[Highspeedfreak]

Been listening for a few hours. Been trying different kinds of music. 

Loreena McKennitt (Celtic)
Daft Punk (Electronic)
Descend (Death Metal)
Mumford & Sons (Folk Rock)
Anathema (Alternative Rock)
Dire Straits (Rock)
A Perfect Circle (Alternative Rock)
Glen Hansard (Folk)

All .FLAC

Source: Lenovo laptop, Samsung Galaxy S4, Cowon Iaudio portable player and Hi-Fi-reciever.

I like the ZST. Compared to stuff for ten times the price the SQ is obviously not as good. But still. For the $14 I got them for they are ridiculous IMHO. 
With a good seal there is sufficient bass. What I do not like about the sound is higher up. Frequencys as female focals can sound irritating at times. 
They guy who tuned the sound probably likes cymbals.

I really like them. Can't wait for the others.

This is just from a few hours of listening. We'll see if i change my mind in the future.

 

[danspy]

 
Lol, I hear you my friend. Im expecting the Walnut V2 wav/mp3 player anytime soon which should have an incredible sound quality, at only $26. Though its output imp is 100 ohms (didnt know it when I ordered). It sure will alter the sound of some earphones, much better investment than some cables lol

Yes i like a bit of output impedance to.
 
My Creative X-Fi HD has 33 of it

 and i like its sound more than the one of my sterile sounding 10Ohm Xonar Essense ST.
 
Witch i like better on the Speaker out with its 100Ohm,s.    

 

[khighly]

ATE's sound better than the ATR in my opinion, but the compromise is soundstage. The ATE's soundstage is not nearly as wide but it's definitely there. The ATE's sound much more flat and have a high end as well. ATE's are brighter than the ATR's and they pull back some of the very forward mid bass that the ATR's have. The ATE's bass is more muddy and slow than the ATR's for sure, but there is more bass extension.
 
ATE > ATR

 

[ricemanhk]

  So , i am new here and i am reading here for a few days , First i like to thank you for your review that made me deside to buy me a couple of KZ plugs.  
 
Small intro .. Jeroen , 45 from the Netherlands. Audiofool .. like to built speakers.  proffesional  salesman in .....audio.  I am familliar with the european brands like Senheisser , AKG . Bayer Dynamics and Focal .. 
 
With a crowdy family and not many moments to enjoy my tube amp powered Focal speakers i searched for a solution to listen to my "rapshody/Napster "music account and since my Galaxy S7 edge has a Napster app , i can listen to all my music using a headphone .. Problem solved ..  not realy .. I was not enjoying my Samsung plugs and tried several other plugs that came with a phone . Non of them were able to fire me up and i was not going to pay a lot of money for a set of high Q plugs without listen to them first .. I ended up with 30 euro Sony set and the did sound better but still i was not very impressed .. than i found this forum .. I quickly found out that KZ was a brand to give a try and i ordered a set on DX and after 3 weeks the set knocked on my door. 
 
So i own a set of KZ ZST now for 4 days and i am realy impressed.  I tried several music styles like Slash , Nora Jones and Yello .. nobody kan wipe that smile from my face .. again i am realy impressed .. now i can enjoy my music again. i am sure the set need some break in time and the might open up a bit but they sound like a 80 euros set and i find that impressive. 
 
One downside , i believe my Galaxy S7 Edge is not able to power them up well . sound is great but the volume is just a bit tame . i treid them on my tube headphone preamp and that was SO much better .. again this forum is to blame that i found info about the portable headphone amps and  after some days of reading i desided to treat my self on a small X mas gift and i ordered the Fiio A3 . 
this little beast will arrive tomorrow and i hope that this will improve the sound and volume a bit .. 
If wanted , i can make a review as well .. I ordered an extra set ZST and ATR as well .just as a back up .. 
 
Tips and tricks wanted for my setup, please share. 
 
Jeroen 

 
Welcome!
 
I actually don't have volume issues with the ZSTs on my xiaomi mi5 smartphone, I only use about 50-60% of the volume setting playing flac files through google play music.  I'm surprised the S7E doesn't have more power as traditionally Samsung galaxies have decent headphone out (although I think that's changed over the years after the S4).
 
If you are getting a portable headphone amp though, I would suggest getting a DAC+amp combo like the Fiio Q1 or E17K rather than just amplifying the headphone out on your S7E.  You'll hear alot more detail with a dedicated DAC, and they will shine even more with hi-res flac files.

 

[ricemanhk]

 


Been listening for a few hours. Been trying different kinds of music. 

Loreena McKennitt (Celtic)
Daft Punk (Electronic)
Descend (Death Metal)
Mumford & Sons (Folk Rock)
Anathema (Alternative Rock)
Dire Straits (Rock)
A Perfect Circle (Alternative Rock)
Glen Hansard (Folk)

All .FLAC

Source: Lenovo laptop, Samsung Galaxy S4, Cowon Iaudio portable player and Hi-Fi-reciever.

