessed, putting vocals slightly back, while the Elex moves them forward. The bass and the treble response are very similar besides that.



Some music selections:

One of my favorite headphone test albums is listening to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memory. It’s one of those albums that have tracks that have great dynamics, some with absurd amounts of bass, and some that have great imaging and width. It has a little bit of everything to try out a new set of cans on.

The Elex destroys this album – especially on the last two tracks. Doin’ It Right is a song that has a vocal intro followed by a bass slam that can knock your socks off. When I heard it for the first time on the Elex, I thought I was listening to the full range towers in my living room. The bass slams, but the transient reponse is fast and you get the little textures that you may not hear in a typical dynamic that compensates with a mid-bass hump. This can sometimes muddy up vocals and the lower mid-range. Not a problem on the Elex.

Contact is the final song on the record which sounds like a typical Daft Punk song. It’s got a big build-up before synths and drums go nuts, all with a spacey theme to it. The little faint sounds in the background are clear and distinguishable and you can easily point to in space where they are coming from. Again, the drums slam with enthusiasm but are never out of control.



Changing pace, another track I’ve been listening to a lot lately is Krysta Nick’s Miles Away. This is a folk/bluegrass song with some fiddles, some acoustic guitars, and some heavy bass notes thrown in during the bridge. But really, I’m focusing on her voice. She has a higher pitched voice, and on some headphones, with exaggerated treble, you may hear sibilance in her voice and harshness in each guitar pluck with this song. For me, the Elex handles this fine. There’s some very subtle over-pronunciations of the SSS sound (sibilance) but its very faint and doesn’t distract me like some other headphones may.

As the HE560 and the Elex share similar treble response, I imagine if you can handle one, you can handle both. I am a huge fan of the HE560, so the Elex is following suit.
For EDM, these can be awesome, or they can suck a lot. It’s a genre that likes to heavily emphasize bass and treble. But in many songs, they distort the heck out of both sides. So while the Elex handles bass with ease, songs where treble is already distorted or on the cusp, may sound extremely bright on the Elex. It’s just the nature of the beast really. This is a brighter than neutral headphone, and if you throw really bright tracks at it, it’s going to be harsh. I found this on several songs going through my EDM playlist.

I like shoegaze, and this headphone does this genre well. Again, the fast decay these drivers produce really helps make this genre excel. The fuzzy sounds, the walls of noise, all of that, they sound great – because the texturing of the sound is never lost. But of course, the downsides are that this headphone requires volume, in my opinion to excel.



Sourcing/Amping:

I found the Elex with potential untapped at lower listening volumes. But this headphone with volume cranked up sounds phenomenal. And because of that, I always find myself listening to this headphone at volumes higher than I normally would on other headphones. This, along with the leakage, could cause problems for others around me.

Luckily, the Elex doesn’t seem to need a big amp to drive them. They are efficient. I did the majority of my listen with this headphone on the Topping DX7 balanced headphone amp/DAC, or the Millet Starving Student Hybrid Tube amp. Both have plenty of power, but I was able to power it to crazy levels using my Onkyo DP-S1 DAP, the Radsone ES100 bluetooth amp, and even my Essential phone with a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter.



Overall:

The Elex, and really, any of the Focal line, is one of those headphones you really need to listen and experience. It does sound unlike any thing else. The dynamics have bass quality that can give planars a run for their money, and the upper end provides the needed detail and air that make this headphone a good all-arounder.

The biggest flaws I found with this headphone are that it does leak quite a bit, and can be uncomfortable to wear over a lengthy time due to it’s weight. It is distributed as well as I can imagine given it’s design, however a comfort strap may have helped.

It is a brighter headphone so songs that are emphasized in the upper region may sound harsh. This isn’t really an issue for me on most music I listen to, but for those who may enjoy EDM music, the more bass emphasized Elear may be better suited for the task.

In the end, I am pretty happy with my purchase. This is a luxury looking, feeling and sounding item and it really does come at a good price that Massdrop is offering it at.

Credits:
I’d like to thank redditor oxtoacart (pwjazz on Headphone Community) for selling me his set at a discounted price. I originally purchased a set from Blinq but it was faulty and I had to return it. He also happened to buy it from them during the same sale, but decided to keep another headphone instead. He graciously offered to sell it to me for the same discounted price on Blinq instead of me waiting for the next Massdrop drop to come out. Thanks!

I have never heard of the company TRN before. And so, when I got the V80 in the mail, I did not know what to expect. What I ended up receiving was not a bad little headphone. Let’s discuss.

Packaging & Contents



The TRN packaging comes in a simple and tidy presentation with a white box. The included accessories are pretty standard: the two IEMs, a 2-pin cable, and a set of tips.

The IEM feels extremely well built and solid. It’s one of the heaviest IEM’s I’ve ever used, weighing nearly 9 grams per side. The metal housing is dense. It’s very compact and actually does not feel heavy at all wearing it. I could wear this thing for hours at a time no problem. The fit and isolation are great.

The set I got was in a glossy black finish and it looks extremely clean and well put together. If you clank them against each other, it sounds like you are hitting two marbles together. They are solid.

Sound

The TRN V80 is a warm-tilted neutral sounding IEM. So in that regard, there may be some comparisons to the Tin Audio T2 which is totally warranted. The major difference between the two is that the V80 is warmer and actually has more upper treble and has a slightly more mid-forward sound to it. But let’s talk about it in a some more detail.



I’ve spent a great deal of time with these the past 2-3 weeks as I found them inviting and nice to listen to. But they are not without their flaws. For the past couple weeks, my main playlist selection has been pretty scattered, as is my normal music listening.

As I am writing this, I am listening to them with U137, a Swedish post-rock band who make music that’ll remind you of a movie soundtrack. But I’ve spent extensive time with these with music from Radiohead, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson and other country/folk singers, a variety of bluegrass music, jazz selections, and more indie-pop bands like Chvrches, Tegan & Sara, and Cigarettes after Sex. I always try to listen to Cocteau Twins just to see how harsh the treble sounds as well.

