Knowledge Zenith (KZ) impressions thread
Nov 23, 2018 at 1:16 PM Post #38,416 of 63,640
It is only $33 from Penon. From the deals thread (Thanks @pthora):

KZ AS10 IEMs for $33, down from $60ish street price or $40ish on the AE sale. This is the lowest price I've ever seen for these.
https://penonaudio.com/black-friday-sales/kz-as10.html

KZ ZS10 IEMs for $22.50, down from $44.50. Good price.
https://penonaudio.com/black-friday-sales/kz-zs10.html

Full deal post:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the...the-first-post.692119/page-1811#post-14615826

Another low is the ED16 at $12
https://penonaudio.com/black-friday-sales/kz-ed16.html?limit=100

Wow, from $60 to $33 in just a few months.

IMO, that’s more in line with what it should have originally been anyways.
 
Nov 23, 2018 at 3:15 PM Post #38,417 of 63,640
Hi, just sharing my experience with TRN BT3 Aptx bluetooth cable recommended many times here.
I bought it on Aliexpress and disappointed with the battery.
With my TRN V80 headphones it plays a little less than 4 hours, not 7-8 hours as declared.
I thought it is a faulty instance and ordered it again from a different seller and got the exact same time. Both sellers high-rated.
So, for now I'm thinking it is a system problem, and the issue is that battery life depends on the headphones itself.
TRN V80' declared resistance is 30Ω what seems max in class. For example ZS10 has 16Ω, ZS4 - 18Ω, AS10 - 14Ω.
Should higher impedance take higher voltage and amperage to get the same response... Like 16Ω plays 8 hours, 30Ω plays less than 4...
Any ideas? Shall I get longer battery life with lower impedance IEH?
 
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Nov 23, 2018 at 5:16 PM Post #38,418 of 63,640
Hi, just sharing my experience with TRN BT3 Aptx bluetooth cable recommended many times here.
I bought it on Aliexpress and disappointed with the battery.
With my TRN V80 headphones it plays a little less than 4 hours, not 7-8 hours as declared.
I thought it is a faulty instance and ordered it again from a different seller and got the exact same time. Both sellers high-rated.
So, for now I'm thinking it is a system problem, and the issue is that battery life depends on the headphones itself.
TRN V80' declared resistance is 30Ω what seems max in class. For example ZS10 has 16Ω, ZS4 - 18Ω, AS10 - 14Ω.
Should higher impedance take higher voltage and amperage to get the same response... Like 16Ω plays 8 hours, 30Ω plays less than 4...
Any ideas? Shall I get longer battery life with lower impedance IEH?

this is normal battery life for the old bluetooth tech. for longer battery life you have to wait until we get the new bluetooth 5.0 qualcomm chips. they are up to 65% more efficient. i also wait for this ...
 
Nov 23, 2018 at 5:52 PM Post #38,420 of 63,640
Hi, just sharing my experience with TRN BT3 Aptx bluetooth cable recommended many times here.
I bought it on Aliexpress and disappointed with the battery.
With my TRN V80 headphones it plays a little less than 4 hours, not 7-8 hours as declared.
I thought it is a faulty instance and ordered it again from a different seller and got the exact same time. Both sellers high-rated.
So, for now I'm thinking it is a system problem, and the issue is that battery life depends on the headphones itself.
TRN V80' declared resistance is 30Ω what seems max in class. For example ZS10 has 16Ω, ZS4 - 18Ω, AS10 - 14Ω.
Should higher impedance take higher voltage and amperage to get the same response... Like 16Ω plays 8 hours, 30Ω plays less than 4...
Any ideas? Shall I get longer battery life with lower impedance IEH?

4 hours for the BT3 and BT10 is about typical. I think TRN was on drugs when they came up with that 8 hour figure.

In actuality, that’s a best case scenario. More of a theoretical time that you’ll never get in the real world. I think what they do is fully charge it, turn it on with NO IEM, and let it sit until the battery runs out. I could see that lasting 8 hours, but it’s not realistic.
 
Nov 23, 2018 at 5:54 PM Post #38,421 of 63,640
Volume level will also effect battery life. The ohms level will have some effect on the amount of power needed to achieve the same volume level if the sensitivity is the same. YMMV.

I ordered the BT10 instead of the BT3, since it had a softer neck cable, BT 4.2 vs 4.1 and better sweat/water resistance. I'm hoping the battery life is better than 4 hours (5-6), as just like yours it claims to last 6-7 hours.
 
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Nov 23, 2018 at 5:55 PM Post #38,422 of 63,640
When I bought my as10 in October price on gearbest was £34.30, currently it's is £42.85.
So. If they are $33 that is a bargain.

The question I have is “are they worth it”?

I mean, I have so much good gear, I don’t know if I need the AS10. Especially if it’s just a side grade, as I have loads of side grade gear.
 
Nov 23, 2018 at 5:58 PM Post #38,423 of 63,640
Volume level will also effect battery life. The ohms level will have some effect on the amount of power needed to achieve the same volume level if the sensitivity is the same. YMMV.

I ordered the BT10 instead of the BT3, since it had a softer neck cable. I'm hoping the battery life is better than 4 hours (5-6), as just like yours it claims to last 6-7 hours.

I got some bad news for you. My BT10 has about the same battery life as my BT3.
 
Nov 23, 2018 at 6:44 PM Post #38,426 of 63,640
Oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes when gambling on chinese electronics. 4 hours will still be enough for my use.

Not just Chinese electronics. Many stated measurements are not as perfect as what you’ll get in the real world. Gas mileage ratings on cars, lumen output on LED lights, square footage coverage on paint, battery life ratings on laptops, the wattage in car audio, etc.

I see things like that as close approximations, not necessary as absolutes.

The TRN battery life is particularly inflated though, being half of the rated spec. That is somewhat unusual, as most reputable products aren’t inflated by 100%. That would be like a “foot long” sub sandwich only being 6” long lol
 
Nov 23, 2018 at 6:55 PM Post #38,427 of 63,640
4 hours for the BT3 and BT10 is about typical. I think TRN was on drugs when they came up with that 8 hour figure.

In actuality, that’s a best case scenario. More of a theoretical time that you’ll never get in the real world. I think what they do is fully charge it, turn it on with NO IEM, and let it sit until the battery runs out. I could see that lasting 8 hours, but it’s not realistic.

I get 6-7 hrs daily on mine. But, it's on mid volume most of the time. I guess usage makes a difference though. Full volume would probably be closer to 5 hrs.
 
Nov 23, 2018 at 6:58 PM Post #38,429 of 63,640
I get 6-7 hrs daily on mine. But, it's on mid volume most of the time. I guess usage makes a difference though. Full volume would probably be closer to 5 hrs.

BT3 or BT10?
 
Nov 23, 2018 at 7:07 PM Post #38,430 of 63,640
BT3 or BT10?

Both when I still had the BT10. I wasn't a big fan of the dangling plastic earrings. Still, only half volume mostly with intermittent pauses at work. Lasted all at work and even though the afternoon at home. Like I said, I probably only had it blasting full volume for 1 hr or so. This is from a Samsung Note so maybe it didn't pull as much power as a dac or amp but then again that's that my area of expertise. I have yet to really get into dacs and amps. Have had no trouble driving my iems even one at 32 ohms. Haven't really needed a dac either. Got a huge memory card and my Note 9 powers iems rather easily.
 

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