[Slater]

So against my better judgement (and previous bad experience), I went ahead and bought the QKZ VK1.

The graphene driver w/tesla magnet and crossover sucked me in. I paid $13 shipped. Since the VK1 includes a TRN black cable (worth ~$7), the IEM itself basically cost $6. If it sucked, I figured I could reuse the cable, and the most I had to lose was another QKZ that sat in a drawer collecting dust.

I know a number of folks have been asking about this IEM, so I wanted to share my findings. Let's just say I was pleasantly surprised. There are caveats, so read on for my mini review...

The Packaging:

• If you are used to KZ IEMs sold in the last 2 years, you know what to expect. If you expect an Apple unboxing experience, you will be disappointed. You're not paying for fancy packaging and accessories.
• The QKZ VK1 arrives in a current "KZ style" box - white cardboard outer sleeve, white cardboard inner bottom box, clear plastic top displaying the IEM shells.
• Inside is a black plastic molded holder that holds the IEM shells. The accessories stored underneath.
• Under the plastic holder, you get a set of translucent clear silicone tips (SML) and a black braided cable (identical to TRN black cable except for the logo). That's it.
• The QKZ advertising literature claims the cable is silver-plated copper. However, the TRN black cable is advertised as copper. Not sure which is correct, but I would believe TRN's description since they are the manufacturer.
• If you have any TRN cables, you know what to expect. Slippery feel (pretty sure vinyl insulation), a very comfortable molded memory wire (not an inferior embedded metal wire), tightly woven 4-wire braid, aluminum y-split, aluminum 3.5mm (straight jack). A single-button mic and non-mic version is available.

The Driver:

• According to the literature, the driver is a dual dynamic driver, with graphene-coated diaphragm(s), and a ~1 tesla magnet. The driver housing incorporates a helmholtz resonating cavity (a fancy term for a cavity that uses volume and air pressure to manipulate sound in different ways). If you've ever blown across the top of a bottle and made a resonating tone, that's a helmholtz resonator.
• There are small resistors on the back of the driver, which is a passive crossover for the dual drivers.
  
• It's unknown if the dynamic driver is the same as the V10. Since the V10 was never advertised as having a graphene driver w/1 tesla magnet, I am assuming it is a different driver. There's really no way to prove it w/o destructively tearing down and examining both the VK1 and V10, and I don't care enough about it to go to those lengths.

The Shell:

• The VK1 uses a TRN V10 shell. Whether TRN provided the shells and QKZ assembled it, or TRN is the ODM for the whole thing is unknown. Since both the shells and cable are TRN, my money is TRN ODM'd the whole thing, and just private-labeled it for QKZ. This is typically what QKZ does with all of their IEMs (someone else ODMs w/QKZ branding).
• The shell is made of polycarbonate plastic. Polycarbonate is highly scratch resistant, so the shells should stand up to abuse and still look nice.
• The shell is crystal clear, allowing full view of the internals. With all of the missing BA drivers, there's not much to look at though - the shell looks ridiculously devoid of stuff except for the lonely little dynamic driver. Like a bag of snack chips, it's mostly full of air LOL.
• Unfortunately, the cheesy white logo is ugly and blocks the view of the internals. I used some denatured alcohol and a Q-tip to remove the logo (wet logo w/denatured alcohol, let sit for 30 seconds, scratch logo off easily w/fingernail. No scratches or marks using this method).
• The crystal clear shell (without logo) looks great w/a silver cable IMO.

Fit/Comfort:

• TRN V10 owners have reported fitment and comfort issues, so the QKZ VK1 will be the same. It's big and bulbous, so it may not fit everyone.
• Luckily it fits me fine (I have average ears). I do notice after a few hours the 'bump' part starts to bother me. This is the same spot that bothers many TRN V10 and KZ ZS3 owners too. If it continues to bother me, I will sand it down the plastic in that spot (it's solid plastic in that location, allowing the safe removal of ~3-4mm of material if done carefully).

