a little PSA, KZ eartips is not that good.
for ESX, if the bass a bit obnoxious, you will get better experience with it if you use widebore eartips like KBEar07/AET07.
Apparently it will sound a bit better with Impedance adapter (18~-30 ohm), or using high power source like TK-2?
And it seems the target IEM for AS16Pro is QDC V14, i wonder if someone here have heard it and can compare
I got the ESX and yeah these are really fun to listen. Bass is plenty and doesnt bleed to mids and treble, mids are not laid back/recessed as I thought. I was scared they were going to be like DT770 (32 ohm or was it 80 ohms?) but they are perfectly fine. Treble is almost on the edge. Hot enough but not ear drilling until you really increase volume. Details are present but they are a bit hard to pick, layering is better than I expected despite having this amount of bass. Imaging also better than I expected. But there is only one thing I dont get it and thats the soundstage. Where is the soundstage guys? Maybe because of the tips? Honestly I dont have a problem with tips, they are comfortable, doesnt slip and not hot at all. If I will switch to Kbear07 tips is soundstage gonna open? I had high hopes on soundstage based on reviews but Its definetly lacking. I had M40x and I guess these are like his brother, M50x.
Overall I m quite suprised how good these are even without a proper soundstage, If soundstage was there these would be a true killer in the price range. Good bass, nice mids, controlled treble, enough details for the price, very good imaging.
The KZ AS16 PRO arrived today. Super source dependent.......they sound great from the Shanling UA3, sound fantastic from the WM1A, but a little hot from the Walkman WM1Z. By far this is the best KZ tune I’ve come across?
This is yet another KZ trick, bait and switch. The early batch of AZ09 pro has the aptX Adaptive. So when the words are out, they disable aptX Adaptive on those in the later batches. People like me read about the aptX Adaptive on AZ09 pro are disappointed when we realized it only supports classic aptX. However, I have to say this is still a pretty good BT adapter. My other complaints are the bright LED and the flimsy control buttons.
I got the ESX and yeah these are really fun to listen. Bass is plenty and doesnt bleed to mids and treble, mids are not laid back/recessed as I thought. I was scared they were going to be like DT770 (32 ohm or was it 80 ohms?) but they are perfectly fine. Treble is almost on the edge. Hot enough but not ear drilling until you really increase volume. Details are present but they are a bit hard to pick, layering is better than I expected despite having this amount of bass. Imaging also better than I expected. But there is only one thing I dont get it and thats the soundstage. Where is the soundstage guys? Maybe because of the tips? Honestly I dont have a problem with tips, they are comfortable, doesnt slip and not hot at all. If I will switch to Kbear07 tips is soundstage gonna open? I had high hopes on soundstage based on reviews but Its definetly lacking. I had M40x and I guess these are like his brother, M50x.
Overall I m quite suprised how good these are even without a proper soundstage, If soundstage was there these would be a true killer in the price range. Good bass, nice mids, controlled treble, enough details for the price, very good imaging.
Received my ESX today. Tip-rolling is a must with these. With narrow-bore tips they sound boomy, muddy and closed-in. Swapped in my Azla SednaEarfits and the difference is immediately noticeable with more sparkle and air emerging in the mids and treble. Nevertheless, these are about as far as one can get from my Final A4000 in terms of detail retrieval and technicalities. I get the sense that these were tuned more for relaxing/chilling than any kind of critical listening.
On a positive note, the bass is pretty satisfying and fun! It could stand to be a tad faster, tighter and more refined, but there’s definitely ample weight and body to each note.
More listening notes:
Male vocals are definitely recessed. Listen to this track - his vocals should be front and center; when I hear him sing “ノーフィクション” at 0:45 it should send chills down my spine. But the ESX presents the piano in front of the vocals. Hm.
With that said, the piano does sound good.
Guitars sound somewhat dampened and imprecise. Take this track as an example - the guitar should be rather prominent in the mix but during the chorus the background track dissolves into sound soup and it’s difficult to make out the individual instruments.
The ESX does, however, put out one of the best renditions of this track I’ve heard. It’s all about dat bass (and well-resolved female vocals).
Received my ESX today. Tip-rolling is a must with these. With narrow-bore tips they sound boomy, muddy and closed-in. Swapped in my Azla SednaEarfits and the difference is immediately noticeable with more sparkle and air emerging in the mids and treble. Nevertheless, these are about as far as one can get from my Final A4000 in terms of detail retrieval and technicalities. I get the sense that these were tuned more for relaxing/chilling than any kind of critical listening.
On a positive note, the bass is pretty satisfying and fun! It could stand to be a tad faster, tighter and more refined, but there’s definitely ample weight and body to each note.
More listening notes:
Male vocals are definitely recessed. Listen to this track - his vocals should be front and center; when I hear him sing “ノーフィクション” at 0:45 it should send chills down my spine. But the ESX presents the piano in front of the vocals. Hm.
With that said, the piano does sound good.
Guitars sound somewhat dampened and imprecise. Take this track as an example - the guitar should be rather prominent in the mix but during the chorus the background track dissolves into sound soup and it’s difficult to make out the individual instruments.
The ESX does, however, put out one of the best renditions of this track I’ve heard. It’s all about dat bass (and well-resolved female vocals).
With the right eartips there is a good airiness that give sense of good soundstage.
But in terms of positioning in space wise is not THAT grand but its pretty decent
With the right eartips there is a good airiness that give sense of good soundstage.
