Mar 10, 2024
The following review is an expanded version of the review I posted on the
kztws website. I could only use 2000 characters there so I'm expanding my thoughts here.
MY RATING: 9/10 STARS. So I've heard a LOT of criticism about the Symphony... As a casual music listener I hope to dispel some of the concerns with my honest review. I bought these with my own money.
BUILD: 10/10. These look stunningly handsome and professional. I love the metal grille and underlying mesh. The build quality is very good like all KZ products I've tried.
FIT: 8/10. Yes these are large buds, but they fit my ear well and the medium silicone tips create a perfect seal. I've never liked memory foam tips, and the ones included with these don't work for me either. I've noticed only slight fatigue in my ear canals during long listening sessions. Paired with the KZ AZ20 Bluetooth adaptor, they are overall a quite comfortable earbud and has no risk of falling out.
OVERALL SOUND: 9/10. I am not an audiophile but I like good sound quality. I do NOT use a DAC or other amp, and use Amazon Music for much of my music. I do use an EQ on my other music apps, and these IEMs are very responsive to EQ changes. These benefit from a "vocal booster" EQ but on Amazon Music with no EQ, they still sound great. On the AZ20, I always use the "full power mode" which enhances the sound quality. I don't feel like they are too "hard to drive," and they sound good both on the Bluetooth adaptor and wired with an Apple 3.5mm dongle. You simply have to have the volume set a little higher than with other earbuds. The overall sound is pristinely clean and clear, and rival multi-armature driver sets in detail. This my first time owning a planar driver IEM and I can say I love the sound they produce, and look forward to trying some other planar driver sets in the future.
BASS: 9/10 These have more bass than the EDX. I'm talking SUBWOOFER-level bass. That 6mm DD that YouTubers derisively call a "pencil eraser driver" really can pump out quality bass. At times though, the bass can be almost too much for even me! These are what I would consider "bass-head" earbuds, but sometimes I want to turn the volume up but can't because the bass is at my max comfort level. Sometimes I enjoy heavy bass, and while the bass response here is amazing, I'm docking one star from an otherwise perfect score because it can be just a bit too much on some songs.
MIDS: 7/10. Yes, the mids are a bit quieter than the bass and treble, but they are accurate and pleasantly warm. Like I said earlier, they do sound better with a slight boost in the mids with EQ, but the mids certainly aren't overly recessed, muddy, or vague like some cheaper sets I've heard.
HIGHS: 9.5/10. I hesitate to give a perfect score here, but the high end is really perfect: not too harsh or shrill, but elevated enough to give sparkle and shine to the music. They don't have the celestial highs of the ZS6, (which many have rightly criticized as being overly extended) but are still very pristine and a delight to the ears. The planar driver can compete quite well with armature drivers in this regard.
CONCLUSION: These aren't a "monitor" set. They are excitingly dynamic and outshine all of KZ's older sets I own. (EDX, ZS6, ZS10, SKS, ES4, EDX PRO X) They really sold the planar driver for me, and now I want to hear one of the PR sets to see how the bass response sounds without the in-ear 6mm subwoofer!
