Knowledge Zenith KZ EDX Single-Dynamic Driver Earphone

Package

Nothing much to write home about, just the IEM itself, cable and three pairs of eartips

Sound

Bass - Big midbass but well placed

Good bass impact, without being too boomy and slow. Average decay and attack with little subbass roll-off, not that much looser kind of bass thanks to the upper mids peaks, texture a bit lacking but okay for the price

Mids - Warm and open

A little harsh kind of mids, sometimes very unforgiving with old and poor mastered tracks. Besides that, very passable and okay mids performance for a 7 USD IEM

Highs - Crisp and vibrant

Good treble extension and details, sibilance can show up sometimes but not a big deal. Cymbal crashes are occasionally very harsh for my liking, but if you are a low volume listener it might not bother

Still Worth It?

If you are tight on the budget and want a brighter V shaped IEM, certainly yes. But if you are sensitive to shouty upper mids, maybe the TRN MT1 or OG QKZ VK4 are better deal for you, and if you can stretch the budget a little more you can get a lot better options (CCA CRA, 7hz Zero, Moondrop Chu, Tripowin Lea)

Disclaimer:

I would like to thank CCA Earphone Store for providing a review unit of the EDX. Check out their store on Lazada (Shop at CCA earphone store | lazada.com.ph). Rest assured that my impressions written in this review are my own personal thoughts and opinions and in no way influenced by outside parties.

I am not an expert in this hobby nor claim to be an audiophile. I just love listening to music and am fond of writing articles.


Introduction:

Knowledge Zenith – the man, the myth, the legend. Arguably the most important figure of the Chi-Fi world, at least one of the companies that brought it to its glorious state in present times. The most recent releases have all been multi-driver IEMs, most not in the “budget-range.” But, out of a sudden, they release the KZ EDX, reminiscent of their very first single-DD offerings, that one can say made them who they are today. The KZ EDX is the cheapest IEM with removable cables. At just under 6 USD, depending on your region, you can choose between five different colors – black, white, smoked grey, crystal, and jade green/blue, with the last two being quite “rare” colorways and are only available in select stores. Rated at 112 dB with an impedance of 23 ohms, these are fine to drive with a phone.



These were plugged to my iPhone 5s with the SD01 amplifier for the review.







Build and Comfort: Generic IEM shell that is used in multiple products, one in particular is the QKZ VK4. Has two vents – one at the center of the driver, and the other close to the edge of the nozzle base. Mine is in a crystal/clear finish, and it looks beautiful on hand. For those saying that the KS1 shell is the same, it’s not. The KS1 has this contour to the body that makes it more comfortable than the EDX, in my case. The cable that it comes with is a 4-core cable, in a rose gold/copper-esque finish, ending in a 0.75mm 2-pin connector. A bit tangly but definitely something that you didn’t expect from a 6 USD IEM.





Now, onto sound:



For this review, the IEM was left in stock mode, without mods/cable change and only a tip change as the white Starline didn’t work for me. It was also really harsh OOTB and was hurting my ears after a few songs, burning them in helped in my experience (~30 hours using Cascade Burn-In).

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Bass – it’s good. Not amazing, but good. Extends up to sub-bass so it does not sound lacking. Not that tight but has texture. Might be a bit boomy for some as it is quite elevated and doesn't have the best quality.

Midrange – recessed and has this metallic tint to it. Lower midrange is also lacking and thus sound particularly thin on male vocals. Female vocals are unnatural, sounding overly sharp. Coupled with the upper midrange elevation, and it’s a rough experience. If you’re a vocals lover or listen to vocal-centric tracks, I can’t recommend these. It has this harshness that I’ve never heard before, until the EDX. Annoying instances of sibilance as well.

Treble – P.E.S. - Peaky, Elevated, and Splashy. I despise every bit of this region. It’s the only gear that hurt my ears after listening to a few songs. At low volume, it’s alright. But then start increasing loudness, and in shows the pierce that it has.

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Timbre – metallic. It sounds lifeless and unnatural.

Soundstage – surprisingly wide. That’s it. No perception of depth or instrument layering at all. The presentation is very 2-D.

Imaging – decent at best. Moving sounds become quite blurry.

Separation – fine. You’ll survive.

Detail-retrieval – faked as heck using the treble peaks.

Conclusion:

Man, I didn’t want to have this first experience with the KZ brand. I actually expected a lot based on the “hype” it has garnered, but I say the hype’s not real for me. Midrange is harsh and metallic, treble is P.E.S., non-existent soundstage depth and instrument layering, fake detail-retrieval, and blurry imaging. The only redeeming qualities of the EDX are the beautiful crystal shell, removable and good-quality stock cable, white Starline tips that you can’t buy anywhere, surprisingly wide soundstage and the decent, but not amazing bass. Oh, and for 6 USD, I still don’t recommend these. You’re better off looking at earbuds which offer much more value for way less the money.



