[chinmie]

KZ fixed that with SKS No wonder it has “Restart” letters on the IEM. At the beginning, I was thinking “is KZ regretting something?” And then after listening into SKS, they seemed changed house sound drastically.

have you tried battery test on it? how long does it last per-charge?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

have you tried battery test on it? how long does it last per-charge?

I haven’t run out for 4hours during work this afternoon, so it’s battery life of KZ tws is definitely getting better, before it only lasted like 2hours.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

For DQ6 owners.

Recently I’m enlightened by removing many nozzle acoustic filters on IEMs. For the most of the case, the sound will be more “direct” and “tactile”, with a cost of few decibels of bass floor

Now it’s DQ6’s turn.

Result: yes, something new from DQ6.
Since DQ6’s acoustic filter is fragile, removing DQ6 operation is irreversible process. If you have 2 DQ6, or simply interested in “cohesive bass response”, thumbs up

P.S. after using UM silicon tip and hooked with aptx 5.2, KZ SKS now officially become my most favorite IEM of all KZ/CCA series listed below:
I’ve been following KZ since 2017, so this is the best one for past 5 years from KZ, wow a $29 IEM beats all.
note: connecting with iphone using AAC, not that good. Only aptx. Also to take full benefit of coherence of SKS, a very thin eartips with wide open borr that resonates well are required (UM blue core silicone tip fulfills that)

Tonality: S-, just barely misses 12khz+ presentation but it can’t be blamed for single 30019 to participate.

Technicalities: ultra wide diffusion field, great positioning, excellent coherence from top to bottom, enough resolution, only shy on instruments separation, but vector and momentum presentation is also very good.
Over all technicalities B.
SKS ranks A- range.

An anomaly from sub $100. Only Tri Starsea $129 sub $300 hit A- in my ranking. See Audio Yume($169) only hits B+. Moondrop Blessing2 hits A+ (87/100), Dusk hits S- (90/100). And all other S ranges are TOTL class.

So this is quite strange set that only cost $29 and yet strangely good.

KZ
-ZST Pro
-ZS5
-ZS10
-ZS10Pro
-ZSN
-ZSN ProX
-AS10
-AS12
-AS16
-ASX
-ZAX
-EDX
-S1D
-DQ6
-SKS (Best tuned KZ ever, A+)
-Z1Pro (in transit)

CCA:
-CS10
-C10 Pro
-CA16
-CS16
-CSN

 

[profusion]

even it is a TWS. With proper ear tips, KZ SKS is one of the best tuned out of KZ from my 20+ KZ experience! Wow! KZ nailed it! Not a typical 30095. It sounds harman-ish W-shape tuning, no big spikes, smooth and bass focused.

I can recall this sound signature as a bit brighter Mangird Tea. This brings me hope for AST, it might actually work! AST uses a bunch of #30019 BAs which SKS uses 1x custom-tuned 30019 +10mm DD.

[Update]
SKS seemed to have a 3khz pinna gain peaks like the one of those in Moondrop Blessing 2 Dusk or Softears RSV.
If it matches your gain spots, it resonates very well for female vocals/guitar/snare drums.

I thought mid-range specialty was one of CCA's, but KZ seemed is leaning toward mid-range focused rather than typical V-shaped harsh tuning.
SKS has a wide sound stage, like CCA CSN, with bass-rolled Harman-ish with 3khz gain spot hitting tuning. (W-Shaped, warm, bass-rolled wide sound stage)

Honestly, I prefer this tuning over ZAX, it doesn't extend treble and air too much so that the technical weakness of KZ tweeter BA drivers could stay subtle.
Kudos to KZ engineers who tuned SKS.

SKS matches with the thin-skinned bass-boost type of ear tips, like Sony hybrids. I use one of UM's. SKS is generally warm. For $29 on Aliexpress ($48 on Amazon, nah) SKS is a good blind buy even compared to wired IEMs of the range, for someone looking fun and warm-tuned pair of IEM.

[Update 2] It doesn't sound too good with AAC with iPhone. AptX has a better dynamic range and heavy bass slam with warm textures overall.

So, SKS is not good with iPhone (+Spotify for example) from your recommendation?

 

[r31ya]

One problem with old KZ TWS is the battery life and voice call quality
How is the battery life and voice call for SKS?

 

[richario]

Does anyone remember the KZ HDS1?
Found my pair at the bottom of a box. I didn't like them at the time and I had forgotten I still had them, but gave them a try with new equipment, namely a Shanling UP4.
Well, they are just lots of fun if -and only if - they are given enough power. In the low gain mode they sound muddy and sloppy, but as the gain goes up (and the volume goes down), the muddiness goes away. They shine the best in dual DAC mode. And they have a really nice soundstage.
This is from a time KZ had great 6mm DDs, and I can only imagine what they could sound like if KZ went to the trouble of tuning them properly, which is what is expected from a IEM brand...
They are also so small and comfy that I am tented to sleep with them for the next few days.
I wanted to insert a photo of them with the UP4, but the image upload tools are not working properly.

Still have HDS 1 & 3 kicking around, great driver indeed! I like the tuning on the HDS 3 even better, but very hard to find these days. Totally agree on the comfort factor.

 

[IEMusic]

Result: yes, something new from DQ6.

