[Nimweth]

For that matter, a lot of budget CHIFI IEMs come with minimal accessories or rubbish stock tips/cables. (I'm looking at you ****, especially the horrendous red flange eartips).
Probably it's to keep costs low, but sometimes I feel they do a disservice to their decent IEMs by giving lousy eartips and cables. The less experienced consumer that doesn't roll tips would just go away thinking the sound is bad and they have lost future sales thereafter.

Yes, I agree, the cable and tips which came with the **** were dreadful. It's amazing how much difference a good cable and tips made in this case.

 

[lgcubana]

Question: has anyone else noticed that the included cable (the mic'd version) puts out more mid bass than the non-mic version and even aftermarket "upgrade" cables ?

Long version:
Here's a bit of weirdness, I ordered my second ZS10 Pro, in the span of three days (that's not the weird part) and got it yesterday. I immediately plugged it into an iPad, for a 48 hour burn in. I elected to use the stock cable; the one with the mic option. As is my habit, I took a quick listen. To make sure that I didn't have a DOA unit and was surprised at the initial depth of low end; it had much more presence then the initial listen of the first unit.

With the first unit I had (inadvertently) ordered an "upgrade" cable that was on the banned list on this site. For the sake of anonymity, let's call it brand YoYo. The specific model is the YoYo 8 core silver plated, QDC.

I never used the stock cable (non mic version) with the first piece, I used the YoYo, from the word go.

Today I listened to both and the second unit definitely has more mid bass. I went through a series of diagnostic steps and realize it's not the earpieces, but the stock, mic'd cable. I've tried all three cables on both units and the richer mid bass sticks with the mic'd cable.

Thanks for reading the long version, you can go back to the initial question.

 

[courierdriver]

Question: has anyone else noticed that the included cable (the mic'd version) puts out more mid bass than the non-mic version and even aftermarket "upgrade" cables ?

Long version:
Here's a bit of weirdness, I ordered my second ZS10 Pro, in the span of three days (that's not the weird part) and got it yesterday. I immediately plugged it into an iPad, for a 48 hour burn in. I elected to use the stock cable; the one with the mic option. As is my habit, I took a quick listen. To make sure that I didn't have a DOA unit and was surprised at the initial depth of low end; it had much more presence then the initial listen of the first unit.

With the first unit I had (inadvertently) ordered an "upgrade" cable that was on the banned list on this site. For the sake of anonymity, let's call it brand YoYo. The specific model is the YoYo 8 core silver plated, QDC.

I never used the stock cable (non mic version) with the first piece, I used the YoYo, from the word go.

Today I listened to both and the second unit definitely has more mid bass. I went through a series of diagnostic steps and realize it's not the earpieces, but the stock, mic'd cable. I've tried all three cables on both units and the richer mid bass sticks with the mic'd cable.

Thanks for reading the long version, you can go back to the initial question.

I can't speak for the version with mic, I only have non mic versions. I'm not a fan of adding an extra device (like a mic) in between the source and an already mediocre cable like the ones KZ ships with. Both the ZS10 PRO's I bought have no mic. The cable on my original ZS10 PRO was used for about 10-15 hours, just to break them in and to make sure they worked...and until my balanced JCally upgrade cable came in about 3 days later. Soon as it came, the stock no mic cable got swapped and I never went back. Honestly, I never did a whole lot of critical listening with the stock cable without mic. Like I say: I would never buy any earphone with a mic because it degrades the signal from the source and adds extra resistance and capacitance, which has the potential to alter the sound.

 

[SinisterDev]

Hrrm interesting. I'm going to have to see if i notice a difference. I recently picked up the CCA C10 with a mic and the ZS10 Pro without a mic. Turns out the ZS10 Pro cable's jack isn't long enough to plug into my phone with the current case I'm using, so i ended up swapping cables around. I'm going to check out both cables on both pairs of IEMs and see if I can pick up on a difference.

 

[voicemaster]

I can't speak for the version with mic, I only have non mic versions. I'm not a fan of adding an extra device (like a mic) in between the source and an already mediocre cable like the ones KZ ships with. Both the ZS10 PRO's I bought have no mic. The cable on my original ZS10 PRO was used for about 10-15 hours, just to break them in and to make sure they worked...and until my balanced JCally upgrade cable came in about 3 days later. Soon as it came, the stock no mic cable got swapped and I never went back. Honestly, I never did a whole lot of critical listening with the stock cable without mic. Like I say: I would never buy any earphone with a mic because it degrades the signal from the source and adds extra resistance and capacitance, which has the potential to alter the sound.

