LZ A6

Disclaimer: I was offered a slight discount for this review by NiceHCK Audio Store on AliExpress. Thank you very much.

Price: 220 usd (launched at 310 usd)
Specifications:

Combination of drivers: 6-way hybrid

Dynamic: 10mm DLC diaphragm dynamic woofer

Piezo-electric: 7-layer parallel piezoelectric ceramic extra-high frequency driver

Balanced armature: midrange BA x 2, treble BA x 2

Frequency response range: 10Hz-40kHz (at max, depending of nozzle group)

Nominal Impedance: 45Ω LOUD OFF, 20Ω LOUD ON

Sensitivity: 110dB LOUD OFF, 115dB LOUD ON

Cable: 1.3m, 3.5mm single-ended stereo plug, L-shaped

Connector: MMCX or 2Pin 0.78mm (depending of customer choice)

Designed according to CTIA IECQ standard

Features: Gain (LOUD) switch, 9 pairs of sound tuning nozzles


Output nozzles (filters):

Group A: frequency response 10Hz-40kHz

• Blue: 3-7kHz +3dB
• Black: 3-7kHz ±0dB
• Red: 3-7kHz -3dB

Group B: frequency response 15Hz-30kHz

• Gold: 3-7kHz +3dB
• Dark gray: 3-7kHz ±0dB
• Pink: 3-7kHz -3dB

Group C: frequency response 20Hz-20kHz

• Dark Blue: 3-7kHz +3dB
• Sliver: 3-7kHz ±0dB
• Purple: 3-7kHz -3dB

Accessories:

Storage Case

9 Tuning Filters

6 pairs of silicone tips, both wide and narrow bore (honestly, they are crap)

1 pair of foam tips

Cable 2pin/mmcx (Also very bad)

Cable: The cable is bad, except it has no visible plastic on the ear hooks, L-shaped plug (might be a con or not) and it is thicker than average. I would advise on getting a third-party cable though, because the A6 really deserves a better cable.


Build: Not sure what materials the build is made of but it feels very solid. They are on the heavier side due to it having 6 drivers per ear, but nothing too much and to me it feels like the weight is making it fit better. The A6 and the A6 mini has the same exact build, with the A6 being a bit heavier due to the extra 4 BA drivers per side and the extra “loudness” button. There is a lip for the tips on all the filters.

Fit: The A6 has the exact same build and shape as the mini, this would make most people think that the fit should be the same. But no, actually the extra weight on the A6 makes it stay inside my ears easier. Fit is therefore good but you have to adjust it from time to time, so it loses out to other iems that have the “KZ” shape or “custom” like iems. It fits inside your ears deeper than average.

Comfort: To me they are very comfortable and there are no sharp/rough edges.

Isolation: Average isolation level, nothing special and in noisy environments it is definitely not enough.

Setup: Fiio M11, Cable 175 (4,4mm), Spinfits CP145 Large, “loudness” button on, Pink Filter

Lows: Excellent bass with a focus on quality rather than quantity. A fun Boosted Sub-bass but is very tight and fast, goes deep but doesn’t rumble that much (a pro in my preference) and wont color the sound too much. Mid-bass is close to neutral which along with the speed and tightness helps make the sound clear and not sound bassy. (The A6 take the shuoer Tape as my benchmark for bass)

Mid-bass: As mentioned above, the mid-bass is close to neutral and while this makes the A6 very versatile in what It can play, I would still have liked a bit more mid-bass along with the excellent speed/tightness to make it sound more fun, but this is very good for analytical purposes.

Sub-bass: The sub-bass is benchmark quality, powerful, tight and fast. Makes all genres/songs with Sub-bass sound extremely satisfying. Although bass heads might want it to rumble more, it is still very rumble capable just not up to bass heads standard (such as the TFZ No.3). To my personal taste I like tight and fast bass more, so I have no complaints about the sub-bass.

Mids: My biggest surprise and fear was that the A6 was going to have the terrible balancing between male and female vocals as the mini. BUT I was so wrong. The male and female vocals both sounds very balanced and natural. The quality and quantity of the mids only loses out to the Tin Hifi P1, otherwise it is my uncontested nr 1 in both quality and quantity. (yes, it beats the Hisenior T2 which only purpose was for the mids)

Female-vocals: very natural and high quality while also having good quantity. There is a chance of some sharpness on some tracks, for example Evanescence Bring me to life.

Male-vocals: well balanced with the female vocals even though the mid-bass is near neutral. The male vocals are a bit better than the female vocals because of the chance for it being sharp.

