[baskingshark]

Tech Mania starts on Ali in about 30 hour, may be worth holding off to see if there any good offers.
Anybody spotted any good deals so far for sub $100 iems?

Usually the bigger sales on Aliexpress (in terms of absolute discount amount and coupons) are for the Anniversary sale (march), the June summer sale and the Black Friday and 11/11 sales.

Aliexpress has smaller sales interspersed throughout the year eg this Tech Mania one, where in general the sale prices ain't as great, but I guess if you can afford to wait, the June big sale is coming up. Anyways, in general most gear are more expensive on release, and they tend to depreciate in price as the weeks go on (unless some reviewer hypes it to the moon and sellers do a price gouge).

 

[Barndoor]

Usually the bigger sales on Aliexpress (in terms of absolute discount amount and coupons) are for the Anniversary sale (march), the June summer sale and the Black Friday and 11/11 sales.

Aliexpress has smaller sales interspersed throughout the year eg this Tech Mania one, where in general the sale prices ain't as great, but I guess if you can afford to wait, the June big sale is coming up. Anyways, in general most gear are more expensive on release, and they tend to depreciate in price as the weeks go on (unless some reviewer hypes it to the moon and sellers do a price gouge).

Agree, doesn't seem like massive discounts, however if you intend to buy something now, maybe worth holding off a couple of days e.g. Tri Starsea $110 vs $130
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001524289463.html

 

[baskingshark]

The ks1 is pretty much as @baskingshark said. If you like thunderous bass and a decent amount of treble it's for you. I love them, as I'm a bass head. The bass is slow and rather wooly however, depends what type of music you listen too. For edm, goth and indie, my preferred genres they are great with no eq. They have more bass than all my kz earphones, but are similar in texture. Treble is slightly peaky, but just about tolerable. Not the most resolving, but pretty good for a single dynamic driver.

I'm guessing @AmericanSpirit isnt a bass head, as he doesn't seem to like them. I can see his point about the bass, if it ain't your tuning preference. I tend to listen at low to mid volumes so love v shaped sets. I use these at about 25 to 35 percent volume as they are very easy to drive.

Speaking about bassheads, who is ready for some subwoofer jaw rattling headache inducing bassheadedness rumbling?

BTW has anyone here tried the Rock Obsidian? Some audiophiles I spoke to said that is a great budget basshead set for $11 USD or so. Just that the non detachable cables are a bit of a dealbreaker for me.

 

[Canabuc]

Oops!

Mine is ready, but KS1 was not the IEM for me,

Here is the comparative chart.
KS1 is OK for the price, but compared to other beasts it's a bit behind IMO.

Neutral reference compared: Sennheiser HD560S

Amazing chart! Have you done the Aria yet?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Amazing chart! Have you done the Aria yet?

Thanks! Working on this coming weekend

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Just let guys know, the aliexpress big sale day, Tech Mania, is coming in 26 hours from now.

TRN VX will have 47% discount! from MSRP $70 to $48.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNVDUnJ
For $48 its ZAX’s alternative TRN VX is slightly milder than ZAX.

 

[Barusu Lamperouge]

Any recommendations for foam ear tips?

Newbee and Anjirui have some really good and cheap foam tips. Even Tennmak has good feedback from the members.

If you want a large bulk of tips with variety (shape, bore width) then Anjirui is what you need. If you need a small nos of pieces (<10-15) then Newbee and Tennmak are good options.

I personally like Anjirui TS400 which give me a snug fit thanks to their ball shaped build. Below is the link to their official store.

https://m.aliexpress.com/store/v3/h...17UgnaZC&pagePath=index.htm&gclid=&extParams=

 

[pevinkarker]

I need your help..

I have the KZ Q6 and ZS10 Pro, QZ QK4 and Kbear KS1 but none of them can't satisfied me when i listing music for more that one hour...

My hears felt tired and i fell that that I am not listening to the music in all its splendor (I don't know the technical terms so I can explain it better than this).

I went back to my soundmagic e11.

I mainly listen to classical music, ambient, alternative music, post rock and podcasts.


can you recommend one or two iem that are good for this?

(my sources are hiby r2 and fiio btr3k)

 

[Nimweth]

I need your help..

I have the KZ Q6 and ZS10 Pro, QZ QK4 and Kbear KS1 but none of them can't satisfied me when i listing music for more that one hour...

My hears felt tired and i fell that that I am not listening to the music in all its splendor (I don't know the technical terms so I can explain it better than this).

I went back to my soundmagic e11.

I mainly listen to classical music, ambient, alternative music, post rock and podcasts.


can you recommend one or two iem that are good for this?

(my sources are hiby r2 and fiio btr3k)

Sounds like you are missing the mids. KBEAR Lark, CCA CKX, Whizzer HE01 or TRI Starsea should suit you. I have similar tastes in ambient, classical and electronic and these all sound great.

 

[morefilling]

I recently received my KZ ZSX and burned them in about 150 hours. In general, I like the V shaped sound. But I would have to say, the ZSX has way too much treble.
I have 2 other sets of IEMs. Shure SE315 & iBasso IT01.
The SE315 seem to get bashed on, but I like them. The sound is flat but they are the most comfortable. Also, they sit inside my ear allowing me to wear them with a helmet or hat comfortably. I got them for $100.
I love the sound of the IT01. The bass & treble are just right. The cable that came with them was good quality & didn't need replacing. But they're not the most comfortable & they stick out from my ears. I got them for $80.
Now to the ZSX. I'd never heard the KZ "signature sound" before. I knew it was V shaped and really liked the IT01 which is also V-shaped. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the treble dominates the sound. Everything else including the bass is overpowered by the treble. They were $40 & I spent another $10 on a cable because the KZ cable is terrible. In short, I don't think I'd buy another set of KZ IEMs again.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

I need your help..

