HZSOUND Waist Drum

Intro
HZSOUND is a brand known for Heart Mirror, which offers a very high price performance ratio and received a lot of positive feedback from various reviewers.


Packaging
The packaging is fairly standard, nothing exceptional. However, the bundled accessories for the asking price, it is very generous, with various eartips, extra filters as well as a storage pouch to store the waist drum.


Build/Comfort
Being a bullet styled IEM, I have no problem with the fit, except it has to go a little deeper than usual. Noise isolation is not bad as it is similar to deep insertion. Comfort wise, the waist drum feels very light weight in my ears, so i don’t have any problem wearing them for long hours



Source
Foobar2k -> Questyle M15 -> HZSOUND Waist Drum
Cowon Plenue D2 -> HZSOUND Waist Drum


Sound
Waist Drum is a U shaped sounding IEM to my ears. The tuning is on a safer side which is generally easier to accept/like by the majority, and also less recessed sounding vocal. Note weight is slightly on the thinner side


Bass

• Sub bass is rolled off so you don’t really get much rumble
• Mid bass is punchy and tight, not to mention it is also fast and clean, clearly the mid bass is the focus here
• To my ears, i find the bass’s tuning is just right, not overly emphasised, some call it “audiophile’s” bass
• The fast bass makes it very enjoyable on tracks like Metallica’s Master of Puppets and Slipknot’s Duality

Mids

• Vocal placement is slightly laid back rather than too forward
• Male vocal has got good body and texture to it, while female vocal is a little thin and nasal sounding at times
• You can clearly tell that the upper mids are slightly boosted, i’m not that sensitive to the upper mids boost so your mileage might vary. I for one prefer a slight boost on the upper mids to spice things up

Treble

• Treble is lacking a little air, but it is good enough
• Good amount of details
• Smooth and non fatiguing treble, non sibilance
• Overall treble performance is good for the asking price

Soundstage/Imaging

• Instruments separation is good for the asking price, you can tell the instruments properly without one trying to overpower each other
• Imaging is also well done where instruments can be pinpointed easily
• Height of soundstage is good but the width is average, not necessarily a bad thing

Driveability
Waist Drum is very easy to drive, it can sound good even on an Apple’s Lightning Dongle. However it does scale with a better source/amp of course.
Pairing it with a warmer source is recommended because of Waist Drum’s thin note weight, it will kind of give a perception of a slightly thicker note weight when paired with a warm source, pairing it with a neutral/analytical source will just make things worse as it is already thin sounding and also the boosted upper mids, it will be very bad for certain people who are sensitive to upper mid boost

Comparison
I do not have Waist Drum’s sibling which is Heart Mirror, so I can't do a direct comparison on both of them. I do have TinHifi’s T1S which is priced slightly below Waist Drum

• T1S is more on the fun sounding side of spectrum
• Bass does rumble and thump, a little slower than Waist Drum, hence it can get a little muddy on Slipknot’s track, a little too much mid bass to my ears
• Treble on T1S is smooth and non fatiguing, in terms of detail retrieval, Waist Drum is better at it, however, T1S does have slight edge where it has a thicker note weight on the treble
• Mids are lush on T1S, thick and meaty?
• Wider soundstage on the T1S, imaging is more or less the same on both Waist Drum and T1S

Final Thoughts
HZSOUND’s Waist Drum is a highly competent set in terms of technicalities and also price performance ratio. If you are looking for a budget IEM with good technicalities and also safe sounding, look no further as this is the one you could be looking for. At 34$ at the time of writing, it’s a no brainer to me given the performance it offers and also the accessories that came with it.

If you are interested in getting a pair, head over to KeepHifi’s webstore to grab one
https://keephifi.com/products/hzsound-waist-drum

*This unit is sent by Mei from KeepHifi for the purpose of this review. I thank her for the opportunity to try this out. I am in no way influenced by KeepHifi to produce this review, all thoughts are of my own and the link provided is not affiliated

Waist Drum comes in a nice little box with 3 different types of tips and denim pouch just like the Heart Mirror.
The Earphones themselves are made of metal and are of a smaller size bullet shape that should fit everyone just fine. I personally found them comfortable for long listening and even laying down, no uneasy pressure on my ears as with larger IEMs. They are open back isolation was average for this type. Build quality surpasses expectations and looks great too.