Highs: ENDGAME QUALITY, seriously the quality of the highs is INSANE and with the filters you can fine tune it to your liking with reduced treble quantity with the purple filter and with enough treble to blow away your ears with the blue filter. The treble quality is second to none in my entire collection and the amount of details the treble has is extremely high. It also has a lot of air in the treble so that can make it sound a bit unnatural for that reason. But otherwise the treble is very natural and the ultra-highs is well extended thanks to the piezo driver. (A FAIR WARNING, while I personally don’t have any problems with the highs, it can be too much for treble sensitive people)

Soundstage: very wide and allows everything to have their own space, the quantity of the treble might be helping the soundstage but it is big.

Tonality: Very natural and is extremely well done for a hybrid (tri-brid), only loses to single DD iems such as the blon 03 which puts the A6 extremely high on the list. (second place only to the blon 03 for me).

Details: Massive amount of details, quite amazing how they managed to make it have so much details without killing my ears with treble such as the AudioSense T800. Everything from the lows to the highs is filled with details (with the biggest amount in the treble)

Instrument Separation: With the big soundstage the instrument separation is top tier.

Songs that highlight the IEM: , , ,

Good genres: A lot it is very versatile, the songs above are the ones I like but it suits everything.

Bad genres: As stated above it seriously suits everything, except maybe Hip-hop where you want more mid-bass and less treble.

Comparisons:

Tin Hifi P1(Micropore mod on PC->Asus Xonar u7-> JDS Atom): More treble quantity on the P1 but it isn’t on the same quality level as the A6 due to it having lesser amount of details. Bass is similar in quality (fast and tight) but it is much more neutral on the P1 since the quantity is extremely low. The A6 can rumble with the sub-bass but the P1 has very weak rumble, so weak it is hard to call it rumble. Even with the micropore mod and amped up with a desktop amp it is still lacking quite a lot of bass quantity for my tastes. The P1 however is superior in the mids, it is more natural/organic. Having both more quantity and quality in male and female vocals. Soundstage is big on both, but instrument separation is a bit better on the P1 since the lower amount of bass is making the overall sound even brighter on the P1. However, since the P1 require so much power to drive I cannot really recommend it over the A6 even though the Mids is better on the P1.

Shuoer Tape: The tape has an oddly similar sound to the A6, both have a very tight and fast bass (a bit more sub-bass quantity with the Tape otherwise near identical) and very good vocal balancing (vocals are a bit more forward on the A6). The biggest difference is that there is a lot more air in the A6 and that there is more treble quantity (the quality is very close but the A6 is a bit better). However, the Tape has a very big 3,5k peak that is sibilant on some tracks/genres and technicalities is superior on the A6. Sadly, the QC problems with the tape makes it very difficult to recommend but it is otherwise a very good iem that can compete with the A6.

LZ A6 Mini (Black Filter): The first time I went from the A6 to the mini, it sounded muddy and everything was massively inferior to the A6. the little brother of the A6, the mini does have the same sound profile as the A6 but the biggest weakness of the mini being male vocals is no more on the A6. The bass is the most similar in quantity and quality but it isn’t as tight and fast as the A6, but still very fast. Male vocals are overshadowed by the female vocals, making male vocals sound very recessed and female vocals overly forward in comparison. Very bad vocal balancing on the mini, fortunately the A6 does not share this and has excellent vocal balancing. The treble on the mini sounds muddy in comparison to the A6. Extremely more details on the A6 and technicalities such as instruments separation is vastly superior (although it is most likely due to the cleaner treble that the instrument separation is better on the A6). Funny because the mini have more treble quantity (with the black filter that came with the mini) AND also have a big peak around 3k (not as big as the Tape but still very annoying) that can make it borderline sibilant on the mini for some songs. The A6 does not have that peak.



Conclusion: in conclusion I believe that with all 9 filters on the A6 and the current price of around 240 usd it is an extremely good value and is my first endgame worthy iem. (the 9 filters do change the sound quite a bit, but it still a treble focused iem) Even after a year since its release it is still a very good iem that can compete and surpass other newer ones, well done LZ!

Cable source: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/resistance-of-cables-pics-comments-and-links.907998/

My background- I am a professional musician, producer and audio engineer with experience in the performing, recording and pro-audio industry. I test products on a technical and musical level and try to write reviews as simple as possible from a music fan's perspective.

Genre preferences- I majorly listen to rock, acoustic, pop and metal genres and occasionally checkout EDM music which is doing the rounds on the radio and charts.

