[seanwee]

Seeing the folks here reporting that some Aliexpress shops shipped their KZ PR2 with a placeholder tracking number just a day or two before the shipping window expires.

This is a very common practice as I posted in an earlier post (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-4087#post-17550630), especially when the shops do not have the stock in hand (ie they took too many orders or didn't anticipate the number of interested buyers). So they use this placeholder tracking to bypass Aliexpress' penalty for shipping orders too late. Sometimes the tracking number then mysteriously changes weeks later.

Most of the time, the item still comes in, but many weeks later, once production catches up with the orders. But beware that some unscrupulous shops will mark this fake tracking as "delivered" and after a few days later, the money held in escrow is released to the shop, regardless of whether the consumer receives the item. Perhaps do pay attention to where the tracking sends it to every few days, take screen shots, and if the item is delivered to somewhere other than your home, please report with screen shots to back you up to the Aliexpress CS, usually they will side with the buyer.

This is a useful global tracking site that I use: https://www.17track.net/en. It is updated quite frequently and sometimes the tracking here is totally different from the Aliexpress tracking link sent (ie the latter is a scam tracking number from the shop). Sometimes it is also useful to pay via credit card/paypal so you can file a charge back if the shop plays punk, and try to buy only from reputable shops with > 95% positive feedback. If a price is too good to be true on some low rated site/new site with zero reviews, then your antenna should be up.

So it would be better to order direct from KZ?

 

[baskingshark]

So it would be better to order direct from KZ?

Yeah at least their rep on FB allows you to exchange faulty stuff on their KZ store. If you are using some third party shop, you might be out of luck if CS is needed.

 

[Tamizhan]

I wouldn't say a balanced cable improves sound. Typically if the source sounds good in balanced, chances are it's SE will sound almost as good. Balanced just has more driving power.

Regarding cable rolling. While a lot of people argue for/against it as an absolute. In my experience it's not that straightforward.

I find that if the iem comes with a good enough cable (ie Pr1 Pro), changing to a better one won't change anything. But if it comes with a low quality cable (more common than you think) like the CCA PLA 13, upgrading to a decent one will have an audible improvement. Usually it will sound clearer and wider.

You don't even need to spend that much. The KZ 784 core cable is good enough to not hold any iem back. No difference from the more expensive Copper silver hybrid XINHS cable.

I'm currently thinking of getting one out of two options after listening to current DACs on stock cable.

1. Moondrop Dawn 4.4 with tripowin c8 cable

2. Fiio q11 with stock cable as it produces same power in both balanced and SE.

Any Inputs?

 

[bithalver]

So it would be better to order direct from KZ?

I got my PR2 on may 9 in Hungary ordered from kztws.com for 39USD. I do not intend to order KZ stuff elsewhere in the future.

Ps.: I like it very much !

 

[seanwee]

I'm currently thinking of getting one out of two options after listening to current DACs on stock cable.

1. Moondrop Dawn 4.4 with tripowin c8 cable

2. Fiio q11 with stock cable as it produces same power in both balanced and SE.

Any Inputs?

The Tripowin C8 is a relatively high resistance cable which may end up sounding the same as the stock cable. I trust RikudouGoku's database for cheap high quality cables.

As for the source I just go with something I know will sound good and will have enough power for planars (around 2vrms/124mw into 32ohms). Both of the ones you listed are powerful enough but oddly different in form factor. How will you be using it? One trades battery life and the other portability.

Personally I like to go with a 2.5mm cable then use adapters to convert to 3.5mm or 4.4mm.

 

[Tamizhan]

I've started this journey only two months ago and I plan to use PR2 at home mostly. So portability is not an issue.

My aim was to get a nice relaxed set (got final e3000) and another analytical set. Before pr2, I was looking at 100 usd plus sets for the analytical ones. Now that it's arriving today, I'm excited to see what my tempotec sonata hd v can do.

I have seen people praising it when pairing it to anything above 1w. Though it seems like overkill for pr2, I'd like my next portable dac to drive some full sized cans too. That's why I am asking for recommendations.

 

[anaveragebear]

I've started this journey only two months ago and I plan to use PR2 at home mostly. So portability is not an issue.