The Low End
The TRN V80 has a warm-rich sounding low end. The bass doesn’t slam or anything. It’s actually pretty linear sounding, much like the Tin Audio T2, but with the more-forward sound lower mids, it does have a different presentation. Whereas the Tin Audio T2 is very linear and cold, the V80 is linear and warm.


Mids and Treble
The mids are slightly forward sounding and actually sound quite good, most of the time. The treble does actually extend higher than some other IEMs in this class with decent air and details. But where I find some fault with this IEM is that while this area stands out, it also can fall flat too. I find the upper mids and treble to be very loose and sometimes sounds excellent but on other songs, sounds unusual and tonally incorrect. This seems to happen more on acoustic or country songs with vocals than anything else. Vocals have a tendency to lose clarity and sound odd. On a positive note, I never found this IEM to sound sibilant or harsh, although, if you’re not used to a neutral-signature, you may find it harsh to begin with.

I don’t typically spend a lot of time on discussing soundstage and imaging because it’s not exactly the easiest things to describe sometimes. I find the stage width on these to hover on the side of my ears, so a good medium width. The imaging has depth to it and you can hear instruments at varying heights and depths – when comparing these to other IEMs in this sub $50 range.



Comparisons

Tin Audio T2
The T2 has a more analytical, colder sound to it. The bass sounds more linear on the T2 vs the V80, which has a more full and warmer sound to it. The T2 mids and lower treble are excellent for this price range and the V80 is nearly there. Where the V80 excels over the T2 is the extended treble, which gives the upper range frequency extra air and depth.



Tin Audio T2 Pro
The upcoming T2 Pro, again, is more colder sounding than the V80 and shares many of the same comparisons as the T2 vs V80. Where the T2 Pro differs is the upper treble extension. The T2 rolls off in this region, whereas the V80 does not. That said, the T2 Pro extends better with more air, depth, control, and details than the V80. The Pro is the head of the class for me for the budget IEM group.




KZ AS10
Spending a little bit more to get the AS10 over V80 will net you more bass and more mid-range and lower treble details. That said, the AS10 may sound muddy in comparison to the V80 because it has more pronounced bass. It’s usually not an issue on the AS10 but if you were to A-B back and forth, you may pick up on some of the upper bass overpowering the lower mids due to the AS10 having a slightly U-shape/recessed mids – where as the V80 has a more mid-forward presentation. The V80 has more air, though the AS10 is more in control in the mids and treble.




KZ ZSA/ZS6
I am grouping these together because, to me, they are similar in sound signature, with the ZS6 being more extreme on the low and upper ends of the spectrum than the ZSA. The KZ pair is more V-shaped, and with that you’ll have deeper, heavier bass, and harsher treble. It’ll give you a fun presentation vs the V80. I think in terms of technicality, the V80 wins. It is smoother all around and has good detail, even in comparison to the ZS6, which has good detail but too sibilant.


Overall

I found the TRN V80 a good IEM. It has some flaws in it, mainly due to some uneven sound in the mids. The neutral-warm sound is inviting and easy to enjoy though, as is the comfort and look. The package as a whole is a budget IEM that I find myself leaving in my ear for hours without any pain or significant issues in sound. I still find the T2 Pro a better option in this price point, but I’d take this V80 over anything that KZ offers today.


Credits:
I’d like to thank Lillian of Linsoul Audio for providing me this review sample free of charge. This sample was provided for my honest, unbiased opinion of this headphone. No other incentives were given to me for writing this review.

If you like what you’ve read and are interested in purchasing these headphones, please check out the following marketplaces for purchases. These are not affiliated links and I do not get any nickels and dimes for posting these – however the Amazon link does help a charity of your choice!

Amazon
https://smile.amazon.com/TRN-V80-Dr...e=UTF8&qid=1533225276&sr=8-1&keywords=TRN+V80

Ali Express
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/BGV...Monitor-with-Detachable-MMCX/32907564233.html

Knowledge Zenith has yet another new IEM on the market. This time it’s the BA10, which like their last release, the AS10, has 5 balanced armatures per ear piece. The spec sheet shows that 4 of the drivers are the same which control the bass, upper mids, and treble, however the BA that controls the mids, shows a different driver number – though it could be a number error.



Disclaimer: I received this for the purpose of providing an unbiased review from LinSoul Tech. The review is my own opinion of it and I have not been compensated with any monetary or benefits. If you are interested in purchasing this item, the following links will take you to some of the popular marketplaces:

LinSoul: https://www.linsoul.com/product-page/KZ-BA10-Earphone

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/KZ-BA10-Balanced-Armatures-Earphone/dp/B07H7NNHC3/&keywords=kz+ba10

AliExpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...ml?spm=2114.12010615.8148356.1.31fb490fiopABg


Presentation, Package, Accessories, Comfort and Fit


The KZ BA10 comes in the same packaging style as the AS10, with a larger premium box than their lower cost options. The inside of the box features a metal name plate, the two ear pieces, and below the presentation is a set of starline tips, and yet another braided cable.

This newer cable is more of a light copper color as opposed to the dark brown/copper ones in some of the recent KZ releases. The new cable is also less sticky and overall an improvement in functionality.

The biggest difference between this earphone and the other KZ offerings, or really ANY HEADPHONE EVER MADE is the shape and size of this odd beast. First off, it looks like Tony Stark had a little fun one day in his mansion and decided to make himself some custom Ironman Ear Monitors (IEMs). The red and yellow colorway, along with the vents and metal housing and square, sharp body all remind me of the robotic appearance of Ironman.

And that housing, everything about it. It looks awkward and uncomfortable. And no surprise, it’s extremely uncomfortable to wear. I’ve written a few headphone reviews now, and this is the first one that physically hurt me to review, because the fit on these is really awful.

I had quite a time trying to find a good set of tips to use, and I have dozens upon dozens of tips in my possession. I ended up finding the best fit with the included KZ tips, ironically. Other favorites just couldn’t go in deep enough, or cause other issues.