Sound: Signature is a safe and well-tuned warmish U-shaped IEM

Bass: Is impactful without overpowering the other frequencies, it has decent speed and details, but Sub-Bass does roll off quickly so no Bass heads will not smile at this one, Mid-Bass has more emphasis here and does bleed a little into the lower Mids. Still the Bass is pleasant and very close to neutral.

Mids: Are well tunes and have focus, they are for the most part transparent and rich sounding with a warmth to the lower mids. Vocals are forward and center stage, both Male and Female have great presence and details, Upper Mids can get a little hot depending on volume and recording quality, but it's not a major problem.

Treble: Sounds good, there's decent energy but it does lack in extension a little. Highs have a good detail and clarity without any sibilance. This will not impress treble heads either but still is enjoyable or welcome to the treble sensitive.

Soundstage: Has an average wide field, with less depth but good placement and above average in this price range.

Conclusion. For its price it's one of the better options in a sea of V-shaped cookie cutter IEMs this one stands out for its unique character and charms. I really like this one, build is comfortable, sturdy and sound is great for all around listening and they look great too.

DISCLAIMER

I purchased the HZSound Waist Drum from KeepHIFI Amazon at a discounted price. It can be gotten here or at their KeepHIFI store page (no affiliate links).

So why is this unit named the Waist Drum? Well, the waist drum is actually an ancient folk percussion Chinese instrument, so this IEM is aptly named after it, due to the similar design of the shell:



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The HZSound Waist Drum is a pretty good all-rounder U-shaped bullet-shaped IEM that does most areas well. It goes for a "musical" over an analytical tuning. Accessories are very generous, build/comfort is good, and it has quite good price-to-performance ratio. Timbre for acoustic instruments is a highlight.

Some nitpicks are a sub-bass roll-off and upper mids glare at louder volumes (Fletcher Munson curve), so those that are sensitive to this area may need to look elsewhere.


SPECIFICATIONS

• Driver configuration: 6 mm polymer composite diaphragm single dynamic driver
• Frequency response: 20 Hz – 40000Hz
• Impedance: 16 Ohms
• Sensitivity: 104 dB (no units provided)
• Cable: 2 pin, high purity OFC silver-plated cable
• Tested at $33 USD

ACCESSORIES

Other than the IEM, these are included:

- Spare filters
- Cable
- 3 different types of tips (S/M/L)
- Anime waifu card -> the most important accessory for some!
- Cloth bag



The provided accessories are extremely generous for the $30ish USD asking price. It definitely puts to shame some higher priced IEMs that give way scantier accessories (looking at you TRN cough cough).

The spare filters are a nice addition, in case of clogging of the filters with debris/moisture, or some might wanna play around with different tuning filters, or via stacking them.

Three types of tips are provided. The white ones tend to lower the bass, whereas the black thin ones seem to boost the bass for me. Then we have some sony hybrid lookalikes which are my personal favourite pairing with the Waist Drum, they are very comfortable and give a well balanced sheen to the music; they are kind of a mid-point between the other 2 tips in terms of sound. These sony hybrid lookalikes also seem to be more comfortable and isolating than the other 2 types of tips provided, at least for me. Do try and tip-roll to see what suits you, as we all have different ear anatomies, and tips will change the sound, isolation and comfort.

Very happily, I noted that the Waist drum has a 2-pin detachable cable, which is quite rare for a bullet-shaped design (most detachable bullet-shaped IEMs feature MMCX). This theoretically should improve the Waist Drum's lifespan, and one can even use the Waist Drum with aftermarket balanced cables or TWS adapters.