​

Tip-related Issues:

• Since the V10 shell was originally designed as a hybrid, there's room in the nozzle for BA drivers. Since the VK1 only uses a single dynamic driver, the driver is buried deep inside of the shell. This means the sound travels quite a long distance before exiting the nozzle, causing the sound to bounce around and lose energy by the time it gets to your eardrum. The KZ ZS3 suffered this same problem, and sound suffered as a result.
• Therefore, you want the end of the nozzle as close to your ears as possible. This can be accomplished by deep insertion. You should also push down your ear tip onto the nozzle as far as possible, so that the end of the nozzle is as close to the top edge of the ear tip (see photo below).
• This is an extremely tip sensitive IEM. If you have the "wrong" tip, you'll notice it within the 1st 10 seconds.
• In my testing, a short tip yields the best results. The best sounding tips by far are wide bore tips (Auvio followed by Tennmak/KZ Turbo/Whirlwinds). Spiral Dots would work well too (I don't have any to test with at the moment). Narrow bore tips (stock, KZ Starlines, Sony Hybrids, Olives, dual flange etc) sound terrible. I didn't try foams because I generally don't like them and only use them as a last resort. YMMV.

​

Impedance-related Issues:

• The VK1 is quite impedance sensitive - this means you have to carefully watch both the source and the cable.
• When using the stock (black cable) in combination with my iPhone (~1ohm output impedance), the sound is bloated, muddy, and has tons of distortion when the volume is even moderately high. The stock (black cable) is one of the TRN black cables, which have 1.4ohms impedance. You can make an instant improvement by changing to the TRN silver cable (0.6ohms) or one of the low-impedance KZ upgrade cables (the ideal being the 0.3ohm version).
• As far as the source, as I mentioned the iPhone sounded terrible. With the xduoo X3 (very low output impedance), the sound difference is like night and day.

Power Considerations:

• The VK1 likes power, and you will be rewarded with better sound as you feed it more power. It sounded good with just the xduoo X3, and even better when the FiiO E12A was added.
• On my amp, I had to use low gain mode for best sound, as high gain resulted in some volume distortion. When kept on low gain, sound was clean with no distortion issues.

QC issues:

• This wouldn't be a QKZ if it didn't have QC issues LOL. I don't know if this is a problem with just mine, or all of them, but it appears that mine had 0.78mm 2-pin jacks installed in the shells. Any 0.75mm 2-pin cable I tried (stock, KZ, TRN, etc) were so loose they would fall right off. To get cables to stay put, I had to use pliers and gently bend the pins on the cable outwards (ie splaying) quite a bit. Very irritating, but for a $6 QKZ it was sadly expected.
• There was no driver flex, no phase/wiring issues, no odd 'suction' effect you get with some IEMs, etc.

The Sound:

I put this last, because the sound is dependent on so many things being "right":

1. The right tip
2. The right cable
3. The right source
4. Amplification

• When 1-4 above has all of the "right" things, the sound is impressive for the price.
• If any of those "right" things are "wrong", sound suffers.
• If all 4 are "wrong", the sound is not much better than a dollar store earphone.

Therefore, I will write this section as into 2 parts - stock and optimal configurations.

Setup #1 (stock):

1. Stock tips
2. Stock cable (1.4ohm black TRN)
3. iPhone SE (320k MP3), laptop (flac). No EQ.
4. No amp

Setup #1 Results:

• Sub bass - There's a noticeable lack of sub bass.
• Bass - Bass is muddy/bloated, and bleeds into the mids.
• Midrange - A slightly elevated midrange that have an odd 'hollow' and unnatural tone. It makes vocals sound meh, and is quite distracting because it's hard not to fixate on the odd tonality.
• Treble - Treble is OK on the iPhone, w/enough sparkle and brightness to please the average listener. It can sound a bit grainy with some recordings. No sibilance detected. Using a laptop, treble was inconsistent, usually sounding distant and rolled off.
• Soundstage - Soundstage is average.
• Overall Sound - Due to the extension issues at both ends and the slightly forward midrange, the overall sound becomes a north of V-shaped, leaning more towards neutralish/W-shaped. Sound is warm.
• Other Notes - As you turn the volume higher and higher, the distortion gets ridiculous. I have to keep the volume at a medium to low level to keep the distortion under control.

Setup #2 (optimal):

1. Auvio wide bore tips
2. KZ 4-braid silver upgrade cable (black rings, 0.3ohm impedance). Note the KZ 8-braid cable in bottom photos were only for the photos.
3. xduoo X3 (320k MP3, flac). No EQ.
4. FiiO E12A Mont Blanc, low gain, bass boost off

Setup #2 Results:

• Sub bass - There is a wider dynamic sound, with better sub bass extension compared to setup #1.
• Bass - There is better separation, with the bass no longer bleeding into the midrange. Bass has a nice clean texture to it; nothing like setup #1.
• Midrange - The weird "off-tone" and hollow midrange sound is gone, and midrange sounds more natural. However, with setup #2 midrange became slightly recessed compared to setup #1 (a slight V-shape vs a slight W-shape).
• Treble - There is a wider dynamic sound, with better treble extension compared to setup #1. Other than the extra treble extension, treble sounds about the same as setup #1. Treble is clean, w/enough sparkle and brightness to please the average listener. It can sound a bit grainy with some recordings. No sibilance detected.
• Soundstage - Soundstage is average. No problems.
• Overall Sound - The 1st thing that immediately hits you is a much cleaner sound. It's sounds like a totally different IEM vs setup #1. The sound signature is a v-shape compared to setup #1. Sound is warm, and fun, with plenty of energy. The better dynamics/extension with this setup makes it feel much less compressed compared to setup #1. The sound reminds me of the KZ EDR2.
• Other Notes - No distortion, even with the volume set to ear-bleed levels.

Summary:
The QKZ VK1 is really a temperamental "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" IEM. If you use the stock everything (cable, tips), and pair it with a cell phone, you will get Mr. Hyde - a distorted monster. With a few tweaks, you will get Dr. Jekyll - clean, smooth, and capable for the price range this competes in.

In setup #1 configuration, I would rate these a 2.5 out of 5. I would never use them, and instead they'd go in the drawer of forgotten gear or be given away.

However, in setup #2 configuration, I rate them a 3.75 out of 5, and will add these to my daily listening rotation for sure. That score may sound bad, but I'm using a scale based in reality, not one where Rock Zircons get a 5 out of 5. A 3.75 really isn't that bad.

The box and listing description claims these have the high-res certification. If you use setup #2, you will believe that claim. If you use setup #1, meh I don't think so.

Are they all that and a bag of chips? I would classify them above average. They are definitely the best thing I've ever heard from QKZ. Overall, I feel like they were certainly worth what I paid for them ($13, with the TRN cable being worth $7). As the price approaches its retail of $20, I would probably look elsewhere as there's better options. Other than that, I'm happy with them (which is saying a lot as I've had instant regret with 95% of QKZs I've tried in the past).

I still (personally) prefer the sound and comfort of the UiiSii CM5, assuming you can find the CM5 for $12 or below. The CM5 can be driven by anything and has consistently good sound regardless of source, without all of the fiddly caveats of the VK1. CM5 needs no amp either. But the VK1 has removable cables vs the fixed cables of the CM5, which means you can change to any compatible cable including Bluetooth cables. Like the VK1, the CM5 is tip sensitive (KZ Starlines sound best on the CM5). So pick your poison.

 

[Slater]

I checked the "channel phasing and channel identification". They are very comfy as the pointy end does not touch anything. Shape is reminiscent of the ZST.

So far I enjoy the rather homogeneous and fluid sound. These **** are keepers. Listen KZ...

UPDATE: still very comfy! And still homogeneous, fluid, and coherent...getting addictive! NOT V-shaped.

Do they have removable cables? If so, what I meant was it looked like the cable might be correct (L and R correct), but plugged into the opposite ear pieces. The channels would still be OK, but the ear pieces would fit all whopperjawed.

Maybe it was just the angle of the photo...

 

[paulindss]

These **** caugh my attention by using knowles drivers. A little comparison with your other's iem's like zs10, b100 or t2 would be really nice @Otto Motor.

 

[darmanastartes]

The UiiSii CM5s came in yesterday. First impressions are very positive. I like them better than the Yersen FEN-2000s overall. Sound seems more neutral and they're much more comfortable. Cables aren't detachable but that's probably too much to expect at $12. On the flip side, the included tips are crap. It's hard to get a good seal even with the double flange eartips from the P1 Pinnacle.

 

[mbwilson111]

The UiiSii CM5s came in yesterday. First impressions are very positive. I like them better than the Yersen FEN-2000s overall. Sound seems more neutral and they're much more comfortable. Cables aren't detachable but that's probably too much to expect at $12. On the flip side, the included tips are crap. It's hard to get a good seal even with the double flange eartips from the P1 Pinnacle.

I use KZ medium Starline tips on my CM5.

 

[snip3r77]

So against my better judgement (and previous bad experience), I went ahead and bought the QKZ VK1.

The graphene driver w/tesla magnet and crossover sucked me in. I paid $13 shipped. Since the VK1 includes a TRN black cable (worth ~$7), the IEM itself basically cost $6. If it sucked, I figured I could reuse the cable, and the most I had to lose was another QKZ that sat in a drawer collecting dust.

Let's just say I was surprised. There are caveats, so read on for my mini review...