Then you have those square corners. Those slightly rounded, but still sharp, hard metal, corners. And that really thick, deep housing. And the wide body length, and the heavy weight. 6.9 grams (compared to say 4.8 grams of the Tin Audio T2 or the 5.4 grams of the KZ AS10). Those all combine to give me a very painful experience wearing these almost immediately after wearing them. The corners dig into my ear, no matter what orientation I put the earphones in with my left ear almost immediately and my right one within 10 or so minutes of use. This is pretty much a dead IEM to me at this point, but I struggled to continue to use it to give it a proper listening before I wrote this review. And so here I go…




Sound

The KZ BA10 differs in sound than the AS10 in many ways. Again, I don’t know if the driver spec on the marketing pages of the BA10 and AS10 are a typo or not, but my listening and measurements actually seem to infer that the mid-range BA is actually tuned differently or a different driver all together.

The AS10 was a U-shaped, warm IEM that had elevated bass and treble and slightly recessed mids, which was balanced in sound with a slight tilt towards warmth. The BA10, on the other hand, is a darker sounding IEM where it seems the mids and upper mids are less pronounced and treble sound tamer and less energetic. But, that said, there’s still great detail thanks to the double treble BA drivers, and although they sound darker, there are instances of very sharp, harsh peaks in the sound. You hear it especially in acoustic tracks where plucks of guitars will sound rather sharp.

The soundstage has got an intimate sound to it and imaging is quite good, both characteristics similar in the AS10 model.





Now, I want to explore the sound a little bit more with the MiniDSP measurements I took. I think that can help explain the differences between the two IEMs in my listening.

The bass region is elevated as stated before and follows almost exactly the same curve as the AS10. While the bass on the AS10 provided a good warm detailed sound, the additional recessed mids of the BA10 make the bass sound slightly more exaggerated in some songs and does sometimes create some muddiness to songs that are heavy in this area.

The upper mids and treble is actually lifted and this gives the BA10 a lot of good detail, though it can come across very sharp as I previously described. All in all, this sounds and the response looks like a V-shaped headphone, albeit a dark sounding one.




Conclusions



I found the BA10 an interesting experience. The build quality is exceptional and I feel like if I threw it at someone (I WOULD NOT DO THIS), it would hurt a lot. It’s got a big metal build, but with this, comes weight and pain. The pain is mostly due to the unusual shape, which is square. Putting a square peg in a round hole doesn’t work. Please remember this.

In terms of sound quality, these have very good detail and an intimate sound that some may find good for laid back listening. The darker sound isn’t something I prefer though. That along with the occasional sharp piercing peaks can be frustrating when you’re getting into a song. It’s the downside of having details to your music. But if it did not have that treble, I can see this IEM being extremely dark.

So for me, I can’t really recommend this IEM. It strikes out on comfort – being the most uncomfortable IEM I’ve ever used, and on the sound signature – it’s just not for me.


This article was originally published on my tech blog: http://www.Antdroid.net

Tin Audio T2 Pro Review

Note - I later discovered that my pre-release review sample was defective and may not actually sound like the final version of the IEM. The filters were missing on my review unit, as seen in photos. I can not guarantee that this iem sounds like a production unit any longer.



Earlier this year, I purchased the Tin Audio T2 in-ear monitor earphone based on a bunch of hype on reddit over it. After waiting the two or so weeks for it to come from Hong Kong, I was treated with a pleasantly detailed and neutral sound signature that I heavily enjoyed. At the time of my review, I had written about it being a budget king, and I meant it.

When they came to me, I had a Massdrop Plus and a Campfire Comet, both substantially more expensive IEMs. The problem was, I don’t typically use closed IEMs very often. They both were legitimately better IEMs than the Tin Audio T2, but the T2 was close enough. And they were 6X and 4X, respectively, cheaper than the higher end ones I already owned. So, I ended up selling them both. This, again, was not due to the T2 being better, it isn’t. Let’s make that clear. It was a value vs performance vs needs proposition, and the T2 did enough for me that allowed me to save money to spend on other hobbies.


The T2 was better than the Noble X that I had owned already too. That’s how much I thought highly of this sub $50 earphone. So, when Tin HiFi announced some teasers about a T2 Pro model, I was very excited. Another budget king to dethrone their previous king?



Linsoul Tech, who market the Tin Audio products, offered to send me a set of T2 Pros in exchange for an early review of the item in anticipation of their exclusive Massdrop launch on 09/17. They didn’t require my review to be positive or negative, and only asked for an honest unbiased opinion. I was not offered any additional incentives, money, or perks besides getting a chance to listen to a review sample before it hit the market.


Over the weekend, I posted my initial measurements and 24-48 hour impressions of the T2 Pro and I was pretty happy with what I heard. This more in-depth review will go over the product as a whole, with a lot of back and forth between the original T2 and the T2 Pro.



Packaging/Accessories/Build:

The presentation between the T2 Pro and the T2 is essentially the same. The earphone comes packaged in a clean white box with the only major difference being the branding being Tin HiFi vs Tin Audio and the Pro designator.




Inside is the same beautiful faux leather blue book-style box that contains the product and its accessories. The T2 Pro comes with the same selection of silicone tips and the same pre-installed sky-blue colored foam tips, which are extras squishy and sticky. Besides a couple product cards, the one major difference that is quickly noticeable is the change in the cable.



The new cable features a silver-carbon fabric 3.5mm stereo barrel that is larger in diameter than the T2’s black carbon weave connector. The cable material looks aesthetically the same, however Tin Audio has stated this is an upgraded copper. The connectors are still mmcx, with a note that Tin Audio says they have fixed any issues with mmcx connections in a recent twitter post.



The T2 Pro IEMs, themselves, have the same exact styling and build material as the original. The Gunmetal gray color scheme is indistinguishable. The only thing I noticed different externally was that my T2 Pro came without a screen. This actually helped me figure out which one was which, but just note that this was an actual defect. The final released product does have the same screen as on the original T2. Sonically, this should not impact sound at all. It is only there to prevent ear wax and debris from getting into the driver. Many higher end IEMs don’t even have protection in this area and provide a cleaning brush.


Comfort-wise – they are the same as the T2s, obviously. They can be worn both cable-down and cable up. I prefer to wear them with the cable up and over my ears, but I have been able to get good fit in either orientation.


As before, the isolation on these is medium-at-best. They will isolate some noise at low-moderate volumes, but if isolation is critical to you, there are better IEMs suited for that. I did not find isolation to be a real issue for me, however I mostly use this in quieter settings like at home, and in the office. These do not leak any sound, as they are closed back, except for a small pinhole vent.