I like the ZST. Compared to stuff for ten times the price the SQ is obviously not as good. But still. For the $14 I got them for they are ridiculous IMHO. 
With a good seal there is sufficient bass. What I do not like about the sound is higher up. Frequencys as female focals can sound irritating at times. 
They guy who tuned the sound probably likes cymbals.

I really like them. Can't wait for the others.

This is just from a few hours of listening. We'll see if i change my mind in the future.

 
ZSTs are indeed on the bright side, but I find the treble well controlled, indeed it's less sibilant and tiring than some other IEMs I've had before.  Perhaps you are used to listening to a darker sound, give the ZSTs a few days to get used to the sound signature and you might find "brain burn-in" to work in your favor. 

 

[ricemanhk]

Any news about this? 10 driver IEM

 
Still no news yet, nothing I could find online either in Chinese.  Last time I checked, KZ customer service didn't deny its existence, but there's no confirmed release date yet.  Expect sometime in 2017...I'm pretty sure this thread will be one of the first places to find out!

 

[inevitableso]

@ricemanhk what is the best KZ headphones so far? I'm planning to by the KZ ZST (Candy edition) i currently have ATE

 

[ricemanhk]

@ricemanhk what is the best KZ headphones so far? I'm planning to by the KZ ZST (Candy edition) i currently have ATE

 
I haven't tried them all......yet 

 
I only have the ZS3 and ZST right now.  From my own impressions and others here:
ATE - best neutral sounding KZ, fantastic value for money
ZS3 (and maybe ED9) - best for bass head
ZST - first hybrid from KZ, fun W shaped sound
 
I prefer the ZST over the ZS3 for my tastes in music (vocal, classical, jazz).  I also like the ZST over my xiaomi pistons gen 5 (pro HD) and gen 3.  Gen 4 bass was a little too muddy for me, and the ZS3 bass beats that.

 

[inevitableso]

I haven't tried them all......yet :rolleyes:

I only have the ZS3 and ZST right now.  From my own impressions and others here:
ATE - best neutral sounding KZ, fantastic value for money
ZS3 (and maybe ED9) - best for bass head
ZST - first hybrid from KZ, fun W shaped sound

I prefer the ZST over the ZS3 for my tastes in music (vocal, classical, jazz).  I also like the ZST over my xiaomi pistons gen 5 (pro HD) and gen 3.  Gen 4 bass was a little too muddy for me, and the ZS3 bass beats that.

Thanks dude.. I'll go with ZST is it worth uprgading it's cable to silver?

 

[ricemanhk]

Thanks dude.. I'll go with ZST is it worth uprgading it's cable to silver?

 
The stock cable is fine, and I got the mic version as I use it mostly with my phone.  The only thing I wish for would be android volume controls as well...
From earlier posts, I've measured the impedance between the 2 wires, and the difference is very minor, about 0.4ohms lower with the silver cable.  To my ears the silver cable sounds slightly brighter but I would chalk this up more to placebo effect as it takes a little while to swap cables.  I'm also of the camp that believes cables don't matter as long as it's good enough.
 
That said, if it's not that much more to get silver cable as a bundle then might as well get it as a backup cable and save a bit on shipping.  I also think the silver cable is easier to untangle, as the plastic sheath on the stock one is a little more "sticky" than the silver one.  But I still use the stock as the silver cable doesn't have the mic.

 

[killerbond]

Originally Posted by macky112 
 
Hi all,
 
reading through this thread again makes me wanna go on a shopping spree.
 
so much info here but the search function is not the best, and would appreciate if someone could shed some light:
 
1. difference between ATE and ATR?
2. how many revision to ZS1?  is the latest version the one with mesh grill?  and is this latest version still a bass canon?  I have JVC-HAFX101 and 201 for my fun music.
3. I have Piston 3, xiaomi hybrid, monoprice 8320, and ZS3, so how would the ZST compare to my clarity collection?
 
TIA

1.

  ATE's sound better than the ATR in my opinion, but the compromise is soundstage. The ATE's soundstage is not nearly as wide but it's definitely there. The ATE's sound much more flat and have a high end as well. ATE's are brighter than the ATR's and they pull back some of the very forward mid bass that the ATR's have. The ATE's bass is more muddy and slow than the ATR's for sure, but there is more bass extension.
 
ATE > ATR

 
2...
3...

anyone can help @macky112?

 

[Shawn71]

TF10 cable w/ zs3........

 

[khighly]

What's a good <$75 range IEM that has similar characterists to the ZST?

 

[Saoshyant]

@ricemanhk One more amusing comment about the ATE.  It can withstand a silly amount of bass boost, pushing it to true basshead levels.  If you don't mind some heavy EQ, it's an entry level basshead IEM.

 

[Ruben123]

Guys please.... I've read it about a thousand times here now, the beauty of the ed9 does not lie in the golden filters which are somewhat bassy, it lies in the brass filters which give an enormously exciting, natural and life-like sound with great detail. That is what the edö is about. It's one of the best kzs and together with the hds1, the most neutral one. If you all keep on mentioning that it's bassy, no one will find their true potentials