[katatonicone1]

If you're talking about the flat, braided 8-core cable according to Hakuzen's measurements they have a relatively high resistance and depending on your IEM and source this can easily throw things out of balance.

check you are not connecting the flat cable out of phase (+ and GND pins interchanged in one side).
like @archdawg has explained, the difference of resistance between stock and flat cable can justify tonal alteration in upper mids and highs, changing overall tone. however, sound with the flat cable should be closer to iem real sound. so you should check for anomalies in your fat cable: pins and jack (clean them), extreme oxidation (this cable is known to get a green/cyan patina due to oxidation; not a sound issue in theory, but wire could be degraded too much now).

No need. That’s the flat-braided 8-wire cable. I have a bunch of them.

It’s a decent cable IMO. Have you checked to make sure nothing is wired out of phase? Also, check the resistance of the cable if possible, to make sure 1 or more terminal isn’t drastically different than the others.

So I checked the cable and this is so embarassing...

I have had one earphone connected the wrong way... <facepalm>

And even worse, I have had it for a year, enjoying the sound... So dumb of me.

You know those little manuals that KZ has for IEMs which tell you how to properly put them over the ear... I wish they were showing the proper connection of the pin ports as per Slater's little instruction. I suppose when I got the cable one of the earhooks was bent the wrong way. I did not know that it could be connected the wrong way.

I have learnt a lot today. Thank you guys. Now I am enjoying ZS7 with the silver cable properly.

 

[DocHoliday]

Hope you enjoy them, until they released the ZS6 the ZST was my fave however my ZS6 has now been edged out by my BA10's! How's that song go again, "going around and around and around"LOL

So did you go Carbon's or Colorful's?

Love my BA10's.

I still think it's a shame that those with small ears (and maybe even medium sized ears) will never be able to enjoy these.

Chi-Fi has almost irreversibly spoiled us. When the listed price of $90 was announced I thought KZ had gone overboard. I don't think so anymore. If you can wear the BA10 comfortably the BA10 is priced accurately. Probably one of the cleanest sounding KZ's on the market (haven't heard C16 or AS16).

All I have to do is cue up a few great tracks and I am reminded of how capable the BA10 is.

Spoiler

XXX

 

[auraldesire95]

Nice, guess I missed the Pro version! Not even sure what that upgrade may have been from the originals

I assume they’re better than the standard, that’s my theory. I’ll just have to wait to find out what they sound like, aye? I’ll research as well before I receive them.

 

[archdawg]

75% of the cables in his list are in the ~$35-$90 range. While it’s an excellent and valuable reference, the budget cables in the $7-$25 range are a much different story.

Expect 95% of ‘budget’ upgrade cables (>$25) to run 0.4-0.8ohms, including pretty much all of the cables in his ‘KZ’ list (KZ, TRN, etc). There’s a very small % of budget cables (>$25) that even hit close to 0.3ohms. Not a single one in that price range hits 0.25 or 0.2ohms last time I checked his list.

Ha! I took another look at @hakuzen's budget list and stand corrected. I got lost in his deluxe cable department before, lol.

 

[Podster]

Love my BA10's.

I still think it's a shame that those with small ears (and maybe even medium sized ears) will never be able to enjoy these.

Chi-Fi has almost irreversibly spoiled us. When the listed price of $90 was announced I thought KZ had gone overboard. I don't think so anymore. If you can wear the BA10 comfortably the BA10 is priced accurately. Probably one of the cleanest sounding KZ's on the market (haven't heard C16 or AS16).

All I have to do is cue up a few great tracks and I am reminded of how capable the BA10 is.

Spoiler

XXX

Same here Doc, matter a fact I'm listening to my new Benjie X6 on them right now and they sound crazy good You are also right about where Chee-Fee is today

 

[paulwasabii]

I recently received the zsn and zsn pro, they sound nearly identical. Just popped open the zsn's to peek inside. plan on comparing them to the pros driver

I received them both and don't think they sound identical at all. Maybe my ZSN need some more break in time, but out of the box, the Pro sound very good. The ZSN were not as spacious or warm sounding to me. I am guessing music choice has a lot to do with it but I will have to go back for another listen.

 

[Slater]

Nice, guess I missed the Pro version! Not even sure what that upgrade may have been from the originals

I assume they’re better than the standard, that’s my theory. I’ll just have to wait to find out what they sound like, aye? I’ll research as well before I receive them.

The ZST Pro version (also called colorful) was just a name given by sellers. It is 100% identical to the carbon version. Literally, the only difference is the shell color. The drivers are the same, the tuning is the same, the sound is the same.

There seems to be some renewed interest/confusion in the ZST ‘Pro’ recently because of numerous other ‘Pro’ KZ models out. But I assure you it’s the same old ZST KZ has been selling for years now.

 

[HungryPanda]

I have small ears and the BA10 is no problem to me

 

[Podster]

The ZST Pro version (also called colorful) was just a name given by sellers. It is 100% identical to the carbon version. Literally, the only difference is the shell color. The drivers are the same, the tuning is the same, the sound is the same.

