[maxxevv]

I dabbled hi end audio 25 years ago and spend a couple of grand on a hi fi and a set of head phones but lost interest because i couldn't afford what i wanted. I knew nothing about Chifi three weeks ago and i'm now genuinely excited about the possibilities again and I'll carry on following this thread closely.

Oh and excuse the username. All my usual ones were taken and i couldn't think of anything but i was plugged in to my trusty old 1st gen Zune and tried it and it was free which is hardly a surprise (I suppose they are hated on here!).

Wait till you discover the technical perfection that $100 headphone amps (JDS Atom) and $100 DAC's (Khadas Tone Board) have achieved over the past year. You basically get within a hair's breadth of state of the art (without all the bells and whistles nor bling) performance at those prices !

 

[-sandro-]

ZS10 Pro for the win

sound signature?

 

[archdawg]

Will do. ZS10 is clear for sure, but in terms of clarity, i'm afraid they still need more years to chase Kanas Pro, but they have som ething that can match Kanas Pro like separation (or maybe a little bit better than Kanas Pro), and not much behind on soundstage width, smooth treble, etc.

'More years to chase Kanas Pro' - now I'm really curious!

I need to compare them in more details after I burn in my ZS10 pro (believe or not, its free, nothing to lose but some iem got advantage over burn in), Maybe BA parts wont be much affected, but DD (bass in ZS10 pro) will be tighter usually after break in.

Over the years I've noticed some more or less significant, even drastic changes in some, not all of my cans and IEMs after my usual 100+ hours of burn-in (w. volume set at where the max.signal level (-1dB) of my trusty test tracks already results in some distortion); not only in DDs but also balanced armatures like the ubiquitous Bellsing 30095 and I'll be damned if there aren't any measurable differences.

Will do comparison with CCA C10, ****, BQEYZ KB100, AS10, ZSN pro as well. Those are big names on budget chifi, wont include Tinaudio T2 since they're completely different signature.

Couldn't agree more on the Tin T2; definitely not my kind of fun sig but still more than OK for (pre-)mixing tracks on the road. YMMV.
Looking forward to your comparisons!

 

[macky112]

You might want to check out bqeyz iems. I was a little skeptical about bqeyz at first since they are not so recognized. I am coming from the KZ ZS7s super fun bass signature, relatively Bqeyz make very balanced in ears, without any funkiness, smooth trebles that are non fatiguing. Maybe because they manage sound pressure very well with vents, the bass response is at par with mids. Imaging is a class above kz. I would recommend you check out their kb100, K2 & kc2 lineup. I have the kb100 right now and am loving it.

This iem has made me think above 25 USD kz might not be so worth it.

I just checked the kb100 is around $50 though

 

[macky112]

Dolla 4 Dolla those’ll make U Holla
May very well be the best <$20 you spend in Chi-Fi like a twofer deal deluxe

I just received the ZS7 and am still waiting for the ZS10 Pro, but dude, this post is not helping... must resist!

 

[HungryPanda]

sound signature?

definitely V-shaped but treble is dialed back a bit from the ZS10 so easier to relax and listen to a long session

 

[gourab1995]

I just checked the kb100 is around $50 though

Exactly 50 USD. To me totally worth it coming from the tin T2 and ZS7. Its the perfect middle ground between them for me in terms of tonality. Technical performance between the three is debatable. Especially between T2 and kb100. Overall kb100 sound very coherent, it's not going to sound strange while listening. That's what I like about them. Also mids are very present in contrast to zs7. And full bodied in contrast to tin T2.

 

[-sandro-]

definitely V-shaped but treble is dialed back a bit from the ZS10 so easier to relax and listen to a long session

Is there some kind of technical reason to why all these kind of iems are all V shaped? Some say it's the commercial signature but I really don't understand why one would prefer that to a balanced/musical one.

 

[Slater]

I just checked the kb100 is around $50 though

And worth every single penny. In fact, it’s worth twice that (and some might argue 3xs that).

 

[Slater]

Is there some kind of technical reason to why all these kind of iems are all V shaped? Some say it's the commercial signature but I really don't understand why one would prefer that to a balanced/musical one.

Different strokes for different folks.

Some people prefer fast sports cars. Other prefer pickup trucks. And still others prefer an electric car, or even riding a bicycle or walking. Some people like iPhones, others Android, or flip phones, or no phone at all.

With 7+ billion people in the world, there’s a lot of different preferences.

Luckily, there’s a ridiculous amount of choices in audio, at every price point and every sound tuning. Definitely something to please everybody. We are quite fortunate to have all of these choices nowadays, vs 10 or 25 or 50 years ago

 

[-sandro-]

Different strokes for different folks.

Some people prefer fast sports cars. Other prefer pickup trucks. And still others prefer an electric car, or even riding a bicycle or walking. Some people like iPhones, others Android, or flip phones, or no phone at all.

With 7+ billion people in the world, there’s a lot of different preferences.

Luckily, there’s a ridiculous amount of choices in audio, at every price point and every sound tuning. Definitely something to please everybody. We are quite fortunate to have all of these choices nowadays, vs 10 or 25 or 50 years ago

Sure, what I meant is that it seems that the majority of them (or the best/famous) are all V-shaped. At least that's what I noticed. So a non Vshaped KZ similar to the ZS10 pro?

 

[Slater]

So a non Vshaped KZ similar to the ZS10 pro?

I’m not sure if there can be a comparison like that. If the ZS10 wasn’t v shaped, it would be a totally different earphone. It would be like asking for what pickup truck is most similar to a Corvette, or what beer is most similar to red wine.

I’d probably recommend giving the CCA C16 or TinAudio T2 a try. I have a feeling you’d like either one.

Or you could always use EQ, and make the ZS10 sound any way you want.

 

[archdawg]

Is there some kind of technical reason to why all these kind of iems are all V shaped? Some say it's the commercial signature but I really don't understand why one would prefer that to a balanced/musical one.

If you take a look at what most folks have set their equalizers at it's pretty much the same U or V shape - bass and treble up and the mids somewhere downwards. Disco, baby!

 

[Gustavo1976]

Technically (drivers > frequency responses, etc...) they're pretty different animals, the rest depends on your listening preferences and not at last your ears.
Re. the MKP I only studied some reviews but don't think they're a significant step up sonically from some of the better sub-50€ chi-fis I already own ... YMMV.

Saludos desde Las Palmas GC

Finally Moondrop KXXS

 

[Podster]

I just received the ZS7 and am still waiting for the ZS10 Pro, but dude, this post is not helping... must resist!

Well they are nice to have in ones budget collection but IMO neither can hold a candle to the ZS7 or 10’s