[mbwilson111]

Wow that cable looks higher quality than the one included with the iBasso IT03's! Maybe it's not oxygen free copper with nitrogen packed unobtanium coating by young german frauleins like people claim the IT03 cable is?

It is not as soft and luxurious as the cable that came with my iBasso IT01. That is the best stock cable that I have.

 

[Clinic]

Good move

I have the black TRN cable on my carbon color ZST. The newer models from ZST come with a much nicer cable..no longer shipping with the rubbery one.

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...-For-TRN-V10-TRN-V20/1727211_32868588210.html

Oh, nice. I tend to lean towards the sentiment of @khighly when it comes to cables. All I'm looking for is quality, comfort, and look. The cable you linked looks like it fits the bill perfectly. Maybe I'll check it out the next time I'm ready to stomach a month and a half of shipping.

 

[mbwilson111]

A month and a half? We usually get our things in two weeks or less. Once in a while something takes forever. Maybe shipping to the UK is faster.

The fastest from aliexpress has been 5 days! Free shipping.

 

[phower]

Is Bluetooth AptX HD a thing yet? Are there any good bluetooth AptX HD cables for these 0.75mm connectors or MMCX?

Don't put too much into Bluetooth codecs. Support for them is not universal yet. It is also not easy to figure out what codec is being actively used unless you trace the Bluetooth protocol messages. Not something an average user can do or should be doing.
For example, LDAC gets disabled by my Android phone when I connect a Sony speaker which supports LDAC. I spent a few hours looking at the protocol messages and then gave up. A consumer shouldn't be doing all this investigations.

 

[Clinic]

A month and a half? We usually get our things in two weeks or less. Once in a while something takes forever. Maybe shipping to the UK is faster.

The fastest from aliexpress has been 5 days! Free shipping.

I ordered on 9/16, and it is on the boat currently. I'm hoping they come in the next week because I have some business travel and I'd rather have new toys to play with than be stuck with my 425's. I'm optimistic, but also a realist. I've been spoiled by Amazon for too long.

 

[antdroid]

Don't put too much into Bluetooth codecs. Support for them is not universal yet. It is also not easy to figure out what codec is being actively used unless you trace the Bluetooth protocol messages. Not something an average user can do or should be doing.
For example, LDAC gets disabled by my Android phone when I connect a Sony speaker which supports LDAC. I spent a few hours looking at the protocol messages and then gave up. A consumer shouldn't be doing all this investigations.

Newest versions of android have a checkboxes in the Bluetooth settings for codecs. For example, when I look at my ES100 settings in android, it has a switch for “HD Audio” which is enabled by default.

You also can enable advanced Bluetooth controls in the dev menu.

 

[mbwilson111]

I ordered on 9/16, and it is on the boat currently. I'm hoping they come in the next week because I have some business travel and I'd rather have new toys to play with than be stuck with my 425's. I'm optimistic, but also a realist. I've been spoiled by Amazon for too long.

I highly doubt it is on a boat Sometimes not much shows in tracking and then they suddenly show up.

 

[SuperLuigi]

That's how I got to be so enthusiastic about the EDR1. For under $3, its built link a tank (if you get the version without mic). It has the bassy v shaped sound that most kids love. And when they destroy it you are only out a few dollars.

Any reason why the one without a mic is better for durability?

 

[ssnjrthgr8]

Newest versions of android have a checkboxes in the Bluetooth settings for codecs. For example, when I look at my ES100 settings in android, it has a switch for “HD Audio” which is enabled by default.

You also can enable advanced Bluetooth controls in the dev menu.

Android Oreo and above has an option to force LDAC or AptX whenever it's supported, in the developer options

 

[Slater]

Any reason why the one without a mic is better for durability?

Cables with mics are an extra 2 points of failure (1 on each side of the control module).

The insulation and wire is physically cut and tiny wires barely larger than a human hair are soldered to a small circuit board. Every time the wire is bent, tugged, coiled up, taken in and out, etc is more wear and tear on the fragile solder joints. All it takes is 1 (out of the 4 solder joints) to come loose, and the whole cable is “bad” and won’t work anymore.

