[zzhead]

My HDS 3 has arrived.
 
Hi to all,
I received today the "new" HDS3.
My first comments are as follows.
Acoustics.
They contain the same excellent Japanese driver that HDS1 has been famous for.
therefore the same excellent acoustic profile and leave it here.
The cable has been improved to a less sticky opaque black which is more agreeable to the touch.
The microphone has been moved as a single enclosure with the splitter. A new design splash. Not bad looking.



 
And now some design flaws
the plastic sleeve that shines nicely in the 3'5 jack is far too thick and you will need to open a bigger hole in your telephone's protective cover. Otherwise it will not go all the way in .... funny



Also
There is no L,R marking. Just Red and Green Colour code.
And here I need your input. Is red always right in Kz?
At least in ATE's that I know of Red is the right earpiece.
(Pls help with an easy way of making sure thx)
Summary.
As you have guessed my favourite KZ are the ATE's and the HDS1&3.
But some how I tend to like more the colours of HDS1 but with the cable of the HDS3 and the mic at the splitter.
The 3.5 jack flaw is naively .....funny.
I think KZ should steal one of Rock Zirgon's designers. which is the pair that concludes my holy trinity of cheap earphones.
I hope this might have been of some help.
Thnx a lot

 

[Pulpfiction]

Just a quick song suggestion I want to share with the fellow KZ ATE owners / listeners here... I really love the ATE's sub bass and layering (I think that's what I'm trying to describe, in terms of audio description I'm still a noob).
 
Either way, make sure you have a good seal (and source) and try this song: Bluetech - Forgiveness. It's from the 2005 album Sines and Singularities. I won't link it on Youtube because I know Youtube's audio codecs aren't very forgiving in lower resolution video (and probably still meh in full or 4k HD, for sure Vimeo is much better). I really like Bluetech btw, and most of his stuff works really well with the ATE .
 
Anyway, hope some of you take me up on it, let me know if you enjoyed it!

 

[AT Khan]

Guys, I'm considering buying the KZ ZN1: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/KZ-ZN1-Headphones-Smart-Headset-Auriculares-Original-KZ-ZN1-Earphone-Noise-Cancelling-Bass-Headphone-Audifonos-Fone/32429567265.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_6,searchweb201644_3_10001_10002_10005_301_10006_10003_10004_62_9999,searchweb201560_2,searchweb1451318400_6151,searchweb1451318411_6451
 
Please reply asap if I should or not. Is it really worth the bling?

 

[dokkj]

The ebay seller that sold the HDS1 and ED9 was "vovotrade." And I'm convinced these guys just straight up took my money. I'll be asking for a refund in the next week or so when the "second" set of KZs inevitably do not arrive at my door.
 
I'll just grab them from alieexpress next time. What a pain in the ass. By then, I'll probably decide on whether or not I still buy the ED9s.

 

[petnnd]

Just received ED9 and HDS1 from banggood (total 18$, 2 weeks shipping). The first impression is the weight of HDS1 vs the ED9 - like a tiny vs a giant. LOL
The ED9 and HDS1 sound quality seem like my ATH CKB50 except ED9 is more sub-bass;  CKB50 is solid bass, zero sub-bass.
 
 
All of them have bright mids, the treble is not very impressive
 
 
 
Sorry for my bad English

 

[EISENbricher]

Just received ED9 and HDS1 from banggood (total 18$, 2 weeks shipping). The first impression is the weight of HDS1 vs the ED9 - like a tiny vs a giant. LOL
The ED9 and HDS1 sound quality seem like my ATH CKB50 except ED9 is more sub-bass;  CKB50 is solid bass, zero sub-bass.


All of them have bright mids, the treble is not very impressive



Sorry for my bad English

Haha same I thought when I had ED8 and received ED9. ED8m is a giant of KZ lineup xD

 

[EISENbricher]

Hmmm... text in bold makes me think not getting this KZ. What do You think about it vs. ATE (2nd black version).

ATE black has more depth while ZN1mini has more width of soundstage. Both are unique in that way. Both sound equally refined and controlled.

What I love the most about ZN1mini is that how 'Rich' it sounds despite having slightly recessed mids. Bass and treble are very nicely produced.