I have the KZ Q6 and ZS10 Pro, QZ QK4 and Kbear KS1 but none of them can't satisfied me when i listing music for more that one hour...

My hears felt tired and i fell that that I am not listening to the music in all its splendor (I don't know the technical terms so I can explain it better than this).

I went back to my soundmagic e11.

I mainly listen to classical music, ambient, alternative music, post rock and podcasts.


can you recommend one or two iem that are good for this?

(my sources are hiby r2 and fiio btr3k)

All IEMs you listed is somewhat energetic ones, try CCA CSN I believe you are mid-centric person. It’s $15, yet a solid contender. It will be a good benchmark.

As you mentioned you get tired of those listed, it indicates you are treble sensitive too, for that case CKX, Lark, HE1, Starseas are rather neutral and bright neutral category, treble might still spike your ear.

my recommendation is first try CSN, if you feel you need more treble sparle, then move to neutral and bright neutral pathways.

I do personally feel bright neutral sigunature is the right one for classical genre though, just not sure how sensitive your ear is toward treble range. So a safer bet is to go with smoother CSN’s mid centric first.

but bright neutral may sound a bit overly done on ambient, i enjoy more with mid-centric CSN for Brian Eno’s recent album Roger Eno & Brian Eno, Mixing Colors.

 

[Barusu Lamperouge]

I need your help..

I have the KZ Q6 and ZS10 Pro, QZ QK4 and Kbear KS1 but none of them can't satisfied me when i listing music for more that one hour...

My hears felt tired and i fell that that I am not listening to the music in all its splendor (I don't know the technical terms so I can explain it better than this).

I went back to my soundmagic e11.

I mainly listen to classical music, ambient, alternative music, post rock and podcasts.


can you recommend one or two iem that are good for this?

(my sources are hiby r2 and fiio btr3k)

In addition to what @Nimweth and @AmericanSpirit have suggested, you can also try BQEYZ KB100 and Tin T2+ would also be good options for you.

 

[pevinkarker]

All IEMs you listed is somewhat energetic ones, try CCA CSN I believe you are mid-centric person. It’s $15, yet a solid contender. It will be a good benchmark.

As you mentioned you get tired of those listed, it indicates you are treble sensitive too, for that case CKX, Lark, HE1, Starseas are rather neutral and bright neutral category, treble might still spike your ear.

my recommendation is first try CSN, if you feel you need more treble sparle, then move to neutral and bright neutral pathways.

I do personally feel bright neutral sigunature is the right one for classical genre though, just not sure how sensitive your ear is toward treble range. So a safer bet is to go with smoother CSN’s mid centric first.

but bright neutral may sound a bit overly done on ambient, i enjoy more with mid-centric CSN for Brian Eno’s recent album Roger Eno & Brian Eno, Mixing Colors.

I just bought CCA CSN, thanks for your help!

I will try them and see if i can adapt or/and if i will move for the ones that Nimweth mentioned.

At work i listening mostly ambient/classical as music with lyrics can oftenly distract me of what i'm doing

ps: thank you too Barusu Lamperouge, i wrote my post while you posted and i didn't read it before.

Do you think that tinhifi t2 plus at 42€ from a EU store is a good deal?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

I just bought CCA CSN, thanks for your help!

I will try them and see if i can adapt or/and if i will move for the ones that Nimweth mentioned.

At work i listening mostly ambient/classical as music with lyrics can oftenly distract me of what i'm doing

ps: thank you too Barusu Lamperouge, i wrote my post while you posted and i didn't read it before.

Do you think that tinhifi t2 plus at 42€ from a EU store is a good deal?

In my understanding T2Plus is a bright natural category which many classical lovers find it best fit to the genre with Sub $60 segments, 42euro comes closer to 50, it sounds a fair/good deal to me.

 

[earmonger]

Tech Mania starts on Ali in about 30 hour, may be worth holding off to see if there any good offers.
Anybody spotted any good deals so far for sub $100 iems?

A good deal anyway: KBEAR's new KS1, which are only $20 before the discounts (and I've seen them randomly dip to $16 or so at Ali, even without the sale.) They just arrived today from the giveaway a few weeks ago--thanks Wendy Li--and though I had zero expectations at this price, they turn out to be very bang-for-buck impressive.

Non-microphonic braided 2-pin cord. Very easy fit, non-protruding, smooth plastic shells. Only SML silicone tips but you probably have others (I put on L BQEYZ silicones, my new go-to tips). There's deep bass extension that has clear pitch as well as impact. Vocals are prominent and upfront, both male and female. Bright up top. I'm guessing a graph would show a W profile. Soundstage is average, not gigantic, but good instrument separation. Super easy to drive. (16 ohm)

Possible cons: The treble will be aggressive for some people. I occasionally get driver flex on insertion with my large silicones. And no, you're not getting these for a deluxe unboxing experience: just buds, cord, tips, leaflet with QR codes.

Among the super-cheaps, my Sony MH750 do offer more space and slightly more natural timbre, but unless you can find Kanoya on Ebay, everything out there seems to be counterfeit. Certainly don't trust anything on Ali.

My KBEAR store at Ali shows a $5.00 coupon over $18, and $18.89 for the tech sale mic version so...like $14? How can they even afford to ship these?