[saldsald]

The budget CHIFI segment is super cut-throat and competitive, and I guess some of these companies want to stand out from the fierce competition - so they quote "EST" drivers, making it more attractive to would-be consumers and also justifying an increased selling price. If it were just a run-of-the-mill single DD set, people will just say, "meh, that's another KZ weekly sidegrade release in the pokemon pantheon!"



Anyway, the ESTs used in cheaper and even midFI gear are not true electrostatics but actually magnetostats or electrets, which are lower voltage drivers.

The true higher voltage electrostatic drivers (for example, something like the Shure KSE1500 or STAX SR series) actually have their own energizer amp or high voltage amplifier to drive them.

The electrets we are talking about in budget gear are already pre-charged, so they theoretically can lose their charge over time and may be rendered inoperable once the charges are depleted. Though in all likelihood, we who are in this hobby, will probably receive a new pair of hype-train IEMs in our mailbox way before any electret charge is depleted.

The sonion 'electret' microphone with the driver is actually electrostatic, just not the same type of 'electrostatic' you find in STAX I believe.

 

[SpaceOperaVillain]

If you've not done this before:

1. Buy a nice set of 3 way speaker cabinets.
2. Disconnect the woofer and midrange drivers.
3. How loud is your perception of the tweeter on its own?

There is, without question, a tremendous amount of snake oil and opportunistic lies and cheats in the HiFi industry as a whole. I just don't think that KZ's driver connections is among the list of offenders.

If an electrical engineer decided to take this up on a bench with an oscilloscope and better tools I'd be willing to listen to conclusive results. So far I just see a lot of armchair assumptions and bad logic approaching actionable libel. The alarmism has caused this thread to unduly jump the shark IMO.

 

[evasb]

KZ is pretty dumb, wasting good drivers for nothing.

If they did sell these IEMs as single DD, nobody would care if it sounds good.

 

[Podster]

If you've not done this before:

1. Buy a nice set of 3 way speaker cabinets.
2. Disconnect the woofer and midrange drivers.
3. How loud is your perception of the tweeter on its own?

There is, without question, a tremendous amount of snake oil and opportunistic lies and cheats in the HiFi industry as a whole. I just don't think that KZ's driver connections is among the list of offenders.

If an electrical engineer decided to take this up on a bench with an oscilloscope and better tools I'd be willing to listen to conclusive results. So far I just see a lot of armchair assumptions and bad logic approaching actionable libel. The alarmism has caused this thread to unduly jump the shark IMO.

That sir is hilarious I've had nice rigs since I was 10 years old (OK, lets just say 55 years now) and I really don't have time to measure and differentiate all my stupid gear (probably the user here who's stupid) because I'm too busy enjoying my music no matter what I'm listening to it on As for Knowledge Zenith these out of a massive KZ collection still get rotation time in weekly

And to the gentleman suggesting the BA10 as a Single driver I'm afraid you could not in good faith call it a 10 anything anymore I'd also say why as the BA10 is my absolute favorite all BA iem I own and I have some nicer/nicer according to some but mine sound better to my ears than any other all BA I own. I have HQ-12's, DM6's, BW B400's, etc. but none have the magic of the BA10's.

 

[Anycolouryoulike]

That sir is hilarious I've had nice rigs since I was 10 years old (OK, lets just say 55 years now) and I really don't have time to measure and differentiate all my stupid gear (probably the user here who's stupid) because I'm too busy enjoying my music no matter what I'm listening to it on As for Knowledge Zenith these out of a massive KZ collection still get rotation time in weekly




And to the gentleman suggesting the BA10 as a Single driver I'm afraid you could not in good faith call it a 10 anything anymore I'd also say why as the BA10 is my absolute favorite all BA iem I own and I have some nicer/nicer according to some but mine sound better to my ears than any other all BA I own. I have HQ-12's, DM6's, BW B400's, etc. but none have the magic of the BA10's.

Agreed. The BA10 is a superb IEM. It's the best I have heard. Ever. It has energy and enthusiasm. A joy.