The provided cable is a high purity OFC silver-plated cable, it is on the thinner side but is quite usable, with a chin cinch. At purchase, one can opt for a mic version or a non-mic one. Unfortunately, this cable has slight microphonics, but this can be minimized by utilizing a shirt clip.

The included anime waifu card has 2 sides, one features a blue dressed anime girl, while the other side's model is dressed in red.





The rest of this review was done with the sony hybrid tip lookalikes and the stock cable. No aftermarket accessories/mods were done, so as not to add confounders to the sound.


BUILD/COMFORT

As per its namesake, the Waist Drum is shaped like a Chinese waist drum percussion instrument, and is a bullet shaped design. The Waist Drum is very small in profile. It is also light and extremely comfortable. I have used it for hours without any discomfort, and in fact, they are well-suited for sleep; you can lie down on one side of the head without the Waist Drum causing pain.

The housing is made of CNC fashioned stainless steel, and a cool point is that the Waist Drum can be worn cable down or over-ear, which increases fitting options.

I didn’t find any driver flex during usage.


ISOLATION

The HZSound Waist Drum is an open backed IEM, and this is a double edged sword, as it improves soundstage but does give penalties in isolation. Even so, with the sony hybrid lookalike tips, isolation is about average, and is not as badly isolating as some other open backed stuff like the Final E3000, but don't be expecting unvented BA type isolation levels.




DRIVABILITY

I tested the HZSound Waist Drum with:
- Khadas Tone Board -> Schiit Asgard 3 amp
- Khadas Tone Board -> Topping L30 amp
- Sony Walkman NW A-55 DAP (Walkman One WM1Z Plus v2 Mod)
- Sony Walkman NW A-55 DAP (Walkman One Neutral Mod)
- Questyle M15 DAC/AMP dongle
- E1DA DAC/AMP dongle
- Colorfly CDA M1 DAC/AMP dongle
- Tempotec Sonata HD Pro dongle (BHD firmware)
- Smartphone

The Waist Drum can be driven from lower powered sources, but it scales with juice. Due to the thinner note weight on the Waist Drum, I would recommend warmer sources with it, to give some heft to the music, and also to counter the upper mids region, which we will discuss below.


SOUND & TECHNICALITIES

The Waist Drum is a U-shaped set. It is very "musical" rather than analytical and sterile like the Heart Mirror older brother.


Graph of the Waist Drum via IEC711 compliant coupler.


Bass is mostly mid-bass focused, with some sub-bass roll-off. The bass is north of neutral. Bass quality is moderately fast, with slight mid-bass bleed. Texturing may be one-noted at times with some lack in definition, say when compared to its sibling the Heart Mirror.

For the midrange, the lower mids are not the most lush, due to the lack of mid-bass. But this results in the midrange being very transparent and clear, with layers in the music heard well. Upper mids are boosted, with vocals taking centre-stage over instruments; this region has a pinna gain of around 12 dB or so. In essence, vocals are forwards, and may occasionally veer into shouty territory, if used at higher volumes (Fletcher Munson curve). At lower volumes, this is not much of an issue, unless perhaps in poorly recorded material.

Upper mids perception, is however, dependent on volume played at, ear anatomy (pinna gain), hearing health (either from age or occupation/leisure exposure), source and eartips used, but suffice to say, those sensitive to the 3 kHz upper mids region may want to consider alternatives.

Treble is boosted with good clarity and details, with surprisingly minimal sibilance. Extension is moderate, not the most airy or sparkly set.

Note weight is on the thinner side, though not as thin as the Heart Mirror. Clarity is excellent. Soundstage height is good, though depth/width are about average. Instrument separation and imaging are good at this price. Music never sounded compressed even with complex musical movements.

Instrumental timbre is very organic, though vocals an sound a bit nasal at times due to the boosted upper mids. Indeed, I really enjoyed the Waist Drum with non-vocal acoustic and classical pieces, stringed, woodwind and brass instruments are portrayed authentically. Classical aficionados will have a field-day with the Waist Drum!


