[CADCAM]

Yeah the ED3c ACME and EDR2 were my last KZ's and to be fair I have not really put any burn on either yet nor given them much time

My FI OOTB on the 3c I can hear they can reach pretty far into each freq. range and I have high hopes after a good 120-150 hours they unseat the HDS1 for me.


I've put the EDR2's in two or three time now and they sound a little thin and missing even across the board sound I hear (who knows if I can even hear) I had seen a few post and had higher expectations for the EDR2's. But burning them in because a couple of KZ's had a major SQ change after 100 plus hours

It's this stuff right here that keeps me trying incpensive Chinese iem's

I agree with you on the EDR2...so far it hasn't lived up to the expectations I had after reading some posts about it. To be fair I also haven't given it the time to really make a good assessment. It's on my to do list. I can't believe we are talking about 10 dollar iem's here...

 

[CADCAM]

  I want to try the ED3c (Acme red/blue) but also found the S3 which is grey and also says Acme.
 
So we have 3 version as mentioned many times on this thread.
 
ED3 Perfection, old version known to sound bad, or am I wrong?
ED3c Acme, very balanced and sound excellent but only in Red or Light Blue...

S3 Acme, only one seller on Aliexpress with a computer generated image (no real photo)? Very strange, suspicious I am...
 
Anything I should know before I buy?

My experience is ED3 Perfection had great build and good sound... nothing bad and certainly worth the 6 bucks I paid for them but I gave them away.
ED3c is one of my top KZ's if not the top. Mine are blue and sound fantasic.
Bought 2 pairs of S3 and sold both...just didn't happen for me and not sure why. Personal preference.

 

[Podster]

  My experience is ED3 Perfection had great build and good sound... nothing bad and certainly worth the 6 bucks I paid for them but I gave them away.
ED3c is one of my top KZ's if not the top. Mine are blue and sound fantasic.
Bought 2 pairs of S3 and sold both...just didn't happen for me and not sure why. Personal preference.

True, the Perfection is one heavy and built like a tank iem. They have a much more laid back presentation for me but as you said for $6 they absolute romp on what I call the over the counter iem's like Skull Candy and all the other cheap plastic housing iem's that usually cost twice or three times these KZ's! I'm still behind on really giving the ACME's a real test for the money as you will

I'm keeping them for now as they are burning in my first problem with mine were the QC as my red paint was all chipped on mine and the seller was offering to put $3 back into my Pay Pal but was not even worth my time, if I end up really liking the ACME I'll order a new red and a blue pair w/mic

As I write this I do have another KZ that reminds me of the Perfections SS but I won't let these go because I think they are the coolest looking KZ and I'm referring to the DT5 (Black shell, red tips and the gold band with the Chinese writing on it just looks like a Chinese iem

)


I keep these displayed in my office

 

[vapman]

You guys know those tiny little velcro things the KZ's come with the hold the cords together.... can you buy those buy themselves anywhere?
 
I want to get a whole bunch for all my IEM and earbuds. If I can just buy a bag of like 100 of them that would rule.

 

[krist2an]

Just got the ED10 from Easy. Really well packed and the shipping was also fast. 
 
Tried them already and for me they are definitely bass-heavy. I'd say that they are quite bright and have quite piercing highs with some songs. Bass is there, but not overly too much. Mids are a bit recessed. Lets see how they sound after some hours and with different tips, but right now they are far from basshead IEMs.

 

[Podster]

.You guys know those tiny little velcro things the KZ's come with the hold the cords together.... can you buy those buy themselves anywhere?

I want to get a whole bunch for all my IEM and earbuds. If I can just buy a bag of like 100 of them that would rule.

Bet if you contact Teresa they'll do that for you Twin can probably assist

 

[vapman]

Bet if you contact Teresa they'll do that for you Twin can probably assist

Anyone who has a ton of them laying around, feel free to PM me and i could pay for your envelope and stamp

 

[Gussisaurio]

  I want to try the ED3c (Acme red/blue) but also found the S3 which is grey and also says Acme.
 
So we have 3 version as mentioned many times on this thread.
 
ED3 Perfection, old version known to sound bad, or am I wrong?
ED3c Acme, very balanced and sound excellent but only in Red or Light Blue...

