[steviewonderbread]

ZS10 Pro pairs really well with Apple's USB-C DAC! (Actually, almost everything does. A steal for $9.) Keep finding myself going back to these IEMs for everything except when I'm in the mood for something very analytical. The tips I'm currently having luck with are from the Final Audio E2000.

 

[Makahl]

The ZS10 Pro blue is my daily driver now and I'm rather happy with it! Unless a new single DD that isn't in a 100% metallic shell and sounds an upgrade from KPE shows up I'll stick with ZS10 Pro or a new KZ following this path with minor upgrades. (slightly deeper extension at sub-bass would be nicee).

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

I'm currently listening to ska punk with the ZS10 v1 and Walnut F2 DAP. Both of them sound incredible together.

The v1 might not be a "Pro" at playing music like the Pro model but it sure shouldn't be an iem we love to hate! It's just a bitch for taking too long to burn in (and sound great).

PS: Rumour has it that there is a ZS10 v2 (redesign of v1)? How is it?

 

[Nimweth]

I sold my Kanas Pro and Oxygen due to annoying imbalance issue. The ZS10 Pro blue is my daily driver now and I'm rather happy with it! Unless a new single DD that isn't in a 100% metallic shell and sounds an upgrade from KPE shows up I'll stick with ZS10 Pro or a new KZ following this path with minor upgrades. (slightly deeper extension at sub-bass would be nicee).

Slightly deeper sub-bass extension? KZ? ZS7!

 

[courierdriver]

Fully agree. I would subjectively say my KZ ZS10 Pro can reach about 80 - 90% in sound quality of my westone W30 (in terms of details/clarity/bass/soundstage), but costs 10x less. If I had known about such great offerings from CHIFI before I had gotten the westone 3 years back, I would not have spent the cash for a marginal improvement.

I think the TOTL brands won't suffer as most CHIFI companies cannot reach their standard at this point in time, and there's always a niche market for the top end consumers.
It's the mid range/budget range western brands that will face some competition from CHIFI in the next few months, when more savvy consumers realize the money they are paying does not equate to as good a price: performance ratio as the CHIFI companies. More competition is always good for us consumers too.

But having said that, I have tried recommending CHIFI gear to my audiophile or band friends, and quite a number of them are snobbish when it comes to brand names, and would stick to their western brand gear without even wanting to test my stuff. Their common perception is that CHIFI has no reliable QC, which may be true for some products I gotta say. But I usually tell them that other than some TOTL gear, most of these western gear are made in China anyway (but maybe the western brands do have stricter QC before selling to consumers in order to maintain their brandname standards).

Slowly but surely, I think the budget/midFI range consumers would come around to see the possibilities that CHIFI can provide at a decent pricing, and in just a short span of the past 3 - 4 years, these CHIFI companies have already gotten a big footprint in this lower market segment. I'm very interested to see how they will evolve over the next few years.

If it wasn't for this type of thread here on headfi, and BGGAR's channel on YouTube, I would never have known about Chifi gear. After many years of not being able to get good at an affordable (to me) price sound, I gave up on my Audiophilia. This Chifi stuff has got me back into this hobby again; by making superb sounding gear at an affordable price. The Western brands need to stop charging such high prices for their stuff. It's just all pure profit in their pockets. Chfi shows us that similar products can be made and sold for less. As a consumer, THAT'S what I care about! I can't afford the high prices that Western companies charge, therefore, that keeps me out of the game. If Chifi gets me 90% there, for less than half or quarter the cost, then I'm in, and I can play. Otherwise, I can't afford to be involved. As much as I'd love to be in the position to buy $1000+ gear, I'm just not in that income bracket.

 

[SinisterDev]

Same here. I only discovered these awesome, budget IEMs a few weeks ago and I'm so grateful for it. I can already see this turning into a hobby that I can actually afford lol. My first pair was the CCA C10 and now I just picked up the ZS10 Pro and I really love em!

 

[Assimilator702]

I'm currently listening to ska punk with the ZS10 v1 and Walnut F2 DAP. Both of them sound incredible together.

The v1 might not be a "Pro" at playing music like the Pro model but it sure shouldn't be an iem we love to hate! It's just a bitch for taking too long to burn in (and sound great).

PS: Rumour has it that there is a ZS10 v2 (redesign of v1)? How is it?

I could never get past the chesty and honky vocals from the ZS10 plus those things were much too large for my ears. They ALWAYS felt like they were slipping out. I’m glad I was able to return them. There’s a ZS10 PRO if that’s what you’re referring to. Have you been reading this thread? ZS10 PRO is all anyone has been talking about.

 

[courierdriver]

I sold my Kanas Pro and Oxygen due to annoying imbalance issue. The ZS10 Pro blue is my daily driver now and I'm rather happy with it! Unless a new single DD that isn't in a 100% metallic shell and sounds an upgrade from KPE shows up I'll stick with ZS10 Pro or a new KZ following this path with minor upgrades. (slightly deeper extension at sub-bass would be nicee).

