[Slater]

A few days ago it stopped working correctly,audio would cut out everytime i touched the shell but sometimes it would work correctly. Then yesterday the drivers died for good

I actually found out that it if i banged it a few times against my wood desk it would start working correctly,until i touched the shell. It was truly infuriating,even smiling or frowning would make the faulty drivers stop working.

I assume you tried a different cable first, before banging away at the IEM on your desk?

 

[Mybutthurts]

Hi,i had a pair of ZS10 recently fail. One or more drivers died in the right earbud suddenly. Im kinda pissed since they werent even 1 year old,but i did use them a lot. Is this common? I know they are cheap but still,i dont like throwing money away.

Anyways they sounded good so of course im already looking for a new pair,since my ES3's are too aggressive with treble. Im kinda adamant to buy a new pair since i know harsh treble is like a KZ trademark. I was thinking about getting a pair of ZS10 Pro's , how is the treble on that model? What other models have treble like the ZS10?

You find that Pro version of the ZS10 is a quite a different beast from the ZS10.
The sound is a little more forward with the Pro, musical still though. Treble is there but not too aggressive.
The AS10 is (IMHO) nearer to the original ZS10 than the Pro, both are very good though.

 

[GoLDii3]

I assume you tried a different cable first, before banging away at the IEM on your desk?

Yeah i tried the stock cable and when it didnt work i did this

Did you ever have a pair with failed drivers?

Anyways im in the look for a new KZ IEM

Which one would you advice me to buy if i dont like harsh treble and listen to a lot of EDM

 

[Slater]

Yeah i tried the stock cable and when it didnt work i did this

Did you ever have a pair with failed drivers?

Anyways im in the look for a new KZ IEM

Which one would you advice me to buy if i dont like harsh treble and listen to a lot of EDM

The only pair of earphones I’ve ever have fail (after a period of time not DOA) in my life was a KZ ZS3. There was a widespread defective batch from Gearbest. Once I discovered the pattern, I created a running list of everyone who also had a failure from the same batch. That helped KZ and Gearbest verify the problem, and everyone affected got refunds.

Other than that, I guess I’ve been lucky because I’ve never had any just “go bad” due to drivers dying (cables yes, drivers no). Maybe I’m lucky, but I feel it had a lot to do with me always storing my earphones in cases when not in use, being careful never to bang them around or drop them on hard surfaces, etc.

I have damaged/killed drivers by overheating them with a soldering iron though, but that doesn’t really count since it was my own fault.

Sadly, I’m willing to bet that the issue with yours was nothing more than a simple loose wire (on the circuit board or the 2-pin socket), that could have easily been repaired. Because on multi-driver earphones, usually 1 driver goes bad (removing all treble or all bass). The fact that everything on that side went totally dead tells me the problem was with the primary wiring and not the drivers. Oh well, it’s too late now.

As far as a replacement, my favorite KZs are the ZS7 and ZS10 Pro. Either one is excellent for EDM, which is what I listen to. There’s honestly a number of KZs that are good for EDM (depending on your budget and particular tastes): ED9, EDR1, ZS1 v1, ZS4, ZSN, ZSN Pro, ZSR, etc.

 

[courierdriver]

Hi,i had a pair of ZS10 recently fail. One or more drivers died in the right earbud suddenly. Im kinda pissed since they werent even 1 year old,but i did use them a lot. Is this common? I know they are cheap but still,i dont like throwing money away.

Anyways they sounded good so of course im already looking for a new pair,since my ES3's are too aggressive with treble. Im kinda adamant to buy a new pair since i know harsh treble is like a KZ trademark. I was thinking about getting a pair of ZS10 Pro's , how is the treble on that model? What other models have treble like the ZS10?

I have the ZS10 PRO, and love them! These are sooo freaking good! Listening to them now as I write this. For the past 2 hours, I've been listening to a bunch of Reggae. Just switched to Boston (rock music) and I'm so immersed in the sound. This set is crazy good for the $$.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

After the vent mod and a lot of tip changing. I found the zs7 much better from the original config.

Been using it even more than the kb100 lately after the ZS7 vent mod.

