[oyobass]

My ZS3s have finally made it to my town this afternoon. I should see them tonight or tomorrow, (probably tomorrow, since I didn't see the "out for delivery" text in the tracking).

I'll give them a good testing stock, then proceed to the Slater Mod (TM) to enhance the high end, if needed.
I'm excited to try last year's next big thing...

 

[khighly]

Where do you think a huge portion of those parts actually get made even for much higher end brands? If they weren't winding coils, the drivers wouldn't work, so that statement just strikes me as pretty absurd...

Nobody is sitting there tuning 5-15 drivers and 5-10 BA's like this is a fender stratocaster type artform or something. It's cheap, quick, efficient, with a lack of QC. It's not worth the time. It's like you guys expect that they're sitting there with $230,000 worth of Tektronix and Keysight equipment doing years of sound & electronic research - and it's just not happening. People get IEM's straight from KZ that are wired backwards and you expect that they have it all figured out. Ha.

I think you guys believe in snake oil too much. Most KZ IEM's sound so very alike. ZST through ZS6 are nearly identical. I don't have any of the newer cheaper ones, but I wouldn't doubt they also sound pretty similar. The only KZ I've had that didn't sound almost exactly like the rest is the ED12.

 

[Superluc]

ZST through ZS6 are nearly identical. I don't have any of the newer cheaper ones, but I wouldn't doubt they also sound pretty similar. The only KZ I've had that didn't sound almost exactly like the rest is the ED12.

ZS6 and ZSE are nothing alike, but the ZSE din't have BAs.

 

[oyobass]

Maybe I'm drinking snake oil by the gallon, but I find fairly significant differences between my ZST, ZS5 v1 and ZS6.

They have some family resemblance, especially in the high end, but each is fairly unique in the reproduction of the mids and definition in the bass and midbass.

 

[nadezhda 6004]

My green Kz6 has had 40+ hours. With the tri-braid cable and foam tips they are sounding better than my Westone 3. I highly recommend a slight eq to soften the highs and bring up the lows.

Could you post the link for tri-braid cable?
To everybody
who bought the braided cables and feels that it's better sounding than stock cables (cable supplied with KZ) please share the links.

 

[Slater]

Nobody is sitting there tuning 5-15 drivers and 5-10 BA's like this is a fender stratocaster type artform or something. It's cheap, quick, efficient, with a lack of QC. It's not worth the time. It's like you guys expect that they're sitting there with $230,000 worth of Tektronix and Keysight equipment doing years of sound & electronic research - and it's just not happening. People get IEM's straight from KZ that are wired backwards and you expect that they have it all figured out. Ha.

bahahaha, wired backwards. That's classic LOL

The only KZ I've had that didn't sound almost exactly like the rest is the ED12.

The ED12 is one of the few I skipped because the reviews were poor.

How do you like your ED12, and is it worth picking up (if not for any reason other than it being the one KZ that doesn't "sound almost exactly like the rest")?

 

[khighly]

The ED12 is one of the few I skipped because the reviews were poor.

How do you like your ED12, and is it worth picking up (if not for any reason other than it being the one KZ that doesn't "sound almost exactly like the rest")?

I wouldn't bother. It feels like they're missing half of the range of sound. If you can find them for like $2, maybe, just to try them or use their shells? Maybe use as a test shell if you just have a bunch of drivers and BA's sitting around?

They're very dark and the only thing I liked listening to on them was Soulection Radio. Kind of like a little more frequency extension than AM radio.

 

[khighly]

Maybe I'm drinking snake oil by the gallon, but I find fairly significant differences between my ZST, ZS5 v1 and ZS6.

They have some family resemblance, especially in the high end, but each is fairly unique in the reproduction of the mids and definition in the bass and midbass.

ZS6 and ZS5v1 sound nearly identical in mids & bass. The ZS6 sounds like they added a BA at around like 14Khz and needed a smd resistor to bring it down about 4dB. You get used to it, but it's still a bit too much in some songs.

