TL;DR
See pluses and minus above.
(Older photo - I finally settled on 2 unit dials…red back / black front + no backs / black front.)
These things are G.O.L.D. Just keep dialing on multiple fronts to find said audio gold. It's there 100%, and you won't find it with an entry-level phone or straight out your notebook/tablet.....
I’ll skip posting what would be my own endless amateur shaky macro IEM photos (except a few I pulled off the thread), youtube unboxing erotica video or the spec. list - it’s already been done by the other guys who have done stellar reviews and I’m 7th down the review list and it basically just pads out the review needlessly.
Intro - I’ve journeyed through entry-level and lower mid-level dynamic cans, through various entry-level and a mid-level planar cans…then started dabbling at the cheapest end of Chinese IEMs last year as I needed a mobile and closed solution to complement my cans at that time - open planar magnetic headphones.
After multiple buying loops through the hot new Chinese IEMs thread last year (2016) that kept popping up relentlessly on the head-fi active threads carousel bottom left of the head-fi website footer area, I stumbled on the LZ-A2 which were gaining traction from early buzz/rumblings/impressions and took the $69 or so plunge….
No brain burn-in/hardware burn-in was needed in this instance….it was just an instant OOTB sit-up and take notice ‘How is that possible from a $69 tiny hybrid IEM ?’
For me, it was like a ‘baby Audeze LCD 2.1’ - Yes, it reminded me of the essential DNA of a specific $1k headphone straight out the box in a micro-sized form.
Of course without the sheer ‘Detroit muscle car ability’ that only the huge Audeze planar units could bring….
IMO, there was a definite overlap in multiple areas……..an affinity, a riff….
fullness of low/mids presentation,
prominent detailed decays,
musicality,
great micro-detail and low-end texture,
rich tonality with a roll-off in treble that gave it also an overall darker tonality that the 2.1s are known for - that only added up to longer listening sessions for myself….
I have previously also bought and owned :-
LZ A3 - (extended more than A2 both ends, better separation and a nice mid-bass hump)
LZ A3S - (extended more both ends than A3, better separation again and a nice sub-bass hump…though I missed the mid-bass presence after a while vs A3)
I received the A4 free for taking part in the beta feedback tour many months ago, and also in return for giving a frank and honest review of the latest iteration of the LZ house sound.I have owned my set for 2+ months now.
I would have bought them on release, if not for a surprise PM that I was getting a pair entirely free.
(I thought I’d get about a $50 discount on a retail pair at best - for some head-time with feedback of the prototype pair I tried, and my own onward shipping costs on that set).
Thanks 101% @DUYU for arranging that !
Late to review after the first lot of reviews rolled in, and here’s why….
Frankly I had a ‘problem’ with my A4 OOTB and felt I could not honestly do a positive review as things stood.
I wondered if :-
A) the train had left the station for me and the LZ house sound had gone in a very different/dry and overly-bright direction and people did not want to call it on the thread at the very start.
or
B) if I’d just simply received a bad pair.
As it turned out, the issue was nailed firmly to my then current opamp chip which worked very good with my Fostex planars signature (AD797) balanced out with BUF634P WP buffers.
But this combo did not work out in any way (for my ears) with the entirely different tech DD/BA mix and tuning of these hybrid IEMs.
I could not go beyond the red front filter (fairly rolled off treble tuning) in any shape or form, as everything became too bright and dry/thin and lacking extended full decays. This, in spite of the fact that no early impressions / reviews indicated they were like this….
I fired off a few PMs to various early owner members to clarify my impressions - nope, they were loving them and had no treble/tonality issues…
I ordered another opamp chip entirely a couple of weeks later (LME49990), and while it was pretty amazing compared to the last one for my planars; again, I was not getting at the rich immersive musicality, full-bodied decays and highly detailed LZ house sound I had previously enjoyed so much.
