[Holypal]

An interesting ZS5 wooden mod:

 

[B9Scrambler]

Dont even have them yet and there are some badass mods in the works. CoiL, buddy. Can't wait to see what you come up with

 

[trollin863]

Decided to go with 1 pair of zs3s, 1 pair of atrs, and 2 pairs of ed4s from Gearbest. The ed4s are only 4 bucks right now and I thought theyd be smart to get since theyre not over the ear which is what im used to wearing. Also they are supposed to have excellent subbass.

Need to figure out what tips work best for each thinking foam for the zs3 and sony hybrid for the atr and ed4s.

I have a box of about 50 high quality ear plugs Im considering trying to make some homemade foam tips. Anyone else doing this with their zs3s or am I better off buying comply clone generics?

 

[Slater]

Received a pair of ZST's today from Amazon. Immediately they seemed off. The right one is clearly louder than the left. Is this a common occurrence? Lowering the right by 3-4db's completely fixes the issue. I contacted Amazon and have a replacement pair coming tomorrow. I'm just hoping this isn't a common thing and I'm going to have to go through half a dozen pairs before I find ones that aren't unbalanced.

Nah, some KZs are off on one side (maybe 1-3%) - doesn't matter what model, where you bought it, etc. It's just the luck of the draw QC issues, and is not unique to KZ by any means. The solution is exactly what you did - contact the seller & get a replacement pair. 99.8% of the time, the replacement pair is fine.

Good luck!

 

[Slater]

Decided to go with 1 pair of zs3s, 1 pair of atrs, and 2 pairs of ed4s from Gearbest. The ed4s are only 4 bucks right now and I thought theyd be smart to get since theyre not over the ear which is what im used to wearing. Also they are supposed to have excellent subbass.

Need to figure out what tips work best for each thinking foam for the zs3 and sony hybrid for the atr and ed4s.

I have a box of about 50 high quality ear plugs Im considering trying to make some homemade foam tips. Anyone else doing this with their zs3s or am I better off buying comply clone generics?

Good choices on the ZS3 and ATR!

But yeah, I wouldn't recommend anyone buy the ED4 no matter what the price.

There's definitely 1, and I think maybe a total of 2, HF members that actually like them. For $4 they are worth it to reuse for parts though - I've bought bare KZ replacement cables and paid $3. So for $1 more you get spare tips and can even use the shells (for driver swaps, or maybe use the shells to make a pair of earrings or a cool amplifier knob). Or remove the tips, cut them apart where they meet at the "Y", tie each one to a short stick, and you have 2 great cat toys!

But for listening to actual real music...ummm they are turd sundaes with whipped cream and a cherry on top.

I'm really sorry to burst your bubble. On the bright side, maybe you'll be the 3rd person that actually likes them!

 

[Slater]

With the silver cable + Slater's foam removal mod the ZS3 is definitely a killer IEM. I find its sound signature so much to my liking, and when I listen to some well-produced and mastered music they shine even more.

Yeah, if the reports are true and they ADDED the foam filter when they revised the ZS3 from the matte version to the shiny version - I have to ask "what were they thinking"?

 

[Slater]

Feel like these silver cables are the same all coming from the same factory whether you get it from amazon, ebay, aliexpress or penonaudio.

Id rather save a few dollars and put it towards some new tips.

The cable is nice because it's softer and has little/no microphonics vs the stock cable.

As far as them coming from the same factory, the ZST and ZS3 silver cables are made by KZ themselves. So yes, they are all coming from the same factory.

 

[SpiderNhan]

Decided to go with 1 pair of zs3s, 1 pair of atrs, and 2 pairs of ed4s from Gearbest. The ed4s are only 4 bucks right now and I thought theyd be smart to get since theyre not over the ear which is what im used to wearing. Also they are supposed to have excellent subbass.

Need to figure out what tips work best for each thinking foam for the zs3 and sony hybrid for the atr and ed4s.

I have a box of about 50 high quality ear plugs Im considering trying to make some homemade foam tips. Anyone else doing this with their zs3s or am I better off buying comply clone generics?

The ZS3 is picky with tips. It's too narrow for 5mm bores and too wide for 3mm bores rendering 85% of my tip inventory useless. The stock tips fit my left ear okay, but get blocked in my right ear, which was why I thought I had a channel imbalance. KZ Starline tips, which come installed on the ZST, fit but they get painful. I finally got them sorted by installing hybrid Symbio tips by MandarinEs. You can find them on eBay for $17 per 3 pair.

 

[Slater]

The ZS3 is picky with tips. It's too narrow for 5mm bores and too wide for 3mm bores rendering 85% of my tip inventory useless. The stock tips fit my left ear okay, but get blocked in my right ear, which was why I thought I had a channel imbalance. KZ Starline tips, which come installed on the ZST, fit but they get painful. I finally got them sorted by installing hybrid Symbio tips by MandarinEs. You can find them on eBay for $17 per 3 pair.

If you're careful, you can stretch 3mm silicone tips to fit. The 3mm Comply/memory foams don't work though, as the foam prevents the center section from stretching enough.

As far as the Starlines, I've found (and others have too) that you need to step DOWN 1 size. I always wear medium tips, but for some reason on the ZS3 when I step down to small it's perfect. Why this is the case, I'm not sure. It obviously has something to do with the nozzle (maybe the angle of the nozzle relative to the body, or the length of the nozzle). But the nozzle is completely smooth with no barb on the end, so you would think it would be the opposite case.

 

[SpiderNhan]

D'oh! I've already destroyed my small starline tips by cutting out the bore to make spacer rings for the 1More EB100.

 

[Slater]

D'oh! I've already destroyed my small starline tips by cutting out the bore to make spacer rings for the 1More EB100.

PM me your address. I'll drop some in the mail you bud.

Or for $0.74 shipped you can get a full set of 6 (1 pair of each size) on AE.

 

[SpiderNhan]

PM me your address. I'll drop some in the mail you bud.

Or for $0.74 shipped you can get a full set of 6 (1 pair of each size) on AE.

Many thanks for the offer, but I'm perfectly content with my current collection of tips. I tried the small starlines on a couple IEMs, but not the ZS3, and in each case they were too small to get a seal. I really like the Symbio tips on the ZS3. So far they're the only IEM that truly benefits from them.

 

[SomeTechNoob]

Received a pair of ZST's today from Amazon. Immediately they seemed off. The right one is clearly louder than the left. Is this a common occurrence? Lowering the right by 3-4db's completely fixes the issue. I contacted Amazon and have a replacement pair coming tomorrow. I'm just hoping this isn't a common thing and I'm going to have to go through half a dozen pairs before I find ones that aren't unbalanced.

The only report I've seen of channel imbalance was someone inserting one side deeper than the other. My left ear is a bit different in shape from my right so I also need to remember to not shove them in all the way otherwise it does sound a wee bit off. If the second pair is the same, I'm betting its your ear shape.

edit: whoops, read as zs3 instead of zst. Still, haven't heard much about channel imbalance issues and I've been following this thread for some time now.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

Decided to go with 1 pair of zs3s, 1 pair of atrs, and 2 pairs of ed4s from Gearbest.

Try listening to the KZ-ATR's with the Benjie S5, it's like listening to an old stereo but in a good way!

PS: They are too bright/almost too bright with the Colorfly C3.

 

[VinceHill24]

Tried searching for ZS5 review in Chinese and came across this HK forum where one of this guy posted some brief impressions in english.
https://www.hkepc.com/forum/viewthread.php?fid=124&tid=2373937&extra=page=1&page=1