The Packaging:

• If you are used to KZ IEMs sold in the last 2 years, you know what to expect. The QKZ VK1 arrives in a current "KZ style" box - white cardboard outer sleeve, white cardboard inner box with clear top.
• Inside is a molded plastic holder for the IEM shells, with accessories stored underneath.
• Under the plastic tray, you get a set of translucent clear silicone tips (SML) and a black braided cable (identical to TRN black cable except for the logo).
• That's it. If you expect an Apple unboxing experience, you will be disappointed. You're not paying for fancy packaging and accessories.
• The QKZ advertising literature claims the cable is silver-plated copper. However, the TRN black cable is advertised as copper. Not sure which is correct, but I would believe TRN's description since they are the manufacturer.
• If you have any TRN cables, you know what to expect. Slippery feel (pretty sure vinyl insulation), a very comfortable molded memory wire (not an inferior embedded metal wire), braided, aluminum y-split, aluminum 3.5mm (straight jack). A single-button mic and non-mic version is available.

The Driver:

• According to the literature, the driver is a dual dynamic driver, with graphene-coated diaphragm(s), and a ~1 tesla magnet. The driver housing incorporates a helmholtz resonating cavity (a fancy term for a cavity that uses volume and air pressure to manipulate sound in different ways). If you've ever blown across the top of a bottle and made a resonating tone, that's a helmholtz resonator.
• There are small resistors on the back of the driver, which is a passive crossover for the dual drivers.
  
• It's unknown if the dynamic driver is the same as the V10. Since the V10 was never advertised as having a graphene driver w/1 tesla magnet, I am assuming it is a different driver. There's really no way to prove it w/o destructively tearing down and examining both the VK1 and V10, and I don't care enough about it.

The Shell:

• The VK1 uses a TRN V10 shell. Whether TRN provided the shells and QKZ assembled it, or TRN is the ODM is unknown. The cable is TRN, so my money is TRN ODM'd the whole thing, and it just has QKZ branding on it. This is typically what QKZ does with all of their IEMs (someone else ODMs w/QKZ branding).
• The shell is made of polycarbonate plastic. Polycarbonate is highly scratch resistant, so the shells should stand up to daily abuse and still look nice.
• The shell is crystal clear, allowing full view of the internals. Unfortunately, the cheesy white logo is ugly and blocks the view of the internals. I used some denatured alcohol and a Q-tip to remove the logo (once wet with the denatured alcohol, it scratched off easily with my fingernail and left no marks).
• The crystal clear shell (without logo) looks great w/a TRN or KZ silver cable.

Fit/Comfort:

• TRN V10 owners have reported fitment and comfort issues, so the QKZ VK1 will be the same. It's big and bulbous, so it may not fit everyone.
• Luckily it fits me fine (I have average ears). I do notice after a few hours the 'bump' part starts to bother me. This is the same spot that bothers many TRN V10 and KZ ZS3 owners too. If it continues to bother me, I will sand it down the plastic in that spot (it's solid plastic in that location, allowing the safe removal of ~3-4mm of material if done carefully).

​

Tip-related Issues:

• Since the V10 shell was originally designed as a hybrid, there's room in the nozzle for BA drivers. Since the VK1 only uses a single dynamic driver, the driver is buried deep inside of the shell. This means the sound travels quite a long distance before exiting the nozzle, causing the sound to bounce around and lose energy by the time it gets to your eardrum. The KZ ZS3 suffered this same problem, and sound suffered as a result.
• Therefore, you want the end of the nozzle as close to your ears as possible. This can be accomplished by deep insertion. You can also pushing your ear tip down onto the nozzle as far as possible, so that the end of the nozzle is as close to the top edge of the ear tip.
• This is an extremely tip sensitive IEM. If you have the "wrong" tip, you'll notice it within the 1st 10 seconds.
• In my testing, a short tip yields the best results. The best sounding tips by far are wide bore tips (Auvio followed by Tennmak/KZ Turbo/Whirlwinds). Spiral Dots would work well too (I don't have any to test with at the moment). Narrow bore tips (stock, KZ Starlines, Sony Hybrids, Olives, dual flange etc) sound terrible. YMMV.

​

Impedance-related Issues:

• The VK1 is quite impedance sensitive - this means you have to carefully watch both the source and the cable.
• When using the stock (black cable) in combination with my iPhone (~1ohm output impedance), the sound is bloated, muddy, and has tons of distortion when the volume is even moderately high. The stock (black cable) is one of the TRN black cables, which have 1.4ohms impedance. You can make an instant improvement by changing to the TRN silver cable (0.6ohms) or one of the low-impedance KZ upgrade cables (the ideal being the 0.3ohm version).
• As far as the source, as I mentioned the iPhone sounded terrible. With the xduoo X3 (very low output impedance), the sound difference is like night and day.

