[mbwilson111]

Probably 3 reasons:
1) Smaller "stores" carry NO INVENTORY or low inventory, and go out and buy the item for you after you order.
2) Shipping is done by outside companies. They may consolidate shipping to get lower shipping rates. That means your package may wait with others until there are "enough" to ship. Plus some Handling in China and in Your Country.
3) Right now we are still seeing affect of high order volume from 11/11 and from Holiday Buying...

Just my guess. But Maybe 20% of the time, I get item in USA in 1 week... Though normal not to get for up to 30 days.. When longer than 30 days, for sure they did Not ship yet, even though you see (fake) tracking number. Aliexpress requires sellers to ship within something like 7 to 10 days as part of their policies. But many sellers just make a "fake" shipment number when they don't have the item ti ship yet, or when delayed for whatever reason, to avoid AE penalties. Seems like something we can't control from here, (unless we cancel orders...), so may have to live with for lover pricing...

I think we were typing at the same time... you were faster

 

[B9Scrambler]

After you said that I went to look at my Ebay history and I see I cannot go further back than 2016. Maybe I am confused but I do think I used to be able to back further than that. My first ebay order would have been in 1999.

My first Amazon.com purchases were also in 1999. I can see all my Amazon.com orders from 2002 on. For some reason it only tells me how many orders I had in 1999,2000 and 2001 but not what they were. My Amazon UK orders go back to 2007 which sounds right as I moved here in late 2006.

I understand what you mean. I never say something is good for the price. It is either good or it is not to me. The ZSN is good. So are most of my others.

Yes, I don't think they always have a big back room filled with each product that they offer. I think many of them have to get things sent from a warehouse. Sometimes I think they are surprised by how many orders there are for a product... maybe because it was hyped in this forum. We just have to be patient. I have had a couple of things take as long as six weeks but everything has always arrived eventually. Instead of being surprised by how long it takes, I am very surprised when some orders arrive in 6 -10 days.

It costs a lot to store all that info on servers. The company I work for keeps only very basic records for account activity older than 2002 for this reason. Can't imagine how much Amazon spends yearly on data storage O_O

 

[loomisjohnson]

I'm not sure why but I hate it when people say (a comment, not about your discussion) "so and so headphone is amazing for so and so dollars."

I don't think that matters myself, it's about how good the headphone is altogether Sure, it's under $20, $30 or $100 or whatever the case may be... but that doesn't matter to me. Is it worth buying at any price is more important. What do you all think?

i agree with laughmore that any iem has to meet a quality threshold; it's not a bargain if you won't listen to it. what's really intriguing about chifi is that that threshold keeps dropping--whereas five years ago it was hard to find an acceptable phone for $50, today you can spend $11 on a zsn or einsear or whatever and be content. likewise, the point of diminishing returns has dropped precipitously, which is to say that the incremental improvement between, say, a good $100 phone and a megabuck one isn't as big as it used to be.
to use a crude analogy, somebody once described australian wines as "$7 wines which taste like they could be $12"., which with no disrespect to australia, was snarky but valid. now we have $12 iems which, at least in comparison to their mainstream counterparts, really could be >$100. which to me is much of the pleasure of this game.
thanks for listening. back to work.

 

[nicksson]

... whereas five years ago it was hard to find an acceptable [ear/head]phone for $50 ...
... now we have $12 iems which, at least in comparison to their mainstream counterparts, really could be >$100. which to me is much of the pleasure of this game. ...

Nice said

 

[Conest]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ope...492.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4d2g5jst

The ZSN and the BA10 both have a very good fit with this cable.
i use them for sports....

i also testet other cables but for the BA10 the opera factory upgrade cable is the best.

Is it good for ZSA ?

 

[Dobrescu George]

Thanks @Dobrescu George for your take on the ZSN.

May I know what eartips did you use to listen for your impressions?

