[kaiteck]

with Otto describing ES4 mids "really harsh"

I believe otto has a bad pair.

 

[KainHighwind]

Don`be surprised. This is KZ quality. I`m having same "whaaat?" with Otto describing ES4 mids "really harsh" which I can not tell about my ES4. Go figure.


Not only highs. Rather whole FR clarity but in case of ES4 it is minor effect.

No need. I have modded IT01 and all the impressions and reviews about ZS10 + its shape, size and price - not appealing. I rather save that money for another IT01 and mod it, or something else from 100$ price bracket.
I even got ES4 just because of low price (14$), good looks/fit and good reviews. Luckily I got good unit as seems some ppl have pretty different impressions as I do, which make me thing there are 1) different revision/batches 2) poor QC 3) totally different source gear and hearing ? Idk, and I don`t care

Yeah after all those sub $20 USD IEMs, I'm saving for IT01 now, if I didn't buy my current IEMs, I would have enough money for IT01.

 

[Slater]

Looks like KZ have released a nice KZ bluetooth adapter with much needed battery life





Looks it is supposed to have a 8 hour battery life, 2 pin angled / straight connector and MMCX connector, AptX and AAC and IPX5 waterproof rating.

*coughTRNripoffcough* haha, j/k

About time KZ updated their Bluetooth cable! MMCX version will definitely be a hit, as there’s not too many Bluetooth MMCX cables.

I do hope the design and performance is better than their previous Bluetooth cables. Those left much to be desired.

Flaky connectivity, cutting/skipping out, antenna design flaw caused poor range, susceptible to interference, huge audio lag made them impossible to use for videos, etc.

Although I never tried the Bluetooth 5.0 version; maybe they made some improvements.

Good thing I only paid $2.99 for mine.

$17 looks like a very fair price for this new cable (especially for MMCX). I wish it used something newer than Bluetooth 4.1 though. Nice to see a decent Qualcomm CSR8645 chip at least, vs the generic chingchong chip they used previously).

 

[maxxevv]

They are about US$17.40/- . But I find it strange that it states BT 4.1 AptX rather than the newest BT 5.0 standard that would have covered everything.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32891194483.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.259.4f873c00FdVigM

 

[Slater]

They are about US$17.40/- . But I find it strange that it states BT 4.1 AptX rather than the newest BT 5.0 standard that would have covered everything.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32891194483.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.259.4f873c00FdVigM

Agreed.

Despite not many products having 5.0 at the moment, it would have been able to carry the product for a few years.

I wouldn’t have developed a brand new product and used really old Bluetooth tech, but that’s just me. I know they did it because of cost. You can get CSR8645 chips for pennies because they are old tech and plentiful. If they went with the newest Bluetooth 5.0 chips, they wouldn’t have been able to do it for $17.

Heck even 4.2 would have been superior to 4.1. Both 5.0 and 4.2 have significantly higher bandwidth, lower power consumption, faster connectivity, etc.

And 5.0 is on another level. It’s literally the closest thing to hard wired, and will be a total game changer for Bluetooth audio (at least from an audiophile’s perspective).

 

[maxxevv]

And 5.0 is on another level. It’s literally the closest thing to hard wired, and will be a total game changer for Bluetooth audio (at least from an audiophile’s perspective).

I know!

I actually have a BT 5.0 audio receiver with co-axial output for connection to my desktop DAC when I'm in the mood for some ambient music streamed and controlled from my handphone. (My handphone supports AptX HD)
On 256kbps MP3 and lower stuff, the trade-off in sound quality is actually pretty hard to detect. Compression effects for FLAC and DSD do creep in though.

 

[ChaoticKinesis]

I finally received my ED16 today. I've said before the ES4 was the best KZ I've tried so far but the ED16 easily tops it. It's the first KZ hybrid that has sounded fairly neutral to me. I can go back and forth between the ED16 and T2 and, despite some differences, find them to have somewhat similar sound signatures.

 

[Rodrigo]

I finally received my ED16 today. I've said before the ES4 was the best KZ I've tried so far but the ED16 easily tops it. It's the first KZ hybrid that has sounded fairly neutral to me. I can go back and forth between the ED16 and T2 and, despite some differences, find them to have somewhat similar sound signatures.

I expect a good comparison between the ed16 and T2.

 

[hiflofi]

I find it odd that v-shaped IEMs are being considered "fairly neutral".