Really?

I’ve removed them from both of my pairs of DQ6s, in order to experiment with tuning via sponges and Moondrop filters. The stock dust screen is bare, w/o any mesh behind it, so I didn’t notice any difference in sound by removing it, unlike with the BL03.

 

[seanwee]

For DQ6 owners.

Recently I’m enlightened by removing many nozzle acoustic filters on IEMs. For the most of the case, the sound will be more “direct” and “tactile”, with a cost of few decibels of bass floor

Now it’s DQ6’s turn.

Result: yes, something new from DQ6.
Since DQ6’s acoustic filter is fragile, removing DQ6 operation is irreversible process. If you have 2 DQ6, or simply interested in “cohesive bass response”, thumbs up

P.S. after using UM silicon tip and hooked with aptx 5.2, KZ SKS now officially become my most favorite IEM of all KZ/CCA series listed below:
I’ve been following KZ since 2017, so this is the best one for past 5 years from KZ, wow a $29 IEM beats all.
note: connecting with iphone using AAC, not that good. Only aptx. Also to take full benefit of coherence of SKS, a very thin eartips with wide open borr that resonates well are required (UM blue core silicone tip fulfills that)

Tonality: S-, just barely misses 12khz+ presentation but it can’t be blamed for single 30019 to participate.

Technicalities: ultra wide diffusion field, great positioning, excellent coherence from top to bottom, enough resolution, only shy on instruments separation, but vector and momentum presentation is also very good.
Over all technicalities B.
SKS ranks A- range.

An anomaly from sub $100. Only Tri Starsea $129 sub $300 hit A- in my ranking. See Audio Yume($169) only hits B+. Moondrop Blessing2 hits A+ (87/100), Dusk hits S- (90/100). And all other S ranges are TOTL class.

So this is quite strange set that only cost $29 and yet strangely good.

KZ
-ZST Pro
-ZS5
-ZS10
-ZS10Pro
-ZSN
-ZSN ProX
-AS10
-AS12
-AS16
-ASX
-ZAX
-EDX
-S1D
-DQ6
-SKS (Best tuned KZ ever, A+)
-Z1Pro (in transit)

CCA:
-CS10
-C10 Pro
-CA16
-CS16
-CSN

I thought you were talking about the DQ6.

I was already pulling out my wallet before i saw that it was a wireless iem.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Really?

I’ve removed them from both of my pairs of DQ6s, in order to experiment with tuning via sponges and Moondrop filters. The stock dust screen is bare, w/o any mesh behind it, so I didn’t notice any difference in sound by removing it, unlike with the BL03.

Have you run on high gain with Xelastec? The bass resonance is insensitive to general silicone tips.

General eartips vibrates themself after receiving bass frequency sound waves that changes internal canal resonance type, meanwhile Xelastec behaves very closely to human skin, the internal resonance pattern, especially on bass frequencies, remained less interfered

 

[AmericanSpirit]

I thought you were talking about the DQ6.

I was already pulling out my wallet before i saw that it was a wireless iem.

DQ6 is one good IEM too. SKS is TWS, but tuned better.

Wireless seemed not gaining enough reputation in headfi community yet, but with latest aptX and further more Sony’s LDAC sound quality preferred mode, it is hard to tell the difference between lossless wired and wireless anymore. AptX HD is 80% of LDAC. However if used iphone’s AAC connection, the sound image and dynamic range illustrations are very plain one, not reommended to pair any TWS to iphones.

 

[profusion]

What DD have SKS?

Is there a way pairing with iphone and not using AAC?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

One problem with old KZ TWS is the battery life and voice call quality
How is the battery life and voice call for SKS?

Yea my S1D only lasts 2hours top.
On spec SKS says 3 hours, but I used for 4 hours, maybe I put it back to case for 5minutes when checking mailbox, but it was on and running on my ear all the time up except that down time.
SKS uses latest Qualcomm QCC3040 chip, that improved connectivity as well as efficiency, which contributed to battery life it seems.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

What DD have SKS?

New DD 10mm composite dual cavity.
Not as fast as LCP drivers but it has good tuning and heavy slam enough to convince bassheads. I’d say same type of slam of Thieaudio Monarch.

 

[profusion]

Can you do a quick comparison of DQ6 to SKS vs Z1 in regard to the sound?

And also SKS vs Z1 to connectivity and battery?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Can you do a quick comparison of DQ6 to SKS vs Z1 in regard to the sound?

And also SKS vs Z1 to connectivity and battery?

Z1 Pro is still in transit, will do later. For DQ6, it has rough treble management and diffusion field is not uniformed, the XUN driver and twin6mm drivers treats sound field differently, not a cohesive tuning, but “unique” small live house like effect.
SKS has wider sound stage than DQ6, and very cohesive from top to bottom, which results in a high positioning / dynamics.

I’d welcome 80/100 for SKS(proper ear tip/AptX), DQ6(removed filter) 74/100.

As other sub $50 mostly hits 40-60 score range with exception of KBear Larks low 70s/100, and DQ6 mid 70s/100, SKS is best tuned tonality for the range. Technicalities wise except sound stage(A)/positioning(B+) /momentum presentation(B+), resolution(C-)/image focus and separation (C-) are barely average regular 1BA + 1DD.