[nlowran]

I got my new litz copper for them and holey bass. These things keep getting better and better

 

[Dobrescu George]

I have burned them in for 24h and that has helped balance the sound out.

They are excellent at extracting detail out of songs but my god are they brutal, if the recording isn't good it will **** on it hard!

Ayyy mate, I really want that

 

[gtrx333]

Shouldn't that be a good quality on them?

To an extent but I think because it was paired with the topping dx7s, the revealing character is particularly amplified, to to the point that >50% of songs I am skipping because they are sounding bad.

It is sounding better with the radsone es100.

 

[slowpickr]

I have been using the Zenith's since I opened them on Tuesday night and once worked out which tips to fit (ended up with large RHA tips). I have just been using the black filters with the ports have been open since I started and have listened to a variety of musical styles. I think I prefer them to the R1's. I'm listening to Tina Dico at the moment and her voice sounds exactly as it should, bass guitar is nice, I'm noticing a little grain in the upper mids but I'm sure with a decent burn in this should smooth out.

With the R1, I never noticed much of a difference in sound with the vent port open vs closed. Is it the same with the Zenith or are there significant differences?

 

[monsieurfromag3]

To an extent but I think because it was paired with the topping dx7s, the revealing character is particularly amplified, to to the point that >50% of songs I am skipping because they are sounding bad.

It is sounding better with the radsone es100.

Very interesting. I plan on pairing my R1 with the ES100 to do what Bob explicitly advised me against via e-mail which is using them as gym/walkabout iems with Sweatguard-equipped comply tips. I spend 3 hours a day at the gym or in the street so I can’t afford poor sound there, it’s where I listen to the bulk of my music.

The Zenith is supposed to go with my desktop dac/amp, the hybrid tube+transistors HTA-700B v2 from Taga Harmony. I hope the Zenith is not too harsh to average masterings, as I certainly listen to plenty of those. At any rate what you decribe definitely makes it look like this revision of the R1 reaches very advanced levels of audio capability, as this bothersome incompatibility with poor recordings I see as one of the hallmarks of high-end hi-fi. Thankfully the HTA-700B treats recordings generously, so hopefully things will balance out.

 

[MrDelicious]

At any rate what you decribe definitely makes it look like this revision of the R1 reaches very advanced levels of audio capability, as this bothersome incompatibility with poor recordings I see as one of the hallmarks of high-end hi-fi.

> 50% of songs sound like crap
> HIGH END HIFI



Just joking, I kinda get what you mean. It's mainly a deterrant for certain hifi products for me though.

 

[rocko77]

Can't say I'm a big fan of them so far. Got about 100 hours burn in and an OCC copper cable on mine and they still sound very fatiguing. Definitely not what I wanted the replacement R1s to be. I wish it would have been pointed out that an overly revealing Audiophile treble energy was being tuned into them. Unmodded HD800 sound smoother than these to my ears.
I think some people will adore them however. I am admittedly sensitive to sharp and bright treble and prefer to have headphones and iems that can play my music without having to cherry pick tracks to suit.

 

[rocko77]

With the R1, I never noticed much of a difference in sound with the vent port open vs closed. Is it the same with the Zenith or are there significant differences?

I've not noticed much difference to he honest. I would say they probably sound a little smoother with the vents closed but I've spotted no real other differences in staging, imaging or isolation.

 

[rocko77]

OK so I've spent some more time with them today and put the foam baffles from the pink filter into the black filter. It's definitely made a significant difference in taming the harshness. This has lead me to believe Bob perhaps should have revised the filters for the Zenith as they have a significantly different top end tune to the R1. Low end is better and has more texture for sure so there is certainly a damn good earphone in here that possibly needs exploiting further with filtering.

 

[nlowran]

I really like the orange filters, no mods needed. I'm still playing around with positioning them in my ears kind of a wierd set up compared to most other IEM's I've used.

 

[rocko77]

I really like the orange filters, no mods needed. I'm still playing around with positioning them in my ears kind of a wierd set up compared to most other IEM's I've used.

That was the filter I preferred out of the standard bunch too. Try the black mod and see what you think. The foam isn't glued in so slides straight out with tweezers

 

[BigNewsII]

Orange not copper?

 

[nlowran]

Yea the orange with the little white things on the back

 

[nlowran]

That was the filter I preferred out of the standard bunch too. Try the black mod and see what you think. The foam isn't glued in so slides straight out with tweezers

Will try and report back!

 

[sino8r]

Very interesting. I plan on pairing my R1 with the ES100 to do what Bob explicitly advised me against via e-mail which is using them as gym/walkabout iems with Sweatguard-equipped comply tips. I spend 3 hours a day at the gym or in the street so I can’t afford poor sound there, it’s where I listen to the bulk of my music.

The Zenith is supposed to go with my desktop dac/amp, the hybrid tube+transistors HTA-700B v2 from Taga Harmony. I hope the Zenith is not too harsh to average masterings, as I certainly listen to plenty of those. At any rate what you decribe definitely makes it look like this revision of the R1 reaches very advanced levels of audio capability, as this bothersome incompatibility with poor recordings I see as one of the hallmarks of high-end hi-fi. Thankfully the HTA-700B treats recordings generously, so hopefully things will balance out.

I won't worry about durability in the gym with the R1s. Those will take a beating. The ceramics or voice coil could break if dropped on concrete or something but other that. It's always a possibility. Definitely alot more durable than balanced armatures. They're a durable set of iems in my opinion.

To those speaking of harshness with the Zeniths, I have a thought or two... Try one or two filters that have the bassier sound until you burn in more or even twitch to the foam dampener set. I get that 100 hrs sounds like enough but it may not be. Think of how long you had the R1s. At least 500 hrs of music probably makes a big difference. You have to also consider the vent is alot larger this time. Maybe close it a bit more? The R1 barely has a vent. It's just two tiny pin holes basically. When I modified mine to double the size, alot of the driver flex disappeared and the sound changed slightly. While many may argue about burn in being psychological or not, we do know that burn in is very real for dynamic drivers. While I don't know the science of ceramics, I'm sure they work in tandem with the dynamic. Bob opted for this over the BA for that very reason. I hope this helps gives those who have received theirs some ideas and patience. Alas, I have yet to receive mine so I can only speculate lol! I can say that I have modified my R1s more than anyone around with enlarging the ports, mirror finishing myself, and stitching the 2 pins to mmcx. Needless to say, these are my favorite iems and know them inside and out. I really feel like these were my end game iems until the Zenith arrives lol!