Our daughter listens to metal. I must say i cannot anymore keep up with such overload of sonic stimuli coming direct to my eardrums a few millimeters away.

These are my own impressions with regard to perception of bass resolution (textures, speed, decay, etc.):

I find natural acoustic instruments more suited to the task. The double bass, the violoncello, the lowest octave of the piano, the harp, the bass trombone, the tuba, contrabassoon, the pipe organ. Even the human voice. Listening to these in solo, in chamber music and in concert is for me the essence of the sound such instrument produces, in relation to its interplay with others as a whole, and the sense-impressions and emotions and mindset all of it evoke. Music.

When I listen to, say, Beethoven's Third or Vivaldi's Four Seasons or a Bach Cello Suite or Charlie Mingus from a decent stereo system, once I perceive that it resolves and reproduces with a certain threshold of fidelity the music that's familiar to me I get engaged and involved and am gone.

Now we have transducers that can fit over or even inside our ears, but the same principle applies.

The instruments i've mentioned—save for the human voice—can and do go down to the lowest audible range, sub-bass. The pipe organ can go even lower. With these instruments one can, through decent headphones, perceive how bass notes are resolved, individually or in complex series of tones, fast or slow, and how the resulting combinations lead to textures that, by a certain recording or performance by a certain artist or artists, arouse our thoughts and feelings.

With the KZ ZSN, I find the music I am
most familiar with, be it simple, intimate, aggressive, complex or wildly exuberant, are sufficiently reproduced and resolved, notably in the lower audible range. No congestion. No bloat.

On the other hand, in late-night listening, I find that the Simgot EN700 Pro can resolve even better. But then what I listen to is music and if the speakers or headphones are good enough I get lost in it in an instant.

You say the ZSN is good. Given your context, that may be construed to be so-so, humdrum, mediocre.

I say the ZSN is very good. And given my context: price (bought it for less than $11); build and design; aesthetics; its cable—all of which translate to value; and the music I listen to; that may even be construed to be exceptional.

Long story short: we have a difference of opinion. And I'm merely a housewife approaching senior citizenship who can't hear a thing beyond 14,800 KHz.

But what does it matter? This is, after all, an impressions thread and I do appreciate and respect your thoughts and your right to express them. And I think you've made some good points, too.

If you got them for 11 USD, there is no space to complain about them

 

[PhonoPhi]

I agree, I can't point to anything specific better at this price point. Also, agreed, for a really cheap thorwaround IEM, they're nice. Consider wearing them when it is raining outside and you don't want to risk your good headphones

It would be really great, Dear Sir, if you can kindly compare ZSN with few similar in construction (DD&BA) IEMs in a higher price bracket from your reputable collection. Pointing out in an A/B comparison specific features that can be attained with more expensive IEMs would be very valuable for us all, and especially still new audiophiles.

Just a thought - imagine a (strictly hypothetical, of course) situation that some IEM for $15 is so really amazing - how hard then would it be to write meaningful positive reviews of similar $50-$100 IEMs for the reviewers.

 

[vegetaleb]

Finally got my ZS4, I liked the new cable, fit wise it's better (in my ears) than ZSR but not as good as ZS3, I guess it's the memory wire being more flexible than ZS3.
I will try them again and also with ZS3 cable
SQ wise they don't have the heavy bloody bass of the ZS3 which is nice, I had to mod the ZS3 to reduce bass and reveal mids, now the ZS4 are even better and without mods.
I think they will be my perfect companions for the incoming ski days

 

[SybilLance]

i agree with laughmore that any iem has to meet a quality threshold; it's not a bargain if you won't listen to it. what's really intriguing about chifi is that that threshold keeps dropping--whereas five years ago it was hard to find an acceptable phone for $50, today you can spend $11 on a zsn or einsear or whatever and be content. likewise, the point of diminishing returns has dropped precipitously, which is to say that the incremental improvement between, say, a good $100 phone and a megabuck one isn't as big as it used to be.
to use a crude analogy, somebody once described australian wines as "$7 wines which taste like they could be $12"., which with no disrespect to australia, was snarky but valid. now we have $12 iems which, at least in comparison to their mainstream counterparts, really could be >$100. which to me is much of the pleasure of this game.
thanks for listening. back to work.

