After Three Days With The KZ ZS10...Yet Another Zombie Earphone From KZ
...and using it over extended periods of time with different equipment...
How can it be characterized...everything in the following is my opinion and therefore subjective: The ZS10 has
very good resolution, a thick lower end and recessed mids with fine treble.
How does it compare to other recent KZ multidrivers: the ZS10 is essentially a marginally better resolving
ZSR with a similar bass but more distant mids and no sibilance or overdone treble. It has a thicker bass compared to the
ZS5 v1 but similarly recessed mids, albeit not hollow or nasal sounding. And, just like the ZSR, the ZS10 bear little resemble to the more analytical
ZS6.
These statements are testable! Your turn...
Who needs the ZS10: Anybody who likes the design/looks, collects KZ iems, is half deaf, and who doesn't own all the latest KZs. If you have the ZSR, you should at least catch a few more reviews and educated opinions before spending your money.
Other opinions: I have only read the glaring review at the phonograph.net. They don't state their source (forgive me if I can't find it), between the lines you read that they use a FiiO E12 Montblanc amp...which makes for a different listening experience compared to a phone alone (I have this amp, too). Their review is full of emotion (hype, praise) from the beginning, that is the observation part...which is not acceptable. Considering all the ads on their site, I suspect they have a conflict of interest. According to the phonograph, the ZS10 is the best thing since the slice of bread. I would be cautious.
Why am I so critical: KZ has been baiting us suckers with tons of recent new earphones by increasing the number of drivers as buying incentive. I have all of them. Bottom line is that the number of their Bellsing drivers is is not correlated with listening pleasure. Many of us will prefer the tonality of the "lower-end" ZSR.
Why won't the ZS10 be my daily drivers: the combination of thick bass and thin mids is not appealing to my hearing.
What role will the ZS10 have in my collection: it will go into my big graveyard of half-baked KZ multidrivers as another zombie earphone (KS3, ZST, ES3), as yet another example how KZ didn't see the forest for the trees. Considering that they can't get better mids out of 5 drivers shows me that they still have much thinking to do. In the meantime, I get "more" music out of my single-driver $60 Fidue A65 earphone.
Which KZ earphones do I actually use on a regular basis: ZSR, HDS1/3, EDR1/2...the rest I rather look at and think back what good deals they were.
P.S. A general word on in ear monitors: The Edge of U2 uses a single-driver iem and Beyonce uses a 12-driver iem. Go figure...