Sound



When I think of neutral sound signatures, the T2 Pro is that. I thought the T2 was a very good IEM, however the T2 Pro takes the base sound of the T2, and elevates the treble and makes this IEM a very detailed and articulate earphone that I really enjoyed.


After I got the T2 Pro out of it’s shell, and got it setup, I actually reached for the original T2 and listened to a track on them first to give myself a baseline sound. I popped in Real Estate’s Past Lives. After listening to it first with the T2 and then popping in the T2 Pro, I immediately noticed the change in how cymbals crashed, and how the lead singer’s vocals sounded more open, airy, and natural. The energy of the song was lifted and gave an overall larger soundstage than the previous T2. It’s not huge but it’s noticeable.





After a few more A-B tracks from a selection of Post-Rock, country, and rock songs – all of which gave me the same initial impressions – I performed measurements on the MiniDSP EARS measurement rig I have at home. The data matched my impressions.


First, some background.

The T2 I purchased and own was bought roughly in the Spring of 2018. I’ve heard that some of the early units had very weak and anemic bass. When I got mine, I didn’t feel like the bass was super anemic, but as a non-basshead and used to a linear bass response of planar magnetics, I thought the bass sound close to perfect, with a slight roll-off on low-sub 30Hz frequencies.

In an interesting back and forth discussion on Head-Fi between users Slater, VladStef and I (and a few others), it seems like Slater’s older T2 had blue “gunk” (as he calls it) underneath the screen at the tip of the nozzle. This gunk seems to have impeded bass response, as when he removed it, it opened up the low end in his opinion. VladStef, then looked up some early review measurements and found that AudioBudget and other older reviews showed a large low-end frequency response drop off, which was different than the units that him and I have, which did not have blue stuff underneath the screen. My initial measurements for the T2 has a relatively linear bass and lower mids response from 1KHz down to about 30Hz.

We are wondering if T2 noticed this and removed it in a revision to the T2. Either way, the bass sounds really good. Detailed and textured, although, not as rich as something with a warmer response. The bass and low mids are rather neutral and cold, especially if you are coming from a V-Shaped, warm or bass heavy headphone. The reward is in the details.



So, back to the T2 Pro.


The Bass and mids pretty much match exactly as the T2. What has changed in measurements, is the upper mids and treble/treble extension. The IEM still has a massive drop off in the further audible treble region, but what has changed is a good boost from about 1.5KHz and beyond. This is where vocals and the higher frequency instruments come into play, as well as the extra clarity, detail and air impressions come in.


Some may freak since the T2 may have sounded already a bit harsh and bright, and only adding more treble may scare people. But really, the area that was peaky on the original T2 stays the same but it’s the frequencies after that that are boosted. This actually helps round out the treble response in my opinion but some may still find it very bright.


I am probably repeating myself here, but the vocals sound more clean, natural, and open. There’s a sense of air and depth to the sound that is more noticeable when A-Bing back and forth. The T2 sounds congested and grainy in comparison. Soundstage sounds slightly wider because of this, and imaging is relatively the same.




Conclusions

Overall, the current introductory price of $49.99 on Massdrop seems like a no-brainer to me. I believe the actual MSRP will be around $60, which is still a no-brainer. If you have the T2 already, it may be a tough choice. I prefer the Pro over the T2 and would gladly pay the $50 to get the Pro, despite already owning the T2.


The T2 is good in it’s own right, but it has been dethroned by it’s younger brother.

Audeze has become as household name in the audiophile headphone world with their high quality planar magnetic driver line of headphones. Their LCD series has brought elegance and beauty with high quality wood and metal parts and fancy planar magnetic drivers to the market and, even more revolutionary, is their Sine and iSine series which brings planars on the go with you, without missing a beat on sound quality and excellence.

I am an owner of these portable Sine and iSine products and I rave about them to friends. They iSine, despite, its quirky looks, is a fantastic product and priced well. The Audeze Sine on-ear portable headphone is one of the most attractive headphones on the market and has a very balanced neutral sound signature that’s fun and lively at the same time.

So, when Audeze announced the Mobius early this year, I jumped on it. I mean, it’s a (relatively) lightweight planar magnetic that has a larger driver than the Sine, and can be used on the go as a Bluetooth device, or strapped to a computer through USB and provide you 3D immersion and headtracking all for the Indiegogo price of $250? Sign me up! I was backer #211 on these and joined Team Copper.

After a couple delays, the item arrived in late August and immediately after putting them on, I was smiling. The wait was worth it. These things are for real.

Build/Accessories/etc.

The Indiegogo crowdfund price started at around $250, while early pre-orders were at $339. The MSRP price for these is now $399. With that price, the Indiegogo package came in a brown Audeze box, not the retail packaging.
Inside the box was the Stretch Goal bonus Audeze Case. This case is a bit larger than the case Audeze released for the Sine and EL-8, though made of similar materials. The case was designed to put the Mobius in sitting in worn position, instead of laying flat with cups rotated. With that, the box also has a custom cut-out padding to ensure a safe and stable ride in the case.

The case also has a netted accessory spot which was where the included cables were stored. The package comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable for connecting from a computer to the Audeze Mobius, as well as a USB-C to USB-C type for use with laptops and cell phones. In addition, a 3.5mm TRSS (4-pole) male-to-male is included for using with standard 3.5mm jacks, and the headset mic. The mic is detachable, which is a great feature.



The headphone’s exterior is entirely of plastic, but feels well built and strong. I don’t have any fear of these breaking. In fact, the headband can be twisted and manipulated quite a bit without breaking. This was demonstrated in the promo video during product launch.

Along the left cup are a series of buttons and input jacks. There is separate volume controls for the headphone and mic, with two jacks for Line-In and the detachable mic, followed by a 3D centering button. On the front of the cup, there is a power button which is also used for Bluetooth pairing, and a mic mute toggle.
Navigating through the various EQ settings, 3D modes, input modes, and other features is performed through various combinations of the buttons. For example, holding down the mic volume wheel while moving left or right, will scroll to the next EQ setting.

