[SHKRIKIUS]

Hi Guys!

I postponed buying the S4's from mistertao for too long and today I saw that mistertao.com isn't in the bussiness anymore...

Does someone know any other good shop or another secure Tao agent?


Thank You!

Anyone?

 

[actorlife]

I read a review on amazon. The guy writes VERY lengthy and informative reviews on KZ earphones and thought the KZ ED3 are great for classical. Do you guys agree? I was thinking the ZST. My ED3 have not arrived yet.

 

[ricemanhk]

Bear in mind with KZs, it's not just the pins that are providing the friction to keep the wire and the earbud together but it's predominantly the wire housing (the female plastic part on the wire) that holds onto the inner plastic part in the earbud (the male plastic part in the earbud).
 
The shape of the ZST housing is bigger than the ZS3, this is why the ZST wire won't fit the ZS3, while the ZS3 pins will fit into the ZST but without the friction from the 2 plastic parts, will fall out quite easily.
 
This is also why 3rd party cables will most likely not work well enough unless there's sufficient friction from the pins and the pin housing alone. The pins themselves are 0.75mm ones, like for some older UE IEMs like triplefi10.
 
Still, @SpiderNhan do report back if your cables work!

 

[SpiderNhan]

I still haven't ordered them as I'm awaiting word from Lee over at VE. Also, the silver upgrade cables from KZ are around $6 for the AliExpress sale in 2 days. Has anyone had success using any third-party cables with their KZs?

 

[ricemanhk]

  I still haven't ordered them as I'm awaiting word from Lee over at VE. Also, the silver upgrade cables from KZ are around $6 for the AliExpress sale in 2 days. Has anyone had success using any third-party cables with their KZs?

I've tried my old UE TF10 stock cable and it fits, but like I said, without the plastic housing the wires will pop out with a slight tug, not enough friction from the pins and pin housing alone.
 
Let's hope the next IEM from KZ will switch to MMCX...

 

[Enn Jott]

Just received a ZS3 and a ZST Colorful (that I needed to vent with a needle) yesterday and I was expecting to like the ZST more, but initial impressions have me leaning toward the ZS3 by a wide margin. The ZST sounds a bit incoherent whereas the ZS3 has a smooth, bassy, easily enjoyable sound. I'm actually pretty surprised by the sonic discrepancy.

*Update: Turns out the ZST is source dependant. From a Galaxy S6 Active, Galaxy S3 rooted with Viper4Android and a V-MODA​ Vamp Verza the sound is merely okay. The 10 ohm impedance of the Verza probably doesn't help.

Plugged into a Dragonfly Red the sound really opens up. The soundstage is huge, for an in ear, and overall sound becomes much more coherent and lively. This may explain the numerous mixed reviews about the ZST. With the proper source they sing and now I'm glad I have both the ZSXs to play with.

May I ask where and how you vented the ZST? Any improvements? And if so, how did it improve? I don't like my ZSTs on my Galaxy S7 (Exynos Version). They do sound a tad better on my Macbook Air (which is a great Source for every Headphone I have an had).

 

[SpiderNhan]

May I ask where and how you vented the ZST? Any improvements? And if so, how did it improve? I don't like my ZSTs on my Galaxy S7 (Exynos Version). They do sound a tad better on my Macbook Air (which is a great Source for every Headphone I have an had).

The ZST are vented by design. I noticed a ton of driver flex on my right ear piece, but none on the left, and another member asked if I had checked the vent. It's on the inside of the IEM near the nozzle. You can feel it by running your finger across the surface. The vent on my right ear piece wasn't fully pierced through so I took a needle to it.

 

[Enn Jott]

The ZST are vented by design. I noticed a ton of driver flex on my right ear piece, but none on the left, and another member asked if I had checked the vent. It's on the inside of the IEM near the nozzle. You can feel it by running your finger across the surface. The vent on my right ear piece wasn't fully pierced through so I took a needle to it.

I think i found it and did it rather carefully and somehow it killed all the mids and bass. don't think i damaged anything though. just tried closing the holes again with glue to see if it makes a difference. or maybe i miracly destroyed them... 

 
 
Edit: Back to normal after closing the holes again... weird... 

 still sounding too sharp for me though...

 

[ricemanhk]

The ZST are vented by design. I noticed a ton of driver flex on my right ear piece, but none on the left, and another member asked if I had checked the vent. It's on the inside of the IEM near the nozzle. You can feel it by running your finger across the surface. The vent on my right ear piece wasn't fully pierced through so I took a needle to it.

I see there's a tiny pin hole there, but I'm not sure if that's fully vented as it appears to have something underneath that hole?  I have the colorful ZSTs so the blue plastic might be easier to see for me than the black/carbon one, but it doesn't look like it's vented to me despite the pin hole.
 
