[ReBreaker]

Hi fellow Head-fiers,

This is my very first post here, but I am lurking in the KZ thread for more than a year hence I have collected some of the chi-fi iems like ATE, ZN1 mini, ED9, ED3c Acme, EDR1 & 2 and reviews of the ZS5 convinced me to get them from GB. It has been a while since I have ordered them, so I got v.1 with 1BA in the nozzle.

After +100 hours of the listening to the ZS5 (just a little burn-in, but I am not a true believer if u know what I mean) I have started to notify that it produces some kind of bloated bass without force of bass drum and also recessed mids with unnatural (maybe holographic is the right word) vocals. So a started to think that I have to give them away. The decision was made after one night - I am going to open it (grills, backs everything…). The one BA in the nozzle was closer to the grill on the left side than on the another side. No big deal since it wasn’t in contact with the grill. Anyway… I opened up backs and removed the inside tape (which preventing a socket contact with a smaller DD) mainly because it prevents driver from proper “breathe” in my case. Then I desoldered wires from the socket and soldered it back with use of heat shrink tubing. Inspirited by the ZS6 back vents I drilled backs from the ZS5 and used 3M car foil from the drawer on the flat area of the backs. Then glued tuning foam from VE Monks+ to inside of the backs and voilà ZS5 v1 modded.

Hearing test & some thoughts…

Mids are no longer recessed with more natural female vocals and also bass really kicks in with a precise of a hammer. The bass is definitely not overwhelming and bloated as before. The DDs needed to breathe properly, but unfortunately the shell was almost sealed off in the original design. Long story short the modded ZS5 v.1 produces nice open sound with better mids and more precise bass with higher dynamics as it supposed to.

Btw. In my modest opinion the mod itself can almost vanish the potential sound differences between ZS5 and ZS6. Metal shell could change sound purity but who knows… Time and reviews will tell… Cheers

Edit: links

 

[TimeSnow]

Hi fellow Head-fiers,

This is my very first post here, but I am lurking in the KZ thread for more than a year hence I have collected some of the chi-fi iems like ATE, ZN1 mini, ED9, ED3c Acme, EDR1 & 2 and reviews of the ZS5 convinced me to get them from GB. It has been a while since I have ordered them, so I got v.1 with 1BA in the nozzle.

After +100 hours of the listening to the ZS5 (just a little burn-in, but I am not a true believer if u know what I mean) I have started to notify that it produces some kind of bloated bass without force of bass drum and also recessed mids with unnatural (maybe holographic is the right word) vocals. So a started to think that I have to give them away. The decision was made after one night - I am going to open it (grills, backs everything…). The one BA in the nozzle was closer to the grill on the left side than on the another side. No big deal since it wasn’t in contact with the grill. Anyway… I opened up backs and removed the inside tape (which preventing a socket contact with a smaller DD) mainly because it prevents driver from proper “breathe” in my case. Then I desoldered wires from the socket and soldered it back with use of heat shrink tubing. Inspirited by the ZS6 back vents I drilled backs from the ZS5 and used 3M car foil from the drawer on the flat area of the backs. Then glued tuning foam from VE Monks+ to inside of the backs and voilà ZS5 v1 modded.

Hearing test & some thoughts…

Mids are no longer recessed with more natural female vocals and also bass really kicks in with a precise of a hammer. The bass is definitely not overwhelming and bloated as before. The DDs needed to breathe properly, but unfortunately the shell was almost sealed off in the original design. Long story short the modded ZS5 v.1 produces nice open sound with better mids and more precise bass with higher dynamics as it supposed to.

Btw. In my modest opinion the mod itself can almost vanish the potential sound differences between ZS5 and ZS6. Metal shell could change sound purity but who knows… Time and reviews will tell… Cheers

The images don't load for me...?

Sounds ingenious though!

 

[CoiL]

They are source sensitive. Generally, it seems that if you have a clean source with plenty of driving power, they sound better.

Some people are listening to them with less than stellar sources and coupled with their sometime inconsistent quality control, it makes for some pretty varied responses to them it seems.

Totally agree! Lot of times ppl reviewing items forgot to mention their sources etc.

Just picked up my KZ Ate from the post office and man - they sound AWFUL! No bass or mids whatsoever, only some very sharp highs.

Tried them on my iPhone 6s where my Rock Zircon and Einsear T2 perform wonderfully!

Is there some easy newbie-mistakes I might be making with these? The fit snugly and everything

Definitely faulty unit! ATE should have great mids and bass.

 

[ReBreaker]

The images don't load for me...?

Sounds ingenious though!

Well, on PC it looks ok, but on android it shows somethin with premium (never used photobucket before so...) Anyway I edited the post and added a link to my library on photobucket

 

[TimeSnow]

Well, on PC it looks ok, but on android it shows somethin with premium (never used photobucket before so...) Anyway I edited the post and added a link to my library on photobucket

Sorry to say but it still doesn't work...

You should try Imgur!

https://imgur.com/

Free, utterly simple, and fast.

 

[Fox2twenty]

Hi fellow Head-fiers,

This is my very first post here, but I am lurking in the KZ thread for more than a year hence I have collected some of the chi-fi iems like ATE, ZN1 mini, ED9, ED3c Acme, EDR1 & 2 and reviews of the ZS5 convinced me to get them from GB. It has been a while since I have ordered them, so I got v.1 with 1BA in the nozzle.