Finally, try, try, again - as the main beta tour group all couldn’t be wrong - sourcing and rolling back to an older opamp chip (OPA604*) that I knew worked with A2/A3 and B.I.N.G.O.….the SQ was unlocked/released. There it was again - that immersive musicality, the great micro-detail and those decays and (now) audiophile low-end texture, fullness and control not bleeding into the mids…. everything previously I loved was there but everything was way more refined.
*(The quirky character of the 604 chip is when you increase the volume, it fills out the low-end/mids 'body' and the treble does not start to dominate. It also has a tube-like tonality. Not for the transparency junkies at all, this is an unapologetic character opamp...it comes alive 12 volts and up..below 10 volts, forget about it...)
Back in business with my audio chain working with the A4s again, I got lost in more front/back dialing. Starting a-fresh with more options that my ears could now take ….and then someone posted in the A4 thread that ‘they tried no backs’ to great effect = no screw-in back-plate installed on the A4 and were getting an enhanced sound-stage/‘head-stage’ (credit to HFM threads member Jerg on that term) .
And then my dialing ‘joy’/ indecision started all over again with this new backs off element added….
;-(
Previously with my mis-matched opamp chip I could only use :-
red back-plates to make up in ‘bass extension/fullness lacking’
and
red front nozzles to ‘cool the hot bitey treble’ to get any head-time with them through-out December/Early January.
After getting my audio chain correct behind these hybrids mid-January, I finally settled on :-
A) red back-plates / black front for more kicking low-end driven electronic music
and
B) no back-plates / black front for walk-about immersive/transparent extended head-stage/sound-stage mids-focused ambient/electronica stuff.
Lucky for me I no longer have to roll the front nozzles. That is done and dusted….FINALLY…
I just hope no-one discovers a new magic pixie dust cable $$$$ or ‘next level’ hard to source ear-tips are posted in the thread……it never ends !
My Gear/SQ Goals - I’ve been going in circles the last 4 years with my audio chain gear which could be classed as ‘entry-level/lower mid-level’.
It has been a journey away from overly-analytic DACs or wooly/dull/lifeless amps to the mid-ground between musicality and technicality….
I also am not much a fan of neutral - ‘natural’ would be where it’s at for me. The 'Harman Curve' appeals to me vs a flat-liner studio monitor deal, with all that ultra-detail and no soul…
I don’t think I’ll be buying pure BA units or Sennie HD800s any time soon on that basis...
Pasted over from my profile - in an ideal world and price-point I’m after of as much of the below as possible…
solid slice of micro-detail,
rich/slightly darker tonality,
controlled textured bottomless full & tight low-end,
lush/liquid balanced mids,
smooth marathon listening session non-fatiguing treble,
a balance of musicality and technicality.
Equipment with 'muscle and finesse' basically.
My Current Audio Hardware Chain
A) Desktop/Transportable - OS X Audirvana Plus - iPurifier 2 - HRT microStreamer - iBasso PB2 (OPA604 + BUF634P WB) + 16-volt LPS (linear power supply) - LZ A4 / or planars (LME4990 amp chips)
B) Portable - Zenfone 2 Laser 6”+ UAPP - iPurifier 2 - HRT microStreamer / PB2 - LZ A4
My Music
I’m into ‘IDM’, ‘glitch’ (decays a-plenty) and a wide variety of other complex quality underground electronic music basically. I need gear that can handle low slow deep textured sub-bass sweeps with really fast tangential stop/start stuff going on the rest of the way up the frequency range.
I’ll save posting my music stuff from the review, it can be found over in the http://www.head-fi.org/t/727918/techno-electro-underground-beats thread run by @ WraithApe who runs a tight game managing the thread and keeping it on-point with the bleep veterans over there……
LZ-A4 units
Build : Rock solid build on the units. MMCX are known to be a bit fickle though with frequent swapping, poor mating cycle to failure count, no issues with the connectors so far on that though. Matt black CNC units a wise choice this time round. Simply it is the wisest choice to use black silver etc for smaller companies. Gold was maybe a bit too bling bling for some with A3 holding back some sales purely on the colour. So far I have had no issues with the units 2 months in and they should still go strong all year long. Nozzles and back-plates are fine, though as some have brought up the issue that the o-ring can come off when pulling the nozzles out the case; so be careful with that one - making sure your o-rings are on before dialing on to the units. Cable - I actually like this cable the best of all the previous ones now. No microphonic for me, all-round quality cable build with a cinch added on and robust angled 3.5". Make sure to rotate and pull the MMCX 90 degrees to release it out of the shell vs straight pulling it back, that seems to be the trick to bypass any male/female stuck connector issues.