Quite. It is a given that in-ear headphones should, first and foremost, have the ability to reproduce music with a certain degree of fidelity—the threshold we’re talking about. On the other hand, that degree may still largely depend on the individual.

A $3,000.00 Shure KSE1500 electrostatic might not even merit a blink from an “audiophile” with deep pockets but I know I would never enjoy it. How could I when every time I insert them into my ears all I could probably think about are the things I could do with that amount to realize my dream kitchen? Or could I say that because I have a 3 thousand dollar IEM everything else that costs less would sound inferior? A snob might.

Again, context. I think about my father with his 2nd-hand Garrard turntable and his DIY Heathkit tube amplifier and DIY speakers playing the precious 78-rpm records his father gave him. Whenever he’d listen after dinner with eyes closed and with hands slowly caressing the air, could I say his immersion in his music back then was any less than what a Michael Fremer would experience, listening to a cost-no-object system?

Pardon the output medium and temporal displacement but it’s intended to emphasize that uncertainties do arise when unfair and improper comparisons are made.

What is not uncertain is the astonishment and delight that would have ensued were my father still alive and in his prime, and were he to listen to a humble KZ IEM such as the ZSN, or even to the sub-3-dollar MX500 earbud I just received as a freebie.

 

[gbrgbr]

Can someone who has both the KZ A-Paragraph (straight) and B-Paragraph (angled) cables please compare the connectors on them and let me know if the part of the connector that actually gets inserted into the socket is smaller on the A-Paragraph cable.
See : https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-2619#post-14647438

I wanted to get a KZ Type-C cable for my ZSA. I thought I would have to buy the B-Paragraph cable and then cut the connector to fit the ZSA.
Looks like KZ Type-C cable that has to be used with ZSA is actually the A-Paragraph cable (even tho the ZSA has a angled cable).

See this pic, it actually states the straight cable is to be used with the ZSA:

EDIT : Here's another pic from the KZ BT cable :

Actually, if someone has the ZSA and any A-Paragraph cable, see if the cable fits the ZSA.

 

[SybilLance]

If you got them for 11 USD, there is no space to complain about them

No, I got them for less. And no, I’m not complaining—I’m celebrating. Celebrating that something that looks this good, that’s built and designed so well (barring the occasional KZ QC misfit), feels expensive, seats so comfortably, comes with the best cable KZ has produced so far, also sounds good across many genres, and with good recordings and gear and amplification sounds even better, could be had for a mere ~$10.78 US.

Surely I’d need space for this, as I’m talking about my purple ZSN and its bright copper cable with the improved connectors.

I’m also disagreeing with a point—or maybe a couple—in your impressions of the ZSN.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I'm not sure why but I hate it when people say (a comment, not about your discussion) "so and so headphone is amazing for so and so dollars."

I don't think that matters myself, it's about how good the headphone is altogether Sure, it's under $20, $30 or $100 or whatever the case may be... but that doesn't matter to me. Is it worth buying at any price is more important. What do you all think?

If you don't consider the price point, then things are different.

Like, this is amazing if you only have 20$, but if you can pay 100 USD for something like Astrotec AM850, it sounds more detailed, has better textures, more air between the instruments to breathe. Even if you can increase your budget to get KZ AS10 instead of ZSN, it is much better, much better details, more engaging, better resolution, more impact.

Then, if you can pay 300 USD, you get into the Azla Horizon - FiiO FH5 - FLC 8N - Final E5000 - Periodic BE area, where those sound much much better than 100 USD IEMs, this is why I'm saying it sounds good for the price. If you're not taking the price into account, it sounds okay, but that is it.