COMPARISONS

HZSound Heart Mirror

Graph of the Waist Drum versus Heart Mirror via IEC711 compliant coupler.

The hyped Heart Mirror is the older sibling of the Waist Drum and is a neutral bright IEM with a thinner note weight than the Waist Drum. In contrast, the Waist Drum is more U-shaped with more bass quantity. The Heart Mirror has more treble quantity and sibilance, but the Waist Drum is more boosted in the upper mids region. The Heart Mirror can sound splashy with cymbals and high-hats, which isn't the case with the more subdued Waist Drum.

Other than in soundstage, the Heart Mirror has better technicalities - in bass tightness, imaging, micro-details, clarity, transients. The Waist Drum has better timbral accuracy, with a more "musical" flavour, compared to the ultra analytical and sterile Heart Mirror.

These 2 siblings are very different, and are complimentary. Think of the younger brother Waist Drum as the fun loving and friendly life of the party, whereas the Heart Mirror is the aloof and intelligent older brother.


Final Audio E3000

The Final E3000 is a dark L shaped set that is much harder to drive than the Waist Drum. The E3000 has a more boomy and nebulous mid-bass, but has a darker treble, and a much thicker note weight than the Waist Drum.

The E3000 has better soundstage and imaging than the Waist Drum, but loses in micro-details and clarity and transients. In terms of timbre, the Waist Drum is superior.

Both are bullet-shaped IEMs, but the E3000 has a very noodle-thin microphonic cable without strain relief, and this is a potential point of failure down the line. The E3000 also have much worse isolation than the Waist Drum.

So other than in build (detachable cable), the niche tuning and the amplification requirements of the E3000 make it not as versatile as the Waist Drum.


CONCLUSIONS



The HZSound Waist Drum is a pretty good all-rounder U-shaped bullet-shaped IEM that does most areas well. It goes for a "musical" over an analytical tuning. Accessories are very generous, build/comfort is good, and it has quite good price-to-performance ratio. Timbre for acoustic instruments is a highlight that should please most timbre freaks.

Some nitpicks are sub-bass roll-off and upper mids glare at louder volumes (Fletcher Munson curve), so those that are sensitive to this area may need to look elsewhere.

Otherwise, the Waist Drum is a more analoguish and "musical" sibling to the cult classic Heart Mirror, and is really quite a nice set for those looking for a sub-$50 USD single DD that can do most areas well.

TONALITY: 8.5/10
TECHNICALITIES: 8/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8.2/10
SOUND VALUE: 8.8/10

HZsound isn’t as known as lot of other chifi audio company, at least here in western world. Still, it make years that they are around and even if HZsound Hearth Mirror well deserve acclaim put them on the map, they are still an underdog with about half of their IEM and earbuds available to western market.
It’s no secret that I consider their HZsound Mirror as sub-100$ unbeatable IEM benchmark in term of technical performance, so when I know they have a new IEM available on Taobao, I do everything to speed up it’s western accessibility, thanks to Keephifi for taking my words seriously and be the first to offer them even if now they are widly available.
No wonder now that my expectation about the new HZsound Waist Drum can be too pumped up, why would HZ price it 20$ lower than HZ Mirror if it’s to make them as impressive technically?
Let’s see what was the goal of HZsound with this ultra budget IEM offering in this review.

CONSTRUCTION​

HZsound is not only impressive in term of sound quality but built quality too, they seem to love metal housing and the Waist Drum is no exception apart the fact its VERY small! This is what hit me. They are about same size as Moondrop Spaceship with a smaller nozzle and bigger body. Perfect sleeper IEM in all sens of the word.



As well, they are true open back and have 2pin connector. Here, the 2pin connector choice is a bit questionnable in term of practicality and durability. This limit over ear wearing style possibility, so any cable with ear hook will be impossible to use (for me at least). As well, since 2pin isn’t embeded in metal body, it is prompt to breaking if you do a wrong move.
Open back mean sound leakage too, while it inflict on isolation too, I don’t find it problematic unless in super loud noisy environement like a factory or traffic hour in Montreal street.
All in all, construction is excellent for the price, unique and ultra portable including lying on your pillow portable.