Power Considerations:

• The VK1 likes power, and you will be rewarded with better sound as you feed it more power.
• On my mp, I had to use low gain mode for best sound, as high gain resulted in some volume distortion. When kept on low gain, sound was clean sound with no distortion issues.

QC issues:

• This wouldn't be a QKZ if it didn't have QC issues LOL. I don't know if this is a problem with just mine, or all of them, but it appears that mine had 0.78mm 2-pin plugs installed. Any 0.75mm 2-pin cable I tried (stock, KZ, TRN, etc) were so loose they would fall right off. To get a cable to stay put, I had to use pliers and bend the pins on the cable outwards (ie splaying) quite a bit. Very irritating, but for a $6 QKZ it was sadly expected.
• There was no driver flex, phase wiring issues, etc.

The Sound:

• I put this last, because the sound is dependent on so many things being "right":

1. The right tip
2. The right cable
3. The right source
4. Amplification

• When 1-4 above has all of the "right" things, the sound is shocking for the price.
• If any of those "right" things are "wrong", sound suffers.
• If all 4 are "wrong", the sound is no better than a dollar store earphone.

Therefore, I will write this section as into 2 parts - stock and optimal configurations.

Setup #1 (stock):

1. Stock tips
2. Stock cable (1.4ohm black TRN)
3. iPhone SE (320k MP3), laptop (flac)
4. No amp

Setup #1 Results:

• Sub bass - There's a noticeable lack of sub bass.
• Bass - Bass is muddy/bloated, and bleeds into the mids.
• Midrange - The most distracting thing is slightly elevated midrange that have an odd 'hollow' tone. It makes vocals sound unnatural, and is generally unpleasant.
• Treble - Treble is pretty clean on the iPhone - enough sparkle and brightness to please the average listener, and I have no complaints with it. On the laptop, treble was inconsistent, usually sounding distant and rolled off.
• Overall Sound- The overall sound is north of V-shaped, leaning more towards neutral and balanced territory.
• Other Notes - As you turn the volume higher and higher, the distortion gets ridiculous. I have to keep the volume at a medium to low level to keep the distortion under control.

Setup #2 (optimal):

1. Auvio wide bore tips
2. KZ silver cable (black rings, 0.3ohm impedance)
3. xduoo X3 (320k MP3, flac)
4. FiiO E12A Mont Blanc

Setup #2 Results:

• Sub bass - There is a wider dynamic sound, with better extension on both ends - more sub-bass, and better treble extension.
• Bass - There is better separation, with the bass no longer bleeding into the midrange. Bass has a nice clean texture to it; nothing like setup #1.
• Midrange - The weird "off-tone" and hollow midrange sound is gone, and midrange sounds more natural. However, midrange is recessed compared to setup #1.
• Treble - There is a wider dynamic sound, with better extension on both ends - more sub-bass, and better treble extension. Other than the extra treble extension, treble sounds about the same as setup #1 (pretty clean - enough sparkle and brightness to please the average listener, and I have no complaints with it).
• Overall Sound - The 1st thing that immediately hits you is a much cleaner sound. It's sounds like a totally different IEM vs setup #1. The sound signature is a typical v-shape compared to setup #1.
• Other Notes - No distortion, even with the volume set to ear-bleed levels.

Summary:
The QKZ VK1 is really a temperamental "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" IEM. If you use the stock everything (cable, tips), and pair it with a cell phone, you will get Mr. Hyde - a distorted monster. With a few tweaks, you will get Dr. Jekyll - clean, smooth, and capable.

In setup #1 configuration, I would rate these a 2.5 out of 5. I would never use them, and instead they'd go in the drawer of forgotten gear.

However, in setup #2 configuration, I rate them a 3.75 out of 5, and will add these to my daily listening rotation for sure.

The box and listing description claims these have the high-res certification. If you use setup #2, you will believe that claim. If you use setup #1, mah I don't think so.

Are they all that and a bag of chips? I would classify them above average. They are definitely the best thing I've ever heard from QKZ. Overall, I feel like they were certainly worth what I paid for them ($13, with the TRN cable being worth $7). As the price approaches $20, I would definitely look elsewhere as there's better options. Other than that, I'm happy with them.

