[jon parker]

Welcome to what you thought was a hobby but is now a lifestyle.

You can never have too many IMR's so yes buy more.

I do not have either EDP ACE or Zenith ii but from previous experience and all the views expressed in this thread your ACE will only get better with around 300 hours so you still have more to come from them. I do own the OG Zenith and the porting system did not make a huge difference but that is a different DD set in there, rather than giving a larger stage it gave more space in the space available, the new Zenith may be different though.

The Zenith II's already have a massive space. Listening to some Bach the other night...never heard classical music so alive, vibrant and intoxicating. The space of the instruments and accuracy of tonality is very much like hearing it live. Freakishly so!

It seems like in Open port mode you cant improve that much on the already huge stage but I could hear the bass and mids tightening up in closed mode, becoming more focused and punchy. Wont know until fully burnt in but its looking like in open back its more airy and loose...as our IMR Queen, Her Majesty NellieG has alluded to above

 

[dakchi]

Ok I see that there are good reviews of Ace and Zenith but I still don’t know if it’s worth it to buy zenith if we already have Ace. There are only positive feedbacks on both

 

[Jcor]

Thanks for the replies @NellieG and @jon parker
I pulled the trigger, the product page is now saying that there are 2 left!

 

[NellieG]

The Zenith II's already have a massive space. Listening to some Bach the other night...never heard classical music so alive, vibrant and intoxicating. The space of the instruments and accuracy of tonality is very much like hearing it live. Freakishly so!

It seems like in Open port mode you cant improve that much on the already huge stage but I could hear the bass and mids tightening up in closed mode, becoming more focused and punchy. Wont know until fully burnt in but its looking like in open back its more airy and loose...as our IMR Queen, Her Majesty NellieG has alluded to above

Oh haha degenerate IMR queen though

I have shared this channel many times but the recordings are super for being live and they play original instruments

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=voices+of+music+bach

 

[NellieG]

Thanks for the replies @NellieG and @jon parker
I pulled the trigger, the product page is now saying that there are 2 left!

There is 9 left in total, split between 3 cable choices. Congratulations on the purchase, it is always worth having more and more and more and more.

 

[jon parker]

Ok I see that there are good reviews of Ace and Zenith but I still don’t know if it’s worth it to buy zenith if we already have Ace. There are only positive feedbacks on both

Thats a difficult one to answer as the are both quite different but in some ways alike. If you are asking then probably not!

All I can think off is to say is that, if you are 'just' a music lover then I dont think you 'need' both by any means BUT if you are an audiophile who listens to high quality audio, is more into the tonality and timbre of instruments and gets a thrill out of that more analytical way of listening...someone searching for a as true-to-life sound and experience of listening as possible then....
YES 100% you should get both

 

[jon parker]

Oh haha degenerate IMR queen though

I have shared this channel many times but the recordings are super for being live and they play original instruments

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=voices+of+music+bach

Do you have a favourite Bach presentation
I would be hard pressed to choose between Cafe Zimmerman for their incredible energy and life or Suzuki for his beautifully mature and 3 dimensional approach

 

[Jcor]

The Zenith II's already have a massive space. Listening to some Bach the other night...never heard classical music so alive, vibrant and intoxicating. The space of the instruments and accuracy of tonality is very much like hearing it live. Freakishly so!

It seems like in Open port mode you cant improve that much on the already huge stage but I could hear the bass and mids tightening up in closed mode, becoming more focused and punchy. Wont know until fully burnt in but its looking like in open back its more airy and loose...as our IMR Queen, Her Majesty NellieG has alluded to above

Is the Zenith much better than the Ace for orchestral music?

 

[NellieG]

Do you have a favourite Bach presentation
I would be hard pressed to choose between Cafe Zimmerman for their incredible energy and life or Suzuki for his beautifully mature and 3 dimensional approach

I'm not versed well enough in classical, i simply just listen to classical when the mood arises or as you say, when the desire is to listen to instruments, tonality timbre etc. This is why i love the Voices of Music channel due to them using the period instruments, you can pick out all the voice differences in the same instruments and enjoy the live room they play in the church style setting. An enthusiastic enjoyer of classical rather than a connoisseur of classical is where i place myself. Classical and electronic music go hand in hand and i wish to have the larger than life experience from listening to them both.

