[HungryPanda]

Get your KZ bass on

 

[Fahim Foysal]

Yeah, I am gonna go on a tangent here and say that all these "flagships" are overspecced for people like me who just text/call, watch YouTube and surf the web. Something like a Redmi 5 makes more sense. I actually rocked an $80 smartphone for 1 year. It was OK for the most part, but it sucked for image heavy sites and was pretty sluggish at times. You don't need a leaf blower to dry your hair LOL.

Yeah there are plenty of good midrangers with great camera. Anything with a snapdragon 625 is enough power for most users. I personally prefer 'overspeced' phones with decent software.

Well I just opened them up and plugged them into my Opus 1 and I’m not at all getting the treble cannon. I have the zs5 v1 and they sound quite similar to me. The zs6 seems to have tighter bass and seems to be a little clearer. The real test will be when I hook them to my Cayin n3. The 4490 dac is Notorious for being V shaped. At least to me.

This whole thing seems quite confusing. I know we all hear things differently but boosted high frequencies should be annoying to all of us. I am confused whether the zs6 bering treble canon has something to do with personal preference or differences in production units. Any way that you can provide some measurements?

Economies of scale and consumer preference?

If you're only going to attract 1/10th of the number of potential sales because most consumers favor a more V shaped sound, you're going to have to spend 10 times as much per unit to get the same return on investment.


I considered putting a whole lengthy diatribe here, but really if you want something that sounds like your favorite studio monitor, you're going to need to shop around until you hear something that... sounds like your favorite studio monitor... because we hear with our ears.

Have we completely derailed this train yet?

I don't think the general population hate reference tuning. The were just shoved deep v shaped sound signatures by companies. I have got friends who did start complaining about the lack of mids in earphones even though they didn't listen to good earphones before. I would consider the apple earpods to be neutral with a brightish tint but people did like them, although I found them bass lacking and uncomfortable.

@Fahim Foysal

I feel like that bit above comes of moderately harsh. I'm obviously pretty interested in the mechanics of hearing myself, and I'm certainly not trying to dissuade you from exploring the subject but I feel like you're overthinking your experience a bit and you should take a bit more notice of what you hear, instead of what you think you should hear

An enormous amount of information has been shared in this thread and it can be pretty daunting but like, you shared your experiences only very briefly with the ZS5 so it's really pretty hard to figure out what else you might be looking for.


You've got some ZS6s on the way right? If you're dissatisfied with the ZS5s, why not take them to task with some simple changes?

You mentioned you feel they're particularly lacking in bass, so how does taping the vents treat your experience?
You mentioned some over expression of some frequencies - there's plenty of graphs floating around to give you a general idea of where peaks might lie. What has your experience been like toying with some EQ to bring them in line?
Have you tried some cheap foam tips? How do those treat your experience with the highs?
Tip rolling in general?
Source matching? What's your experiences with sources been like?
Cables? I still feel like this should go at the bottom of the list but?

And then with a better handle on where you might want to make changes, if you feel like it, you can get more drastic or semi-permanent with, for example, things that Viber and Slater have gone into in depth relating to various damping setups.


Maybe you'll find a setup you like, maybe you'll just come away with more information to understand better what you want to hear, either way you come out ahead.

And not really related to this thread so much but I believe you mentioned the Xiaomi Pro HD... tape? tips? Why didn't you like them compared to the ZS5 or w/e else you can compare them to, etc.

My source is a xiaomi mi5 and my laptop. I have tried eqing using graphs but haven't had much luck. I think I need to make a graph out of my own unit and only then I would be able to fully understand what is going on. I think I might have issues with my unit. I got a friend nearby who will receive his zs5 sometime within the next 20 days and only then I will be able to fully understand whether it is an issue with my unit only. About trying foam; my foams are on the way along with the zs6. I purchased them from gb on the 1st of this month. They still haven't shipped them out ._.
Comparing the pro HD and zs5, they both are very detailed but as I mentioned, my zs5 tend to play some upper notes with greater emphasis. The pro HDs are a tad more bright overall. I would say both of these have fast and neutral bass but I don't hear the audible rumble that I crave with either of these. I prefer thump and rumble to my lower end without it drowning or overshadowing the other frequencies. The pro HDs have a slightly more pronounced v shape.

 

[vector84]

My source is a xiaomi mi5 and my laptop. I have tried eqing using graphs but haven't had much luck. I think I need to make a graph out of my own unit and only then I would be able to fully understand what is going on.

A worthwhile pursuit, as someone else pointed out a few pages back you might also want to try shooting for something more like a Harman curve and see how that treats you... Though I admit I found physical modifications to the ZS5 more satisfying than EQ personally

I think I might have issues with my unit. I got a friend nearby who will receive his zs5 sometime within the next 20 days and only then I will be able to fully understand whether it is an issue with my unit only.

Can't deny some QC issues, so it's possible, though many of the problems are relatively fixable.

About trying foam; my foams are on the way along with the zs6. I purchased them from gb on the 1st of this month. They still haven't shipped them out ._.
Comparing the pro HD and zs5, they both are very detailed but as I mentioned, my zs5 tend to play some upper notes with greater emphasis. The pro HDs are a tad more bright overall. I would say both of these have fast and neutral bass but I don't hear the audible rumble that I crave with either of these. I prefer thump and rumble to my lower end without it drowning or overshadowing the other frequencies. The pro HDs have a slightly more pronounced v shape.

How has taping the vents treated you? If you haven't tried you definitely should.

 

[jaydm99]

It might. But nobody knows for sure until he/she has tried it. Which is why I suggested to not sand in case you do a irreversible modification and regret it.
I haven't done it myself but that's on the horizon when I have some spare time over a weekend or something as there is more than 1 hotspot on the ears when I wear the ZS5 for extended periods of over an hour.

Plastidip is completely reversible. It's a peepable paint so I might end up trying it soon.

 

[maxxevv]

Yes, I'm aware of Plastidip. What I was referring to was the acoustics being affected part. I have not tried it on an earphone myself, so don't know how it might or might not affect its sound.
Do share your results if you do!

I'll probably go the route of epoxy resin / putty when I get down to doing it as I do have some lying around at the workshop at work.

 

[BurningSkies]

I dunno man. I wore my ZS6's for over 2 hours on stage, and beyond adjusting my main levels (they appear to lack some sensitivity compared to the ZSTs), I didn't find them overly bright or have any serious fatigue from them. I rode just as much hi-hat in my mix as I ever do.

 

[sghound]

I think I said it and was referring more to poor source material than to the player itself. Poorly recorded or mastered tracks are going to produce poor results. Some headphones are more forgiving than others of these mistakes. The Zs6 is not particularly forgiving of poor source material.

x 10

 

[dbaker1981]

I’m listening to the zs6 on my dx200 right now. They are very clear and detailed. But I’m starting to grab just a little bit of semblance. It’s not much but is noticeable.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I'm starting to think I'd gotten too used to the blunted ZS5v1 haha.

 

[groucho69]

I’m listening to the zs6 on my dx200 right now. They are very clear and detailed. But I’m starting to grab just a little bit of semblance. It’s not much but is noticeable.

Semblance?

 

[dbaker1981]

Semblance?

Not sure if I’m spelling it right. Just a little bit of that sss sound on certain songs. It might have to do with the recording more than the iems.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Semblance?

I believe they meant sibilance.

 

[mbwilson111]

sibilance

 

[dbaker1981]

I believe they meant sibilance.

Yea I was using voice dictation and that’s the way my iPhone spelled it. Lol

 

[mbwilson111]

Yea I was using voice dictation and that’s the way my iPhone spelled it. Lol

I have seen some very strange results from that.