My ZS10 PRO is also my daily driver, and the favorite of all the iems I currently own. While I still enjoy my KPE very much (and I'll never sell them), the 10 PRO is right up there. The TFZ No.3 is still a very distant 3rd imho. Overall, I'm not impressed with the No.3. Yes, it has bass (although I don't think it's as tight or well defined as either the KPE or ZS10 PRO). But the mids and highs are much more relaxed and muted compared to the other 2 sets. That's what's turning me off of the No.3. There's just a lack of detail enthusiasm with that set... everything sounds too dark and laid back. I prefer a more rhythmical pace to the bass, and a more forward midrange and treble. The KPE and ZS10 PRO give me that. TFZ No.3 is going up for sale.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

I could never get past the chesty and honky vocals from the ZS10 plus those things were much too large for my ears. They ALWAYS felt like they were slipping out. I’m glad I was able to return them. There’s a ZS10 PRO if that’s what you’re referring to. Have you been reading this thread? ZS10 PRO is all anyone has been talking about.

I dont mind the vocals of the v1 ZS10 for now. I change iems daily. Isn't that what collecting is about? Actually, using what we buy? Lol.

Someone mentioned that KZ put out a v2 ZS10. I hope they didnt mean Pro because they did say v2 and the Pro is not a v2 of ZS10, it's a PRO ZS10.

 

[courierdriver]

Same here. I only discovered these awesome, budget IEMs a few weeks ago and I'm so grateful for it. I can already see this turning into a hobby that I can actually afford lol. My first pair was the CCA C10 and now I just picked up the ZS10 Pro and I really love em!

Yup, just get yourself a good source (I'd rec a decent portable dac/amp, if you're using your phone as a music source) or if you have the $, a good DAP. If you can afford to, get something with a balanced 2.5mm or 4.4 and upgrade your cable. Use some high rez/WMA/FLAC files, and your audio experience will be significantly more enjoyable.

 

[SinisterDev]

Yeah, so far I've just been using my Galaxy S10 and Neutron Player (which makes a huge difference from what I've experienced). Neutron is pretty amazing once you get the hang of it. I usually listen to FLACs, recently I purchased a few old Pink Floyd Albums in DSD128 and they sound incredible! I've been thinking of picking up some sort of budget DAC to see what kinda difference in audio fidelity I could expect to experience. Lotta people have suggested I try the ES100 DAC. Overall the music has been sounding pretty great. But I do experience some crackling and some background "hiss" on some albums and I've been wondering if an external DAC would help eliminate those problems.

 

[courierdriver]

Yeah, so far I've just been using my Galaxy S10 and Neutron Player (which makes a huge difference from what I've experienced). Neutron is pretty amazing once you get the hang of it. I usually listen to FLACs, recently I purchased a few old Pink Floyd Albums in DSD128 and they sound incredible! I've been thinking of picking up some sort of budget DAC to see what kinda difference in audio fidelity I could expect to experience. Lotta people have suggested I try the ES100 DAC. Overall the music has been sounding pretty great. But I do experience some crackling and some background "hiss" on some albums and I've been wondering if an external DAC would help eliminate those problems.

The Radstone ES 100 is an excellent dac/amp from all I've read, and I might get one fairly soon. The crackling you hear is probably a result of your phone being connected to Wifi or your data provider. I experience the same on my S8+, with my Fiio Q1MK2 attached via USB C. The way to get rid of that, is by turning Wifi and data OFF. If you can, put your music on an SD card, which you can install on your phone (I currently have a 32GB card in my S8+, but it's almost full, so I have a 128GB card waiting to be used just for music files). If you use Spotify or Tidal, you can download the albums or songs you like to be used without any type of internet connection. That means you can turn off all data connections and listen to your music, without all that annoying interference.
Edit: Not sure about the ES100's ability to play DSD files...but I know that the Fiio Q1MK2 can. It's about $130, so not cheap, but not too expensive either, when compared to a full on DAP. When you consider that the Q1MK2 has a balanced 2.5 output, great construction, bass boost and gain switches, it's hard to find a DAP that provides all that for such a low cost. Your phone already has a display that is way better than most DAP's (and the UI is much faster than most daps...even the multi-thousand $ ones), so why not make the most of it?

 

[SinisterDev]

Ah i never thought to try turning wifi and data off to see if the crackling would go away! I'll have to give that a try. And yeah I picked up a big ol' 256gb SD that's pretty much dedicated to music, photos and the occasional video I take with my phone. . With how big media files can get these days, I'm honestly considering upgrading to an even larger one at some point lol. If I find a good quality one on sale.

 

[courierdriver]

Ah i never thought to try turning wifi and data off to see if the crackling would go away! I'll have to give that a try. And yeah I picked up a big ol' 256gb SD that's pretty much dedicated to music, photos and the occasional video I take with my phone. . With how big media files can get these days, I'm honestly considering upgrading to an even larger one at some point lol. If I find a good quality one on sale.

Your 256GB card will definitely store a ton of high rez music! I'd use it for just music, and get another 256 or 400GB for photos and vids. As for the data/wifi thing...ya, it definitely made a huge difference by turning it off. That's where I don't feel like wireless is there yet. Too much noise when compared to a wired connection. Even when I listen to music on my desktop computer, I turn the internet off. It makes a difference in the passing of info to the dac/amp. There's no weird noises cutting into the audio signal. It all results in a quieter, background noise limited, audio experience. At least from my own perspective.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

As for the data/wifi thing...ya, it definitely made a huge difference by turning it off. That's where I don't feel like wireless is there yet. Too much noise when compared to a wired connection. Even when I listen to music on my desktop computer, I turn the internet off. It makes a difference in the passing of info to the dac/amp.

I hope you also do that when you go to sleep.