Reference Tracks -

1. Foo Fighters- The Pretender, Best of You & Everlong
2. Imagine Dragons- Radioactive & It’s Time
3. Coldplay- Paradise, Up in Flames & Everglow
4. Ed Sheeran- Thinking out loud, Bloodstream & Galway Girl
5. Gavin James- Always & Hearts on Fire
6. John Mayer- Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, Stop this Train & Say
7. Switchfoot- Meant to live & Dare You to Move
8. Linkin Park- Papercut, One Step Closer & Somewhere I belong
9. Green Day- Boulevard of broken dreams & Jesus of Suburbia
10. I Am Giant- Transmission
11. Karnivool- Simple Boy & Goliath
12. Dead Letter Circus- Real You
13. Lamb of God- Redneck & Laid to Rest

Specifications-

1. 6-way Hybrid

- 10mm DLC diaphragm Dynamic Driver for Lows
- 2 Balanced Armature for Mids & 2 Balanced Armature for Treble
- 7 layer parallel piezoelectric ceramic Ultra-High frequency

2. Nominal Impedance: 45Ω with LOUD off, 20Ω with LOUD on
3. Sensitivity: 110dB with LOUD off, 115dB with LOUD on
4. Cable: 1.3m 3.5mm single-ended stereo plug
5. Connector: MMCX or 2Pin 0.78mm
6. 9 pairs of sound tuning nozzles

Included in the box-

1. LZ A6
2. 2 pin / MMCX Cable
3. 9 pairs of filters
4. 6 pairs of silicone ear tips
5. 1 pair of foam ear tips
6. Carry case



Build Quality- The build quality of the LZ A6 looks very good with the shells being made up of metal. The shells are polished for a nice smooth feel. They have a good weight to them and look like they are solid and sturdy enough to bear decent abuse. The filters are also made up of metal and probably can survive several rotations over years. The 2-pin cable has a rubber sheath. The L & R cables after the split are slightly microphonic, though the cable does it's job and the IEM sounds good with it. I tried the A6 with other 2-pin SPC and OCC cables, and it sounded good with them too, so you can probably upgrade the cable if you don't like this one. The Y-split and chin slider have the same design language as the IEM and look really good.




Fit and Comfort- For me, the shells protrude outside my concha and only the nozzles go in. The default tips did not fit me and the cable somehow kept pulling the IEM out of my ears. I tip rolled to search for the right ear tips that gave me the best fit and isolation. There are quite a lot of ear tips provided in the package. Below is a picture of the ear tips I finally settled on. Once I got a decent fit with those ear tips, the shells felt light and remained comfortable over long periods. The isolation and fit isn’t like semi-custom IEMs available today, so they don't isolate outside noise by a lot of dBs and might not be the best choice for noisy environments. But for home usage, they should work absolutely fine.





Filters - Below are my short notes on the sound signature of the filters.

Group A: frequency response 10Hz-40kHz (Most treble and airy sounding of the lot)

· BLUE: 3-7kHz±3dB
Adds even more treble to the default BLACK filter, makes the signature honky with lots of treble. This one is not for me.

· BLACK: 3-7kHz±0dB
Default filter. Good airy sounding but missing some bass slam.

· RED: 3-7kHz-3dB
Increases bass and reduces treble a bit while still keeping it airy sounding. My favorite from Group A but there is some sibilance. Favorite #4

Group B: frequency response 15Hz-30kHz

· GOLD: 3-7kHz±3dB
Less Treble as compared to BLUE but still boosted more than I like. Makes cymbals sound thin and washy.

· Dark gray: 3-7kHz±0dB
Better balance as compared to GOLD. Cymbals sound good and bass is controlled but focus is still towards treble.

· Pink: 3-7kHz-3dB
Favorite #1. Best tonality, great clarity with good bass slam when needed.

Group C: frequency response 20Hz-20kHz

· Dark Blue: 3-7kHz±3dB
Further reduction in treble as compared to GOLD. A little mid honky sounding for my tastes.

· Sliver: 3-7kHz±0dB
Favorite #2. Good clarity with decent bass. Just slightly darker than PINK.

· Purple: 3-7kHz-3dB
Favourite #3. Most amount of bass. A bit of treble clarity is lost but bass is relatively big and prominent.


Sound- LZ A6 is quite difficult to review since it has a lot of filter and sound signature options, so many that you’ll just be screwing filters in and out for the first few days. Haha.

I’m going to keep sound impressions relative with the PINK filter as the reference because I personally liked it the most. They have good bass while still keeping the IEM open, clear and airy sounding.