Think of it this way. A rope is made up of tiny individual strands. Which of these 2 would you trust to tow a car up a hilly road, every day for 1 year, without failing?

1. A rope that is continuous and unbroken
2. A rope that has been completely cut in 2, and then individual strands have been glued back together.

And of the above 2 ropes, when it fails, where do you think the rope will break?

Also, sweat and moisture and electronics don’t get along, and the mic control modules are usually not IPX waterproof rated. So moisture and sweat gets into the control module and causes corrosion and shorting.

 

[randomnin]

I committed the cardinal sin of not doing research when I got my SE425. I was tired of garbage skull-candy type earbuds and wanted something better. I saw folks saying the SE535 was pretty good but I just wasnt ready to spend $400 on something like that (hah). So I went to my local guitar center and picked up a pair of 425's and thought they were fine. So not only do I have garbage IEMs, I also got the privledge of overpaying for them... I don't like to think about all of the good stuff I could have gotten for $250.

Anyways, I've used them for like 2 years, so I guess Ive gotten my money's worth out of them. The problem is that they could be so much more. Ive never really had anything to compare them to except crap earbuds, so it'll probably be depressing to do comparisons when my KZ and Tin Audio Pros get here.

But Ive learned from that and I do lots of research on this stuff now, hence me being here.

Looking forward to your impressions and comparisons! According to the frequency response graphs, all Shure SE series models should sound a bit listless (except SE215), but I wonder what's their standing against AS10 if equalized similarly...

 

[CardigdanWalk]

Don't put too much into Bluetooth codecs. Support for them is not universal yet. It is also not easy to figure out what codec is being actively used unless you trace the Bluetooth protocol messages. Not something an average user can do or should be doing.
For example, LDAC gets disabled by my Android phone when I connect a Sony speaker which supports LDAC. I spent a few hours looking at the protocol messages and then gave up. A consumer shouldn't be doing all this investigations.

That’s very strange to hear, as I thought one of the requests of offering LDAC was that it has to used if available. (Overriding all settings)

 

[phower]

Android Oreo and above has an option to force LDAC or AptX whenever it's supported, in the developer options

I am aware of it. It is turned on. That is why I had to trace the BT messages. It could be a licensing/certification issue. I have to dig deeper later.

 

[mochifi]

So I picked up the AS10 amongst a few other things as part of my curiosity into chi-fi. This is the first set of IEMs by KZ I've owned.

My first impressions of the AS10 are that they feel very v-shaped. The bass stood out to me first. I'm not a bass head so I reckon these are the bassiest IEMs I own now! Unfortunately I'm getting some sibilance for some of my music which I not a fan of. Rather than EQ them right off that bat I want to try them out as-is so in order to make it a bit more tolerable I've lowered my listening volume a little. Soundstage is to my liking though.

The cable gets tangled really easily, it'd be the first thing I'd change if these became my daily drivers. I'm also just using the included tips that came with it for now, will try a bit of tip rolling to see if it helps as I noticed the bore is quite big on them.

 

[carltonh]

Cables with mics are an extra 2 points of failure (1 on each side of the control module).

The insulation and wire is physically cut and tiny wires barely larger than a human hair are soldered to a small circuit board. Every time the wire is bent, tugged, coiled up, taken in and out, etc is more wear and tear on the fragile solder joints. All it takes is 1 (out of the 4 solder joints) to come loose, and the whole cable is “bad” and won’t work anymore.

Think of it this way. A rope is made up of tiny individual strands. Which of these 2 would you trust to tow a car up a hilly road, every day for 1 year, without failing?

1. A rope that is continuous and unbroken
2. A rope that has been completely cut in 2, and then individual strands have been glued back together.

And of the above 2 ropes, when it fails, where do you think the rope will break?

Also, sweat and moisture and electronics don’t get along, and the mic control modules are usually not IPX waterproof rated. So moisture and sweat gets into the control module and causes corrosion and shorting.

Out of probably 300 earphones in my life, and about 20 broken, I've only had one break at the microphone, a KZ ED9, and yet the earphone still works, it is only the microphone and button that no longer work.