[ronaldocapitoii]

That really sucks friend.

Yeah, IEMs with BA drivers really don’t like to be dropped. The BAs are fragile.

That's a bummer, 30 dollars out of my student pocket. Damn. Well, I'll just have to live with it. I suppose we really do spend our whole lives earning.

 

[Slater]

Wow, great post. I wonder if having the board to the side gives the DD a better chance to breathe, improving the sound. I'm currently awaiting the ZS7, AS10, C10, PT6 and balanced cables, to try with my FiiO X7II, really looking forward to it. Head-fi is such a dangerous place :^D

Thanks

So, as far as improving the DD, it’s theoretically possible. In theory, since the board was centered directly behind the DD there could have been some unwanted reflections off the crossover board. And removing that board would remove the reflections.

But that’s just abstract theory and conjecture. The reality was that I was unable to hear any difference with the board in the stock location vs vertically off to the side. If there was a difference, I imagine it would be very small and difficult to measure without sensitive and expensive lab-grade equipment.

I think it’s much more important to make sure the capacitor is soldered properly, and that the wires are wired consistently on both sides. Because if either of those things aren’t right, there will be a difference.

 

[Slater]

That's a bummer, 30 dollars out of my student pocket. Damn. Well, I'll just have to live with it. I suppose we really do spend our whole lives earning.

You said the main issue (since you dropped it is sibilance), right?

Since you have nothing to lose, you can try taming the sibilance. It’s not going to make it sound like before it was dropped, but maybe you’ll get lucky and can still get some more use out of it.

There’s different ways to go about this.

1. Try different ear tips, including foam tips.
2. Place a very small piece of foam inside of the end of the silicone tips.
3. Place a narrow strip of micro pore tape across the nozzle, directly over the outlet of the BA drivers.
4. Perform the “ZST foam mod” to 1 or both of the BA drivers.
5. Using EQ to find the exact frequency where the sibilance is occurring, and tune it out by EQ cutting that area.

If you don’t know what some of those things are, I should have the links or photos saved somewhere and can dig them up for you.

 

[SybilLance]

Hey guys, say hello to your newest brazillian friend that finally created a account!


Interesting, can you compare their signature?

I'm a bit late to the party still having the old but gold ED16 as my daily driver thanks to the guy who shared that incredible deal on penonaudio (Thanks!) and wow, they have some really big soundstage and great instrument separation, night and day difference coming from the ES4 that was very intimate and congested (stock tips on both). Signature wise its slighty v-shaped to my ears so its actually good, deep bass and delicate & extended treble, I'm very happy with it but you guys know, still very excited to test new ones (Purple ZSN & IM1 comming)

Hello and Welcome!

Posted comparative impressions about the ED16 vs. ZSN several pages back:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-2676#post-14687476

Hope you'll like the ZSN.

It only accepts .75mm not. 78mm?

0.75 mm. Discussed a couple of pages back.

I’d do the same ..lol....looks much better now!

I’m really enjoying, C10! My favorite iem right now, I wanna listen to it constantly.

The .75 vs.78 thing was nice to read as I always wondered if they were interchangeable.

Has anybody tried the adapters....mmxc female to 2 pin male....small little things I refuse to buy the stumpy thing (mmx?) over a 2 pin as they just look like inviting a problem but the little adapters might be the way to go.???

I didn't know there's such an adapter, thanks for this bit of info. Seems I have less time for browsing for through AliExpress, Lazada & Shopee now. On the other hand, it's to be expected that there'll be one. Nice to know, because I happen to have an mmcx cable that was mistakenly sent and that would be more of a hassle for me to return. I'll wait for more input on which ones are preferable (won't skew impedance values, offer more secure connections...).

Also glad you're enjoying the C10.

 

[moisespr123]

Hi everyone,

First post here. I'm also an owner of the KZ ZS7 and my first KZ IEM's. I've been reading this forum since the ZS6 but didn't got one until now. I'm in love with the sound, coming from the Samsung AKG-tuned earbuds. Currently driving them from my Hidizs DH1000 and Hiby R3 with a 2.5mm balanced cable and My AP80 with the 3.5mm 3-button with mic cable I got.

I look forward on seeing more IEM's from KZ in the future, as these definitely didn't dissapointed me.

The only problem I've seen is that it is sensitive to noise, especially on regular Bluetooth devices with CSR chipsets and no dedicated DAC... But other than that, these are awesome!!!

 

[Slater]

Hi everyone,

First post here. I'm also an owner of the KZ ZS7 and my first KZ IEM's. I've been reading this forum since the ZS6 but didn't got one until now. I'm in love with the sound, coming from the Samsung AKG-tuned earbuds. Currently driving them from my Hidizs DH1000 and Hiby R3 with a 2.5mm balanced cable and My AP80 with the 3.5mm 3-button with mic cable I got.

I look forward on seeing more IEM's from KZ in the future, as these definitely didn't dissapointed me.

The only problem I've seen is that it is sensitive to noise, especially on regular Bluetooth devices with CSR chipsets and no dedicated DAC... But other than that, these are awesome!!!

I noticed that as well. Thanks for pointing this out.

The ZS7 seems to be one of the most sensitive KZs I’ve heard to date. Like the ZS5 v1, it sounds very different on different sources, and on Bluetooth devices can be noisy/hissy.

On source gear that provides a good match, it sounds stellar. On other sources it doesn’t sound all that great. I’ve also noticed that the treble is affected the most.

So far, I have mainly been concentrating on tip rolling. Tips are turning out to make a fairly big difference on the ZS7.

