[Keller1]

Got ED9 ATE and ATR in the mail.
 
I really like what they've done with the ED9. Cable is more solid than regular KZ cables.
Earphones are quite heavy. The sound sig is nice. Like a ZST with less clarity and more pronounced bass.

Edit : The brightness kills it on some tracks.

 

[kokakolia]

Got ED9 ATE and ATR in the mail.

I really like what they've done with the ED9. Cable is more solid than regular KZ cables.
Earphones are quite heavy. The sound sig is nice. Like a ZST with less clarity and more pronounced bass.


Edit : The brightness kills it on some tracks.

I hate to say this, but you can get used to the exaggerated brightness of the ED9s. Just don't listen to bands with abrasive guitars like Jesus & Mary Chain, Sonic Youth or Mac DeMarco. You'll probably go deaf. But for electronic/dance music the ED9s are fun.

So...they have a purpose.

 

[Yesin]

   
Neither. I recommend the ZS3 instead.
 
To elaborate on why, the ZST and Xiaomi earphones do have some good characteristics but tight bass is not one of them. The highs are very clear on the ZST, up to a point where they are strident or uncomfortable for some people and although I'm not very sensitive to high frequencies they can get uncomfortable after long hearing sessions. The Xiaomi Pro, while I haven't listened to them myself I have the previous Hybrid model and it seems that the Pro model only addressed some of its shortcomings and even got some new ones, which it shares with the ZST in the form of very strident or harsh high frequencies.
 
The ZST is a W shaped earphones and it is very lively and forward sounding. Vocals sound incredible on them, particularly female. The Xiaomi seems to share the harsh high frequencies but its frequency response is V shaped and it has most of the benefits and short-comings that come with that.
 
The ZS3 while being a V-shaped earphone has a much more balanced presentation, it has a warm and comforting signature that doesn't skip on details and is much more comfortable and better suited for more genres of music.
 
You can get either a very strident and lively, but tiresome, ZST, a very strident V-shaped Xiaomi Pro with meh soundstage. The ZS3 that is a very solid, warm-sounding bassy, but not bloated, comfortable IEM.

I did see a few reviews online mentioning that the ZS3 is better for more genres as well and was initially considering it. I thought the ZST would be an improvement over the ZS3 since it was newer but guess it's more artificial sounding than the older ZS3s.
 
Yeah, I do love listening to a fair share of vocal music. The ZS3 delivers better mids than the Piston 3s right Griffith? Seems like ZS3 may be the one to go for after all.

 

[Jeroen Pasman]

 its been a while since i posted but here is n update .. 
 i have tested several KZ sets like the ZST . ZS-1 and ATR .. I use my PC and S7 Edge as a source all with flac files. added a Fiio A3 on the phone .. Love that amp but a friend tryed it and bought it right out my hands , so i bought the Fiio Q1 instead. . Now i use the Q1 connected with USB on the phone and on the laptop.. sound is even more clear .. more staging and more power .. all in low gain and NO bass added. 
bought the silver cable for the ZST .. I listen to Yello / Intwine / Muse but also Gearge michael ore diane krall .. i found the ZS-1 an allrounder but with a build in subwoofer .. witch is actually is .. to much low tones for me .. the ATR is a very nice allrounder for my but i do not like the comfort of it .. the ZST is by far my 1th choice .. i do not like the original cord .. they just do not fall arround my ears ... the silver solve this all .. 
to go short .. a 100 dollar HeadFi solution is a FiiO Q1 with the KZ  ZST and a set of silver cable.. i dont think you cant get more value for the money . i am still impressed , time after time .. 
 
considering i work in a AV company, i have spread the virus ... 7 guys listening to the SZT now .. 2 of them have the FiioQ1 .. seems to be that thay found their low butget HeadFi update as well.
 
 
Jeroen 

 

[Griffith]

  I did see a few reviews online mentioning that the ZS3 is better for more genres as well and was initially considering it. I thought the ZST would be an improvement over the ZS3 since it was newer but guess it's more artificial sounding than the older ZS3s.
 
Yeah, I do love listening to a fair share of vocal music. The ZS3 delivers better mids than the Piston 3s right Griffith? Seems like ZS3 may be the one to go for after all.

 
Both have good midrange, but the ZS3 is easier to recommend without understanding what kind of music you like listening to. On paper the ZST is the superior model but in practice it is an acquired taste and most ZST owners either completely love the ZST or find it unbearable whereas you'll have a much harder time finding someone who doesn't appreciate the ZS3.

 

[Keller1]

I hate to say this, but you can get used to the exaggerated brightness of the ED9s. Just don't listen to bands with abrasive guitars like Jesus & Mary Chain, Sonic Youth or Mac DeMarco. You'll probably go deaf. But for electronic/dance music the ED9s are fun.

So...they have a purpose.

To be fair almost everything works great for electronic. Well... maybe not the ZST, but even they're great most of the time.