While, I wish the controls were a bit more simple, it’s understandable given the size and button limitations. Some other premium wireless headphones have started using touch gestures using the side of the cups like the Sony 1000X series and the B&O Beoplay H9/H9i. While they do present their own problems, it may simplify some operations.

As far as comfort goes, the headphone is very comfortable to wear for long periods of time, for the most part. The pads are soft and have good depth to them. My ears do not hit the driver inside, and the faux-leather is soft and nice. On a warmer day though, they do get a bit warm and can be uncomfortable from that standpoint.
The headband yoke has plenty of give and can rotate which helps with comfort on many head styles. At the bottom center of the headband is a padded area. While this does help with comfort on top of the head, it would have been more comfortable if this stretched across the entire length of the headband, or if Audeze employed the use of a comfort strap. For my own personal use, I am using a wool sweater headband cover that goes around the entire headband, which definitely improves comfort. The one downside is that it may get warmer faster. Maybe.




Sound

This will be a doozy of a section. The Mobius comes with several different settings and it’s own internal amp/dac unit that can do DSP. For my primary listening, I stick with Audeze’s Default setting, as I find it the best for music. It’s what they call their “Audeze House Sound.”

The internal amp powers the headphone up to 1 Watt of power. This is well more than enough power than you should ever need. When connected to USB to my Windows 10 PC, my digital volume is set at 12.
This internal amping makes the Bluetooth experience the best I’ve ever experienced. If you’re lucky enough to have an LDAC transmitting device such as an Android phone using Oreo, or many of the new DAPs coming out on the market, you will be able to play wireless Bluetooth audio at hi-res quality. That paired with the Audeze Mobius makes you feel like your listening to wired headphones.

Other companies making wireless over-ear headphones need to take note on this. Internal amping is so key. I am always dumbfounded at why there’s such a drastic difference in sound quality when using other Bluetooth headphones wirelessly vs wired. Luckily, with Audeze’s Mobius, this is not an issue. I was extremely happy listening to LDAC Bluetooth all day long.

Note: SBC Bluetooth is another story. There is discernible difference between the two supported codecs. AAC is also supported, and is also a step up from SBC.
The next few paragraphs will go over the DEFAULT setting, and then I’ll follow-up with comparisons to the other settings.








The bass on these is flat and linear with a slight hump at 30Hz. The linear planar bass response is pretty much as expected – it extends well, and has good texturing qualities and nothing sounds overly emphasized. There’s never any fear of muddiness as you move up to vocals in the mid-range.

The mids are slightly forward. I would consider them very similar to that of all the other Audeze headphones, while there is some peakiness in the upper mids and treble region. This helps give the Mobius good detail and air. This separates it from the LCD series, especially the pre-fazor LCD-2, which is relatively dark. The Mobius’s upper range is similar to what you’d hear in the Audeze Sine, which helps give it an exciting and energetic sound.
There are times when I am listening to some female vocals, and I could imagine that some people may find it harsh. I find it great. But again, if you’ve read my other reviews, I like brighter sound signatures like the HE560, The Sine, and others.

Stage width is medium, while imaging is excellent. That’s a good thing since these were made for gaming and movies. Unfortunately, my gaming life has subsided significantly over the past couple years and I have yet to really give these headphones a proper gaming experience.











With 3D and headtracking enabled, the headphones take you away from the standard 2 channel experience and into a concert hall of your choice. I find it a bit gimmicky, but it actually works, and works well. I just don’t know how much I’ll use it. But, with the app, you can control the room size. When you move the size closer to 100, you’ll feel like you’re in a concert hall. At around 35-50, it feels like you’re sitting at your desk listening to music. And at closer to 0, you’ll get some exaggerated 3D space, where a slight turn of the head will completely cut off sound on the opposite ear.

When I first put the headphones on with 3D tracking enabled, it was close to midnight. I turned up the music and I was immediately freaking out. Why? Because it was late, and I was scared I had left my speakers on and that my fiancée would come out yelling at me. But, I looked down, saw my speaker LED was off and was then just in awe. WOW! These things work!


DSP/EQs:




For music, the two main EQs are the Default and the Music settings. The default setting has good linear bass, and lots of detail due to the higher treble. The Music setting is more of a slight U-shape, with slightly elevated bass and smoother treble response. The music setting is more laid back and warm.



I have not played too much with gaming and movies on this, and that's why this review has a music tilt to it. The Gaming EQs do show some differences between one another as shown above.


Digital vs Analog:




One interesting thing I noticed was the sound quality using a digital connection (USB and Bluetooth) versus using an analog connection (3.5mm -- i.e. double amping). Because of the Audeze design, everything goes through the Mobius amp section. You cannot bypass it by using an auxiliary input. In theory, the sound should be equal no matter what given a clean source right? I haven't been able to replicate that unfortunately.
The measurement shown is the stock signature using USB-C and an analog input using my Topping DX7 DAC. While the mids and treble are identical, the bass and low mids is drastically different. The bass rolls-off early and has a mid-bass hump in measurements.

In actual listening, I have noticed that the bass signature is different. The bass using a 3.5mm connection is noticeably punchier and less extended (less rumble and fullness). Not sure what's going on here. I'll stick with digital inputs.


Comparisons:




Vs Audeze Sine




The first chart shows the differences between the Audeze Sine and the Audeze Mobius. Both of these headphones are the smallest and lightest headphones in Audeze's lineup (besides the iSine). The Mobius driver is 25% larger than the Sine's. This probably explains the differences in how they sound.

The Mobius extends lower than the Sine, which has a drop off prior to sub-bass regions. The Sine is slightly more mid-forward and more energetic and airy. This is due to the higher mid and treble response. That said, the Mobius sounds like it extends better in both directions. The Mobius also has better imaging. Soundstage width is similar between the two.

Visually, the Sine is one of the most attractive headphones on the market. The Sine is a nice looking gamer headphone, but it's not exactly the most attractive. It still looks good from a distance, but I'm not a huge fan of the headband appearance among other things.

Comfort-wise, the Sine loses because of the on-ear pads and higher clamping force.


