[vector84]

I kept the memory wire, still undecided if I like it or not yet.

Many people (myself included) have reported having enormous difficulties getting a good fit with the memory wire in place... but if it's your thing, some people also really love it.

I left it in the office to continue to "burn". I'll check tomorrow and let you all know.
If leaving it open will make it sound better, I don't mind. Since I only plan to use it for my laptop at home and office, so it should be fine...or so I think =P

My understanding is that stainless steel screens are about as close to acoustically transparent as you can get while retaining the safety that a screen offers.

There might be some subtle differences between the pair I have with a screen and the ones without, but realistically in the process of testing contact with the BAs, I just destroyed the screens I have to the point that I don't really feel comfortable leaving them pressure fitted in there and putting them in my ears for extended periods - nor do I want to glue them in place again...

 

[eaglesgift]

They are not for me but that in itself would prevent me from buying them. Personal bias against riding coattails. Please don't argue that that's not what this is. A buyer may not get confused but the wearer might get some Campfire street cred and it certainly isn't happenchance. It's a very unique shape and something Campfire did to set themselves apart. Makes the KZ design that much more disappointing to me.

If other people are sad enough to think that certain brands of earphones give one credibility then I'm more disappointed in the human race than I am in KZ.

 

[themindfreak]

After reading a lot of folks saying ZS5 is good, I went ahead and purchase one from GB and it took more than 1.5 months (> 25 business days) to arrive.

Finally got it last week and my first impression was "meeeh", I don't like how the highs are as vlads said "shrill and tiny". I tested it with acid jazz as it has highs mids and lows for me to test, the sax is actually hurting my ears. Tried other instrumentals and noticed synths, violins are hurting my ears. Tried rock, pop; mids are fine but highs are still pronounced. Thinking bass might be good as a lot of folks are saying, tried hip hop, r&b and i feel the bass is lacking. Tried EDMs (dubs and traps) and bass is not that great. I burned them in for 48 hrs and it's still the same. Tried different tips, comply, sony's silicon and hybrid, UE's silicon, ribbed/triple flange, and so far the sony's silicon are the one that sounded better for me, but it doesn't stay well, unless I don't move at all. I'll give it a few more days to test but I might end up just giving it away to my colleague who doesn't care much and think apple's earbuds are the best.

... I wonder if I got the v2 that you guys are talking about, wherein both BA are in the nozzle.

People say removing the screen will sound better, but after you remove the screen, what material do you use to cover it?

Yea the ZS5 have that energetic fun and hyper sound to them. It gets really piercing to me as well if I listen to them too loudly.

 

[AudioAw2015]

After reading a lot of folks saying ZS5 is good, I went ahead and purchase one from GB and it took more than 1.5 months (> 25 business days) to arrive.

Finally got it last week and my first impression was "meeeh", I don't like how the highs are as vlads said "shrill and tiny". I tested it with acid jazz as it has highs mids and lows for me to test, the sax is actually hurting my ears. Tried other instrumentals and noticed synths, violins are hurting my ears. Tried rock, pop; mids are fine but highs are still pronounced. Thinking bass might be good as a lot of folks are saying, tried hip hop, r&b and i feel the bass is lacking. Tried EDMs (dubs and traps) and bass is not that great. I burned them in for 48 hrs and it's still the same. Tried different tips, comply, sony's silicon and hybrid, UE's silicon, ribbed/triple flange, and so far the sony's silicon are the one that sounded better for me, but it doesn't stay well, unless I don't move at all. I'll give it a few more days to test but I might end up just giving it away to my colleague who doesn't care much and think apple's earbuds are the best.

... I wonder if I got the v2 that you guys are talking about, wherein both BA are in the nozzle.

People say removing the screen will sound better, but after you remove the screen, what material do you use to cover it?

Just curious, what source are you using? From my experience the ZS5 doesn't play well with alot of devices which makes for a tricky pairing.

As for the treble, there's no denying that it is brightly tuned, but I wouldn't call them shrill since there's actually not much energy between 4-8khz where silibance is the most apparent. I do agree with it sounding tiny though because there is a sharp boost around 10-12khz. Of course, everyone's ears are different so I can only really say this for myself.

What I suggest is pairing it to a source with a neutral mid and bottom end but smooth treble like the later generation iDevices. For tips, I suggest medium sized soft silicone tips. The sony hybrid tips you mentioned works well because they tame treble really well, but they also tend to push the mids back.

 

[maxxevv]

Yes agreed, KZ earphones seem to be source sensitive.

That's my experience with the ZSE. Its a slightly warm sound, so if paired with a slightly warm/dark source it can sound dull. Its sparkle comes on with a neutral, slightly bright source.

Comparatively, my other earphones like the Urbanfan Hifi and the CI880 don't seem to be so strongly affected by the source, though still marginally.

The ZS5 has a slightly bright sound on the treble end from what I have tried. So, may need a comparatively warm source to bring out its best.

 

[Viber]

After reading a lot of folks saying ZS5 is good, I went ahead and purchase one from GB and it took more than 1.5 months (> 25 business days) to arrive.