Cable included doesn’t really justify urgent upgrade, one thing I note, is that HZ know what they do and don’t throw random cable (nor random eartips) with their well crafted IEM. The silver plated cable is the one I use always with them, I try some litz copper and it wasn’t good since it affect negatively the resolution and timbre is plenty good in stock form.



Packaging while minimalist is PRO in their ear tips choice, all of them offer good fit and good sound, it’s always a joy to get those sony eartips too which are a bit similar to Final E tips. The carrying pouch is made of ”jean” material and quite cute even if i will never use it. Extra nozzle mesh is a welcome addition too. All in all, we can’t complaint here and the cable and eartips make use smile enough.

SOUND IMPRESSIONS​

I give alot of listen to those and since day one, i find them highly musical and easy to love, i was surprise to find them warm too, but this is compared to HZ Mirror crisp expectation. Let say HZ here have in mind to produce an easy to love and safe enough musicality that will not be underwhelming in technical performance and they achieve this like real champ. Tonal balance is more similar to their earbuds, the HZsound Bell Rhyme, than HZ Mirror vivid neutral presentation. To note that these scale up with amping and the driver can handle all type of loudness without going distort or messy, within their stock limitation. I suggest clean crisp source with those, not dark or warm or too laid back.

TONALITY
Balanced sligth V shape, with warm bass slam, lush mids and gently bright treble. It is one of those IEM with an ”analog tone” to them, but not in a dirty way like the Whizzer BS1, more organic and natural in timbre. Let say the tuner of those seem to be a vocal lover since both male and female vocal are full bodied and very musical. This is the warm side, while the bright sid of spectrum that mix cohesively is from it’s capable treble that offer good amount of details. These are near mid centric yet the bass and highs are energic in dynamic too, very unique safe tuning, very refined and easy to love unless your an extremist like a basshead or treble head.

BASS is very impressive, especially if we look at the size of the DD, which is only 6mm. These move lot of air and the slam and rumble is plenty thick and present, weight is authoritative yet the slam doesn’t feel muddy or boomy, it’s not too boosted for that. Sure, presentation is a bit warm, not very detailed in texture nor perfectly separated, it gently embrace lower mid in natural transition and attack while a bit slow isn’t sloppy. Let say bass while hard hitting have a soft edge and stay in the back, but mids and treble sit on it, so it do stole some clarity and clean air which will affect sens of instrument separation wideness. As well, extension is not very linear, it’s a thick mid bass impact that darken kick drum presence and definition, making it more physical than visual-cerebral if we can say. This type of bass isn’t problematic for cello which will have good grunt and body vibrancy, more for acoustic bass line that need transparent natural resonance down to 20hz. Slap bass to will lack a bit of speed and texture grip. Any digital big kick will be nicely restitue and head banging in a lavish way, syth sub will be thick and well extrack in density, sub rumble will but heavy but cut short in resonance.

MIDS are perhaps best part of the show here, and this wasn’t expected at all! Gone are thin mids of HZ Mirror, here it’s lush, dense, weighty and very musical due to a natural timbre free of grain or timbral imbalance. As a fan of female vocal, i’m open minded about 2 type of vocal presentation: bright fowards and density fowards, here it’s density of presence that HZ choose, their a hint of low harmonic breathyness to female vocal that make them full bodied, favorize in presence and never sibilant, artificial or thin sounding. These might be the best sub-50$ IEM in term of female vocal for my taste, since nothing about them make me lift an eyebrow about their timbre or tone naturalness. Quite similar to Moondrop Starfield or Tanchjim Tanya vocal in that regard, cleaner less warm way. Another aspect of the mids is the note weight, yep, we have this too, piano drop hit is felt. When female sound well rounded, an IEM tend to restitue well woodwind instrument too, and this is the case with the HZ, saxophone sound full and natural, dense yet not opaque.

