So, good news and great news.
Good news:
Yesterday I had errands to run from noon until well after sundown and I spent the entire day with my ZSR.
I have to say that the ZSR was an excellent companion. My fatigue-free session was more than nine hours and I absolutely loved every minute of it.
There was more than enough micro-detail on tracks that I am thoroughly familiar with. Serving up all the micro-detail one can handle on the go with zero fatigue is impressive enough but to simultaneously deliver a rich midrange with defined and authoritative bass in equal measure is what makes the ZSR so special to me. I had an excellent seal throughout the day using the eartips that came with my BGVP DM5. The isolation wasn't as impressive as the ZS3's isolation but few IEMs isolate that well. I'd say the ZSR has about 85% of the ZS3's isolation for my ears.
The ZS6 has been my favorite IEM for the last year but my ZS6 will never be led outdoors because while they are a ton of fun they are also a more analytical listen due to the voluminous amount of detail across the frequency spectrum.
All in all, I stand by my original review of the ZSR. It's a very, very good IEM at it's ridiculously low $28 price tag. Just do yourself a favor and move past the stock cables.
These should suffice at $11 (disregard the MMCX portion of the picture)
Bottom line:
The ZSR is my go-to IEM for the great outdoors.
The great news:
The BA10 is in the house!
I spent three hours with them and I'll be spending the next few days pouring over different genres to report back as accurate as is humanly possible (for my ears). My ears are on the larger size so I had zero discomfort......after three hours with a rectangular shaped IEM. I haven't even pulled out the memory wire so I can install my silicone earhooks yet. That's a good sign for those of you that like the memory wire or for those of you with large ears.
First impressions are as follows:
If you liked the sound signature of the original matte black ZS3 and you have larger ears then you will like the BA10. Initial impressions are that it sounds like a more refined "original" ZS3.
Indeed, I pulled out my matte ZS3 for comparison purposes (though this is a photo of the glossy ZS3). Be aware that the original ZS3 was shipped with "NO" foam in the nozzle. The foam makes the ZS3 boomy and muffled.
Took me about two hours of playtime to place the sound signature. Then I pulled out my ZS3's and boom......there it was. Then I searched for FR graphs and.....voila!
I'm not necessarily a big follower of "The Phonograph.net", but their graphs coincide with what I am hearing.
The midrange and bass are on equal footing. Bass is full-on and midrange is rich.
Note that the treble trails off in similar fashion to the ZS3. This is also how I hear it.
This next FR graph is AntDroid's and it is close to what I am hearing, although, to my ears the red line should be where the green line is because, again, the bass and midrange are on equal footing. That would also mean that the AS10 midrange would still climb higher (all things being equal) and the AS10 midrange would have slightly more presence than the BA10 midrange (B9 can probably confirm or deny my hypothesis since he owns both IEMs).
For me, wide-bore shallow depth silicone eartips worked best. The wide-bore may assist in the bass having a more diffuse presentation allowing the midrange to come slightly more forward than you see in the above graph. Again, to my ears, the bass and midrange are on equal footing. With narrow-bore silicone eartips the upper-midrange was borderline strident on occasion.
My matte black ZS3 sounds clear; the midrange is just as prominent and clean as the slammin' bass. The BA10 sounds like a cleaner, smoother ZS3 a few tiers up in timbre while displaying much higher resolution.
And that bass......
thus far, it sounds like a very clean dynamic driver that takes no prisoners.
Again, this is with wide-bore silicone eartips and the BA10 coupled to my bright-leaning ZuneHD. Next I'll use the more powerful Fiio X3(i) and note any nuances that may or may not exist.
I'm still not a fan of the red and gold. I'll wait until the price drops then I'll pick up the BA10 in black and red. I'll swap the faceplates and the end result will be one all red BA10 that I can use white or copper cables with and one black BA10 with a gold faceplate that I can use a black cable with.
If anyone has a link to the black KZ cable with the 90°+/- angle please share it. They seemed to have disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.aliexpress.com/item/32899379734.html
I know about Kinboofi and other black cables but the round connector head coupled to a box-like receptacle will bug me to no end......even if said cables are superior.
In the end I'll likely use the BA10's laid back sound signature for chillout sessions.
Spoiler Zero 7 - HomeVIDEO VIDEO VIDEO VIDEO
Click to expand...