Very nice review. After reading regarding the finickiness I think I'd pass

 

[lmfboy01]

So against my better judgement (and previous bad experience), I went ahead and bought the QKZ VK1.

The graphene driver w/tesla magnet and crossover sucked me in. I paid $13 shipped. Since the VK1 includes a TRN black cable (worth ~$7), the IEM itself basically cost $6. If it sucked, I figured I could reuse the cable, and the most I had to lose was another QKZ that sat in a drawer collecting dust.

Let's just say I was surprised. There are caveats, so read on for my mini review...

The Packaging:

• If you are used to KZ IEMs sold in the last 2 years, you know what to expect. The QKZ VK1 arrives in a current "KZ style" box - white cardboard outer sleeve, white cardboard inner box with clear top.
• Inside is a molded plastic holder for the IEM shells, with accessories stored underneath.
• Under the plastic tray, you get a set of translucent clear silicone tips (SML) and a black braided cable (identical to TRN black cable except for the logo).
• That's it. If you expect an Apple unboxing experience, you will be disappointed. You're not paying for fancy packaging and accessories.
• The QKZ advertising literature claims the cable is silver-plated copper. However, the TRN black cable is advertised as copper. Not sure which is correct, but I would believe TRN's description since they are the manufacturer.
• If you have any TRN cables, you know what to expect. Slippery feel (pretty sure vinyl insulation), a very comfortable molded memory wire (not an inferior embedded metal wire), braided, aluminum y-split, aluminum 3.5mm (straight jack). A single-button mic and non-mic version is available.

The Driver:

• According to the literature, the driver is a dual dynamic driver, with graphene-coated diaphragm(s), and a ~1 tesla magnet. The driver housing incorporates a helmholtz resonating cavity (a fancy term for a cavity that uses volume and air pressure to manipulate sound in different ways). If you've ever blown across the top of a bottle and made a resonating tone, that's a helmholtz resonator.
• There are small resistors on the back of the driver, which is a passive crossover for the dual drivers.
  
• It's unknown if the dynamic driver is the same as the V10. Since the V10 was never advertised as having a graphene driver w/1 tesla magnet, I am assuming it is a different driver. There's really no way to prove it w/o destructively tearing down and examining both the VK1 and V10, and I don't care enough about it to go to those lengths.

The Shell:

• The VK1 uses a TRN V10 shell. Whether TRN provided the shells and QKZ assembled it, or TRN is the ODM is unknown. The cable is TRN, so my money is TRN ODM'd the whole thing, and it just has QKZ branding on it. This is typically what QKZ does with all of their IEMs (someone else ODMs w/QKZ branding).
• The shell is made of polycarbonate plastic. Polycarbonate is highly scratch resistant, so the shells should stand up to daily abuse and still look nice.
• The shell is crystal clear, allowing full view of the internals. Unfortunately, the cheesy white logo is ugly and blocks the view of the internals. I used some denatured alcohol and a Q-tip to remove the logo (once wet with the denatured alcohol, it scratched off easily with my fingernail and left no marks).
• The crystal clear shell (without logo) looks great w/a TRN or KZ silver cable.

Fit/Comfort:

• TRN V10 owners have reported fitment and comfort issues, so the QKZ VK1 will be the same. It's big and bulbous, so it may not fit everyone.
• Luckily it fits me fine (I have average ears). I do notice after a few hours the 'bump' part starts to bother me. This is the same spot that bothers many TRN V10 and KZ ZS3 owners too. If it continues to bother me, I will sand it down the plastic in that spot (it's solid plastic in that location, allowing the safe removal of ~3-4mm of material if done carefully).

​

Tip-related Issues:

• Since the V10 shell was originally designed as a hybrid, there's room in the nozzle for BA drivers. Since the VK1 only uses a single dynamic driver, the driver is buried deep inside of the shell. This means the sound travels quite a long distance before exiting the nozzle, causing the sound to bounce around and lose energy by the time it gets to your eardrum. The KZ ZS3 suffered this same problem, and sound suffered as a result.
• Therefore, you want the end of the nozzle as close to your ears as possible. This can be accomplished by deep insertion. You can also pushing your ear tip down onto the nozzle as far as possible, so that the end of the nozzle is as close to the top edge of the ear tip.
• This is an extremely tip sensitive IEM. If you have the "wrong" tip, you'll notice it within the 1st 10 seconds.
• In my testing, a short tip yields the best results. The best sounding tips by far are wide bore tips (Auvio followed by Tennmak/KZ Turbo/Whirlwinds). Spiral Dots would work well too (I don't have any to test with at the moment). Narrow bore tips (stock, KZ Starlines, Sony Hybrids, Olives, dual flange etc) sound terrible. YMMV.