There seems to be some renewed interest/confusion in the ZST ‘Pro’ recently because of numerous other ‘Pro’ KZ models out. But I assure you it’s the same old ZST KZ has been selling for years now.

Yeah now that you mention it I remember the Colorful was called the Pro version but I also remember now some thought it sounded a little better and there were pages spent on that back in the day I'm with you, both mine sound the exact same

Yes Sir @panda , my issue was the shell shape which made the nozzle just a hair short for seal on me but I did the old tip core nozzle washer to get just a little more extension out of my tips and wallah (See Happy Camper emoticon here)

 

[Slater]

Yeah now that you mention it I remember the Colorful was called the Pro version but I also remember now some thought it sounded a little better and there were pages spent on that back in the day I'm with you, both mine sound the exact same

Haha, yes - pages and pages of discussion was spent on that lol

Now, what IS possible is that KZ is using newer/different drivers in the most current production runs ZSTs.

We already know they’ve quietly updated the ED9 with a slightly different/better driver. The case seems to be the same with ZS6. And we also know they’ve refined the good old Bellsing 30095, which has improvements over the previous 30095 generation. And KZ uses the 30095 in almost every one of their IEMs (ZST included).

So it is possible that ZSTs bought today sound slightly different/better than the original ones. My point was there is no true ‘Pro’ ZST. The ZSN IS the upgraded ZST, according to KZ themselves. That’s why I see no reason to get a ZST nowadays (other than nostalgia or collectibility), when there’s truly overhauled versions of the ZST (ZSN and ZSN Pro) that is far superior to the ZST.

 

[Slater]

Ha! I took another look at @hakuzen's budget list and stand corrected. I got lost in his deluxe cable department before, lol.

Haha, yeah like you said @hakuzen’s database of ‘budget’ cables ended being a lot more deluxe $$ than what the average person (myself included) might consider ‘budget’.

His thread/database originally started out as a budget alternative to the folks spending $hundreds or more on cables. So from that aspect it was a budget cable database. It just quickly spiraled from $7 KZ cables to $70-$100 cables.

And considering many of us were looking for a ‘budget’ cable for a ‘budget’ $15 KZ IEM, $70 is ludicrous.

That’s why I kinda view his database as 2 different tiers of ‘budget cables’. One <$25-$30ish cables and the other in the >$40-$100ish range.

Once I did that, it was much easier for me to see the differences, and locate an appropriate upgraded ‘budget’ cable I was willing to buy

 

[Podster]

Haha, yes - pages and pages of discussion was spent on that lol

Now, what IS possible is that KZ is using newer/different drivers in the most current production runs ZSTs.

We already know they’ve quietly updated the ED9 with a slightly different/better driver. The case seems to be the same with ZS6. And we also know they’ve refined the good old Bellsing 30095, which has improvements over the previous 30095 generation. And KZ uses the 30095 in almost every one of their IEMs (ZST included).

So it is possible that ZSTs bought today sound slightly different/better than the original ones. My point was there is no true ‘Pro’ ZST. The ZSN IS the upgraded ZST, according to KZ themselves. That’s why I see no reason to get a ZST nowadays (other than nostalgia or collectibility), when there’s truly overhauled versions of the ZST (ZSN and ZSN Pro) that is far superior to the ZST.

Well once again Pod's old saying of "We all hear them differently" rears it's pretty head because I still prefer my old carbon ZST's to my ZSN V1 Of course it's also well documented that Pod's the original "High Range Drifter" too The fact that KZ may be putting the new drivers in all their latest models of pre-existing iem's sucks because I'm sure not going to try and sell ones that may be considered inferior now because they have old 30095's in them Now with that said maybe I should put all my old ones on the gifting list (4 ZS6's, 2 ZST's, 5 ED9's and all the others with original 30095's in them) and replace the ones I like that now have upgraded drivers in them since most are still inexpensive Chi-Fi

 

[archdawg]

Picked up the grey silver 8-core Kinboofi from the post office today. Back home I hooked it up to my older ZS6 and yeah ... I like what I hear ... a lot!, just need more time to go through some more test tracks and compare it to some other cables. On top of that, that cable looks pretty precious on the 6es, another 16 Eurons well spent.

 

[auraldesire95]

The ZST Pro version (also called colorful) was just a name given by sellers. It is 100% identical to the carbon version. Literally, the only difference is the shell color. The drivers are the same, the tuning is the same, the sound is the same.

There seems to be some renewed interest/confusion in the ZST ‘Pro’ recently because of numerous other ‘Pro’ KZ models out. But I assure you it’s the same old ZST KZ has been selling for years now.

I knew the difference between the two colours was only superficial. I wasn’t aware that the difference between the two ZST models were zero.

 

[Slater]

Picked up the grey silver 8-core Kinboofi from the post office today. Back home I hooked it up to my older ZS6 and yeah ... I like what I hear ... a lot!, just need more time to go through some more test tracks and compare it to some other cables. On top of that, that cable looks pretty precious on the 6es, another 16 Eurons well spent.

I have that too. It’s a wicked cable!