[voicemaster]

What's the difference between BT3 and BT10?

 

[Slater]

What's the difference between BT3 and BT10?

BT3 = BT 4.1
BT10 = BT 4.2

BT10 has a slightly different neckband style.

That's honestly about it.

 

[Slater]

I purchased 2 units of MMCX BT10 from 2 different sellers on AliExpress and believe it or not...both are wired OUT OF PHASE connected to my TinAudio T2. My T2 is perfectly IN PHASE connected to all my MMCX cables including the stock cable. I'm either extremely unlucky or TRN produce batches of BT10 that are wired OUT OF PHASE.

BTW, to anyone who has an out-of-phase BT10, I took mine apart and it is not difficult to correct the problem if you are handy with a soldering iron. Even if you aren't, a local electronics repair shop (or even a local HeadFier) could resolder it for you.

Tomorrow I will work on a guide with photos.

 

[antdroid]

I did comparison between ZSN silver/purple and black/black and I didn't find any differences in sound between the two when I am using my trn bt3 bluetooth. The only thing that make a difference is when you use their original cable (brown vs clear), I can hear some differences in bass and treble primarily. Bass is a little bit tighter with the clear cable, treble decay?? is a little bit longer especially in cymbal sound and a little bit more detail also. I am mostly using my trn bt3 cable anyway so this differences is not really deal breaker or something.

The clear cable definitely is thicker than the brown.

FYI - Here's the KZ ZSN Silver Cable that you can buy separately. It is thicker than the stock ZSN brown cable slightly. The braid is not as tightly wound too.

I modded it already and put a 2.5mm balanced TRSS connector on it.

 

[CoiL]

didn't find it yet, but sure it will show up soon.
however, if you are going to make your own cable, why not spending a little more in a better cable; for example, this acrolink wire, not so fancy, but good affordable quality:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32867317898.html
6N OCC pure copper 19 strands x 0.1mm / core. 2 cores (per signal) is equivalent to 22awg. you'll end with a ~90mΩ 1.2m of 6N occ copper cable..

I already have some acrolink wires and they are not very good, just OK. They don`t have elastic soft feel to them as being PVC coated.

If it's worth doing.......



.......might as well get the good stuff.

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32814035621.html

I have that exact cable in Cu+Ag (8-core) and it measures around 0.5-0.6 Ohm impedance per core (without jack/IEM ends), not very good. Also it is rather stiff-sided PVC coating.
When using 1Cu+1Ag core together for one channel or ground, I got around 0.2-0.3 Ohm (my multimeter isn`t so HQ), which is quite good result though.
Using that cable with Neutrik NTP3RC jack with my ZS5v1.

ZSN copper looks very soft (haven`t tried it yet). I`m probably spoiled by IT01 cable

 

[hakuzen]

I already have some acrolink wires and they are not very good, just OK. They don`t have elastic soft feel to them as being PVC coated.

I have that exact cable in Cu+Ag (8-core) and it measures around 0.5-0.6 Ohm impedance per core (without jack/IEM ends), not very good. Also it is rather stiff-sided PVC coating.
When using 1Cu+1Ag core together for one channel or ground, I got around 0.2-0.3 Ohm (my multimeter isn`t so HQ), which is quite good result though.

ZSN copper looks very soft (haven`t tried it yet). I`m probably spoiled by IT01 cable

yup, you are right. acrolink wire is budget, just ok. i think that most of the chi-cables we buy in ali, are made with acrolink wire (i'm locating the acrolink used wire of most of my cables, using appearance, size, and comparison of calculated with measured resistance).
about the link i provided, found same wire in another shop and composition didn't match. so avoid.
but if you want to get a better quality wire, price reaches the sky. got some up-occ neotech wire recently, to make some adapters (for measuring purposes); compared to some acrolink wire, and yes, you notice the difference in quality at first glance. but it was so expensive.. some shops have stocked iem cables made with neotech and other taiwan imported wires, recently. the price is >$150 ($120 at 11.11), while being thinner than acrolink $60 cables.

edit: if you like ibasso copper look, this cable is thicker and softer than zsn's stock. got them for <$24, and measured 180mΩ.
and this was found in some shops at around $82 at 11.11. it's a bit stiffer, not due to the sleeve but the thickness. about 57mΩ.

 

[CoiL]

edit: if you like ibasso copper look, this cable is thicker and softer than zsn's stock. got them for <$24, and measured 180mΩ.

