[theresanarc]

Just got a pair of KZ ZS4s and there's seriously something wrong with the way these sound. The sound is completely hollow and distant. They sound like when you have a pair of earphones that you sealed into your ear and they're lose and distant sounding (even though the seal on these is tight). The ones I had before were KZ ZSNs and although they sounded fine, they had bad noise isolation on the bus so I thought I'd try these out from recommendations about how good they are at noise isolation but the size of them is so big that I doubt it's much better. Pretty sure it's cos of the ZS4 wires cos when I plugged the ZS4 wire into the ZSN, it was doing the same thing.

Honestly I think that's the last time I buy a pair of Chi-Fi IEMs, gonna stick to earbuds now and just swallow the pill and pay $50-100 at BB or Amazon for a pair of normal earphones. I've wasted $70+ in the past year on KZ ZSNs, Einsear T2s, Remax rm 610ds, KZ EDR1s, and now these ZSNs. Not a single one of them had a good balanced forward sounding sound signature and none of them were any good at isolation. I get joy every time I get a pair of earbuds I order based on the recommendation of this sub but for IEMs, ChiFi just isn't for me.

 

[mbwilson111]

Just got a pair of KZ ZS4s and there's seriously something wrong with the way these sound. The sound is completely hollow and distant. They sound like when you have a pair of earphones that you sealed into your ear and they're lose and distant sounding (even though the seal on these is tight).

Sounds like they coud be out of phase. What happens if you reverse the pins on ONE earpiece?

 

[DBaldock9]

found the post
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chinese-asian-brand-iem-info-thread.820747/page-1636#post-15021910

... and I also found one where DBaldock9 said his were in phase but right and left were swapped

Seems that someone was just attaching wires without paying attention.

I was glad that mine were in-phase, since their shape allowed me to swap them around and use them in the opposite ear - although I would prefer that their shape allowed them to be comfortably worn over-the-ear.

 

[Slater]

Honestly I think that's the last time I buy a pair of Chi-Fi IEMs, gonna stick to earbuds now and just swallow the pill and pay $50-100 at BB or Amazon for a pair of normal earphones. I've wasted $70+ in the past year on KZ ZSNs, Einsear T2s, Remax rm 610ds, KZ EDR1s, and now these ZSNs. Not a single one of them had a good balanced forward sounding sound signature and none of them were any good at isolation. I get joy every time I get a pair of earbuds I order based on the recommendation of this sub but for IEMs, ChiFi just isn't for me.

This is no surprise. You wanted a "good balanced forward sounding sound signature", yet everything you bought in the last year was a variation on a v-shaped signature (to varying degrees). That's like me wanting a sports car, but saying that after buying 3 pickup trucks and 2 SUVs that I'm just gonna give up.

Call me crazy, but what I would do is ask for recommendations of what would have a "good balanced forward sounding sound signature", and go with that.

 

[SeoulParty]

Sounds like they coud be out of phase. What happens if you reverse the pins on ONE earpiece?

Out of curiosity, what would revering the pins exactly do, and what effect could they have?

And to theresanarc, I ordered a few recently and I am very satisfied with the KZ ZS10 Pro & TinAudio T2 and slightly disappointed with the qt5. All 3 were relatively highly reviewed. So I think there is some crapshoot component in chifi imo.

 

[steviewonderbread]

...I think there is some crapshoot component in chifi imo.

Welcome to the chi-fi casino. The house usually wins.

 

[SomeEntityThing]

Out of curiosity, what would revering the pins exactly do, and what effect could they have?

And to theresanarc, I ordered a few recently and I am very satisfied with the KZ ZS10 Pro & TinAudio T2 and slightly disappointed with the qt5. All 3 were relatively highly reviewed. So I think there is some crapshoot component in chifi imo.

Given QC issues with many Chi-Fi IEMs? Most certainly a gamble. But if you win...

 

[PhonoPhi]

Welcome to the chi-fi casino. The house usually wins.

Out of my "Chi-Fi" IEMs (at least 20, recently mostly KZ and CCA), I am yet to have a single problem, other than minor unhappiness with the TRN quality.
Also even very nice, engaging and potent ZS10 pro do not fit for the "balanced sound" to my ears. C16 work well there for me or (from my limited universe) I can also recommend C10.

 

[mbwilson111]

Out of curiosity, what would revering the pins exactly do, and what effect could they have?

If it is out of phase, reversing the pins on one side only would put it back in phase and then it would sound correct..but we don't know if that is his problem. Think of it like when you are hooking up speakers and you have to connect the plus and minus correctly. If an iem is out of phase one of the sides has the wires inside reversed.

 

[thejoker13]

This would be a deal breaker for me. Why would tonal inaccuracy be acceptable in any way?

I agree 110%! I am in this hobby for the music and I couldn't fully enjoy the music if it sounded tonally inaccurate and unnatural.

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

Finally i just publish my review of post-hype-still-hyped KZ ZS10PRO.

Its on headfi and my blog and yeah, even if I can look severe, I take price value in account and really respect the level of audio fun we get with the PRO.

Probably my favorite KZ yet. (with ZS5V1) So, im back on KZ track!

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

I agree the stock tips and cables were quite rubbish. It kept dropping out of my ears with the stock tips.
Have u tried other tips? I managed to get a satisfactory fit with KZ starlines, YMMV.

No tips worked for me and the ****. I'm going to forget about the experience now as this question always comes up first.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

Finally i just publish my review of post-hype-still-hyped KZ ZS10PRO.

Probably my favorite KZ yet. (with ZS5V1) So, im back on KZ track!

How does it compare to all your other iems?

 

[BCool]

The MH755 makes me happy and sad at the same time. Happy cos you can get such outstanding sound from this little cheap looking plastic earphone... but sad cos you pay MUCH more for sound that isn't close to sounding as good.

Is the 755 just a freak of nature that got lucky with it's tuning lol?

I feel your pain. I'd happily pay an extra £20-30 for the same sound with some better isolation and maybe some detachable cables

 

[NeonHD]

As some people on this forum already know, I'm a huge sucker for the old school KZ ED9.

So I, like any other Knowledge Zenith enthusiast, bought a third pair of ED9!

This time I opted for the matte black finish, which I never had.

I am happy that KZ decided to revamp the ED9's physicalities, this time opting for their new clean packaging, and using their new dark cherry red cable which I really like.

This third pair will probably act as a backup pair in my backpack, in case if I forget my IEMs.

Here is some more ED9 p0rn:

Also, I have this very lofty idea in mind for a YouTube video that I want to do with the ED9.

Basically I film a bunch of random people at my college and ask them to try out the ED9, then I ask them how much they think it costs.

9 out of 10 they'll say something like $50, or even $100, and once I tell them that it only costs $10 they'll be like "OMGGGGGGG NO WAY!!!!!!!! 10 BUCKS?!?!?!?!?!? GET OUT!!!!!!!"

LOL, their reactions are gonna be priceless hehe