Ergonomics : I suggested this before for over-ear by flipping the left unit for the right unit - it will not touch any part of the upper inner ear causing discomfort over time etc.
This way above, they are great and just stay in place. I find they tend to pivot less and work their way out than A3/A3S. A set of ear-hooks and less same size ear-tips would have been a good addition on future retail set boxes.
Reference back-plate : RED / reference front nozzle : BLACK for following impressions
Bass : Extended excellent tight sub-bass, slight mid-bass hump, no bleed into the mids. These are not kicker basshead IEMs, but have very decent quality low-end which is there when the recording has it vs over-emphasised low-end bleeding across the mids with cheaper bass hack IEMs. Best controlled quality bass on an IEM I've heard so far (actually BLACK back-plate has more linear/tighter bass control - red is more extended/full-bodied.)
Mids : It has been said they are mid-forward, mids recessed and balanced… the answer is yes to all… as it depends on which nozzles and back-plates you are using with the units for your reference. With the black nozzles I’m finding the mids are just right in the 'Goldilocks zone' , without being too in-your-face or stepped back with the effect of this nozzle. Some of the guys have been in the position of rolling in different nozzles for male/female vocals but as my music focus is electronic I can keep the blacks as my main choice. I have seen a few comments that they are even richer in the mids with a tube amp and I’d like to get some time with a tube and the A4s. I’d imagine the sound-stage jumps out wider in the XYZ and the immersive musicality would be even more addictive than now….(currently digging on Ali-X for a tube pre-amp to add to my audio chain). Anyway, with solid state gear, the now well-known LZ rich and musical house sound is still present and more refined with the A4s with the latest iteration bringing in more space between instrumentation.
Treble : More extended than previous models/more air around instruments, sparkle without grate or continual glare through-out the upper spectrum which would wear me down. TBH, I can handle a roll-off in treble if I’d get more bass extension in exchange for that, and I’d not feel I’m missing much. After a point in the treble, it can make me take off audio gear if it is too present causing fatigue fast. I have some serious brain-burn in with rolled off treble gear, so anything balanced can seem a bit hot to me at first till I adjust. Now, with the multiple nozzles coupled with the custom-tuned BA units, that treble bottle-neck/ceiling is no longer there for those that crave some extension in the treble or even slightly dominant treble. There’s a nozzle for it at each point of the treble spectrum.
Tying it all together : If you are just stepping into the hybrids scene right now, you are in luck with the likes of A4 sitting in front of you, as the sub-scene is maturing so fast and these guys are really iterating so fast in an upwards direction that sometimes I cannot keep up.
My title is obviously contentious, and I made a point of putting a date in it as the scene rolls forward at break-neck speed. I hope the single person to out-do the A4 will be LZ with an A5.
LZ has a real ear for musicality, and a great ability in getting the technicalities side of things right as well. I think the A4 is his real breakthrough offering into the higher-end of the IEM scene. LZ obviously took on all our similar and opposing ideas and synthesized them into the A4, which is quite a step-up from the proto unit in post #1; as it surely was a work in progress.
Well done LZ, with no presence on this forum, churning these units out from your 1-man-band operation in China - you’ve moved one step closer to real summit-fi IEM design that can take on the big brands.
This is Lean Startup strategy at its best - all walk and no talk.
(Edit March 5th : Now using Muses02 OPAMPs to great effect. Also removed my 'dump the pink filter' comment at top due to presentation with these Muses chips sounding much better than a quick appraisal I did with older OPAMP chips at review time.I don't want to hold anyone back with older impressions, or make people feel they are going against the A4 thread grain liking pink filters.)
