[Griffith]

  I would advise against silver KZ cables.
Personally i find there to be no difference over the regular wire, but that's neither here nor there, maybe my hearing's bad, maybe it needs burnin.I wouldn't rely on cables to change the sound of the headphones.
 
The main issue with it is that the jack doesn't work with some devices and it hasnt worked on a single samsung phone i've tried it with. Meaning i cant use it with my phone and can barely use it with on which it disengages at the slightest tug.
 
I'm bummed about it because it looks and feels much better than the regular cable.

 
Like I said, the sound difference is very small, I wasn't trying to mislead anyone but there is a distinct difference between using a ZST with the silver cable and one without. I'm one of the very few people on this thread with two ZSTs and have tested this extensively for multiple days, but like I said, the difference is very very small. The silver cables are of higher quality than the stock cables, they are more comfortable to use and they very slightly tone down the harshness of the higher frequencies, that's all.
 
For the comfort upgrade and the slightly toning down of their harshness they are worth their price for me. That may not be the case for others but I don't think they should be either entirely dismissed or exaggeratedly complimented.

 

[Keller1]

Yeah, i wasnt saying that you were misleading people. I would have loved to be able to use the ZST with the silver cable as i would with the regular one just because its' built nicer and feels more premium if you would but it turns out it has a few problems, which is mostly what i want to warn people of, and i havent seen anyone post about them

 

[khighly]

I believe someone here did the math to show what effect the impedance of the silver cable had on the sound.
 
It came out to something like 0.0025dB change which will not register to the human brain at all.

 

[Griffith]

  I believe someone here did the math to show what effect the impedance of the silver cable had on the sound.
 
It came out to something like 0.0025dB change which will not register to the human brain at all.

 
To my ears, I can register a very small difference but only at the highest frequencies. I didn't do a very scientific test but when I adjusted Foobar's EQ by a "tick" (I don't know how many DBs a tick corresponds to) they sounded identical.
 
I did as much as I could on my behalf to test the two cables with two ZSTs short of measuring them because I don't own a device that can do that. Unless someone actually has two pairs of ZSTs and the two cables and test them themselves or measure them I'm not going to discuss the matter further because it's a fruitless discussion of speculation and theory versus the practical effect.
 
If you or anyone else has two ZST and the two cables and want to compare different tests or experiences I'd be more than glad to add my own experience and results to that discussion. If not, I don't care to discuss anything about it.

 

[trumpethead]

Fit is a subjective thing. Some people prefer the over-ear style, others like me prefer traditional earbuds that you can just jam into your ear canal.

- The ED7s are super light and you can just jam them into your ears like any earbud, and forget them. 
- The ED9s have a similar design, but are made of heavy metal. So they give the impression that they're going to slide out at any time. It's kinda annoying. 
- Sound isolation on the ED7s/ED9s is kinda poor. That's probably because they have holes at the back of the casing (for better sound quality).

The ED7s seem to lack bass at first, but your brain adjusts over time. The bass is definitely there and it's punchy without sounding muddy. The highs and mids are just perfect IMO. Nothing is exaggerated. The ED9s are just boomy with exaggerated, shrill treble. Yeah, they have tons of detail and fun bass. But they're super fatiguing and don't sound natural on slower rock/folk music.  

If you're looking for over-ear style KZs with bass, well the ZS3s look like an attractive option. I don't own them because I prefer classic earbuds. 

...with all things considered are you dead set on getting KZ earphones?

Because the $50 Marshall Mode is just perfect for you. 

With all due respect I do not share your opinins on the ED9. IMO they are an excellent sounding IEM with great bass that does not bleed into the other frequencies.. The mids and highs are clear and detailed and the overall sound signature punches way above their cost. It's curious to me how almost all of your posts seem to bash the ED9. I don't have the ed7 so I can't speak on it but you do quite a bit. Everybody is entitled to express what they hear but it just seems strange to me that this is consistently the topic of your posts...just saying...

 

[SomeTechNoob]

Well I have the ED9 and imho it's a bit too v-shaped for me.  Midrange/vocals are quite recessed and the accentuated treble and bass are fatiguing over long listening sessions.
 
Switching the nozzles and it becomes pretty airy and tinny.

 

[metonedeaf]

  I would advise against silver KZ cables.
Personally i find there to be no difference over the regular wire, but that's neither here nor there, maybe my hearing's bad, maybe it needs burnin.I wouldn't rely on cables to change the sound of the headphones.
 
The main issue with it is that the jack doesn't work with some devices and it hasnt worked on a single samsung phone i've tried it with. Meaning i cant use it with my phone and can barely use it with on which it disengages at the slightest tug.
 
I'm bummed about it because it looks and feels much better than the regular cable.