There are others that suggest to cable-roll and tip-roll. I didn’t have the resources during this review to do so. One of the “best” combinations that I’ve read is a “pure silver” cable and either foam tips or wide-bore tips.

Kz edx
❤
Loud sub bass
Good dd for edm
Benefits massively from a copper cable and a short burn in period
Almost ba like treble speed and extension
Best dd under 10$ period, ever
Best iem under 10$
Great imaging separation and staging
Very similar sound to tc01 ( possible same dd ) highly likely
Comfortable fit , good tips, doesn’t need amp to shine.
Stock cable can cause treble to be slightly harsh
Near bass head levels when calls for it.
Tip to reduce bass or eq slightly will improve sq
Excellent vocals and mids
Insane value at 6$
One of my favorite kz
Everyone should buy one to try but not from the KZ store on aliexpress

Specifications


Bass
As expected of a 1DD, it have incredible amount of bass. Unfortunately, I can hear a little bleeding into the male vocals (low mids). Although there is a substantial amount of bass, it is not boomy and does not overwhelm listener. For this bass, I believe everyone would like it, bass-head or not. However, bass-heads will probably want a little more which can be easily archived with simple mods such as changing the tips or using KZ's own gold & silver plated copper wire instead of the stock cable.

Mids
The mids is very pleasant for both male and female vocals. Both in coherence to each other and do not have the problem of "fighting over the stage" to outshine the other. The only issues here is the bleeding from bass, making a small range near the crossover to sound a little muddy.

Treble
To keep the story short, I did not like the treble section. It was a little too harsh for my tolerance (I have slightly better tolerance than most here) which I did not expect from a DD. Secondly, something I have expected to occur, the DD is not fast enough in reproducing the treble and it sounded distorted, a limitation of a single driver trying to juggle the whole spectrum. Lastly, I appreciate the extension past 10k which is not the norm in 2020, unfortunately the peaks make it extremely unbearable

Conclusion
This one is definitely worth the price and overall the tuning is splendidly done. Most of the issues are limitations of a single driver unit, "overworked in managing too big a spectrum" and "not fast enough". Right off the box, this thing is in my opinion 3.5 rating, the mods I done below made it worthwhile for a 4.3ish? But to be fair I have to mod it somewhat so I shall call it a 4.0 for its potential.

Mods
Here are somethings I did to get my preferred signature... First of all, changing the stock cable to the KZ's gold and silver plated copper cable. Followed by a crazy EQ of cutting anything past 8k by -12db on my hiby music player using android phone. Desktop application I have a tube buffer amp which is warm and sort of negates the painful treble and so I did not EQ it.

More reviews at: www.perrivanaudio.com

Driver Setup: 1 Dynamic Driver

Price: 5 USD

Intro



Disclaimer: This review set was graciously lent to me by a friend and the review is written of my own accord.


Knowledge Zenith! One of the Chi-Fi pioneers when it comes to affordable multi driver setups in the audio industry. They came a long way since then and they are still going strong when it comes to expanding their product line with new releases every now and then. With the EDX, it really tries to get into that super budget portion of audio whereby skipping a meal, you can afford an in-ear monitor for everyday use! Let’s see if the EDX can establish itself as a cutthroat contender in this remarkably low price point.

Accessories (Score: 5.0/10)


As usual, let’s get the packaging out of the way. The EDX comes in a white box where both L and R placed in a cut-out placeholder with the label “Customized Heavy Bass Earphones” (trust me it is as advertised). Along with it, a classic KZ cable which I really disliked a lot according to my experience with past KZ offerings which they seem to be still using. Nothing much to talk about here other than the barebones necessity of a set of tips and poor cable. The EDX also came with a 4-pole mic cable which annoyed me whenever I am using my DX120 as I cannot insert the 3.5mm jack fully but finding that sweet spot. For the price I have no qualms but objectively? Not great.

Build Quality and Fit (Score: 6.5/10)


I had a hard time trying to find that seal and fit on my ears which I eventually still couldn’t despite several tip rolling and eventually settled on using larger final tips which still doesn’t really sit well in my ears. The shell is made from plastic entirely which I am not surprised given its price point, but it felt as if it can take some beating but might not survive for long after a few knocks. Quality wise, the package isn’t made for it hence not a fair fight for the EDX given its price point and what the manufacturer can do.







Sound (Overall Score: 6.3/10)

The EDX has a rather emphasised V-Shaped tuning where there is a significant boost to its bass as well as its upper-midrange/lower-treble region. Although I am not a fan of it, it does perform well against genres that it is made for such as synths, EDM, hip-hop.