I can hear the difference with cable that has mic. Not all cable does, but mostly I can hear the difference. Usually the side that has the mic will have lower volume like a very small difference, but it is very hard to notice. That's why I avoid buying IEM with mic cable.

 

[hakuzen]

Question: has anyone else noticed that the included cable (the mic'd version) puts out more mid bass than the non-mic version and even aftermarket "upgrade" cables ?

Long version:
Here's a bit of weirdness, I ordered my second ZS10 Pro, in the span of three days (that's not the weird part) and got it yesterday. I immediately plugged it into an iPad, for a 48 hour burn in. I elected to use the stock cable; the one with the mic option. As is my habit, I took a quick listen. To make sure that I didn't have a DOA unit and was surprised at the initial depth of low end; it had much more presence then the initial listen of the first unit.

With the first unit I had (inadvertently) ordered an "upgrade" cable that was on the banned list on this site. For the sake of anonymity, let's call it brand YoYo. The specific model is the YoYo 8 core silver plated, QDC.

I never used the stock cable (non mic version) with the first piece, I used the YoYo, from the word go.

Today I listened to both and the second unit definitely has more mid bass. I went through a series of diagnostic steps and realize it's not the earpieces, but the stock, mic'd cable. I've tried all three cables on both units and the richer mid bass sticks with the mic'd cable.

Thanks for reading the long version, you can go back to the initial question.

check my measurements of one kz zsn stock cable (braided brown one) with mic.. ( https://www.head-fi.org/threads/resistance-of-cables-pics-comments-and-links.907998/#post-14985640 )
(016) kz zsn stock mic spc 4c (brown)........................2260..1161..831..815
2.2ohms at left side! more than 1ohm difference with right side.
this leads to a noticeable imbalance. but so high resistance in the cable also affects to frequency response of the balanced armatures, specially highs. you are getting a highs roll off probably, so you notice louder bass, darker sound overall.

 

[igorneumann]

Just came to say that Im very impressed by the KZ T1, they arent "good for a TWS" but a objectivelly good IEM and do sound better then many wired IEMs.

 

[lgcubana]

check my measurements of one kz zsn stock cable (braided brown one) with mic.. ( https://www.head-fi.org/threads/resistance-of-cables-pics-comments-and-links.907998/#post-14985640 )
(016) kz zsn stock mic spc 4c (brown)........................2260..1161..831..815
2.2ohms at left side! more than 1ohm difference with right side.
this leads to a noticeable imbalance. but so high resistance in the cable also affects to frequency response of the balanced armatures, specially highs. you are getting a highs roll off probably, so you notice louder bass, darker sound overall.

Thanks for the info

 

[xxAMAROKxx]

My current love ... KZ AS12 + Linsoul 7N OCC Silver Plated Cable

 

[shockdoc]

Just came to say that Im very impressed by the KZ T1, they arent "good for a TWS" but a objectivelly good IEM and do sound better then many wired IEMs.

What about battery life and connectivity? I think with their problems maintaining a connection with their previous bluetooth products that's as much of a concern, if not more than their SQ. :-/

 

[igorneumann]

What about battery life and connectivity? I think with their problems maintaining a connection with their previous bluetooth products that's as much of a concern, if not more than their SQ. :-/

Ill report on battery life tomorrow as today I will not have time to empty it... but the connection is rock solid so far, (1h listening).
The only problem I found so far is too few volume steps.

UPDATE: Found another small problem, 1 tap is to stop/play, 2 taps next/previous song, but all the times I tried it detected just 1 of the 2 taps, so had to tap again to unpause it and double-tap.

 

[pbui44]

For UK people: @0rangutan has a slew of KZs for sale:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kz-iems-bundle-ate-hifi-zs5-ed9-ed4.912371/

 

[Caipirina]

Got my KZ T1 today and posted my first impressions over here

Short: great sound, minor flaws.

 

[PhonoPhi]

My current love ... KZ AS12 + Linsoul 7N OCC Silver Plated Cable

Looks cool!
Hoe do AS12 compare with AS10 and AS16?

 

[macky112]

I do not have the it01 but I highly recommend the it01s if you can get a good fit. A lot of people don't but I found it ok once I put a keyboard spacer on the nozzle of each earpiece that stopped the tips sliding down too far.

Hi have problem of ear tips slipping off, not sliding down too far, any suggestions I can try to stop that?