TREBLE is understated yet very capable and suprising when needed too, let say extremely well balanced with overall colour of the tonality. We don’t lack details with the HZ yet it will not find them for us, percussion will sit on the back but be fully restitute, perhaps lacking in natural decay sometime or ultra fast snap limitation. Still, clavicord sound excellent, full, rich and with enough decay to be natural, without any annoying spike that often occur with treble fowards tuning that boost too much high harmonic. Laid back and detailed, is it possible? Well, yes, with those HZ it is. But this smooth clarity can lack a bit of energy for the most abrasive and (non timbral harmonic) instrument of all: the electric guitar. Yep, metal head, perhaps these aren’t for you, the bite is a bit tamed and muffled here, tone isn’t right even if when it go acoustic or non distorted crazy guitar it can sound even. This underline a bit of lack of snap with high too, so attack control on top can have limitation in extreme case. That plus the not so tigh bass is sure not a perfect mix for fast complex rock and metal. Even if percussion line are very well restitute and some passage of let say ”The physic house band” are in near eargasm territory.

SOUNDSTAGE is average wide and tall and lack deepness, choice of ear tips will permit to open it more but not drastically. HZ aren’t that impressive when it come to open sound presentation.

IMAGING is better in layering than static instrument placement due to softed edge of definition, aka warm overall energic tonality. It doesnt soudn dark, muffled or compressed, yet lack of air is a real issue with these Waist Drum….even if open back!

TECHNICALITY wise, these are above average in term of price range and superior to Tanya, and even Final E1000. Yet, it’s not a master, since even Lea or Chu seem faster in attack and more extended in bass and treble. In fact, tonality is so good that it shadow the competency of technical performance, these HZ can deal with complex track without going messy, but in an densely layered heterogeneous and understated way. I do think open back design mitiged my judgement of technical performance here, due to different attack control presentation which is more similar to living room speaker that doesn’t underline definition edge and clarity of background but let the sound be wild yet never distorted (unless crappy speakers, which HZ isn’t at all.) Simply put: when I listen to HZ Waist Drum, i think attack is slow when bass occur, and fast when its about treble and higher mid spectrum. To have this sens of fastly extracted full sound layers is a sign of dynamic driver greatness.

COMPARISONS​

VS HZSOUND MIRROR

For those dreaming of a cheaper master of technicalities, I’ll tell you right away the Waist Drum isn’t that and is inferior in all technical aspect like lower resolution, slower attack speed and control, less extended bass and treble and notably less precise, clean and accurate imaging.
But does it mean tonality is less musical or immersive? Absolutely not, since here the balance is in fact more organic, euphonic and cohesive with the HZ Waist Drum.
The Waist Drum is a hint warmer and slightly more V shape against vivid W shape of HZ Mirror. Mid bass is more boosted and have heavier yet warmer slam, it isn’t as well separated and clean and doesn’t extend as low in a linear way like the Mirror.
Mid range of Waist Drum is lusher, denser with more natural timbre, making the vocal fuller in presence and less cold and lean than HZ Mirror, but clarity and separation as well as transparency is inferior, still, mids are better rounded and less prompt to sibilance. Strangely, male vocal seem to have more lower harmonic with the HZ Mirror.

Treble is very different here, way more focus and peaky and analytical with the Mirror, while fuller, rounder, smoother with the Waist Drum, it’s better balanced and less in your face, yet it have good brilliance and snap too but not as much sparkle and resonance. Soundstage wise, the Waist Drum is more open in wideness tallness, while HZ Mirror have deeper cleaner spatiality. Imaging as said is from another league with HZ Mirror, yet the layers are thinner. This underline a big difference in timbre restitution and balance here, the Waist Drum have lusher, denser, warmer and more natural timbre.