Sources used

- Ibasso DX120
- IPhone XR
- Atom DAC and AMP

Music and Albums, I listened to

- Alan Walker – Alone/Faded/Darkside
- Billie Eilish – When we all fall asleep, where do we go?
- Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture
- Cigarettes After Sex
- The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
- One Republic – Human
- Keane – Fears and Hopes
- Nino Rota – The Godfather OST
- Fedde Le Grand – Cinematic
- ARTY – Rebound
- ACDC
- Godfather OST
- Aladdin OST

Bass (Score: 6.5/10)

The sub-bass on this unit is strong once you get that seal and it also has a relatively punchy mid-bass attack that really gives that slam when needed. Billie Eilish’s album was my go-to when it comes to modern pop bass rumbles and yes, it does what it was advertised for, heavy bass earphones. Attention to detail and quality took a blow as each note sounds slightly muddy due to that ground-shaking bass. Although it was advertised as a bassy earphone, I do hope that KZ pays more attention to hitting that balance between quantity and quality.

Mids (Score: 6.5/10)

I was rather surprised at its mid-range as it doesn’t sound too sucked out which usually V-shaped IEMs behave but it does sound slightly metallic and overly harsh on its upper mid-range which luckily can be solved using EQ. Instruments, for the most part, sounds natural and timbre doesn’t really take a huge hit here but it lacks that detail and intimacy when it comes to listening to acoustic recordings from One Republic. On the flip side, that additional lift in the upper mid-range made trance and synths in EDM gives it an extra boost in terms of energy and intensity. Overall, not too bad for a V-shaped IEM!

Treble (Score: 6.0/10)

I find the treble of the EDX to be unrefined and relatively messy. Cymbals on Aladdin’s OST “friend like me” sounds splashy and the decay just ends up smudging up its separation capabilities which are average at best. I do notice that they adjusted the sibilance region such that it doesn’t outright tear your ears apart but it’s kind of borderline sounds sibilant to me which I will give it a pass on that. It does have that airy feeling, but it comes with quirks and unpleasant technical characteristics which prevents me from giving this a good grade.

Overall

The soundstage on the EDX is average at best and a not-so-good tonality given its tuning which I kind of expected it to exhibit. It does sound balanced which suits several specific genres such as hip-hop dance and EDM.

Comparisons

VS CVJ CSA




Although the CVJ CSA follows a hybrid setup and being slightly more expensive, both are competing under the relatively budget-friendly section in the audio world. Now, although the CSA has better bass and lower mid-range quality wise, its treble region sounds sharp and overly sibilant as compared to the EDX which in my opinion a deal-breaker for me.

Although the EDX loses out on the technical front, it has a better tuned treble region which firstly doesn’t sound too sibilant as well as tonally more balanced. Fit wise I do prefer the CSA over EDX, but I would expect this to be an end-user issue which may differ depending on your ear size.

Conclusion

In conclusion, KZ did manage to churn out a super budget-friendly bass-head IEM and at such a low price point which just made me ponder how much does it cost to make an IEM right now in the market? If you enjoy V-shaped sound signatures and have enough money for a MacDonald meal, I suggest you give this a shot as a daily driver that you can bring around, weathering all sorts of usage at a very low cost. I am truly astonished by the value that the EDX has and I can safely say that “no harm getting the EDX, it is just too cheap!” Hence the reason for the bonus points for its superb price to performance ratio.

INTRODUCTION

The KZ EDX is the company’s latest offering at their very low end. In 2014, KZ started with $5 single dynamic-driver earphones of remarkable quality…such as the EDR1 and EDR2, later the ATE and ATR….just to name a few. With the start of the “driver war” in early 2017, KZ neglected the single-dynamic driver altogether and focused on more and more drivers stuffed into their earpieces. What this and other Chi-Fi companies had not taken into consideration was the customers’ re-surfacing longing to the more organic coherent sound of a dynamic driver earphone. While the competition such as Moondrop and Tanchjim also developed premium single DDs. KZ has yet to deliver such a design. Instead, they put their single DD offerings always at the bottom of their selection. But although the KZ EDX is cheap, it is nevertheless quite good, actually surprisingly good…and surprisingly useful.


SPECIFICATIONS

Driver: Φ10mm composite magnetic dynamic
Impedance: 23 Ω
Sensitivity: 112 dB/mW
Frequency Range: 20 – 20,000 Hz
Cable/Connector: 2 pin 0.75 mm
Tested at: $7
Purchase Link: OPA Audio Store

DISCLAIMER

The KZ EDX were provided unsolicited from OPA Audio store and I thank them for that.

I made a 7-8 minute video explaining the earphone's characteristics.