Bass- RED, PINK and PURPLE are the bass filters for their respective groups. Group A signature has the most amount of treble, so RED adds a decent amount of bass attempting to balance the treble. It does a good job and you might like it for what it does. PINK filter has the best tonality with levelled bass relative to the treble. There is good bass while the focus is still on treble and clarity. PURPLE will suit the best for people who want more prominent bass with lesser treble character.

With PINK filter, the bass is nice and prominent with good clarity and definition in track like Green Day’s Boulevard of broken dreams and Jesus of Suburbia. You can hear the overdriven bass very clearly in the track which a lot of IEMs cheaper than A6 don’t portray well. There is a good distinction between different frequency ranges with this filter which enables bass to have its own nice space in the center.

Mids- With the PINK filter, mids in totality have very good detail and clarity. They are on the thinner side and have very good resolution. The focus is again on good definition in the mix. In busy mixes like Jesus of Suburbia and Galway Girl, all instruments have an individualistic presence. Acoustic in Galway Girl sounds crisp with snappy attack and Ed’s vocals have a lively presence. Piano in Coldplay’s Everglow sounds warm but with nice attack. Chris’ vocals on the track sounds nice and intimate, how the track intends for it to be. Distorted guitars in tracks like Foo Fighters' Pretender and Everlong have very good tonality and definition. They don’t sound like a wall of noise, instead are well defined in their own space.

Treble- Treble clarity, definition and resolution is the strongest suit of the A6. It can go from piercing treble to a warm-ish sound through the whole range of filters. I have described the treble character under each filter above. With my reference PINK filter, acoustic and orchestral instruments have great clarity with a nice sheen on top, distorted guitars have nice presence in the mix and the kick and snare have good attack. All in all, I like this aspect of the IEM quite a lot but it's effect and quality is completely dependent on the filter. I like RED, PINK and SILVER for the kind of treble I like.


Soundstage, Imaging and Separation- LZ A6’s soundstage is wide and open which allows instruments to have their nice own space. It probably has the widest soundstage out of the IEMs I have tried in this price range and on the whole is more than the average size. Imaging is also very good and instruments are well placed in the mix. Separation is good too because of a wider soundstage but the amount of separation quality depends on the filter you choose.


Conclusion- LZ A6 is a technologically advanced and driver rich IEM which uses 3 different kinds of drivers which are tuned to put out the frequency bands that they are particularly known for. It is quite unique and I was particularly intrigued by its tech setup as this is the first of its kind that I have come across.

After going back and forth between all the filters, I can sum it up as an IEM for people who like treble and airiness with good detail and separation in the mids. The focus is towards a nice open sound field in which clarity is the key player but there is also good bass definition in some filters. It is not a neutral-ish IEM at all. It is energetically tuned to color the sound. There are a lot of sound signatures to select from and you won’t be disappointed in that regard at all. Try it out for its uniqueness and tech advancement.

If you like, you can get yours from here.

Having spent a week with these earphones I’ve found myself thinking that probably A6 is what LZ has been trying to create for few years — hybrid model, showing the best side of each of three drivers types that are used here. Yes, you've got it right, this model uses a dynamic driver, four balanced armatures and piezoelectric super twitter simultaneously. Sounds intriguing, isn't it?

Before I proceed, I would like to thank LinsoulTech for providing me a review sample in exchange for my honest opinion. IEMs can be purchased in their stores on Amazon or AliExpress for about $310. Nice touch: you can choose a version with MMCX or 2 pin connector.


Some time ago I already tested LZ A5, it was a nice model, featuring traditional schema: DD + few BAs, but it was a fairly ordinary model, being on par with many other hybrid models existing on the market.

A6 plays in the totally different league. Creators have added a new piezoelectric driver for super high frequencies, completely revised proprietary tuning filter system and added impedance toggle, that also has a great impact on sound. This allowed A6 to make a big step forward, offering buyer new level of sound.

Packaging, build quality and appearance

Before I proceed to the most interesting part of my review, I’d like to devote a few words to the packaging, accessories, and design. The box is rather simple: red cardboard inside of black "sleeve" made of… you’re right, cardboard. Inside you will find IEMs themselves, red storage case with zipper, cable, 6 pairs of silicone tips, 1 pair of foams, manual, warranty card and 9 pairs of filters (one pair is already attached to A6). Maybe it's not the biggest set of accessories that you may find, but it's pretty acceptable at this price range.


