I didn't had that plenty of cabling option at hand for me to played with the zoe except for the standard cable for zen 2.0 which comes with and the cardas golden ratio which i accidentally come across the listing for sale by one of my local communities .
I haven't even got the Zoe yet When i bought that cardas .
I was still planning and considering on the black or the Zoe edition which to order first at that time , but the decision making of which to order first came very easy and naturally when that cardas golden ratio suddenly appear out of the blue in the listing and the next thing i do was ping the seller and secured that cardas and ordered the zoe from VE straight away.
We understand that the cardas golden selection was used on the black edition , and from the memory with my many many months back brief demo on one of the black edition from my local communities playing both on my LG and with one of my QLS , i experienced the warmth and smoothie soundstage sig yet was detailing enough for my music and that was the kind of sig i had been looking and craving for in my music , i love lush warmth and smooth type of soundstage with earbuds , class A type of amplify tube like sound , because i like listening my music loud and those sig are able to let me turn up the vol without had that Sharpen knife like piercing through my ears with the highs .
That was my short experiencing on the black edition with my gears from my memory , and i really really love the black edition very very the much because it suits me and the music and most importantly the synergy between the black edition with the gears i had at hand was very good very satisfying.
As for the cardas golden ratio which i had pair with the zoes are not sound as fuller as compare to the black edition cardas in my memory , the cardas golden ratio which i had at hand is of a brighter , more clearer and lots of details , micro details to be specific .
Not warmth and smooth lush like , but was smooth enough for me to use it at loud volume with the RA2B headphone amp without that knife piercing through the ears type of experiences , i love it too with this one cardas , each has it own strength , and i loved both with what i had experience it with , the black edition Zen is coming in on my next VE order . it's a great opportunity for me to have 2 Zen in 2 different world of cardas .
I will have a better understanding the sonic difference between the 2 once i got the black edition in my next VE order .
Apart from the cardas wires above , lately not long ago i had also got a chance to short demo with a very pricey cooper litz in 4 wires with the zoe .
I been told and intro in which this is a custom designed wires made in japan by Furukawa , which the wires are originated comes from a famous brand in HK Rhapsodio .
The initial demo with this wires is of a very rush one , but the experience with it on the zoe soundstage wise is rich full add that with warmth and smooth , so for my taste that's sound very nice in that short demo ing , and to had a further taste of what actually would taste like when pairing up with my other gears is a thing I'm very interested to find out, and if the synergy is good between the gears i had and sound exactly what I'm looking for , i will request to demo a 8 wires instead of that 4 wire , to feel throughly about the difference between 4 and 8 wires with the Zoe .
If the final result is good , i will not hesitate to purchase another Zoe to pair up with this one cooper , just need another 1 stressfree type of quality demo session will do.
Actually there's another Zen with me atm with the oyaide silver wires.
It's marketed as the Zen white at VE . a very pricey TOTL earbud money could buy at this moment i believe .
This oyaide zen was loaned to me by a friend from the courtesy of my local community , it's a might wants to sell item as he's into big cans nowsaday so this piece is not much put into use after he switch over to really ex cans .
As it's of no use to him that's why he's ok to let me have a feel of what a Zen with Oyaide sound like and go have fun with it without any condition .
The Zen with the oyaide I'm experiencing is are on another lever , side by side sonic comparison with the cardas golden ratio i got is quite similar to the comparison made above with the black edition through my memory ,
With the oyaide and the golden ratio is kind of night and day differences between the two wires .
Firstly to noted is the golden ratio is of very very stiff wires , too stiff to be wear and used properly with iem or the zoe if i was to be very specific with it , i don't think many would like that stiff wearing and walking around because it just wouldn't work with walking or commuting around with the golden ratio wires .
For my case , that's ok and it's fine as i mainly used it at home , enjoying on the desk so i can live with that kind of stiffness .
Second to noted is , based on my memory with the black edition , this Zen oyaide sonically difference with the black edition cardas golden selection is not of a day or night difference as compared to the one cardas golden ratio i had ,
I found the zen oyaide soundstage like the black edition is of warmth ,smooth , rich , fuller and lot of details enough to be heard , not as bright or as clear compare to the golden ratio but i believe is certainly a upgrade to the black edition , i cannot confirm as i do not have the black edition placed side by side with the zen oyaide to experiencing the differences between both , but compare to the Zoe with cardas golden ratio , i preferred and leaned more towards to the zen oyaide , the reason is I like a warmth and smooth sound than any other , the Zen with the oyaide sound exactly what my preference was , so if i have to choose one among the above , i would bite the bullet to go straight directly for the best , which i will pick the zen with the silver oyaide .
Overall my experience with the Zen is , these zen are extremely good when drive with a powerful headphone Amplifier , i used the RA2B to drive them to heaven , regardless of which type of music genres I'm listening to , whether it's with the oyaide silver or the cardas golden ratio .
It's all very satisfying to me .
To me , after listening experiencing with the various zen , the zen earbud is not just a earbud to me anymore.
It's more than a earbud it can brings , it's a lifelike experience .
Sorry write so lengthy reply , no offence ya , and hopefully you understand what I'm writing .