I also notice the ZS6's are far easier to drive than the ZS5v1's, so that may also have been an initial problem as the ZS5v1's are a pain to drive and require higher volumes on all of my devices. I may have been pushing the ZS6's to ZS5v1 levels and then realized "wow, this is way too loud".

 

[vector84]

I think you guys believe in snake oil too much.

So if inductors are snake oil... I'm honestly not sure where to go with this metaphor because... how do you even have a driver, dynamic or BA, without a functional inductor?

There's plenty of standards compliant measurements in this thread of late though.

 

[vector84]

Could you post the link for tri-braid cable?
To everybody
who bought the braided cables and feels that it's better sounding than stock cables (cable supplied with KZ) please share the links.

They're pretty easy to find on aliexpress if you search "zs5 cable" or "zs6 cable" or similar... here's a couple:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/KZ-...Cable-Earphone-Upgrade-Cable/32842791429.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...icated-2-PIN-Upgrade/1825606_32838766604.html

 

[nadezhda 6004]

So now that I made improvements to the ZS3, I thought I'd tackle the ZST.


Let me know if you have any questions.

- Slater

Will it be beneficial for ZS 5 and 6?

 

[kokakolia]

ZS6 and ZSE are nothing alike, but the ZSE din't have BAs.

You can also add the ED7 to the list. The only KZ I ever liked. I feel like I should buy another pair for that matter... It's rather good! And dirt cheap. And it looks super cute in bamboo.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

I think you guys believe in snake oil too much. Most KZ IEM's sound so very alike. ZST through ZS6 are nearly identical. I don't have any of the newer cheaper ones, but I wouldn't doubt they also sound pretty similar. The only KZ I've had that didn't sound almost exactly like the rest is the ED12.

Have you considered that perhaps there's something wrong with your hearing, or your source gear?
I have only had my KZ IEMs for a week, so I'm not a KZ super-fan. I am not one that buys equipment because it's the flavor of the month or hyped...it's pretty clear to me that the ZST - ZS6 are not 'nearly identical'. It's not because someone on Headfi SAID they sound different, I can tell when one headset goes deeper in the bass, or has sibilance that another one doesn't.
Seems like if the ZS6 sounds the same as the ES3 to you, perhaps the problem is you, not, you know, everyone else?

 

[nxnje]

I surrend.. tried many tricks to make my zs3 fit properly but i still can't enjoy listening with them.
I love their sound signature a lot, their bass is incredibly strong, so i'm gonna send back them to the seller.
I have heard online the rock zircons have good bass too but i saw they're not well built and so not resistant.

I was going online to see if there's something like zs3 sound signature and i found memt x5 were so well shown.
Do u tip me to buy them? I have 15 dollars budget for the moment but i can go over for lioe 2-3 euros.
What do u think i can buy as substitute?
Thanks for the tips and sorry if this goes a bit off topic.

Sorry if i up my message, but it's just because i need some help connected to my last zs3 experience. Thanks if someone wanna help

 

[khighly]

Have you considered that perhaps there's something wrong with your hearing, or your source gear?
I have only had my KZ IEMs for a week, so I'm not a KZ super-fan. I am not one that buys equipment because it's the flavor of the month or hyped...it's pretty clear to me that the ZST - ZS6 are not 'nearly identical'. It's not because someone on Headfi SAID they sound different, I can tell when one headset goes deeper in the bass, or has sibilance that another one doesn't.
Seems like if the ZS6 sounds the same as the ES3 to you, perhaps the problem is you, not, you know, everyone else?

I have IEM's from other manufacturers that have entirely different complete 180 sound signatures on the same sources. ZST, ZS5, ZS6 sound nearly identical. My first pair of ZST's are a bit closer to ZS5v1 than I realized. ATR was a little darker without the high extension, but everything else was pretty similar.

I have Modi 2, Magni 2, Zune, Pixel XL, and my PC sound card which is an expensive Xonar card I use for IQ/DSP. There can't possibly be something wrong with all of my sources.

I think what you guys are missing is the part where I claim "nearly", not "exactly".