See pluses and minus above.
(Older photo - I finally settled on 2 unit dials…red back / black front + no backs / black front.)
These things are G.O.L.D. Just keep dialing on multiple fronts to find said audio gold. It's there 100%, and you won't find it with an entry-level phone or straight out your notebook/tablet.....
I’ll skip posting what would be my own endless amateur shaky macro IEM photos (except a few I pulled off the thread), youtube unboxing erotica video or the spec. list - it’s already been done by the other guys who have done stellar reviews and I’m 7th down the review list and it basically just pads out the review needlessly.
Intro - I’ve journeyed through entry-level and lower mid-level dynamic cans, through various entry-level and a mid-level planar cans…then started dabbling at the cheapest end of Chinese IEMs last year as I needed a mobile and closed solution to complement my cans at that time - open planar magnetic headphones.
After multiple buying loops through the hot new Chinese IEMs thread last year (2016) that kept popping up relentlessly on the head-fi active threads carousel bottom left of the head-fi website footer area, I stumbled on the LZ-A2 which were gaining traction from early buzz/rumblings/impressions and took the $69 or so plunge….
No brain burn-in/hardware burn-in was needed in this instance….it was just an instant OOTB sit-up and take notice ‘How is that possible from a $69 tiny hybrid IEM ?’
For me, it was like a ‘baby Audeze LCD 2.1’ - Yes, it reminded me of the essential DNA of a specific $1k headphone straight out the box in a micro-sized form.
Of course without the sheer ‘Detroit muscle car ability’ that only the huge Audeze planar units could bring….
IMO, there was a definite overlap in multiple areas……..an affinity, a riff….
fullness of low/mids presentation,
prominent detailed decays,
musicality,
great micro-detail and low-end texture,
rich tonality with a roll-off in treble that gave it also an overall darker tonality that the 2.1s are known for - that only added up to longer listening sessions for myself….
I have previously also bought and owned :-
LZ A3 - (extended more than A2 both ends, better separation and a nice mid-bass hump)
LZ A3S - (extended more both ends than A3, better separation again and a nice sub-bass hump…though I missed the mid-bass presence after a while vs A3)
I received the A4 free for taking part in the beta feedback tour many months ago, and also in return for giving a frank and honest review of the latest iteration of the LZ house sound.I have owned my set for 2+ months now.
I would have bought them on release, if not for a surprise PM that I was getting a pair entirely free.
(I thought I’d get about a $50 discount on a retail pair at best - for some head-time with feedback of the prototype pair I tried, and my own onward shipping costs on that set).
Thanks 101% @DUYU for arranging that !
Late to review after the first lot of reviews rolled in, and here’s why….
Frankly I had a ‘problem’ with my A4 OOTB and felt I could not honestly do a positive review as things stood.
I wondered if :-
A) the train had left the station for me and the LZ house sound had gone in a very different/dry and overly-bright direction and people did not want to call it on the thread at the very start.
or
B) if I’d just simply received a bad pair.
As it turned out, the issue was nailed firmly to my then current opamp chip which worked very good with my Fostex planars signature (AD797) balanced out with BUF634P WP buffers.
But this combo did not work out in any way (for my ears) with the entirely different tech DD/BA mix and tuning of these hybrid IEMs.
I could not go beyond the red front filter (fairly rolled off treble tuning) in any shape or form, as everything became too bright and dry/thin and lacking extended full decays. This, in spite of the fact that no early impressions / reviews indicated they were like this….
I fired off a few PMs to various early owner members to clarify my impressions - nope, they were loving them and had no treble/tonality issues…
I ordered another opamp chip entirely a couple of weeks later (LME49990), and while it was pretty amazing compared to the last one for my planars; again, I was not getting at the rich immersive musicality, full-bodied decays and highly detailed LZ house sound I had previously enjoyed so much.