After the mods and cable swaps, an excellent iem. Stock. Not so much. Without having to mod the iems or swapping cable and tips. Coming from the original sound, where the stage was quite small, being overpowered by the bass pressure and the stock cable sounding the most coherent at the same time least resolving, because of its high resistance. The kz silver cable was the middle ground for smooth sound while not losing the signal quality too much, only after i got a good combo with the tenmark wide bore tips.

Is there an instruction post about this ZS7 vent mod?

I tried your Tennmak tips and KZ 8 core silver cable idea with my ZS7 and the cable falls off the iems. The iems also fall out of my ears. Maybe you are using a different silver cable?

 

[GoLDii3]

My silver cable is turning green

 

[gourab1995]

Is there an instruction post about this ZS7 vent mod?

I tried your Tennmak tips and KZ 8 core silver cable idea with my ZS7 and the cable falls off the iems. The iems also fall out of my ears. Maybe you are using a different silver cable?

Theres no such instructions post. But what i did can be plainly described methodically as:

Step 1
Grab iems, remove cable.

Step 2
Find something sharp and thin like a sewing scissors.

Step 3
Insert the sharp side facing outwards inside the tiny front vent and rotate it at an angle so the chips curl outwards, making sure the hole isn't too large (i made it 1.5mm big, 1mm or less should affect the sound already) Don't be scared to stab your iem at this point if necessary.

Step 4
Listen to iems as the hole gets bigger, you will lose bass pressure with the hole getting bigger. You want to repeatedly listen as you keep drilling.

Step 5
Use a paintbrush, toothbrush etc. To clean off the surface and any other scraps.

All to be done at your own risk and understanding. You may scratch off the black paint as a side effect doing the above.

Here is a pic for reference.



Effects of the mod can be reversed with a solid tape, translucent material tape over the vent.

Again only do it if you are as desperate as this guy

Im using the silver only kz cable (8 core) which tends to oxidize easily. Mine is already green. Picture for reference below.



If you have successfully done all the above, you should have a clearer soundstage, much less fatiguing bass. Balanced tonality overall. Slightly better imaging because of the bass not being so intrusive, making the treble pop out a little more. Mids stay the same. Driver flex gone. In one word it's just better.

 

[Slater]

I'm not using any 8 core cable. Im using the silver only kz cable (4 core) which tends to oxidize easily. Mine is already green. Picture for reference below.

Friend, that’s an 8-core cable

 

[GoLDii3]

The fact that everything on that side went totally dead tells me the problem was with the primary wiring and not the drivers.

Thats the thing though,not all drivers are dead,i still can hear sound coming. Not as loud as before,so do you think i could bypass the dead drivers and output full volume to the remaining drivers?

 

[Slater]

Thats the thing though,not all drivers are dead,i still can hear sound coming. Not as loud as before,so do you think i could bypass the dead drivers and output full volume to the remaining drivers?

The sound tuning would never match. You'd also have to do something about the crossover circuit. It's just not worth it for, what, a $30 IEM?

 

[TheVortex]

I have two pairs of the above 8 core silver KZ cable and the one I have not used as it is still in it's packaging is still in immaculate condition and the one I have used is a bit green lol.

I also bought them both at the same time but it doesn't affect the sound quality so no big deal really.

 

[mbwilson111]

I have two pairs of the above 8 core silver KZ cable and the one I have not used as it is still in it's packaging is still in immaculate condition and the one I have used is a bit green lol.

I also bought them both at the same time but it doesn't affect the sound quality so no big deal really.

Aesthetics do matter to me. I am glad I mostly stuck with black cables.

 

[xxAMAROKxx]

Hello folks,
I bought a new zs10 (blue one looks better with a silver cable) and find out, that there are two visible differences compared to the old one.
- different look of bass driver
- different placement of ba drivers and two of them are placed closer to the nozzle.

There can be more differences, this is my quick comparrison against web photos - I don't have the old zs10 for couple of weeks...
And I have a feeling, that the new one sounds more balanced. Treble peak is in a better place and the bass is better quality.

 

[nxnje]

Here's my review of the CCA A10, which includes a direct comparison with the KZ AS06.

https://yourstingyfriend.altervista.org/?p=553