All in all, these 2 are different beast, so if you find too bright and anlytical the HZ Sound Hearth Mirror, the lusher less technical and more V shape HZ Waist Drum will surely suit your taste better since it’s tonality is less energic, more organically cohesive and more laid back in dynamic heft.

VS TANCHJIM TANYA

Those 2 are a bit similar in signature, tough the HZ Waist Drum is just a hint brighter and more resolved and less warm and thick sounding as a whole.
So, Tanya is more V shape and warm yet with greater mids presence and even denser fuller timbre. Bass have more slam authority and better texture but similar lack of clean separation. HZ seem to extend more and doesn’t mix up as much with lower mids.
Mids are cleaner with HZ and better separated, while they are fuller, warmer and more upfront with Tanya, the denser timbre tend to veil a bit macro-resolution unlike the HZ.
Treble is where the HZ is notably superior and show it’s technical talent too, we have greater amoung of micro details, more sparkle and brilliance and highs like percussions are less dark and recessed, with better micro definition, yet overall treble of Tanya is thicker and more grainy, more rounded.
These 2 are open back IEM, which inflict on similar soundstage presentation, wide open and airy, but less deep with Tanya.
Imaging is again notably superior with HZ, way more precise and sound layers are better separated too while mixed in a more homogeneous opaque warm way with the Tanya.
Both sound very good tonaly, though vocal are a bit thicker with Tanya, where HZ stand out is in technical performance that are superior in all aspect. I love both, for a more physical presentation, ill go Tanya since pop and soul can be more pleasant, for everything else that need versatile technicalities Ill go Waist Drum.

VS MOONDROP CHU (1DD-22$)

HZ is slightly more V shape and warmer, with thicker timbre, thicker weightier slam and overall rounder less crisp neutral tonality. Resolution seem higher and cleaner with CHU, this is due to more tamed bass impact that doesnt move air nor touch the mids, which are notably lusher and more natural with HZ as well as more organic in timbral balance.
CHU is colder dryier brighter with more artificial sounding vocal (high harmonic unbalance) that are thin and uneven compared to HZ W. Treble is more agressive and detailed, highs have more sparkle and snap as well as faster attack it seem, here HZ seem a bit dark on top and less abrasive and boosted in upper mids, so while male vocal are more fowards and full sounding with HZ, female vocal are just a hint less energic and upfront yet lusher and more bodied and overall more pleasant as said.
Imaging is more precise with the CHU, soundstage is wider and deeper too.
Technicaly, this is a hard comparison since dynamic weight as well as sens of layering is better with HZ while attack speed and control is better with the CHU.
While tonality is better balanced, more cohesive and musical with the HZ Drum, resolution and overall technical performance is higher with the CHU, which confirm a legit hype alert.

CONCLUSION​

HZSOUND have done it again, and now confirm their legitimacy to be call one of the best chifi audio company by having a diversify IEM and earbuds catalogue that are all well tuned and offer very high sound value. This company need to be recognize more since it doesn’t follow hyped mass tuning like badly balanced V or W shape or boring harman target. No, HZsound follow it’s own sound approach wich is more similar to Final audio acoustic quest, where the focus is not only about technical wow effet nor overly safe tonality, but a balance between sound performance accuracy and cohesive musicality.
The HZsound Waist Drum is organically cohesive in it’s balance, with beautifull warmth that thicken the timbre, it offer an highly immersive sound experience that cuddle the listener and fascinate him with rich layering and details. I find it very interesting that HZ didn’t try to mimic the crisp neutral and vivid tonality of their best seller Hearth Mirror and choose instead a warmer musicality that will complement well it’s big brother.
At about 30$, the Waist Drum represent a no brainer bargain as well as very safe buy due to it’s versatile, lush and engaging musicality.
Highly recommended, and bravo HZ, bravo!

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PS: I wanna thanks Keephifi for this review sample that they send me after my (very pumped up) request. As always, i’m free minded and not affiliated nor compensate in money for writing this review.
You can order the HZsound Waist Drum here:https://keephifi.com/products/hzsound-waist-drum

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