S3 Acme, only one seller on Aliexpress with a computer generated image (no real photo)? Very strange, suspicious I am...
 
Anything I should know before I buy?

 
I have all three on order:
 
ED3
ED3c (blue)
S3 (from the same only seller from AE you mention)
 
I could tell you when I get them... still on transit.
 

 

[Gussisaurio]

  I wonder if that's the KZ ED4S you're seeing?
http://www.lazada.co.th/kz-ed4s-wired-noise-cancellation-in-ear-earphones-silver-5160217.html

 
Nop, that one on your link seems to be the ED4 Silver.
The S3 would be the one at:
 
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/KZ-S3-Headset-in-bass-rock-Headset-Headset-metal-HIFI-mobile-phone-computer-Headset-trend/32541015697.html

 

[Gussisaurio]

  You guys know those tiny little velcro things the KZ's come with the hold the cords together.... can you buy those buy themselves anywhere?
 
I want to get a whole bunch for all my IEM and earbuds. If I can just buy a bag of like 100 of them that would rule.

 
Me too. I want those velcro things desperately. But I couldn't find them on AE on their own. 

 

 

[vapman]

   
Me too. I want those velcro things desperately. But I couldn't find them on AE on their own. 

 

I'm sure if we make it known that we would like to buy big bags of them, they would sell them to us.
 
I thought it was just me but if a lot of people would like those then they should!

 

[Gussisaurio]

Thanks for the answer, James. I almost get it now, but there are a couple details that still elude my understanding. Would you please explain to me the following?
 
Quote:

  1.6 Apply EQ.

 
1. So far as I understand, the recording you made for the ED9 would be one, if you were playing white or pink noise, with a flat frequency response once you apply this EQ curve, right?
2. Hence, for the specific recording of the ED9 you are not hearing how does the ED9 sound, but instead you hear the exact same sound as in the original audio from the song, right?
3. Why do you apply this ED9 specific EQ curve to the other IEM's recordings? Would you get flat frequency response for all IEM's using the ED9 specific EQ curve? Wouldn't you need a specific EQ curve for every earphone? (This is probably the main aspect I don't understand).
 

 
2. correct.

 
1. Ok, then. If you have the uncompensated graph for the frequency response of each IEM, recorded with a hose, that would be analogous to have the recording of each IEM's sound at the eardrum? Is that so? Even when your hose is only 1 cm long, but the human ear canal is 2.5 cm long? 
2. The Harman curve stands for the frequency response you would get at the eardrum coming from loudspeakers in a room and being filtered by such room and then by the interaction of the sound with the head, torso and ears (pinna), and then by the ear canal. Hence, you are calling the ED9 to be the most approximate to the loudspeaker case since the ED9's frequency response using your ear canal simulator (hose) gives the most similar curve? Do I get this right?
 

  3. No.
I apply EQ so that the ED9 through the mic to look EXACTLY like the pure pink noise after the Auto EQ pug-in.
I send a pink noise to the EQ as a Source.
I send a pink noise through the ED9 and the Mic as a Target.
I tell the Auto EQ to equalize the Target to look exactly like the Source.
The result is the "pink noise->ED9->mic->EQ" spectrum looks exactly the same as just pink noise to the analyzer.

 
Neat. Is this Auto EQ plug in part of Waves plug-ins? Or is it from somewhere else?
 

  Now I have a "Source->ED9->Mic->EQ" loop that sound exactly the same as a pure Source.
The EQ corrects the "ED9->Mic" part to sound like the Source.
 
Makes sense?

 
Yes. 

 

  A longer hose will lower the resonance frequency, a shorter one will raise it.
A narrower hose will also lower the resonance frequency.
The Bass will remain the same.
 
To find the perfect hose length to match the average human 3k peak resonance I ran pink noise through the studio monitors and placed a mic at my head position.
Looking at a frequency analyzer I cut pieces of the hose with scissors and replaced the mic to head level till the resonance peak was at 3k.
*Luckily, my old hose was tuned exactly to 3k so the measurements I've posted are still valid.
 