My aim was to get a nice relaxed set (got final e3000) and another analytical set. Before pr2, I was looking at 100 usd plus sets for the analytical ones. Now that it's arriving today, I'm excited to see what my tempotec sonata hd v can do.

I have seen people praising it when pairing it to anything above 1w. Though it seems like overkill for pr2, I'd like my next portable dac to drive some full sized cans too. That's why I am asking for recommendations.

Qudelix 5k. Be-all-end-all of portable DACs. Can output up to 4V RMS with the 2.5mm balanced input and has a 20-band fully parametric EQ built in with options to save profiles and change to a ten-band L/R independent EQ for fixing channel imbalances. The two biggest drawbacks are a lack of 4.4mm balanced and the somewhat cheap build quality (all plastic). But I highly recommend it.

 

[baskingshark]

I've started this journey only two months ago and I plan to use PR2 at home mostly. So portability is not an issue.

My aim was to get a nice relaxed set (got final e3000) and another analytical set. Before pr2, I was looking at 100 usd plus sets for the analytical ones. Now that it's arriving today, I'm excited to see what my tempotec sonata hd v can do.

I have seen people praising it when pairing it to anything above 1w. Though it seems like overkill for pr2, I'd like my next portable dac to drive some full sized cans too. That's why I am asking for recommendations.

What's your budget for a dongle DAC/AMP?

For something below 100 bucks, you can read about the Colorfly CDA M1. Has 4.4mm and 3.5mm outputs, quite powerful, neutralish signature.
Output specs:

• Output: 2Vrms@RL=600Ω unbalanced; 4Vrms@RL=600Ω balanced
• Max. Output power: 100mW@RL=32Ω unbalanced; 200mW@RL=32Ω balanced

 

[Tamizhan]

What's your budget for a dongle DAC/AMP?

For something below 100 bucks, you can read about the Colorfly CDA M1. Has 4.4mm and 3.5mm outputs, quite powerful, neutralish signature.
Output specs:

• Output: 2Vrms@RL=600Ω unbalanced; 4Vrms@RL=600Ω balanced
• Max. Output power: 100mW@RL=32Ω unbalanced; 200mW@RL=32Ω balanced

This looks very similar to dawn. But with added benefit of 3.5mm output.

As for budget, Qudelix 5k to be the costliest I'm willing to consider. But when I see Fiio q11 with higher power output at lower price, I'm more swayed towards this.

Thank you @seanwee for the cable recommendation. I'll look into the resistance of cables now.

 

[Sanaycasino]

This looks very similar to dawn. But with added benefit of 3.5mm output.

As for budget, Qudelix 5k to be the costliest I'm willing to consider. But when I see Fiio q11 with higher power output at lower price, I'm more swayed towards this.

Thank you @seanwee for the cable recommendation. I'll look into the resistance of cables now.

Cayin RU6

 

[agawa]

So it would be better to order direct from KZ?

I did, and got it within a week, which is fast. Also emailed the rep and asked if they could match the AE coupon price ~$30usd but was given a hard "no". There was definitely a stocking issue due to underestimating demand. They confirmed that only website had stock. The delays may also be due to them being slightly annoyed that the coupon was used by so many because their target sale price was actually ~$40usd, which is still a very good deal and price/performance ratio.

 

[t4t3r]

Is there any way to get the 15% discount to apply at KZTWS? I have never been able to get it to work, and also sent them a message on the website with no response.

 

[4ceratops]

Is there any way to get the 15% discount to apply at KZTWS? I have never been able to get it to work, and also sent them a message on the website with no response.

That discount was given by a specific store on Ali (KZ Global), I don't think a completely different store will follow that discount as this one doesn't offer any discount.

 

[t4t3r]

That discount was given by a specific store on Ali (KZ Global), I don't think a completely different store will follow that discount as this one doesn't offer any discount.

No this is on KZTWS. It is in the product description and several members ordered there for around ~$39. When those people posted here I looked at ordering but have not been able to get the discount to apply.

 

[4ceratops]

No this is on KZTWS. It is in the product description and several members ordered there for around ~$39. When those people posted here I looked at ordering but have not been able to get the discount to apply.

Sorry, obviously I was wrong and all those discounts got mixed up