 

[ViperScull]

*coughTRNripoffcough* haha, j/k

About time KZ updated their Bluetooth cable! MMCX version will definitely be a hit, as there’s not too many Bluetooth MMCX cables.

I do hope the design and performance is better than their previous Bluetooth cables. Those left much to be desired.

Flaky connectivity, cutting/skipping out, antenna design flaw caused poor range, susceptible to interference, huge audio lag made them impossible to use for videos, etc.

Although I never tried the Bluetooth 5.0 version; maybe they made some improvements.

Good thing I only paid $2.99 for mine.

$17 looks like a very fair price for this new cable (especially for MMCX). I wish it used something newer than Bluetooth 4.1 though. Nice to see a decent Qualcomm CSR8645 chip at least, vs the generic chingchong chip they used previously).

I was also expecting BLE 5.0 But realistically it wouldn't have been in line with Kz's affordable prices policy. But 4.2 would have been a nice addition, and it probably would have got the same playback time with a bit of less battery size. Anyway 8 hours is not bad at all. Let's wait for the reviews because I'm interested.

 

[dhruvmeena96]

I finally received my ED16 today. I've said before the ES4 was the best KZ I've tried so far but the ED16 easily tops it. It's the first KZ hybrid that has sounded fairly neutral to me. I can go back and forth between the ED16 and T2 and, despite some differences, find them to have somewhat similar sound signatures.

I find it odd that v-shaped IEMs are being considered "fairly neutral".

I find ED16 neither flat nor V shape, I find them balanced but energetic. They sound very good albeit lack of super stage of ZSR. It sounds more of a HiFi done right.


@Slater

KZ Bluetooth cable is technically a little better because it is having EDR which improves the signal lane bandwidth. It may be better than TRN cable

 

[CoiL]

I find it odd that v-shaped IEMs are being considered "fairly neutral".

Unfortunately many cheapo chi-fi hoarders tend to do so, including myself not a long time ago, LOL. It`s all about the midrange and I doubt ED16 is actually better in that.

I find ED16 neither flat nor V shape, I find them balanced but energetic. They sound very good albeit lack of super stage of ZSR. It sounds more of a HiFi done right.

So, in Your subjective opinon, ED16 is better than ES4?

 

[dhruvmeena96]

Unfortunately many cheapo chi-fi hoarders tend to do so, including myself not a long time ago, LOL. It`s all about the midrange and I doubt ED16 is actually better in that.

So, in Your subjective opinon, ED16 is better than ES4?

It depends. Sort of, but I think it is a direct comparison to ZSA and is way better.

Well, I researched something and found ED16 is actually not a part of ED series but ZS Series. It is ZS7.

ZS series is KZ flagship, also can be called as Z studio.

ES is known as Eco studio

ED is known as Eco Director.

And blah blah....my info can be wrong but I read it somewhere.

ED16 sounds something between ZSA and ZSR, it has treble like ZSA but is bassier and has weight in vocals which in comparison to ZSA, gives it a nice depth and body. You can say a pro oriented ZSR. It is more like open field and not like room diffuse field(its different from diffuse field) ZSR. So it won't have that reverb and stage but is very tight in control.

ES4 is not a successor of ZST, but ES4. It is same as ES3 bass but controlled and don't boom. Treble was cut off and tuned to a good level. ZST was less bass heavy than ES3 and little more lit.

Sony like comparison for easy discerning as you would get review and comparison of Sony easily.. It applies on these too(don't take sound signature in matter, the differences between these headphone and IEM is just the same, for eg mdr7506 was bass light v6 whereas cd900st treble peak was lowered compared to v6)

ZST- mdr7506
ES3- MDR v6
ES4- cd900st

ED16 is very different from the bunch

 

[Zlivan]

who would've thought with that "zs7" writing on the shells...

 

[ChaoticKinesis]

I find it odd that v-shaped IEMs are being considered "fairly neutral".

Except they're not v-shaped in the way that most KZ hybrids are, nor was the ZSR. They don't have the large peaks in upper-mids/treble. They may exhibit a bit of a warmer tone because the FR has a slight downward slope, but that largely depends on the interaction between the listener's ear and the bass vents. In my case, the ZSR sounds bloated, while the ED16 does not at all. Relative to the lows and highs, the mids are not recessed. Therefore, calling it v-shaped would not be accurate.

If you were to listen to the ED16 and compare with other IEMs that are v-shaped/neutral, it becomes pretty obvious where they stand.