Finally got it last week and my first impression was "meeeh", I don't like how the highs are as vlads said "shrill and tiny". I tested it with acid jazz as it has highs mids and lows for me to test, the sax is actually hurting my ears. Tried other instrumentals and noticed synths, violins are hurting my ears. Tried rock, pop; mids are fine but highs are still pronounced. Thinking bass might be good as a lot of folks are saying, tried hip hop, r&b and i feel the bass is lacking. Tried EDMs (dubs and traps) and bass is not that great. I burned them in for 48 hrs and it's still the same. Tried different tips, comply, sony's silicon and hybrid, UE's silicon, ribbed/triple flange, and so far the sony's silicon are the one that sounded better for me, but it doesn't stay well, unless I don't move at all. I'll give it a few more days to test but I might end up just giving it away to my colleague who doesn't care much and think apple's earbuds are the best.

... I wonder if I got the v2 that you guys are talking about, wherein both BA are in the nozzle.

People say removing the screen will sound better, but after you remove the screen, what material do you use to cover it?

You are a good candidate for my mod:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kno...essions-thread.698148/page-1411#post-13715111

Try it before you get rid of them.

 

[goodvibes]

If other people are sad enough to think that certain brands of earphones give one credibility then I'm more disappointed in the human race than I am in KZ.

Then you must be extremely disappointed in KZ. Instead of defending the practice of knocking off other's work, how about acknowledging it's improper before the rationalizations. Something there is no question about. It's a simple matter of right and wrong. One can feel it's not a big deal, buy them and enjoy them and I'm fine with that but defending the ripped off aspects of the device is questionable. If it didn't affect one Campfire sale, it would still be wrong.

 

[Superluc]

@tamsaiming2003: is this the copper cable you have ?

 

[Mellowship]

If other people are sad enough to think that certain brands of earphones give one credibility then I'm more disappointed in the human race than I am in KZ.

Don't be disappointed. "Bose"d on my experience, all human hearts have the same "Beats".

 

[Griffith]

Don't be disappointed. "Bose"d on my experience, all human hearts have the same "Beats".

That was painful to read.

 

[Holypal]

The new cable looks very nice. Hope it can be cheaper.
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...de-Cable-for-kz-ED12/2661118_32833103008.html

 

[vladstef]

The new cable looks very nice. Hope it can be cheaper.
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...de-Cable-for-kz-ED12/2661118_32833103008.html

I suspect it will end up being similar to ZS5 and its silver upgrade cable, they will be bundled and cost only a few $ more than without that cable. Plus the regular price drop that everyone expects with ZS6, I bet you will be able to get this cable with ZS6 for around 30$ in about a month.

 

[eaglesgift]

Then you must be extremely disappointed in KZ. Instead of defending the practice of knocking off other's work, how about acknowledging it's improper before the rationalizations. Something there is no question about. It's a simple matter of right and wrong. One can feel it's not a big deal, buy them and enjoy them and I'm fine with that but defending the ripped off aspects of the device questions one's moral compass. If it didn't affect one Campfire sale, it would still be wrong.

Why should it affect one Campfire sale, as you claimed previously? Are you seriously suggesting that someone who was planning to spend over $1,000 on an IEM would take one look at the ZS5 and say, "Hang on a minute, why don't I buy these for $17 instead, they're bound to be as good and I'll save myself a fortune"?

I'm not defending anything. I'd never even heard of Campfire until I saw posts about them on this thread. They're completely irrelevant to me because I will never spend $1,000 on IEMs. For me personally, that's a ridiculous amount of cash to hand over for a pair of earphones, regardless of how much money I may have.

For you, spending $1,000 on one pair of earphones may be entirely reasonable and I have no argument with that but please don't talk about moral compasses and right and wrong in such a grandiose manner when we're discussing something as trivial as this.

 

[Superluc]

The new cable looks very nice. Hope it can be cheaper.

Form the link i have posted before is cheaper.

 

[vladstef]

Why should it affect one Campfire sale, as you claimed previously? Are you seriously suggesting that someone who was planning to spend over $1,000 on an IEM would take one look at the ZS5 and say, "Hang on a minute, why don't I buy these for $17 instead, they're bound to be as good and I'll save myself a fortune"?

I'm not defending anything. I'd never even heard of Campfire until I saw posts about them on this thread. They're completely irrelevant to me because I will never spend $1,000 on IEMs. For me personally, that's a ridiculous amount of cash to hand over for a pair of earphones, regardless of how much money I may have.

For you, spending $1,000 on one pair of earphones may be entirely reasonable and I have no argument with that but please don't talk about moral compasses and right and wrong in such a grandiose manner when we're discussing something as trivial as this.

Yea, everything you said is true. The problem is, this is not a proper defense, this is an attempt to justify KZ's decisions, like it absolutely doesn't matter that they blatantly copied something. There is no justification for that, it's bad plain and simple.
This doesn't mean that everyone who buys KZ's IEMs is morally wrong, many people won't even know about Campfire as you have said, and even people who know about Campfire could buy KZ's ZS5 or ZS6 without feeling like it's wrong, if you have the budget for it and it is a good value, by all means, help yourself and don't feel the shame because it was worth it to you. It is terrible not to admit that what they've done is wrong.

Point being, no one is blaming anyone for purchasing a KZ product, just don't try to defend KZ for something that is clearly shameful, admit it and recognize that it's terrible because that's the humane thing to do regardless of how much Campfire is charging for their stuff. Diving into this other big question of whether it's morally correct to charge thousands of dollars for something that clearly costs way less to manufacture is completely irrelevant. It's also irrelevant talking about whether KZ's decisions could effect Campfire, it would be a greater problem if they did, but it doesn't reduce the mistake because it doesn't have an effect on Campfire.