Agree. I'd figure any"improvement" is probably placebo effect.
The idea of buying KZ is because it is cheap. Spending more money to dress it up defeat the purpose, I'd rather get better earphone in the first place.

 

[ricemanhk]

Better ears or better imagination? No test has concluded burn in really exists, by the way, ever tried to sell $5 wine in a $80 bottle? Imagination is a strong thing.

Just do a quick search and you'll find a number of scientific tests done on speakers (which are just big dynamic drivers) that show objective and measurable changes with burn-in time.  Of course the fact that these changes are not perceptible to everyone is the reason for the lack of consensus. 
Anything that moves mechanically will have a run-in period, be it car engines or dynamic drivers. The Honda NSX (old one) was famous for being run-in at the factory already so that owners could drive it hard on day 1.  As for headphones, try wiggling a piece of fresh stiff cardboard and after some time it will soften up. 
 
For headphones/IEMs that use DDs, there will be a break-in period as it is, in a simple way, just a piece of cardboard/plastic/metal wiggling around producing the sound.  BAs don't have break in because the component pieces are so small that the tests done at the factory to make sure they work is probably enough to break them in already.  
 
FWIW, I'm one of those who CAN identify 2 wines in a triangle blind test (3 glasses, 2 are the same wine). But that doesn't mean I always prefer the $80 bottle over the $5.  I agree all sorts of factors affect our senses, but in a well controlled setting, many people including myself can pick out wines blind.  The issue is when you start adding in scores then that becomes a problem, because none of this can be totally objective.  Same for headphones.
 
Anyway. as they always say, YMMV and figuring these things out is one of the FUN parts of this hobby
 

  I believe someone here did the math to show what effect the impedance of the silver cable had on the sound.
 
It came out to something like 0.0025dB change which will not register to the human brain at all.

 
I'm also not a believer in changes in sound due to cables, as long as the cables are "good enough" (meaning the impedance isn't so high that it starts hindering the electrical transmission) but the math the guy did was wrong. The cable impedance should be added to the output impedance, not the driver impedance.  And there are measurable and audible differences when output impedance changes for the same headphone.
 
That said, I also find the difference between the silver cable and the stock one too small to matter in normal use, and it's not big enough to rule out my own brain bias as I don't have 2 ZSTs to do a quicker A-B blind testing.
 
Ultimately, as others have said, the silver cable feels more durable and looks nice, so I think that's already worth it for the relatively low cost (compared to other spare/upgrade cables).
Also the stock and silver jack works fine for me, and works on all my phones/tablets (ipad, xiaomi, nexus, nokia WP), so not sure what the issue is for @Keller1 maybe you got a bad one?  And not working means no sound even?

 

[fullyZ]

I've seen a lot of talking about ZST but non about ZST Pro
 
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/KZ-ZST-Armature-Dual-Driver-Earphone-Detachable-Cable-In-Ear-Audio-Monitors-Noise-Isolating-HiFi-Music/1358152_32764465461.html?spm=2114.12010608.0.0.adqCPT
 
How are they? I just ordered a ZS3 pair but i don't mind ordering a different pair if ZST Pro are good.
What about ZSR, couldn't find anything

 

[ricemanhk]

  I've seen a lot of talking about ZST but non about ZST Pro
 
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/KZ-ZST-Armature-Dual-Driver-Earphone-Detachable-Cable-In-Ear-Audio-Monitors-Noise-Isolating-HiFi-Music/1358152_32764465461.html?spm=2114.12010608.0.0.adqCPT
 
How are they? I just ordered a ZS3 pair but i don't mind ordering a different pair if ZST Pro are good.
What about ZSR, couldn't find anything

 
Go through the thread.  ZST = ZST Pro, no difference besides the color, at least with the current batches.
Reviews/differences between ZS3 and ZST also plenty on this thread.
 
No news on ZSR yet...

 

[fullyZ]

   
Go through the thread.  ZST = ZST Pro, no difference besides the color, at least with the current batches.
Reviews/differences between ZS3 and ZST also plenty on this thread.
 
No news on ZSR yet...

 
I see, thank you then.

 

[Griffith]

  I'm also not a believer in changes in sound due to cables, as long as the cables are "good enough" (meaning the impedance isn't so high that it starts hindering the electrical transmission) but the math the guy did was wrong. The cable impedance should be added to the output impedance, not the driver impedance.  And there are measurable and audible differences when output impedance changes for the same headphone.
 
That said, I also find the difference between the silver cable and the stock one too small to matter in normal use, and it's not big enough to rule out my own brain bias as I don't have 2 ZSTs to do a quicker A-B blind testing.