 
I agree on the part where the longer hose has a lower resonance frequency, and a shorter one gets a higher frequency. However, I would have predicted the resonance frequency to be lower when the hose gets wider, not narrower, since you have more volume. Do you have an equation, link, source, book, reference for this? (thanks in advance)

 

[nolife1123]

I found those velcro zip ties on aliexpress before, however they were huge in size, but i also found a whole wheel of those tapes uncut, so you could cut them down to your prefered sizes!
Expect a link later !

 

[James Freeman]

  1. So far as I understand, the recording you made for the ED9 would be one, if you were playing white or pink noise, with a flat frequency response once you apply this EQ curve, right?
2. Hence, for the specific recording of the ED9 you are not hearing how does the ED9 sound, but instead you hear the exact same sound as in the original audio from the song, right?
3. Why do you apply this ED9 specific EQ curve to the other IEM's recordings? Would you get flat frequency response for all IEM's using the ED9 specific EQ curve? Wouldn't you need a specific EQ curve for every earphone? (This is probably the main aspect I don't understand).
 

1. yes.
2. right, this effectively eliminates the ED9 from having any kind of character because it IS the source = flat.
3. The ED9 was a reference so it is EQed flat, one of them HAS to be the reference because there is no other way I am aware of making the comparison sound good like the source or what your ear would hear.
All other earphones have the ED9 EQ so you hear the difference in contrast to the ED9, this indeed eliminates the ED9 from the comparison because it is just flat as the source.
But the point is to have an idea what the other earphones sound in comparison to one another.
If I would have chosen the ZN1-Mini as a reference which has absolutely no treble response, all other headphones would have sounded razor sharp in comparison.
 

1. Ok, then. If you have the uncompensated graph for the frequency response of each IEM, recorded with a hose, that would be analogous to have the recording of each IEM's sound at the eardrum? Is that so? Even when your hose is only 1 cm long, but the human ear canal is 2.5 cm long? 
2. The Harman curve stands for the frequency response you would get at the eardrum coming from loudspeakers in a room and being filtered by such room and then by the interaction of the sound with the head, torso and ears (pinna), and then by the ear canal. Hence, you are calling the ED9 to be the most approximate to the loudspeaker case since the ED9's frequency response using your ear canal simulator (hose) gives the most similar curve? Do I get this right?

1. Yes BUT, this is a rough approximation.
Since the original measurements I've posted I changed the hose length to something like 1.4cm.
I player a pink noise on my monitors and looked at a spectrum analyzer to see the response with a 2.5cm hose, it was around 2k, I had to shorten the hose bit by bit to have a 3k peak, this is based on the known fact the the human ear resonates at 3k.
Note that the capsule size of my mic tice the diameter of the canal and that also has an effect on the measurement.
The smallest hose (black) is the hose that simulates the ear canal all other are just adapters to fit the mic.
 
2. Yes.
But, keep in mind that these readings are far from accurate and can not be considered scientific in any way.
What I tried to see in those measurement is how smooth the frequency response is, because Harman's curve is smooth without peaks or variations.
The smoothest one from the bunch is the ED9 and I think this is why it sounds the most natural practically to us all.
I can also roughly guesstimate from this graph what the Bass to Treble balance would sound like and indeed it reflects what I hear quite well.
 
Again, in my opinion and from what I see in Harman's curve, it's the smoothness of the curve that matters the most and will translate to how good the earphones sound.

 Is this Auto EQ plug in part of Waves plug-ins? Or is it from somewhere else?

http://www.meldaproduction.com/MAutoEqualizer
 

I agree on the part where the longer hose has a lower resonance frequency, and a shorter one gets a higher frequency. However, I would have predicted the resonance frequency to be lower when the hose gets wider, not narrower, since you have more volume. Do you have an equation, link, source, book, reference for this? (thanks in advance).

Nope, just experimenting.

 

[nolife1123]

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/5M-Nylon-Roll-Reusable-Strap-Wire-Computer-Cable-Cord-Tie-Tidy-Organizer-Down/32467430320.html?spm=2114.10010108.1000014.24.yynJ1y
That's what I found earlier, there are a lot of different ones out there on aliex, different sizes, cut ones etc, but I guess this one is fairly decent due to it being 5 meters long, you can decide how long you want your cuts to be (and how wide, ofcourse)!