After +100 hours of the listening to the ZS5 (just a little burn-in, but I am not a true believer if u know what I mean) I have started to notify that it produces some kind of bloated bass without force of bass drum and also recessed mids with unnatural (maybe holographic is the right word) vocals. So a started to think that I have to give them away. The decision was made after one night - I am going to open it (grills, backs everything…). The one BA in the nozzle was closer to the grill on the left side than on the another side. No big deal since it wasn’t in contact with the grill. Anyway… I opened up backs and removed the inside tape (which preventing a socket contact with a smaller DD) mainly because it prevents driver from proper “breathe” in my case. Then I desoldered wires from the socket and soldered it back with use of heat shrink tubing. Inspirited by the ZS6 back vents I drilled backs from the ZS5 and used 3M car foil from the drawer on the flat area of the backs. Then glued tuning foam from VE Monks+ to inside of the backs and voilà ZS5 v1 modded.

Hearing test & some thoughts…

Mids are no longer recessed with more natural female vocals and also bass really kicks in with a precise of a hammer. The bass is definitely not overwhelming and bloated as before. The DDs needed to breathe properly, but unfortunately the shell was almost sealed off in the original design. Long story short the modded ZS5 v.1 produces nice open sound with better mids and more precise bass with higher dynamics as it supposed to.

Btw. In my modest opinion the mod itself can almost vanish the potential sound differences between ZS5 and ZS6. Metal shell could change sound purity but who knows… Time and reviews will tell… Cheers

Edit: Shared link to album on photobucket:
http://s50.photobucket.com/user/ReBreaker_CZ/library/

This sounds great. Wish I could see the photos.

 

[eaglesgift]

Well, on PC it looks ok, but on android it shows somethin with premium (never used photobucket before so...) Anyway I edited the post and added a link to my library on photobucket

Photobucket doesn't offer embedded links for free any more. You have to pay for an upgrade to use it like that now.

 

[nexvid]

I have pair of kz zs6, Im a bit late to the KZ party. After buying a pair of zs5 that had a problem with a rattling driver in the left piece I asked to have them changed for the zs6. I'm liking them so far, I can say that they are pretty well balanced only if the fitting is tight, if its a bit loose the mid lows just go away and they become the famous "highs cannon" people talk about. Any questions about them? The problem I had with the sz5 was very subtle specially in a song from Queens of the stone age, the fuzz solo in burn the witch just made the left piece rattle like crazy. The sz6 are completely fine there. BTW I got a preoder special with a "golden" cable the have angled connectors in the IEMs, they have longer legs and sit flush to the pieces, they don't "go in." The cable I think made an audible difference and compared to the silver cable feels a bit more "premium." Still i would have prefered metal connectors and metal plugs. but for 300rm (about 45usd) Ill say I'm pretty satisfied.

 

[Sylmar]

Got the ES3. Soundwise these seem fine but the shape creates a hotspot in my ear as soon as I use them. Seems I need to be more aware of sizes and shapes of IEMs before I buy them.

 

[Toretoshark]

Thanks again, it's easy to make it better to avoid mistakes....

 

[Fox2twenty]

Got the ES3. Soundwise these seem fine but the shape creates a hotspot in my ear as soon as I use them. Seems I need to be more aware of sizes and shapes of IEMs before I buy them.

Interesting, I get hot spots with ZS5.. I can lay on my side work ES3.

 

[ReBreaker]

Sorry to say but it still doesn't work...

You should try Imgur!

https://imgur.com/

Free, utterly simple, and fast.

It's working now Thanks man!

This sounds great. Wish I could see the photos.

I uploaded the pics to imgur and edited the post, so you should can see it (at least I hope so )

 

[Fox2twenty]

Hi fellow Head-fiers,

This is my very first post here, but I am lurking in the KZ thread for more than a year hence I have collected some of the chi-fi iems like ATE, ZN1 mini, ED9, ED3c Acme, EDR1 & 2 and reviews of the ZS5 convinced me to get them from GB. It has been a while since I have ordered them, so I got v.1 with 1BA in the nozzle.

After +100 hours of the listening to the ZS5 (just a little burn-in, but I am not a true believer if u know what I mean) I have started to notify that it produces some kind of bloated bass without force of bass drum and also recessed mids with unnatural (maybe holographic is the right word) vocals. So a started to think that I have to give them away. The decision was made after one night - I am going to open it (grills, backs everything…). The one BA in the nozzle was closer to the grill on the left side than on the another side. No big deal since it wasn’t in contact with the grill. Anyway… I opened up backs and removed the inside tape (which preventing a socket contact with a smaller DD) mainly because it prevents driver from proper “breathe” in my case. Then I desoldered wires from the socket and soldered it back with use of heat shrink tubing. Inspirited by the ZS6 back vents I drilled backs from the ZS5 and used 3M car foil from the drawer on the flat area of the backs. Then glued tuning foam from VE Monks+ to inside of the backs and voilà ZS5 v1 modded.

Hearing test & some thoughts…

Mids are no longer recessed with more natural female vocals and also bass really kicks in with a precise of a hammer. The bass is definitely not overwhelming and bloated as before. The DDs needed to breathe properly, but unfortunately the shell was almost sealed off in the original design. Long story short the modded ZS5 v.1 produces nice open sound with better mids and more precise bass with higher dynamics as it supposed to.

Btw. In my modest opinion the mod itself can almost vanish the potential sound differences between ZS5 and ZS6. Metal shell could change sound purity but who knows… Time and reviews will tell… Cheers

Edit: links

Yay looks amazing.. I wanna try!

 

[TimeSnow]

It's working now Thanks man!

Glad to help!

And that's a really nice job! Impressive!

 

[Fox2twenty]

Glad to help!

And that's a really nice job! Impressive!

It's like he doesn't even need Zs6.