 

[Rocket222]

Weird, I have a different experience with BA10, likely due to difference of our organs. In most case it performs well. But when I listened to "You Can't Hurry Love - Phil Collins", the sound of the cymbals, I had to remove it from my ears. Now, I put a thin layers of packing material on the nozzles to tame the high pitch. In comparison, I am more fond of the ZSX than BA10.

 

[myromeo]

Crinacles official statement on the driver situation

For anyone interested, crinacle shared this today.

I enjoy my ZEX Pro, regardless of what’s happening inside.

Anyone done a driver test in the ZS10 Pro?

 

[Nimweth]

That sir is hilarious I've had nice rigs since I was 10 years old (OK, lets just say 55 years now) and I really don't have time to measure and differentiate all my stupid gear (probably the user here who's stupid) because I'm too busy enjoying my music no matter what I'm listening to it on As for Knowledge Zenith these out of a massive KZ collection still get rotation time in weekly




And to the gentleman suggesting the BA10 as a Single driver I'm afraid you could not in good faith call it a 10 anything anymore I'd also say why as the BA10 is my absolute favorite all BA iem I own and I have some nicer/nicer according to some but mine sound better to my ears than any other all BA I own. I have HQ-12's, DM6's, BW B400's, etc. but none have the magic of the BA10's.

I have recently acquired the AST and it is very good, but the BA10 still holds its own, it has the best bass of any all BA IEM I have heard so far. The treble is very well tuned as well. It is a classic. Also love my ZS7!

 

[Anycolouryoulike]

No sign of Crinacle handing back the KZ money as a sign of his utter disgust at their reprehensible actions. The way he judiciously refrained from mentioning the drivers in his promotions of the collaboration looks very wise in hindsight. Very wise indeed. Stay classy Crinacle.

 

[SpaceOperaVillain]

Let's get this straight:

KZ ships years of product, gets routinely dissed and criticized for being treble canons yet still manages to build a loyal and satisfied following that tend to be repeat buyers.

KZ decides to work with Internet personalities to "tune" their products to stop getting bad reviews by the socmedia sound gurus.

Said tuning ends up adding massive resistance to treble range drivers to make them dark enough for popular consumption to the broad praise of everyone.

Now a couple of Facebook hacks are trying to build their own personal brand by "exposing" KZ, strengthening their socmedia reputation and increasing follower count.

Y'all being played and now the gurus are trying to CYA to protect their streaming revenue. *Yawn*

I found my lost left channel NRA and am listening right now to some Beth Hart off my PowerDAC. Think I'll keep trusting my own ears, thanks.

 

[G777]

Crinacles official statement on the driver situation

For anyone interested, crinacle shared this today.

I enjoy my ZEX Pro, regardless of what’s happening inside.

Anyone done a driver test in the ZS10 Pro?

Same story

 

[Rocket222]

The AZ09 pro is currently on sale for US$30 at Ali, in case you are interested to buy one.

 

[PhonoPhi]

Same story

Seems to be an utter non-sense!

I did few disconnects and disects .starting with CCZ Emerald.

The reason I did Emerald that it sounded very similar to theiir DD - Coffee Bean - no BA sound. Indeed, dead BA drivers (at least in my unit).

In NRA, the "MST kind of" driver is real, I listened to it alone and have its power consumption data across all frequencies - limited range indeed, not loud, but it is functional.

ZS10 pro sounding the same without BAs just made me laugh - complete non-sense, if you ever heard ZS10 pro - it has BA resolution above simpler ZSN/ZSN-pro and so prominent BA treble!

 

[MrBlitzpunk]

The AZ09 pro is currently on sale for US$30 at Ali, in case you are interested to buy one.

questionable BA addition aside, 35$ ZS10Pro is still a great spend. honestly the fact that they even put 8 BAs in there (fake or not) and still kept the price low is a feat in and of itself

 

[bhazard]

Looks like KZ can no longer pull off charging more for "more drivers". Kudos to finding this out.
I'm not just skeptical of KZ now, but I'm skeptical of any chi-fi multi driver IEM without running a crossover test like this.
A manufacturer will now have to prove their drivers aren't just decorations. Trust is gone.