To improve the comfort of the Sine, I've pad-rolled these for a couple years and finally settled on generic Sennheiser HD212 pads. They improve comfort by increasing the cut-out size and increasing driver distance from 10mm to 15mm. This actually helps reduce the mid-forward sound and makes it more neutral overall. It's a big improvement over the popular ATH-M50/ATH-MSR7 pad mods, which increase the pad thickness to 20mm. This creates too much space and bumps treble way too high.

That said, the Sine still feels less extended than the Mobius, however comfort is on the same level, and slightly lighter in weight. I'm pretty sure the driver size limits the Sine in this case.

Vs Hifiman HE560



I'm comparing an Open Back HE560 now with a closed back Mobius. That said, I find these headphones somewhat similar sounding. The HE560, however, still does everything better, with more neutral sound signature, and much better extended bass and treble. The Mobius is still good for it's own merit. It has more detail than what I would have expected for a gamer targeted headphone.


Overall

The Mobius surprised me. I had a lot of doubts pre-ordering this headphone. It obviously was targeted at gamers and most gaming headphones pretty much suck and are overpriced. But the Audeze name and history of high quality headphones drew me in. There's a lot of tech in this package and they do it mostly right.

The sound quality impressed me! I find it priced accordingly at $399, and a great deal at the initial offering price at $250.

As a wired device, there may be some issues using it with an analog input, but it works great using USB. I've had no issues so far using it with Windows 10 and using it with my Onkyo DP-S1 digital audio player and Android phone with USB.

As a wireless bluetooth device, there's nothing that I've tried anywhere close to this level of quality. LDAC plus the internal amping power of the Mobius make it easily the best wireless headphone I've tried. Most everyone will be happy using this with cordless freedom. You'll forget you aren't wired.

Some of drawbacks of this headphone include the lack of extended bass, slightly harsh treble, gimmicky appearance, and somewhat confusing button layout. The appearance is subjective of course, but this is by far the biggest eye-sore of the Audeze family. That said, when I brought these into work, everyone in my office thought they looked great and like a luxury item.

In the end, as a music headphone, I think the Mobius is doing great. I am finding this to be a great wireless bluetooth daily driver for work. It fits the bill for what I need in portability and comfort with sound quality to make me happy.

Shenzen Ruizu Digital Company has been in the audio business since 2010 making budget music players and Bluetooth speakers that are available in many marketplaces like Amazon and AliExpress. They have produced many music players over the years that have stylings similar to that of popular music players like the Sansa series and their own fresh take on players as well.
The product I am going to go over today is an all-metal silver D05.

First off, I have been an avid music listener, reviewer, and tech gadget collector since forever. I’ve owned portable music players dating back to the original iPod and Creative Zen series. More recently, I’ve used mid-tier DAPs such as my current Onkyo DP-S1, the Cayin N5, several HIdizs players, and also budget offerings from AGPTek, and others. I’ve tried many of the budget-tier players on the market so I feel like I have a good grasp of cost-to-performance ratio.
So how does this one come in? Let’s find out.


Disclaimer: This item was provided to me at a discount for review purposes by Ruizu. The review contains my own unbiased opinion and I am not in anyway influenced or paid for this review.

This item can be found on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/RUIZU-D05-Bluetooth-Playback-Expandable/dp/B07F9P98RW



Unboxing:
The package comes in a nice clean box with attractive artwork from Ruizu. The box is neatly packaged and contains the audio player itself, as well as charging/data microusb cable, a lanyard, manual, and surprisingly, a set of ear buds.

The ear buds are very reminiscent of the ones Apple used to give away with iPods. The classic white ear-bud. They sound like a hot mess though since they do not include foams. It’s very tinny and missing all low end. I put on a set of lightweight foams on them and the low end came back and they sound decent. Good to start out with, but there are much better ear buds for under $10 on AliExpress.




Build Quality:
This is what blew me away. Many of the other budget DAPs I have tried feel cheap and flimsy despite being metal. This one is built like a tank. The weight on it surprised me. It’s heavier than my Onkyo DP-S1 DAP! I found that a tad insane since its half the size.

The buttons are touch capacitive on the front with nice machined metal buttons on the right side. The left side has a slot for a microSD card and a metal toggle switch for locking. At the very top left corner is a triangular cutout for attaching to the included lanyard or to a keychain. Since it’s solid metal up there, I would not have any fear of it breaking and dropping the player.




Features:
The player is packed with features. But it’s one of those things with many tricks but master of none.
The small list of features it includes are:
· Music playback for various file types including FLAC and ALAC.
· FM Radio Tuner
· Color Display
· Photo Gallery
· Video Playback
· E-Book Reader
· Voice Recorder
· 6-band Equalizer with Custom Setting
· MicroSD Card Expansion
· Bluetooth (SBC only)
· 8GB On-Board Storage
Where should we start? I’ll go over some of the features with some mini-review of each.




Music Playback:
I guess this is the most important, so we can start here. Music on this works and works well for this price range. I was actually surprised by the detail and quality using this. It’s not as good as DAPs that cost $100 or more, but it’s quite serviceable as is. Music sounds a tad brighter than neutral, but that does bring out more detail. It’s not muddy and narrow sounding as some other players may be that are in the budget class.
In terms of power, the player has juice to drive my IEMs and ear buds. It did struggle with my over-ear Hifiman HE560 planar magnetic headphones, but I wouldn’t expect a portable music player at this price range to do well with them. I struggle using them with over $100 players as well. They do get them to listenable volumes at full blast, but at that point, the sound quality does seem to drop and distort a bit and really doesn’t sound that great – bloaty and missing some magic.
But for IEMs and more sensitive headphones, this thing works well. I don’t have any ultra sensitive IEMs like the Andromedas or Massdrop Plus to see if hissing or noise floor becomes an issue or not. I also do not know the output impedance of this player.
Navigating around the music player is a tad tricky. The two buttons on the side – I kept mistakenly thinking these were volume controls. It makes too much sense! But no, they are actually just power and voice recorder. So I kept accidentally pressing the voice recorder button instead, and it would take sometime to start up that app.
The volume controls are actually the up and down buttons on the front touch area. Once I figured that out, it wasn’t too bad to use.
The UI itself is pretty ugly. It looks primitive. Very primitive. It reminds me of navigating through an Asian designed Karaoke laserdisc in the 90s with similar ugly font and color schemes. The screensaver that pops up to show time and elapsed playtime looks almost exactly what you’d see in-between songs at a Karaoke bar.