​

Impedance-related Issues:

• The VK1 is quite impedance sensitive - this means you have to carefully watch both the source and the cable.
• When using the stock (black cable) in combination with my iPhone (~1ohm output impedance), the sound is bloated, muddy, and has tons of distortion when the volume is even moderately high. The stock (black cable) is one of the TRN black cables, which have 1.4ohms impedance. You can make an instant improvement by changing to the TRN silver cable (0.6ohms) or one of the low-impedance KZ upgrade cables (the ideal being the 0.3ohm version).
• As far as the source, as I mentioned the iPhone sounded terrible. With the xduoo X3 (very low output impedance), the sound difference is like night and day.

Power Considerations:

• The VK1 likes power, and you will be rewarded with better sound as you feed it more power.
• On my mp, I had to use low gain mode for best sound, as high gain resulted in some volume distortion. When kept on low gain, sound was clean sound with no distortion issues.

QC issues:

• This wouldn't be a QKZ if it didn't have QC issues LOL. I don't know if this is a problem with just mine, or all of them, but it appears that mine had 0.78mm 2-pin plugs installed. Any 0.75mm 2-pin cable I tried (stock, KZ, TRN, etc) were so loose they would fall right off. To get a cable to stay put, I had to use pliers and bend the pins on the cable outwards (ie splaying) quite a bit. Very irritating, but for a $6 QKZ it was sadly expected.
• There was no driver flex, phase wiring issues, etc.

The Sound:

• I put this last, because the sound is dependent on so many things being "right":

1. The right tip
2. The right cable
3. The right source
4. Amplification

• When 1-4 above has all of the "right" things, the sound is shocking for the price.
• If any of those "right" things are "wrong", sound suffers.
• If all 4 are "wrong", the sound is no better than a dollar store earphone.

Therefore, I will write this section as into 2 parts - stock and optimal configurations.

Setup #1 (stock):

1. Stock tips
2. Stock cable (1.4ohm black TRN)
3. iPhone SE (320k MP3), laptop (flac)
4. No amp

Setup #1 Results:

• Sub bass - There's a noticeable lack of sub bass.
• Bass - Bass is muddy/bloated, and bleeds into the mids.
• Midrange - The most distracting thing is slightly elevated midrange that have an odd 'hollow' tone. It makes vocals sound unnatural, and is generally unpleasant.
• Treble - Treble is pretty clean on the iPhone - enough sparkle and brightness to please the average listener, and I have no complaints with it. On the laptop, treble was inconsistent, usually sounding distant and rolled off.
• Overall Sound- The overall sound is north of V-shaped, leaning more towards neutral and balanced territory.
• Other Notes - As you turn the volume higher and higher, the distortion gets ridiculous. I have to keep the volume at a medium to low level to keep the distortion under control.

Setup #2 (optimal):

1. Auvio wide bore tips
2. KZ silver cable (black rings, 0.3ohm impedance)
3. xduoo X3 (320k MP3, flac)
4. FiiO E12A Mont Blanc

Setup #2 Results:

• Sub bass - There is a wider dynamic sound, with better extension on both ends - more sub-bass, and better treble extension.
• Bass - There is better separation, with the bass no longer bleeding into the midrange. Bass has a nice clean texture to it; nothing like setup #1.
• Midrange - The weird "off-tone" and hollow midrange sound is gone, and midrange sounds more natural. However, midrange is recessed compared to setup #1.
• Treble - There is a wider dynamic sound, with better extension on both ends - more sub-bass, and better treble extension. Other than the extra treble extension, treble sounds about the same as setup #1 (pretty clean - enough sparkle and brightness to please the average listener, and I have no complaints with it).
• Overall Sound - The 1st thing that immediately hits you is a much cleaner sound. It's sounds like a totally different IEM vs setup #1. The sound signature is a typical v-shape compared to setup #1.
• Other Notes - No distortion, even with the volume set to ear-bleed levels.

Summary:
The QKZ VK1 is really a temperamental "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" IEM. If you use the stock everything (cable, tips), and pair it with a cell phone, you will get Mr. Hyde - a distorted monster. With a few tweaks, you will get Dr. Jekyll - clean, smooth, and capable.

In setup #1 configuration, I would rate these a 2.5 out of 5. I would never use them, and instead they'd go in the drawer of forgotten gear.