Finally, try, try, again - as the main beta tour group all couldn’t be wrong - sourcing and rolling back to an older opamp chip (OPA604*) that I knew worked with A2/A3 and B.I.N.G.O.….the SQ was unlocked/released. There it was again - that immersive musicality, the great micro-detail and those decays and (now) audiophile low-end texture, fullness and control not bleeding into the mids…. everything previously I loved was there but everything was way more refined.
*(The quirky character of the 604 chip is when you increase the volume, it fills out the low-end/mids 'body' and the treble does not start to dominate. It also has a tube-like tonality. Not for the transparency junkies at all, this is an unapologetic character opamp...it comes alive 12 volts and up..below 10 volts, forget about it...)
Back in business with my audio chain working with the A4s again, I got lost in more front/back dialing. Starting a-fresh with more options that my ears could now take ….and then someone posted in the A4 thread that ‘they tried no backs’ to great effect = no screw-in back-plate installed on the A4 and were getting an enhanced sound-stage/‘head-stage’ (credit to HFM threads member Jerg on that term) .
And then my dialing ‘joy’/ indecision started all over again with this new backs off element added….
;-(Previously with my mis-matched opamp chip I could only use :-
red back-plates to make up in ‘bass extension/fullness lacking’
and
red front nozzles to ‘cool the hot bitey treble’ to get any head-time with them through-out December/Early January.
After getting my audio chain correct behind these hybrids mid-January, I finally settled on :-
A) red back-plates / black front for more kicking low-end driven electronic music
and
B) no back-plates / black front for walk-about immersive/transparent extended head-stage/sound-stage mids-focused ambient/electronica stuff.
Lucky for me I no longer have to roll the front nozzles. That is done and dusted….FINALLY…
I just hope no-one discovers a new magic pixie dust cable $$$$ or ‘next level’ hard to source ear-tips are posted in the thread……it never ends !
My Gear/SQ Goals - I’ve been going in circles the last 4 years with my audio chain gear which could be classed as ‘entry-level/lower mid-level’.
It has been a journey away from overly-analytic DACs or wooly/dull/lifeless amps to the mid-ground between musicality and technicality….
I also am not much a fan of neutral - ‘natural’ would be where it’s at for me. The 'Harman Curve' appeals to me vs a flat-liner studio monitor deal, with all that ultra-detail and no soul…
I don’t think I’ll be buying pure BA units or Sennie HD800s any time soon on that basis...
Pasted over from my profile - in an ideal world and price-point I’m after of as much of the below as possible…
solid slice of micro-detail,
rich/slightly darker tonality,
controlled textured bottomless full & tight low-end,
lush/liquid balanced mids,
smooth marathon listening session non-fatiguing treble,
a balance of musicality and technicality.
Equipment with 'muscle and finesse' basically.
My Current Audio Hardware Chain
A) Desktop/Transportable - OS X Audirvana Plus - iPurifier 2 - HRT microStreamer - iBasso PB2 (OPA604 + BUF634P WB) + 16-volt LPS (linear power supply) - LZ A4 / or planars (LME4990 amp chips)
B) Portable - Zenfone 2 Laser 6”+ UAPP - iPurifier 2 - HRT microStreamer / PB2 - LZ A4
My Music
I’m into ‘IDM’, ‘glitch’ (decays a-plenty) and a wide variety of other complex quality underground electronic music basically. I need gear that can handle low slow deep textured sub-bass sweeps with really fast tangential stop/start stuff going on the rest of the way up the frequency range.
I’ll save posting my music stuff from the review, it can be found over in the http://www.head-fi.org/t/727918/techno-electro-underground-beats thread run by @ WraithApe who runs a tight game managing the thread and keeping it on-point with the bleep veterans over there……
LZ-A4 units
Build : Rock solid build on the units. MMCX are known to be a bit fickle though with frequent swapping, poor mating cycle to failure count, no issues with the connectors so far on that though. Matt black CNC units a wise choice this time round. Simply it is the wisest choice to use black silver etc for smaller companies. Gold was maybe a bit too bling bling for some with A3 holding back some sales purely on the colour. So far I have had no issues with the units 2 months in and they should still go strong all year long. Nozzles and back-plates are fine, though as some have brought up the issue that the o-ring can come off when pulling the nozzles out the case; so be careful with that one - making sure your o-rings are on before dialing on to the units. Cable - I actually like this cable the best of all the previous ones now. No microphonic for me, all-round quality cable build with a cinch added on and robust angled 3.5". Make sure to rotate and pull the MMCX 90 degrees to release it out of the shell vs straight pulling it back, that seems to be the trick to bypass any male/female stuck connector issues.
