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Knowledge Zenith (KZ) impressions thread
Oct 21, 2017 at 7:58 PM Post #23,837 of 63,834
I'm new to the KZ world (IEMs period really), just learning about it a couple weeks ago, but reading through this thread has convinced me to give the ZS5s a try. A couple questions for you guys

1) What is the reason for people preferring v1 vs v2?

SomeGuyDude said:
The v2 thing with 2 BAs in the nozzle has everyone clamoring for the v1 as the best KZ offering.
Click to expand...

What are BAs? I got the ZS5s yesterday and would like to try to figure out which I received.

2) Do you think it is necessary to buy the silver plated replacement cable? I got one from Amazon for $11.99 and haven't gotten to test for differences yet, but I've read some saying it is a good idea.

3) What can I expect in the way of customer service from GearBest? My left ZS5 earbud crapped out this morning randomly and now the volume sounds very low. I'm definitely going to need a replacement and am a little concerned for how this is supposed to work since the company is based in China and it would take forever if I have to ship these back and then wait for a replacement once they receive the original.

4) Do you think it is a bad idea to switch cables constantly (maybe once a week)? I got the Bluetooth adapter and will probably put the ZS5s on it for the gym and yard work, but otherwise will prefer using a direct cable.
 
Oct 21, 2017 at 8:34 PM Post #23,838 of 63,834
charlescc2 said:
1) What is the reason for people preferring v1 vs v2?

What are BAs? I got the ZS5s yesterday and would like to try to figure out which I received.

2) Do you think it is necessary to buy the silver plated replacement cable? I got one from Amazon for $11.99 and haven't gotten to test for differences yet, but I've read some saying it is a good idea.

3) What can I expect in the way of customer service from GearBest? My left ZS5 earbud crapped out this morning randomly and now the volume sounds very low. I'm definitely going to need a replacement and am a little concerned for how this is supposed to work since the company is based in China and it would take forever if I have to ship these back and then wait for a replacement once they receive the original.

4) Do you think it is a bad idea to switch cables constantly (maybe once a week)? I got the Bluetooth adapter and will probably put the ZS5s on it for the gym and yard work, but otherwise will prefer using a direct cable.
Click to expand...
1) KZ have changed the arrangement of the drivers inside the newer pairs of ZS5, making a second version of it but without change it's name. At now it seem that V2 have more unbalanced highs.
BA are Balanced Armature. Between the four drivers, two are dynamic type and two are BA. If making a flashing photo of the nozzle you see two circle instead of one, it's V2.

2) Not for sound per se, but for minimize microphonics, the noise that you can feel, especially when using an IEM, touching and rubbing the cable.

3) They normally send another pair free of change, on cheaper things. Before try to contact it's customer service, make sure that the cable is plugged correctly. See Slater sign for that.

4) To me it seem a bad idea. The female plug inside them dint feel as solid to keep changing the cable. It better to just buy another pair of them, when it is on sale.
 
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Oct 21, 2017 at 8:55 PM Post #23,839 of 63,834
Superluc said:
*snip*
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. Yeah the left earbud is secure in the cable every time. The issue is reproduced with the original cable, silver plated cable, and wireless adapter. I've also tried multiple sound sources to make sure I didn't do something weird to pan the audio right in my phone's music player. Thanks for your suggestion with buying another pair to have separate wireless and wired IEMs, I think that is probably a better idea than switching repeatedly, like you said. And I guess I'll go ahead and contact GearBest to see how the RMA process will work out.

(It seems I have v2, meh)
 
Oct 21, 2017 at 9:43 PM Post #23,840 of 63,834
I keep seeing this complaint about the ZS5v2 being too hot in the treble. But I have them and they certainly are not that to my ears. If you want hot/bright treble, try the XE800 even if burned for 200 hours and used for another at least 100. I can't keep it on for more than an hour but I'm perfectly fine with the ZS5v2 for multi-hour sessions.

I may have missed it but has anyone who has both the V1 and V2 compared them directly yet ? If not its just a lot of hoo-ha over nothing. Because if the ears are treble sensitive, they are treble sensitive no matter how mildly bright the earphones are.
 
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Oct 22, 2017 at 12:38 AM Post #23,841 of 63,834
Oct 22, 2017 at 3:32 AM Post #23,843 of 63,834
I've mentioned that I have problems with the standard silicone ear tips many of these are packaged with. I was playing around tip rolling when I thought of a few I have that came with a more expensive IEM that are different from the standard tips. They're designed to take the same about 5mm nozzle but instead of having an opening that's smaller in diameter the opening on these is larger than the nozzle sleeve diameter. I'm thinking perhaps these might help me with my wear issues because of the larger opening I won't need to push the nozzle so deep in my ear to make sure I get mids and highs along with bass from a good seal. Otherwise if I don't push the nozzle deep enough into my but stop at the point where the seal is good enough for bass I don't get much other than bass. I'm guessing that the tip is shielding the nozzle opening from my ear and only when I push it deeper into my ear is the nozzle revealed. And the deep fit is very uncomfortable for me after just a few minutes. And in most cases foam tips fail to give a good enough seal for bass.

I only listened to my new KZ6 for about a half hour or so with a pair of these wide bore nozzles but it was less uncomfortable than any other tip I've tried with them. They're starting to grow on me a bit as the highs seem to be taming down.

I tried looking at AliExpress for 'wide bore silicone ear tip' and didn't find any that seemed to be what I'm looking for just the standard style and the pseudo spin-fit ones (the ones with the nozzle sleeve one color and the rest of the tip a different color but without the nozzle sleeve being able to rotate independently) so that didn't help. I'm hoping someone here can help with either a link to the style or the magic search phrase or other online source.
 
Oct 22, 2017 at 5:03 AM Post #23,846 of 63,834
charlescc2 said:
Thanks for the response. Yeah the left earbud is secure in the cable every time. The issue is reproduced with the original cable, silver plated cable, and wireless adapter. I've also tried multiple sound sources to make sure I didn't do something weird to pan the audio right in my phone's music player. Thanks for your suggestion with buying another pair to have separate wireless and wired IEMs, I think that is probably a better idea than switching repeatedly, like you said. And I guess I'll go ahead and contact GearBest to see how the RMA process will work out.

(It seems I have v2, meh)
Click to expand...
I had a faulty zs3 and they asked me the video of the problem. Then they accepted to refund.they did not ask me to ship back the faulty zs3
 
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