That looks(feels) pretty nice and price isn`t killing. I wish I had seen that earlier, atm not going to buy but going to wishlist.
Thanks a lot for useful measurements and links!

There`s also this one if You haven`t tried yet, cheaper too: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Upg...003.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.1a622e0eiUZI94

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

There`s also this one if You haven`t tried yet, cheaper too: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Upg...003.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.1a622e0eiUZI94

It doesn't look like it's a very good quality cable.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

yup, you are right. acrolink wire is budget, just ok. i think that most of the chi-cables we buy in ali, are made with acrolink wire (i'm locating the acrolink used wire of most of my cables, using appearance, size, and comparison of calculated with measured resistance). about the link i provided, found same wire in another shop and composition didn't match. so avoid.

I have a cable from Papri that sells that Acrolink wire. I don't know if it's the same brand that they used but Papri sure made a great cable! I ordered another from them and plan to order more after that. Papri rocks!

 

[CoiL]

I have a cable from Papri that sells that Acrolink wire. I don't know if it's the same brand that they used but Papri sure made a great cable! I ordered another from them and plan to order more after that. Papri rocks!

Papri is same as acrolink. There was even acrolink paper along with mine.
It sure looks nice but like I already said, rather stiff-sided not ultra soft like IT01 cable and impedance could be tad better imo.

It doesn't look like it's a very good quality cable.

Why?
Solder points only at ends and braided nicely (not heat-twisted like KZ). Connectors look ok too. Don`t know about impedance though. Hopefully hakuzen will chime in.
I don`t need it atm but when I need another mmcx, it will be the next.
Even around 35$ NiceHCK mmcx "silver plated" cable, which feels and looks really HQ one, has started to turn slightly green after about 2 years (with little usage and safe caring).
Don`t want another "silver" plated cable anymore.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

Something is seriously wrong with Gearbest... a couple days ago, they had three colors for the ZSN and now they have four!

https://www.gearbest.com/earphones/pp_009268056629.html

A couple days ago, "Tyrian Purple" (I ordered), Medium Turquoise and Black.

Now they've also added, "Viola Purple".

What?

Is KZ adding new colors for this model?

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

Why? Solder points only at ends and braided nicely (not heat-twisted like KZ). Connectors look ok too. Don`t know about impedance though.

It's just my opinion on the cable appearance. I could very well be wrong. It was just an ignorant opinion and I'm sticking to it.

 

[mathi8vadhanan]

It's just my opinion on the cable appearance. I could very well be wrong. It was just an ignorant opinion and I'm sticking to it.

It's just a four core cable. Looks like the one that come bundled with 64-Audio iems.

 

[Mellowship]

Just one potentially dumb question to the "cable" guys (and girls) out there:

I made my path from hifi standalone components and the only cable design I came to value over the years, despite its proneness to EMI/RFI, was low capacity design. I made a bunch of DIY single-core RCA interconnects with stripped CAT5 copper wires, wrapped in white PTFE and finished with cotton shoestrings. Each wire was separated from the other about 1 cm (picture below. notice the "less is more", with the ground on only one side. this was how we rolled back in my audiophylylylylyle days). Also made speaker cables from stripped pure copper 75Ohm antenna wire also wrapped in teflon. Lately been using transmission cables that are single-core copper-covered aluminium. The point here was to reduce capacitance to the minimum, using the most neutral dielectrics (air, teflon, cotton) and separating wires, in order to have cables that were not functioning as capacitors. This makes a difference in home audio, and it's a cable philosophy followed by the likes of Cyrus and/or Mission.

Has someone measured the capacitance on IEM cables? If so, what values did you find (uF)? Or it doesn't really make sense? Or does it makes sense but such design would not be comfortable and the stranded designs are a better trade-off? I cannot imagine a KZ with separated single core wires hanging from it all the way down to the jack... But maybe the flat cable design has it's point here...

 

[Zerohour88]

Something is seriously wrong with Gearbest... a couple days ago, they had three colors for the ZSN and now they have four!

https://www.gearbest.com/earphones/pp_009268056629.html

A couple days ago, "Tyrian Purple" (I ordered), Medium Turquoise and Black.

Now they've also added, "Viola Purple".

What?

Is KZ adding new colors for this model?

Viola Purple, right up @mbwilson111 alley's

that said, no indication of it on any official KZ channels (totally forgot that KZ have a 16 driver unit already in testing, no idea when it will be announced, should be a nice foil to the TRN 12BA and 16BA)