Typically in most music i prefer in a major key and i have no idea what i was going to say anymore, sat here for 5 minutes with a total and complete empty air head of a brain, literally zero thoughts lol.

 

[yaps66]

I forgot to mention, I totally get what you mean about the Sony ex800
I really hope more people here grab a Z II. Want to hear more rants about its qualities
Ive got another week of burn in then I can focus on the ACE whilst the Z II catches up

I can’t wait to receive either! Mine is coming via snail mail so will be another few weeks before either arrive! Lots of catching up to do after that!

 

[jon parker]

Is the Zenith much better than the Ace for orchestral music?

From one pov Its difficult to say - The ACE has had over 200 hours burn where as the Zenith II has had 24 + they have different tuning filters on them BUT
at this stage - For classical music - the Zenith II win easily - Each instrument is clearly more identifiable and clearly heard in its own unique place in the mix. It actually sounds as it does hearing classical music live !!
One quality of the ZII that is exceptional is how you hear the space of the room where the music is recorded.
There is a very special quality to how the bass of the cello's is presented. sounds like 'wood' bass, very natural
As I mentioned in my previous rant the Z II's present classical music in, I think the most realistic and beautifully rendered timbre
The balance of every instrument in the mix is perfect - every instrument has its own space and sounds superbly real to life both in timbre and tonality and how it FEELS and SOUNDS listening live. I cant give a higher accolade than that TBH !

EDIT: based on this recording :

Brandenburg Concerto No.1 in F major, BWV1046 / Masaaki Suzuki 2000​

Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - (This guy is figuratively and in reality the Mr Miagi of Bach music)

 

[AlexCBSN]

My ace was delivered during the week and I've only had a chance to try it yesterday for a couple of hours. I'm fairly new to the hobby and have only tried a handful of IEMs so far (Thieaudio L4, Fiio FH3 being the best of the ones I've had) but the ace is definitely in a completely different league.

I'm now tempted to order the Zenith II to go with it after reading both yours and @jon parker 's impressions!

Is there much difference between the Zenith II in open and closed back configuration?

Not as you might expect, closed there's a bit more sub bass, and you can feel a couple of frequencies cramping. Open feels a bit more airy and there's a 10/8% less sub bass. This things have plenty of it so it's not a biggie

 

[dakchi]

From one pov Its difficult to say - The ACE has had over 200 hours burn where as the Zenith II has had 24 + they have different tuning filters on them BUT
at this stage - For classical music - the Zenith II win easily - Each instrument is clearly more identifiable and clearly heard in its own unique place in the mix. It actually sounds as it does hearing classical music live !!
One quality of the ZII that is exceptional is how you hear the space of the room where the music is recorded.
There is a very special quality to how the bass of the cello's is presented. sounds like 'wood' bass, very natural
As I mentioned in my previous rant the Z II's present classical music in, I think the most realistic and beautifully rendered timbre
The balance of every instrument in the mix is perfect - every instrument has its own space and sounds superbly real to life both in timbre and tonality and how it FEELS and SOUNDS listening live. I cant give a higher accolade than that TBH !

EDIT: based on this recording :

Brandenburg Concerto No.1 in F major, BWV1046 / Masaaki Suzuki 2000​

Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - (This guy is figuratively and in reality the Mr Miagi of Bach music)

Thank you for sharing your feedback. Could you please make the same comparison for other music genres? I very rarely listen to classical music

 

[NellieG]

Thank you for sharing your feedback. Could you please make the same comparison for other music genres? I very rarely listen to classical music

Good shout i second and approve this motion, please listen to some of my music please @jon parker, try the ANNA @ Tomorrowland pleeeeeeassssssse

 

[NellieG]