Build quality of IEMs is really good. They are made of metal, the shape is nice and ergonomic, so it will fit the vast majority of users. Spouts are medium-sized, so sound isolation is on a normal level, but for really noisy environments it could be not enough. Earphones are made to look simple and minimal, simple black color with silver bezel, but build quality makes them look stylish and "expensive".

There is the “Loudness” button on the front panel of earphones, and in its pressed condition it will reduce the impedance of A6, increases the output volume and makes the sound more "saturated". I really like this idea, as it's the most convenient way to change the sound on the go, and I'd like to see more such toggles in the future.


Cable is simple, plain rubber isolation looks minimalistic, compared to other models of Chi-Fi market, but cables’ quality is good. It's soft enough, not getting hard when it's cold and has practically zero microphonic effect. Also, it looks really reliable, but of course it can be proven only over time, so let us see if it lasts a whole year.

Sound Impressions

Now, let's move to the sound, and I'll start with a few preliminary notes

• LZ A6 requires short burn-in, about 10 hours
• If it doesn’t sound in your ears, try different tips with them, I've got the best result with tips from Trinity Audio IEMs accessories set
• LZ A6 are among those models that benefit from cable change, for example, FiiO's LC-2.5C made lows tighter and more impactful
• try all stock filters, in manual they are ranged from less bassy to most bassy, but my subjective listening results differed from that list, so I tried them all, and most of all I liked red and black filters, but you know, "da red goez fasta", so I ended with them.

Shortly speaking, all below description is made with the stock cable, red filters and with "loudness" button pressed.


General signature of these earphones is really impressive, all drivers are doing their best to showcase their strong sides. IEMs have really good coherence, bands overlaps are almost indistinguishable.

Bass, represented by 10 mm dynamic driver is powerful and impactful. It's not as fast as pure balanced armature one, but the resolution is nice anyway. It's good in representing textures and nuances of the lowest octaves of instruments. Depth is also good, but in general, LZ managed to balance the quantity of bass really well. A6 has a slight accent on lows, and you can alter it with filters, but with any tuning, I may call them bass-heavy, it's just a nice, weighty bass. As an example, I can name Juno Reactor — Tempest. This composition has interesting low rumble in the intro part, swiping from left to right and vice-versa. A6 represented this effect in a really impressive way as well as all other trance beats of this track.


Mids are the responsibility of 2 balanced armatures, and once again you get the best of their world: resolution, good level of micro contrast, but without being too dry and clinical. The sound has proper weight, giving all instruments realistic bodies and making vocals sound lifelike. You can tune the number of upper mids with filters, having different "flavors", from aggressive to a bit relaxed. The imaginary stage is bigger than average, A6, probably, aren't the most spacious sounding IEMs, but they are definitely on the "roomy" side of staging. The separation and layering are just nice, as well as 3D positioning. I’ve chosen Snarky Puppy's "Molino Molero" as a sample track to test this — really instrument-intense track with lots of different effects, and BA drivers of this IEMs handle that without issues.


Treble is a product of cooperation between balanced armatures and piezoelectric tweeter. That gives LZ A6 a really impressive extension, combined with nice resolution and realism. These IEM's treble goes far beyond human ear's limit, but recent scientific studies showed that people can distinguish high-res recording even without being able to hear ultrasonic frequencies, so, probably, extension beyond 20 kHz makes some sense. Anyway, properly balanced treble makes A6 a real charm in representing overtones and sounding super impressive on timbre-rich instruments. From another point of view, you should select tracks properly as the compression or other treble-related issues are represented without compromises here. Besides that, treble has a perfect amount, good resolution and realistic decays. Attacks are a bit sharper than they should be, but it's not doing any harm to the overall realism of that range. "Caravan" from "Whiplash" OST shows this all great here: it is a really cymbal-intense track that will cause many IEM to suffer from insufficient treble resolution, but LZ A6 are passing this test without any problems.


Selected Comparisons

FiiO FA7 and FH5 I mention these models only because they share the same price range. Sound signatures are quite different, both FiiO models have more bass, making them less linear in representation.

Dunu DN-2000 This hybrid model is still a great offering, despite their "age": fun V-shaped signature, with a bit more accent on lows and mids then LZ A6. And LZ IEMs offers better depth and treble extension.

FLC8n Another model with tuning options, but tuning here is more precise, as you can separately tune bass, sub-bass, and middle/treble ratio. FLCs are a bit more resolving on mids, but the extension is better on both ends with A6.


Summary

LZ created a really potent model with a technical and engaging sound that will please many fans of representation that balances between fun and realism.

P.S. I also made a video version of this review for those who prefer more visual approach