However, in setup #2 configuration, I rate them a 3.75 out of 5, and will add these to my daily listening rotation for sure.

The box and listing description claims these have the high-res certification. If you use setup #2, you will believe that claim. If you use setup #1, mah I don't think so.

Are they all that and a bag of chips? I would classify them above average. They are definitely the best thing I've ever heard from QKZ. Overall, I feel like they were certainly worth what I paid for them ($13, with the TRN cable being worth $7). As the price approaches $20, I would definitely look elsewhere as there's better options. Other than that, I'm happy with them.

I got these yesterday too, helpful notch in chassis to make very nice fitting, decent cable worth a few bucks, sound quality I still need to take a better listen to, for what its worth its good enough for youtube.

 

[chinmie]

**** UEs have arrived. Presently breaking in both the **** and my ears. A smooth, coherent and fluid listening so far. Took some tip mikado ("tip rolling") to get the right seal. Fit is good.

Appears that **** got the hybrid technology under control.

If I'm not mistaken, isn't the **** UE, NiceHck Bro, and the @@@@@ Pro are the same IEMs with different name/rebrand?

 

[NeonHD]

Is it only me or does anybody else ever notice that the soundstage becomes larger when you're in a bigger room, and smaller when you're in a smaller room?

I've mostly been evaluating the soundstage capabilities of my IEMs in my bedroom, which is a pretty small space. Both my Tin T515 and TRN V20 didn't seem to have spacious soundstage while listening in my bedroom, but whenever I test them out in a large space like my gym or a huge lecture hall, they actually sounded so spacious.

This is definitely a psychological effect that I'm experiencing, which I find to be quite interesting.

So I think analysing soundstage isn't entirely an empirical and analytical process, it also includes subjective/psychological factors as well. The fact that you unconsciously realize that you're in a small or large room could possibly have a big impact on evaluating the soundstage of an IEM.

 

[GrassFed]

Quick update on Uiisii E6 - sound stage on this thing is ridiculously large. I briefly switched back to CM5 and there's no contest here. E6 is massive with depth. Love it more and more.

 

[Slater]

The UiiSii CM5s came in yesterday. First impressions are very positive. I like them better than the Yersen FEN-2000s overall. Sound seems more neutral and they're much more comfortable. Cables aren't detachable but that's probably too much to expect at $12. On the flip side, the included tips are crap. It's hard to get a good seal even with the double flange eartips from the P1 Pinnacle.

For the tips, KZ Starlines are the golden ticket

That's why they sound neutral to you. Once you get Starlines on, all that juicy sub bass and bass wakes up and you'll be like

 

[Slater]

If I'm not mistaken, isn't the **** UE, NiceHck Bro, and the @@@@@ Pro are the same IEMs with different name/rebrand?

Not sure about the **** UE, but the BGVP SGZ-DN1, NiceHck Bro, and the @@@@@ Pro are the same IEMs. Only difference is branding and the selection of tips included.

 

[Slater]

Very nice review. After reading regarding the finickiness I think I'd pass

Knowing the kinds of things you've liked/disliked, I think you are making the right decision.

Yeah, they are finicky. Because of that, I guarantee you're going to see people that say they hate them and they suck, and those that say they're good for the price.

 

[Slater]

Is it only me or does anybody else ever notice that the soundstage becomes larger when you're in a bigger room, and smaller when you're in a smaller room?

I've mostly been evaluating the soundstage capabilities of my IEMs in my bedroom, which is a pretty small space. Both my Tin T515 and TRN V20 didn't seem to have spacious soundstage while listening in my bedroom, but whenever I test them out in a large space like my gym or a huge lecture hall, they actually sounded so spacious.

This is definitely a psychological effect that I'm experiencing, which I find to be quite interesting.

So I think analysing soundstage isn't entirely an empirical and analytical process, it also includes subjective/psychological factors as well. The fact that you unconsciously realize that you're in a small or large room could possibly have a big impact on evaluating the soundstage of an IEM.

Interesting observation. I'm sure there's something to it.

When I am doing critical listening (reviews, mod testing, etc), I always do it with my eyes closed to rule out any extraneous influences like that. It also helps me shut off unneeded senses and heightens my hearing (like a blind person that develops heightened hearing).

 

[darmanastartes]

For the tips, KZ Starlines are the golden ticket

That's why they sound neutral to you. Once you get Starlines on, all that juicy sub bass and bass wakes up and you'll be like

The best seal I've gotten so far has been with the large foam tips from the Yersen FEN-2000 set. Definitely has made the sound bassier.