The wrong tips makes it sound really bad. Sure, it’s like that on most IEMs. But some are much more forgiving of tips than others.

With many IEMs, tip rolling affects fit and comfort much more than sound. On others, it’s the opposite, with sound being noticeably affected by tip changes. The ZS7 is definitely in the latter category.

 

[ronaldocapitoii]

You said the main issue (since you dropped it is sibilance), right?

Since you have nothing to lose, you can try taming the sibilance. It’s not going to make it sound like before it was dropped, but maybe you’ll get lucky and can still get some more use out of it.

There’s different ways to go about this.

1. Try different ear tips, including foam tips.
2. Place a very small piece of foam inside of the end of the silicone tips.
3. Place a narrow strip of micro pore tape across the nozzle, directly over the outlet of the BA drivers.
4. Perform the “ZST foam mod” to 1 or both of the BA drivers.
5. Using EQ to find the exact frequency where the sibilance is occurring, and tune it out by EQ cutting that area.

If you don’t know what some of those things are, I should have the links or photos saved somewhere and can dig them up for you.

Option 1 and 3 sounds promising. Thanks slater, I really appreciate the help.

 

[moisespr123]

I'm basically using the same tips from the Samsung AKG earbuds. For me, those are more comfortable and soft, and I can have the ZS7 on at all times without it hurting my ears. I find the stock ones to be a bit hard.

As for treble, yeah, it depends on the source. Generally, the entire sound depends on the source as you say. My personal preference is the DH1000, followed by the AP80 DAP. Also, my Tunai Square Bluetooth adapter can improve the bass response, since it uses a Cirrus Logic DAC (I'm not sure which model), and I've noticed those DACs provide a warmer sound. It's also the only BT adapter where I don't hear any noise because of its dedicated DAC.

 

[Slater]

Option 1 and 3 sounds promising. Thanks slater, I really appreciate the help.

Heres some more information on #3 that should help:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-2333#post-14382939

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-1849#post-14013952

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-1847#post-14013168

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-1848#post-14013185

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

 

[sino8r]

I have a very minor amount of flex in my left side, but only when I insert the IEM extremely deep. If I do a normal insertion, or hold my mouth open while doing deep insertion it’s no problem.

Physically moving the board doesn’t affect the sound. It was just an OCD organizational thing.

Well, I use triple flanges. They seem to encourage flex on some iems. Seal a bit too much at times. Really brings out the bass though.

You don't think that the board was blocking the vents somewhat? I'm kinda surprised by that...

 

[Slater]

Well, I use triple flanges. They seem to encourage flex on some iems. Seal a bit too much at times. Really brings out the bass though.

You don't think that the board was blocking the vents somewhat? I'm kinda surprised by that...

I strongly doubt it. The board wasn’t making any sort of air seal, it just sits loose over top of the driver. Plus they fold the bundle of wires between the driver and the board. The bundle of wires is twisted and folded up fairly fairly loosely.

Bottom line is there seems to be adequate room to allow airflow.

 

[Zerohour88]

I strongly doubt it. The board wasn’t making any sort of air seal, it just sits loose over top of the driver. Plus they fold the bundle of wires between the driver and the board. The bundle of wires is twisted and folded up fairly fairly loosely.

Bottom line is there seems to be adequate room to allow airflow.

people tend to overestimate how much space a DD's vent needs to breathe, so wasn't really surprised. From the pics it seems like the PCB wasn't creating any kind of seal with any drivers, but it helps to be certain.

Plus the gobs of glue (I assume for tuning) makes the PCB "blocking" redundant

 

[Slater]

people tend to overestimate how much space a DD's vent needs to breathe, so wasn't really surprised. From the pics it was clear the PCB wasn't creating any kind of seal with any drivers, but it helps to be certain.

Well, I’m not saying I heard any difference one way or another, but my ears are not a true scientific test.

My gut was telling me to clear everything out of the way of the driver, not only for looks and to prevent any electrical shorts, but also just in case there was/is a difference with the board being right on top of the driver vent.

It certainly didn’t hurt anything moving it all out of the way. And it’s likely it would help from the standpoint of reducing unwanted reflections (discussed more here https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-2752#post-14743869).

It is interesting to me why KZ didn’t just do what I did and put the board in the giant empty cavity on the side of the IEM. It fits perfectly in that location; almost like it was made to. Even the wires are all the proper length for the board to reach.

In fact, that empty cavity is large enough to fit 5-6 more BA drivers! It took additional machine time and cost to CNC machine out that cavity. KZ didn’t just add it for the fun of it. It was done for some purposeful reason - possibility weight savings, possibly a location for additional drivers in a future revision, or maybe it was always intended to have the circuit board located there. Only KZ knows!

 

[ronaldocapitoii]

Heres some more information on #3 that should help:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-2333#post-14382939

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-1849#post-14013952

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-1847#post-14013168

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-1848#post-14013185

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Wow, that's a lot of info. I'll try it out when I get home!

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

Thanks

So, as far as improving the DD, it’s theoretically possible. In theory, since the board was centered directly behind the DD there could have been some unwanted reflections off the crossover board. And removing that board would remove the reflections.

But that’s just abstract theory and conjecture. The reality was that I was unable to hear any difference with the board in the stock location vs vertically off to the side. If there was a difference, I imagine it would be very small and difficult to measure without sensitive and expensive lab-grade equipment.

I think it’s much more important to make sure the capacitor is soldered properly, and that the wires are wired consistently on both sides. Because if either of those things aren’t right, there will be a difference.

I think I'll do these modifications anyway when I receive mine, it seems much better this way. And then I'll check the soldering of the cross-over boards as well.