 
I shared your sentiment that cables didn't produce many, if any, significant changes to the sound of a headphone because, I assume like you, I read many articles that measured and detailed the benefits of a high-end or highly priced audio cable versus a cheap Monoprice one and the differences were very few. For the most part I still share that sentiment because I've yet to hear the same earphone/headphone with different cables and experience any sound improvement whatsoever and I own a couple of headphones/earphones that I used various cables with and noticed no change with any of them.
 
With that in mind, I expected the exact same result with the ZST. The difference with the ZST is that I own a couple of them and both sound identical to my ears before the cable replacement and I was expecting it to remain the same after installing the silver cable on one of them but that wasn't the case. I felt a very slight mellowing out of some of the higher frequencies. After testing for some hours I decided to give my ears a rest and considered that I may had just been experiencing a placebo effect. The next day, I decided to try testing them again and I had the ZST with the silver cable on my DAC/AMP and had been listening to it for a while before I tried switching back to the model with the standard cable. When I did so, I felt a slight but distinct increase in the harshness of the higher frequencies. I tested this multiple times, only to meet the same result. I switched the cables between the two models, and once again met the same result.
 
I wish I could take measurements to prove what I hear and I wish I had someone else with two ZST and the two cables to compare results/experience with but alas I don't. I'm not trying to deceive anyone, I'm not trying to sell the silver cable to anyone, I don't work for ZST nor gain any benefit from promoting their products, I'm just trying to share my experience so others can make informed purchasing decisions. Before I shared my experience with the silver cables some people on this very thread stated that the silver cables improved the sound significantly and were an obligatory purchase. I don't believe that's the case at all but for those who feel the ZST are ever so slightly too harsh the silver cable might be enough to make them more enjoyable without resorting to EQ'ing, or at least that was the case for me.

 

[ricemanhk]

   
I shared your sentiment that cables didn't produce many, if any, significant changes to the sound of a headphone because, I assume like you, I read many articles that measured and detailed the benefits of a high-end or highly priced audio cable versus a cheap Monoprice one and the differences were very few. For the most part I still share that sentiment because I've yet to hear the same earphone/headphone with different cables and experience any sound improvement whatsoever and I own a couple of headphones/earphones that I used various cables with and noticed no change with any of them.
 
With that in mind, I expected the exact same result with the ZST. The difference with the ZST is that I own a couple of them and both sound identical to my ears before the cable replacement and I was expecting it to remain the same after installing the silver cable on one of them but that wasn't the case. I felt a very slight mellowing out of some of the higher frequencies. After testing for some hours I decided to give my ears a rest and considered that I may had just been experiencing a placebo effect. The next day, I decided to try testing them again and I had the ZST with the silver cable on my DAC/AMP and had been listening to it for a while before I tried switching back to the model with the standard cable. When I did so, I felt a slight but distinct increase in the harshness of the higher frequencies. I tested this multiple times, only to meet the same result. I switched the cables between the two models, and once again met the same result.
 
I wish I could take measurements to prove what I hear and I wish I had someone else with two ZST and the two cables to compare results/experience with but alas I don't. I'm not trying to deceive anyone, I'm not trying to sell the silver cable to anyone, I don't work for ZST nor gain any benefit from promoting their products, I'm just trying to share my experience so others can make informed purchasing decisions. Before I shared my experience with the silver cables some people on this very thread stated that the silver cables improved the sound significantly and were an obligatory purchase. I don't believe that's the case at all but for those who feel the ZST are ever so slightly too harsh the silver cable might be enough to make them more enjoyable without resorting to EQ'ing, or at least that was the case for me.

 
Let me try it and report back.  I recently encountered a specific file that I hear somewhat significant sibilance on the stock cable (S sounds for a particularly high toned female speaker), let's see if the silver one tames it out.  For the sake of comparison, I might just put 1 cable on 1 earbud so I can quickly swap between the 2 cables.
 
The impedance on the silver cable for me was about 0.3-0.4 ohms lower than the stock, which is not that big but not insignificant either, as cables are usually on the 0-2 ohm range.

 

[Griffith]

   
Let me try it and report back.  I recently encountered a specific file that I hear somewhat significant sibilance on the stock cable (S sounds for a particularly high toned female speaker), let's see if the silver one tames it out.  For the sake of comparison, I might just put 1 cable on 1 earbud so I can quickly swap between the 2 cables.
 
The impedance on the silver cable for me was about 0.3-0.4 ohms lower than the stock, which is not that big but not insignificant either, as cables are usually on the 0-2 ohm range.

 
If you tell me which file you are listening to I could also do the same from my end. Thank you for taking the time to do this, I hope that together we can reach a consensus.

 

[ahmadairfan]

Try the mod: close the vent around the neck on brass filters, and put some low-porosity foam in it. Sounds absoulutely stunning!