But in terms of positioning in space wise is not THAT grand but its pretty decent
Maybe I'm spoiled by my A4000 but the ESX soundstage is average at best to my ears - like the vast majority of IEMs. Not terrible, but not wow airy 3D holographic or anything.
Its a sad truth, indeed. But it would be good to note that KZ is the only one offering a fully new all BA set at this price range. They are not in the same category hardware wise. We only wish they could be more "plug and play", consumer friendly. Might indicates the difficulty of tuning so many BAs, Idk. For those who likes to mods and EQ customs, they continue offering great audiophile value.
Its a sad truth, indeed. But it would be good to note that KZ is the only one offering a fully new all BA set at this price range. They are not in the same category hardware wise. We only wish they could be more "plug and play", consumer friendly. Might indicates the difficulty of tuning so many BAs, Idk. For those who likes to mods and EQ customs, they continue offering great audiophile value.
Technically, the impedance problem sounds valid - but it is just for "curve matching".
Ironically, the sound with the low impedance is more midbass-rich and less lean, so it is hard not to find the ramble above quite disingenuous (sorry, it is hard to be "restrained" here).
The person doing it was banned here for ethical problems, so there is a good "segment" of people who would not touch his stuff just for ethics alone.
Returning to AS16 pro - it sounds great just with an Apple dongle. Listening to low-impedance sources first made me like this sound signature more than with 30 Ohm adapters.
Though I do wonder, would the reverse be true (?). I do like the original AS16 (as a specialist IEM to make many old classical recording alive), while to most people listening to electronic musc, AS16 are less of a good match, just look at most of AS16 reviews. The high-impedance tuning is close to original AS16, many could find it to lean - the BA sound is different from DD to compare the frequency graphs any meaningfully with the ones for DD.
P. S. Again, with all my affection for KZ, they never had some perfect IEM, just great ones where something is a bit off: BA10 - the size and ridges of the shell; AS16 - unabashedly narrowly focused tuning for good old classical recordings; ASX - those narrow nozzles striangulating the sound; AST - treble needs some work to come alive; AS16 pro - some strange impedance choice during tuning (likely just wrongly "dialed" impedance value of the IEM instead of the source; the other guess of maximum energy utilization upon matching the source and transducer impedances is just too technical).
For the end results, AS16 pro seem to be the best by far - your music does not know anything about impedances, frequency curves, and the crazy world of IEM reviews competing for free samples and the "followers".
At $55 - AS16 pro is just a gift to music listeners.
Technically, the impedance problem sounds valid - but it is just for "curve matching".
Ironically, the sound with the low impedance is more midbass-rich and less lean, so it is hard not to find the ramble above quite disingenuous (sorry, it is hard to be "restrained" here).
The person doing it was banned here for ethical problems, so there is a good "segment" of people who would not touch his stuff just for ethics alone.
Returning to AS16 pro - it sounds great just with an Apple dongle. Listening to low-impedance sources first made me like this sound signature more than with 30 Ohm adapters.
Though I do wonder, would the reverse be true (?). I do like the original AS16 (as a specialist IEM to make many old classical recording alive), while to most people listening to electronic musc, AS16 are less of a good match, just look at most of AS16 reviews. The high-impedance tuning is close to original AS16, many could find it to lean - the BA sound is different from DD to compare the frequency graphs any meaningfully with the ones for DD.
P. S. Again, with all my affection for KZ, they never had some perfect IEM, just great ones where something is a bit off: BA10 - the size and ridges of the shell; AS16 - unabashedly narrowly focused tuning for good old classical recordings; ASX - those narrow nozzles striangulating the sound; AST - treble needs some work to come alive; AS16 pro - some strange impedance choice during tuning (likely just wrongly "dialed" impedance value of the IEM instead of the source; the other guess of maximum energy utilization upon matching the source and transducer impedances is just too technical).
For the end results, AS16 pro seem to be the best by far - your music does not know anything about impedances, frequency curves, and the crazy world of IEM reviews competing for free samples and the "followers".
At $55 - AS16 pro is just a gift to music listeners.
For the only all-BA KZs that I own, the ASF has grown less appealing even though I dialed it in with the right tips/fit. I just think it sounds very "average" - not great but not terrible either. And it's also fussy with some of my sources unlike other KZs. But the AS12 has grown on me but it's also a specialty IEM like the Heart Mirror, which I also recently picked up. The AS12 is perfect for string quartets and solos - however, I don't have a lot of these kinds of recordings in my library. The HM is more of an all-arounder for classical music if I use them with Azla Crystal tips which seems bring up the bass a bit more.
The ASF only set me back like $24 at the time. And AS12 set me back like $22. 1 out of 2, for that price, isn't bad at all.
I'm tempted to get the AS16 Pro but I don't really need another IEM right now....and a store on Ali has it for $40 right now
For the only all-BA KZs that I own, the ASF has grown less appealing even though I dialed it in with the right tips/fit. I just think it sounds very "average" - not great but not terrible either. And it's also fussy with some of my sources unlike other KZs. But the AS12 has grown on me but it's also a specialty IEM like the Heart Mirror, which I also recently picked up. The AS12 is perfect for string quartets and solos - however, I don't have a lot of these kinds of recordings in my library. The HM is more of an all-arounder for classical music if I use them with Azla Crystal tips which seems bring up the bass a bit more.
The ASF only set me back like $24 at the time. And AS12 set me back like $22. 1 out of 2, for that price, isn't bad at all.
I'm tempted to get the AS16 Pro but I don't really need another IEM right now....and a store on Ali has it for $40 right now
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