Ergonomics : I suggested this before for over-ear by flipping the left unit for the right unit - it will not touch any part of the upper inner ear causing discomfort over time etc.
This way above, they are great and just stay in place. I find they tend to pivot less and work their way out than A3/A3S. A set of ear-hooks and less same size ear-tips would have been a good addition on future retail set boxes.
Reference back-plate : RED / reference front nozzle : BLACK for following impressions
Bass : Extended excellent tight sub-bass, slight mid-bass hump, no bleed into the mids. These are not kicker basshead IEMs, but have very decent quality low-end which is there when the recording has it vs over-emphasised low-end bleeding across the mids with cheaper bass hack IEMs. Best controlled quality bass on an IEM I've heard so far (actually BLACK back-plate has more linear/tighter bass control - red is more extended/full-bodied.)
Mids : It has been said they are mid-forward, mids recessed and balanced… the answer is yes to all… as it depends on which nozzles and back-plates you are using with the units for your reference. With the black nozzles I’m finding the mids are just right in the 'Goldilocks zone' , without being too in-your-face or stepped back with the effect of this nozzle. Some of the guys have been in the position of rolling in different nozzles for male/female vocals but as my music focus is electronic I can keep the blacks as my main choice. I have seen a few comments that they are even richer in the mids with a tube amp and I’d like to get some time with a tube and the A4s. I’d imagine the sound-stage jumps out wider in the XYZ and the immersive musicality would be even more addictive than now….(currently digging on Ali-X for a tube pre-amp to add to my audio chain). Anyway, with solid state gear, the now well-known LZ rich and musical house sound is still present and more refined with the A4s with the latest iteration bringing in more space between instrumentation.
Treble : More extended than previous models/more air around instruments, sparkle without grate or continual glare through-out the upper spectrum which would wear me down. TBH, I can handle a roll-off in treble if I’d get more bass extension in exchange for that, and I’d not feel I’m missing much. After a point in the treble, it can make me take off audio gear if it is too present causing fatigue fast. I have some serious brain-burn in with rolled off treble gear, so anything balanced can seem a bit hot to me at first till I adjust. Now, with the multiple nozzles coupled with the custom-tuned BA units, that treble bottle-neck/ceiling is no longer there for those that crave some extension in the treble or even slightly dominant treble. There’s a nozzle for it at each point of the treble spectrum.
Tying it all together : If you are just stepping into the hybrids scene right now, you are in luck with the likes of A4 sitting in front of you, as the sub-scene is maturing so fast and these guys are really iterating so fast in an upwards direction that sometimes I cannot keep up.
My title is obviously contentious, and I made a point of putting a date in it as the scene rolls forward at break-neck speed. I hope the single person to out-do the A4 will be LZ with an A5.
LZ has a real ear for musicality, and a great ability in getting the technicalities side of things right as well. I think the A4 is his real breakthrough offering into the higher-end of the IEM scene. LZ obviously took on all our similar and opposing ideas and synthesized them into the A4, which is quite a step-up from the proto unit in post #1; as it surely was a work in progress.
Well done LZ, with no presence on this forum, churning these units out from your 1-man-band operation in China - you’ve moved one step closer to real summit-fi IEM design that can take on the big brands.
This is Lean Startup strategy at its best - all walk and no talk.
(Edit March 5th : Now using Muses02 OPAMPs to great effect. Also removed my 'dump the pink filter' comment at top due to presentation with these Muses chips sounding much better than a quick appraisal I did with older OPAMP chips at review time.I don't want to hold anyone back with older impressions, or make people feel they are going against the A4 thread grain liking pink filters.)