Anyway, there is an equalizer hiding through a button combination. When you are in the playing screen, if you press the PLAY/PAUSE button and hold, a menu will appear with an option to use equalizer. There are several pre-set configurations but at the bottom, it lets you choose a custom setting which has a simple 6 band equalizer. It seems to work pretty well and something that many budget DAPs do not include. I thought this was a great bonus!




FM Tuner:
One great feature included with this player is the FM Tuner. It works extremely well. Just plug in any headphone and let it auto-tune to pick up radio stations. You do have an option to manually find your own, but the auto function picked up every station around me. Sound quality is excellent, despite not being a HD Tuner.

Photo and Video Player:
The display on this device is quite poor and pixelated. In addition, viewing angles are very bad, and color bleeds and washes out. It’s really made to look at in dim settings and straight at it. Photos load very slow as do videos.

E-Book Reader:
I never used this function. There is a sample text file included, and the font was pretty hideous and awful to use as a reader, in addition to the already mentioned screen quality issues.

Memory Card Expansion:
I was able to use a 128GB MicroSD with this and it took a couple minutes to load the contents of my FLAC collection into the library. Nothing really much else to say here.

Bluetooth:
Bluetooth addition is a great feature, however we had some issues using it. Pairing it to our B&O Beoplay H9 bluetooth headphone, sound quality came in and was fine, however there were several times where music skipped during playback. Pairing was relatively easy and it never lost pairing, but the occasional skip every so often was annoying.




Overall:
This is a feature-loaded player that is being offered at $35 at the time of writing this on Amazon. It’s got more than enough features to satisfy the price and the sound quality is above-average in this class and has ability to drive many IEMs and Ear Buds. I would skip the included buds though. The player actually don’t power them very well surprisingly.

The biggest flaw with this is the UI font, color scheme, and overall screen quality. There are better quality screens at the $55+ price range, but this display is par for the course at $35. If you don’t care about album artwork, you’ll probably find a monochrome OLED display more enjoyable for viewing and use. But if you do care about album display and color, this is the standard you’ll get at this price point.

The FM tuner is the standout feature here. It is a nice added feature and it works very well.

Overall, I can’t knock it down too hard for the poor UI and choice in fonts/colors, but the build quality is top notch for the price, and the sound quality will get you started in the audio world.


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The Hifiman HE560 has been around for a few years now, and I figure I should give a proper review to one of my favorite headphones. Oh shoot, spoiler alert, this review will be a recommended rating!


Hifiman was one of the first headphone companies to start the recent Planar Magnetic driver wave that has grown in popularity in recent years, along with Audeze, and created a market of headphones that have spectacularly low distortion levels and linear bass response, something that is very challenging to do on a normal dynamic driver in headphones.


This planar magnetic technology has been around for a very long time with audio names like Magnepan using it in their speakers for many decades now. Yamaha (Orthodynamic series) and Fostex (Regular Phase) have had several planar magnetic headphones from over 30 years ago with Fostex still in this market with their popular RP series.


So what makes the recent wave so much better? Well technology has improved and on top of that, these new headphones from Hifiman and Audeze are extremely attractive. They also cost quite a bit.


The original HE560 was introduced at $899 and still retails at that today. Through many aggressive sales, one can find it for as low as $299 brand new on sites like Adorama now. And I can say that this is a fantastic stellar deal.




Build/Comfort:

The version I own is the V2 or V1.1 or something… The original version used SMC connectors. The version I have replaced those finicky connectors with 2.5mm connectors on each ear cup. There is a new version that recently came out that replaces the original headband with the Sundara headband which is an all-metal construction which improves build strength but has less freedom of movement.

Back to the one I own again – The headband is extremely comfortable. The notorious yokes swivel and and the cups can rotate, giving a very large amount of movement on your head. This allows the headphone to fit on any head comfortable.

So why do I call it notorious? Well, a recent batch of these yokes were very prone to cracking and breaking very quickly. Hifiman customer service has responded quite well and offered replacements very quickly each time though. And because of this issue, the new version using the all-metal headband was released.


The pads that come with the HE560 are just okay. They are faux leather and angled with a velour pad that goes against your face. The velour helps keep you cool and sweat-free for longer listening sessions, while the faux-leather helps keep the treble in check.


Now that said, I don’t like the original pad too much. I’ve since upgraded to the Dekoni Elite Hybrid Leather pad. It’s pretty much the same idea as the original: it’s angled, with a velour pad but made with a real leather pad and soft memory foam inside. The inside of the pad has perforated leather. Essentially, it’s a hybrid of all of Dekoni’s pad types. This pad is super comfy and soft, and I have no qualms about wearing it for hours.


The cables that came with my package were a 6 foot long XLR Balanced and 6 foot long ¼ inch stereo cable. The cables are very stiff and inflexible and generally annoying. I sold the balanced cable immediately, and the other cable has been relegated to the box which is in the garage behind other boxes in a corner.

Luckily the 2.5mm cable is very common and one can find replacement cables very easily. For example, NeoMusica makes a good cheap cable for under $20 that works perfectly fine for this headphone. I elected to make my own balanced XLR cable for this headphone and it was easy and works well.



SOUND:

Some people say the HE560 is bright and can be harsh. Others, like me, think this headphone is nearly perfectly neutral. Yes, its neutral-bright. There is a slight peak in the lower treble that can be harsh for treble-sensitive ears, but for me, I love this sound signature. It’s a very well-balanced signature, with some very slight recessed mids that some may call dry.


The bass response on this is nearly perfectly linear down to sub-bass levels. It’s got rumble and texture and is a good example of what planar bass is. If you are coming from a dynamic, you’ll miss some of the big impact and boom, but you will be rewarded with a super clean and smooth transition into the lower mids. Muddiness will never be an issue on these.


The upper-mids, again are slightly recessed, while the lower treble does peak up a bit which gives the headphone a lot of air and detail. This effect does give some people the sense that it sounds harsh.


Due to it’s low distortion numbers and generally true with all planars, they do respond well to EQ across the board.