Also adjusting EQ a little makes it outstanding. I guess since it's designed to work in pair with EQBOX use of EQ is justified. Boost mids a little for an outstanding sound!

ATE signature is Smoot while ZN1mini has more crunch in it.

 

[carltonh]

Haha same I thought when I had ED8 and received ED9. ED8m is a giant of KZ lineup xD

 
Have you heard both the ED8m and ED8s to compare?

 

[EISENbricher]

Have you heard both the ED8m and ED8s to compare?

Do you mean Red and Blue ED8 versions?

 

[CoiL]

 

Hmmm... text in bold makes me think not getting this KZ. What do You think about it vs. ATE (2nd black version).

ATE black has more depth while ZN1mini has more width of soundstage. Both are unique in that way. Both sound equally refined and controlled.

What I love the most about ZN1mini is that how 'Rich' it sounds despite having slightly recessed mids. Bass and treble are very nicely produced.

Also adjusting EQ a little makes it outstanding. I guess since it's designed to work in pair with EQBOX use of EQ is justified. Boost mids a little for an outstanding sound!

ATE signature is Smoot while ZN1mini has more crunch in it.

Thanks for info! I think I will exclude ZN1mini from my to-buy list because of slightly recessed mids and less frontal depth than ATE. Not that it`s bad, just doesn`t seem to fit my sound preferences. And lets not forget that I have modded ATE-FF which already has that extra "crunch" to smooth sound

 
From that point of view - should I exclude ZN1 & ZS1 too?
 

  My HDS 3 has arrived.
  I received today the "new" HDS3.
  They contain the same excellent Japanese driver that HDS1 has been famous for.

How do You know they have same driver?

 

[EISENbricher]

 
Thanks for info! I think I will exclude ZN1mini from my to-buy list because of slightly recessed mids and less frontal depth than ATE. Not that it`s bad, just doesn`t seem to fit my sound preferences. And lets not forget that I have modded ATE-FF which already has that extra "crunch" to smooth sound

 
From that point of view - should I exclude ZN1 & ZS1 too?

ZN1mini is actually superior to ZS1 in many fronts. ZS1 has overly bassy sound which bleeds into other ranges. And highs also take back seat.
 
Take opinion from other ZS1 users too though.  

 

[carltonh]

Do you mean Red and Blue ED8 versions?

Well, the ED8S is always shown as red and ED8M is always shown in blue in Aliexpress pages, but I'm sure I read somewhere that they are tuned differently. Is that the case?

 

[EISENbricher]

  Well, the ED8S is always shown as red and ED8M is always shown in blue in Aliexpress pages, but I'm sure I read somewhere that they are tuned differently. Is that the case?

For me the difference is very small and I can not tell whether it's manufacturing variation between batches, or an intended difference.
The difference I notice is in line with others. The blue one sounds slightly deeper than the red one. That's all though. Both are very similar sounding otherwise.

 

[Ruben123]

So HDS3 is the same as the 1 but with better/different housing?
 
What about ED3 S3 and the other  ED 3 models regarding neutral sound compared to HDS1?

 

[iWaffle]

So a friend of mine told me to give Knowledge Zenith a try (amongst other things), so I looked it up and ended up here, and then ended up ordering myself a set of ZS1's after skimming through the thread and also after auditioning a few of KZ's IEMs through a kind soul who lives near here... and I've got to say..
 
God. Damn. Is it me or does the ZS1 possess some really sick sub-bass?
 
I'd even go as far as to say that these has the sickest sub-bass I've ever heard, perhaps even on par with the JVC FX1X, except a little less loose/boomy. 
 
That being said, the sub-bass kinda stands out too much from the rest of the frequency range, so it sounds rather unnatural to my ears. Either that or the fact that I switched sides from basshead to soundstage-head about a year ago caused my ears to perceive rumbly deep bass as 'overwhelming'. 
 
More importantly, does anyone else hear that high pitched digital static-like sound/noise on the ZS1 on some of the more trebly tracks? I think this is what people refer to as 'sparkle' in the high treble, but to my ears it sounded more like static noise/distortion rather than sparkle. I'm really hoping it goes away with burn-in though.