It would be really great, Dear Sir, if you can kindly compare ZSN with few similar in construction (DD&BA) IEMs in a higher price bracket from your reputable collection. Pointing out in an A/B comparison specific features that can be attained with more expensive IEMs would be very valuable for us all, and especially still new audiophiles.

Just a thought - imagine a (strictly hypothetical, of course) situation that some IEM for $15 is so really amazing - how hard then would it be to write meaningful positive reviews of similar $50-$100 IEMs for the reviewers.

It would be great if that were so, but it has enough roll off in the treble to say that it isn't better than 50-100USD IEMs. The fact that something less expensive outperforms something considerably more expensive is always something to be happy about, and you can always write positive and meaningful reviews about it The point of reviewing is sharing news, being honest, and giving insight. ZSN, as interesting as it is, lacks treble extension and lacks resolution / textures.

 

[Dobrescu George]

No, I got them for less. And no, I’m not complaining—I’m celebrating. Celebrating that something that looks this good, that’s built and designed so well (barring the occasional KZ QC misfit), feels expensive, seats so comfortably, comes with the best cable KZ has produced so far, also sounds good across many genres, and with good recordings and gear and amplification sounds even better, could be had for a mere ~$10.78 US.

Surely I’d need space for this, as I’m talking about my purple ZSN and its bright copper cable with the improved connectors.

I’m also disagreeing with a point—or maybe a couple—in your impressions of the ZSN.

It is always okay to disagree, but please keep in mind that we all have our backgrounds, and if I heard ZSN 5 years ago, for 10 USD, they'd be the best thing since sliced bread.

Back then, I couldn't find anything like ZSN, with this sound, for this price, so I upgraded from a 10 USD no-name IEM, which sounded okay, but not even as good as KZ ZSN, and kept breaking ever 1-2 months, directly to IE8 from Sennheiser. I now find 100 USD IEMs that make me feel like IE8 will lower in price soon, and with how quick tech is advancing, I'm sure those 100 USD IEMS, will then cost 50 USD, and so on.

 

[PhonoPhi]

If you don't consider the price point, then things are different.

Like, this is amazing if you only have 20$, but if you can pay 100 USD for something like Astrotec AM850, it sounds more detailed, has better textures, more air between the instruments to breathe. Even if you can increase your budget to get KZ AS10 instead of ZSN, it is much better, much better details, more engaging, better resolution, more impact.

Then, if you can pay 300 USD, you get into the Azla Horizon - FiiO FH5 - FLC 8N - Final E5000 - Periodic BE area, where those sound much much better than 100 USD IEMs, this is why I'm saying it sounds good for the price. If you're not taking the price into account, it sounds okay, but that is it.



It would be great if that were so, but it has enough roll off in the treble to say that it isn't better than 50-100USD IEMs. The fact that something less expensive outperforms something considerably more expensive is always something to be happy about, and you can always write positive and meaningful reviews about it The point of reviewing is sharing news, being honest, and giving insight. ZSN, as interesting as it is, lacks treble extension and lacks resolution / textures.

It will be surely great to write a review about an outperforming IEM, but what about outperformed ones?

No direct comparisons for us?
What about Fiio FH1 - does it have faster bass and more resolution than ZSN, what about the crossover range especially for cellos in a string quartet?

I am still awaiting my ZSN (alas, those postal gnomes, even goblins it seems...) to compare with FH1 and ZSA.

 

[PhonoPhi]

It will be surely great to write a review about an outperforming IEM, but what about outperformed ones?

No direct comparisons for us?
What about Fiio FH1 - does it have faster bass and more resolution than ZSN, what about the crossover range especially for cellos in a string quartet?

I am still awaiting my ZSN (alas, those postal gnomes, even goblins it seems...) to compare with FH1 and ZSA.

P.S. and my AS10s are surely more enjoyable than Fiio F9 pro to my ears/brain
(Meant to add it but started a new message, my apologies)