 

[AplexApple]

So I recently got my ZSTs, these things are pretty good for their price. The only thing I have a problem with is the cable connection. They seem to disconnect very easily. I nearly lost them the other day in school because it disconnected when i put them in my pocket. 
Are these suppose to disconnect so easily? 

 

[ricemanhk]

  So I recently got my ZSTs, these things are pretty good for their price. The only thing I have a problem with is the cable connection. They seem to disconnect very easily. I nearly lost them the other day in school because it disconnected when i put them in my pocket. 
Are these suppose to disconnect so easily? 

 
Did you insert the pins fully into the earbud?  Mine are super tight, and actually pretty dang hard to unplug. 
Pictures of your earbud and wire housing would be helpful to figure out what's wrong.

 

[AplexApple]

   
Did you insert the pins fully into the earbud?  Mine are super tight, and actually pretty dang hard to unplug. 
Pictures of your earbud and wire housing would be helpful to figure out what's wrong.
 

 
I believe I have then fully inserted. They don't click though, they just go in softly. 
Hell, I think I have a faulty pair or something cause even the grill came out, I had to pop it back in place...
 

 

 
 

 
Sorry if you can't see very clearly. I couldn't get a super close focus without it being blurry. 

 

[ricemanhk]

   
I believe I have then fully inserted. They don't click though, they just go in softly. 
Hell, I think I have a faulty pair or something cause even the grill came out, I had to pop it back in place...
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Sorry if you can't see very clearly. I couldn't get a super close focus without it being blurry. 

As I suspected, you don't have them fully inserted.  In your first pic, you see the 2 bumps (vertical in your picture), and to the left of the 2 bumps do you see a faint line that's slightly curved? That should actually line up flush with the earbud (the curve matches the earbud exactly).
 
What you've done here is only inserted the pins, but not onto the plug (the red part inside the earbud in your last picture). Most of the friction comes from the wire housing with the red "plug" inside the earbud.  It can take some effort to push it all the way through, that's why I said it's pretty dang hard to swap cables after you get them in.  
 
As for the grill coming out, some others here also had it, that's poor QC on KZ part.  If you can push it back in then that's fine, maybe can even try a dab of glue to keep them there.

 

[AplexApple]

  As I suspected, you don't have them fully inserted.  In your first pic, you see the 2 bumps (vertical in your picture), and to the left of the 2 bumps do you see a faint line that's slightly curved? That should actually line up flush with the earbud (the curve matches the earbud exactly).
 
What you've done here is only inserted the pins, but not onto the plug (the red part inside the earbud in your last picture). Most of the friction comes from the wire housing with the red "plug" inside the earbud.  It can take some effort to push it all the way through, that's why I said it's pretty dang hard to swap cables after you get them in.  
 
As for the grill coming out, some others here also had it, that's poor QC on KZ part.  If you can push it back in then that's fine, maybe can even try a dab of glue to keep them there.

Oh wow! Haha, I feel stupid. I thought it stopped right at the pins, since it didn't want to push in any farther (and because I was afraid I'd break the pins if i put my pressure on them). Just took the risk though and pushed it in with force and now it's tightly secured. 
I thought I had a faulty pair or that they were designed like this.
Thanks for helping me out! 

 

[AplexApple]

Now, I have this one little problem. The grill on the right side of the IEM. It popped out while I was switching out the ear tips. I popped it back in place for a bit but that's only a temporary fix. Is there any way I could permanently fix this?
 

 

 

[Brian Coffey]

  Now, I have this one little problem. The grill on the right side of the IEM. It popped out while I was switching out the ear tips. I popped it back in place for a bit but that's only a temporary fix. Is there any way I could permanently fix this?
 

 

A very small drop of super glue worked for me. It can be applied with the tip of a pin if necessary.

 

[loomisjohnson]

   
Like I said, the sound difference is very small, I wasn't trying to mislead anyone but there is a distinct difference between using a ZST with the silver cable and one without. I'm one of the very few people on this thread with two ZSTs and have tested this extensively for multiple days, but like I said, the difference is very very small. The silver cables are of higher quality than the stock cables, they are more comfortable to use and they very slightly tone down the harshness of the higher frequencies, that's all.
 
For the comfort upgrade and the slightly toning down of their harshness they are worth their price for me. That may not be the case for others but I don't think they should be either entirely dismissed or exaggeratedly complimented.

i also got the silver cable (which i doubt is actually silver), solely because i hate the baubles on the stock cable. i'm something of a cable skeptic, but like griffith i detected an incremental softening at the high end. i also find the volume on the silver cable to be slightly less than on the stock cable (function of impedance?)

 

[Vishal]

Kz has no durability at all..
My ed9 broke while staying in the drawer and today afternoon I was listening to the zs3 then I put it in bag
Take out in the evening and bamm right earpiece has no sound.
What happened is out of my imagination.
Not buying kz's anymore.