The soundstage width is open and imaging is very good on these as well.





SUMMARY:

Overall, I really dig these headphones. There are some general concerns with the headphone build quality (when price is considered), but I actually think it is well built now that I have a functional headband. I actually am using a 3D-Printed Yoke, but my final supplied headband from Hifiman works fine as well as the metal Sundara headband.

Tonality has some small issues in the upper mids and lower treble, but it doesn’t affect me at all. I can listen to this headphone for hours at a time (and I have).

Included accessories are pretty poor though. So I would probably look into buying additional accessories with it if that matters to you.

Background:

It seems like Knowledge Zenith releases several earphones every few months, so it’s hard to keep track of which one is which, but there are a few that stand out. For me, the ones that stood out the most was the ZS6. This one had a design that was blatantly similar to a top tier IEM (The Andromeda) that was actually built well and priced under $50. The aluminum housing felt premium and solid as a rock, and the sound wow’d you in many areas, both technically and fun. It had a major drawback, at least for me and many others, and that was the treble on them was heavily emphasized and could become overbearing in certain tracks. Sibilance was another issue with them. There were ways to tone it down, either by using foams, small modifications, or with EQ, but you could never fully get rid of the treble peak.

Earlier this year, KZ announced a new metal shell IEM, called the ZSA, which piqued many people’s interest. The build of their previous metal housing was fantastic, so many people were hyped to see how this new IEM was going to sound, and the price was right, at under $30.


Disclaimer:

I was planning on getting this IEM to try out at some point, but Lillian from LinSoul Tech was kind and sent me a sample to review in exchange for my unbiased, honest review of this IEM. I did not receive any financial incentives or any other benefits from this review or the following links.

If you are interested in purchasing this after reading my review, please check out the following links for purchasing:

Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/KZ-Earphon...ie=UTF8&qid=1534257258&sr=8-6&keywords=kz+zsa

AliExpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...ml?spm=2114.12010615.8148356.1.674f2061lQxj8M





Packaging & Accessories:

The KZ ZSA comes in the standard small white KZ box. Packaged within it is the IEM with a brown braided cable with 2-pin connectors, and a set of star-silicone tips. This is the standard KZ suite of packaging.

What is new from some of the older KZ sets is the upgraded cable. The cable is better in usability and appearance then the former cable, however, it still has very poor memory wire and has some stickiness to it in use. Luckily, the memory wire is very easy to remove if desired.



Build & Isolation:

As mentioned in the introduction, the KZ ZSA continues where the ZS6 left off with an aluminum shell. It also retains the three slit vents on the front and the exposed fasteners. The overall shape has changed to a more curved triangular look while also reducing the form-factor so that it is a bit smaller than the ZS6 and ZS5 models.

I chose to use this set with SpinFit C145 tips which work very well for me on this IEM. The small size is very comfortable to wear and does provide good isolation. Because it does have open vents, isolation isn’t dead silent. You can still hear through it but it’s average to above average overall.

While the smaller size does help with comfort and fit with smaller ears, it may make it feel loose sometimes. This may become a bigger problem with larger ears.



Sound Quality:

The ZSA has a definite V-Shaped sound signature like pretty much all KZ products do, where the bass and upper-mids/treble regions are elevated and the mids are recessed. This type of sound signature provides a lot of fun and wow, and I find it good for certain genres like hip hop, EDM, and other dancier music genres. It also works well for movies and games. This isn’t my standard daily signature but I do find it fun to listen to every once in a while depending on my mood.

For the review, I swapped out the stock cable with my own 2-pin braided cable featuring a 2.5mm balanced connector. I used three different sources to listen with: The Onkyo DP-S1 Digital Audio Player, the Radsone ES100 bluetooth portable amplifier, and my desktop Topping DX7 using an iFi IEMatch with a Norne Audio 4-pin XLR to female 2.5mm adapter. All units were using the balanced connections.

For music choices, I listened to a broad variety of music genres from rock to jazz to hip hop to edm to country, folk and post-rock/soundtrack music. Artists in my playlists include Real Estate, Norah Jones, Daft Punk, Cigarettes after Sex, Chvrches, The Beatles, Vince Guaraldi, Radiohead, Chris Stapleton, Krysta Nicks, Jason Isbell, Allison Krauss, Hans Zimmer, Corrine Bailey Rae and many others.



Bass – The bass on these is elevated as expected. They have good impact while lacking depth and texture. They can be boomy sometimes and bleed over to the lower mids, which isn’t too unexpected due to the recessed mids. That said, the bass is fun and most of the time, it sounds about right. At the price it’s being sold at, I find it better than expected. Many IEMs in this price range will have overly boomy mid/upper bass which gets in the way of details. This IEM doesn’t do that often.

Mids – They are recessed. That said, the sound is slightly warm, and vocals sound good albeit a little distant sometimes. What I do like about this model vs the ZS5 and ZS6 is that the upper mids have been toned down a bit. This helps prevent the sibilance I was hearing in those prior models and really prevents that harshness and piercing upper mids/lower treble as well. The smoother sound is welcomed in this case.

Treble – As mentioned in previous section, the treble is also toned down. It is much easier to listen, though you do lose a bit of detail and energy compared to the ZS5/ZS6 models. Cymbals don’t have the same crash you’d expect, for example. You lose a bit of the glitter in the sound.

Soundstage - The soundstage is average on these. You never feel like the any instrument is beyond your head. Imaging is also average as well.



Overall:

I am used to listening to more neutral-bright leaning headphones that priced many times above these, and even my past experience with KZ have been on their upper tier. It’s a bit tougher to re-adjust my standards to listen to these, but just remembering that these are $25-30 IEMs, it is impressive what they can do. They lack details and clarity that IEMs priced $10-15 above them have, but compared to many budget IEMs, these do sound pleasant.

I found them enjoyable and, in some ways, more likely to be used than a ZS6, which cost nearly double it. The ZS6 beats these in many areas such as bass impact, stage width, clarity, details, and imaging, but I found the ZSA better at vocals, due to its more accurate timbre, lack of sibilance and upper mids/treble spikes.

In the end, I think these have their flaws, but they are also priced accordingly and may even exceed other competitors in its budget class.