There are also 2 vents along the seam at the back of the ZST, just above where it says ZST HiFi-Armature.  There are 2 slits along that seam that are clearly vents as I can see through them. Someone here actually asked about the seemingly wide seam for the ZST thinking it was a defect, but it's done on purpose to give room for the 2 vents while hiding them to some extent.

 

[SpiderNhan]

I think i found it and did it rather carefully and somehow it killed all the mids and bass. don't think i damaged anything though. just tried closing the holes again with glue to see if it makes a difference. or maybe i miracly destroyed them... 

Yikes! What did you poke it with? I used a thin sewing needle.

Also, for anyone else reading this, I wasn't trying to modify the sound. I was fixing driver flex. With the right ear piece the needle stopped almost on the surface and I had to slowly etch into it to get any depth. On the left ear piece the needle went right through with no resistance so I didn't push. I just checked that side to confirm that the vent was indeed supposed to be open. Venting the right side I didn't notice any sonic changes, but the driver flex is now completely gone.

As far as sound is concerned the ZST only sounds good to me through the Dragonfly Red. I don't have any pure DAPs or portable sources other my Galaxy S3, repurposed as a DAP, and my daily driver the Galaxy S6 Active. This may be a case of impedance matching the hybrid drivers as the Dragonfly has <0.0 ohm output impedance while I don't know the impedance of my smartphones. The Dragonfly feeding into an Objective 2 amp, also <0 ohm impedance, sounds good too.

 

[SpiderNhan]

I see there's a tiny pin hole there, but I'm not sure if that's fully vented as it appears to have something underneath that hole?  I have the colorful ZSTs so the blue plastic might be easier to see for me than the black/carbon one, but it doesn't look like it's vented to me despite the pin hole.

There are also 2 vents along the seam at the back of the ZST, just above where it says ZST HiFi-Armature.  There are 2 slits along that seam that are clearly vents as I can see through them. Someone here actually asked about the seemingly wide seam for the ZST thinking it was a defect, but it's done on purpose to give room for the 2 vents while hiding them to some extent.

Mine are also the Colorful and all I know is the vent on the left side was clear, while the vent on the right side was not. I didn't add any holes. I just completed one that wasn't fully there.

 

[Enn Jott]

Yikes! What did you poke it with? I used a thin sewing needle.

Also, for anyone else reading this, I wasn't trying to modify the sound. I was fixing driver flex. With the right ear piece the needle stopped almost on the surface and I had to slowly etch into it to get any depth. On the left ear piece the needle went right through with no resistance so I didn't push. I just checked that side to confirm that the vent was indeed supposed to be open. Venting the right side I didn't notice any sonic changes, but the driver flex is now completely gone.

As far as sound is concerned the ZST only sounds good to me through the Dragonfly Red. I don't have any pure DAPs or portable sources other my Galaxy S3, repurposed as a DAP, and my daily driver the Galaxy S6 Active. This may be a case of impedance matching the hybrid drivers as the Dragonfly has <0.0 ohm output impedance while I don't know the impedance of my smartphones. The Dragonfly feeding into an Objective 2 amp, also <0 ohm impedance, sounds good too.

I used a normal needle. Not too thick though. I really do not now what happened. Especially since the sound is back to normal (as before) now. That being sad. I do not like the Sound w/o EQ on my S7. They do sound better on the macbbook air. Treble is what puts me off though - and sibilance of course. They are fun for electronic music though. and the soundstage is really good too. all in all they are great for the price if you can live with the treble... 

 

[ricemanhk]

That's strange. Yet another person complaining about sound quality with Samsung Galaxy S phones...I know the older ones had dedicated DACs built in while the newer ones just use the onboard solution, but I didn't think it would be this bad.  Coz macbook airs are also using just the built in sound card, there's no separate DAC+amp.
 
I use my ZSTs on my xiaomi mi5, sound is fine.  Of course it's slightly better (a bit fuller and richer) when using it on my desktop with dedicated DAC+amp, but the difference isn't mindblowing with relatively easy to drive IEMs like these.  With larger cans you need more power, but small IEMs are pretty sensitive and low power.  I'm usually using 50-70% volume on my phone with ZST even when walking on the street.

 

[vegetaleb]

About memory foam ear tips, are they supposed to reduce the fall-off problems with earphones like the ATE?
I got a pair of silicone ear tips with the ZS3, are they considered as memory foam or it should be a foam like texture?
And finally what is the difference between ATE and ATR? 
PS: I already have the bassy ATES

 

[metonedeaf]

  About memory foam ear tips, are they supposed to reduce the fall-off problems with earphones like the ATE?
I got a pair of silicone ear tips with the ZS3, are they considered as memory foam or it should be a foam like texture?
And finally what is the difference between ATE and ATR? 
PS: I already have the bassy ATES

My experience with foam tip is that once I insert it into my ear, the foam expands and pushes itself out of my ear. Me and foam tip can't get along.