Would you recommend it for someone who listen to Pop/Rock ?
Knowledge Zenith (KZ) impressions thread
- Thread starter bhazard
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Would you recommend it for someone who listen to Pop/Rock ?
Nimweth
Headphoneus Supremus
I am perhaps not the best person to ask. My favourite genres are Classical, Ambient and Electronic. Though I will say the AS12 has a fast, immediate sound with tight bass and a wealth of detail so should be suitable for many different music styles.
KZ did deliver the sound the tuners wanted, it just turned to be all coming from a single driver.
Nimweth
Headphoneus Supremus
After the recent revival of interest in the BA10 which I love, and now my positive experience with the AS12, I am tempted by the AS16 ($48 at Luck LZ store, Ali Express). Looks like a good deal!
SpaceOperaVillain
100+ Head-Fier
ordered.
All the reviews for as16 are positive in that it's a neutral to neutral - bright IEM. Should be a very good buy for classical.
All the reviews for as16 are positive in that it's a neutral to neutral - bright IEM. Should be a very good buy for classical.
PhonoPhi
Headphoneus Supremus
AS16 are treble-emphasized/enhanced IEM that are great for classical, especially those "golden classical recordings", which are far from treble-rich. I especially love AS16 with string quartets.
The bass is "just enough" though, not as present as in AS12 that have one the best BA bass.
Nimweth
Headphoneus Supremus
Well, I find there is plenty of treble for me on the AS12 and a near-perfect balance of frequencies. Brass, woodwind and strings are very good. indeed. I agree with you about the AS12's bass, very impressive. This sounds amazing, check out the trumpets and tuba!
khighly
100+ Head-Fier
I saw the KZ drama recently but haven't posted on head-fi in a long time. Disappointed a little, but most for under $50 and I still use like the ZAX every single day as my main IEM, and now maybe the ZEX Pro, I'm not really actually disappointed since they sound so good anyway.
Anycolouryoulike
New Head-Fier
Anyone recommend a non kz hybrid?? Possibly under 40 euro. Something with a wide stage. Can't escape the utterly cynical ( I may have misplaced an r there) nature of the kz deception. Just messaged the Ali store asking for some kind of refund for the 7 pairs I have owned.
I will wait with bated breath for a response.
Can anyone establish for certain that the BA 10 has 10 audible armatures who are each dealing with separate areas of the sound frequency?
The lack of comment here from long time kz advocates is deeply suspicious.
Business as usual.
I will wait with bated breath for a response.
Can anyone establish for certain that the BA 10 has 10 audible armatures who are each dealing with separate areas of the sound frequency?
The lack of comment here from long time kz advocates is deeply suspicious.
Business as usual.
Nimweth
Headphoneus Supremus
Since BAs are tuned to a particular frequency range rather than generally being full range devices, if you are hearing a wide frequency range on your BA10 it is likely that all the drivers are functional.
PhonoPhi
Headphoneus Supremus
I have two AS12 - the first one from its inception and the second one from the recent sales (got few of them great KZs all-BAs recently, including an extra couple of AS16 and so happy about it).
My strong feeling is that the recent/newer ones are more refined. My first AS12 and low brass did not go harmoniously together to my ears, and I removed their treble filters - liked the resulting treble canon as a special KZ
The second AS12 was so more refined "as is", so I just left it to be enjoyed.
Though for me the "rough beasts" of modified ASX rule, and then smooth AST and treble-rich AS16 are the second ones to listen (as great BA10, AS12 and AS10 are - they are a bit on a back burner, and then I have BGVP VG4 - nothing wrong per se, but I love KZ so much more)!
BA10 have 5 BAs per side and they are one of the most rich all-BAs spectrally, most extended treble
The only problem of KZ could be with those DQ6s, I would not touch them with the pole anyhow, so I do not think KZ needs any " defenders".
KZ is doing great, perhaps other companies have a lot of problems to match KZ for their value/price and are trying to make some extra noise (?)
My "wasted" money in this hobby were with non-KZ IEMs so far.
JEHL
1000+ Head-Fier
I know exactly 1 person who does this, and it's not even for Harman, but for Diffuse Field.
I can confirm that all 6 BAs per side in the KZ AS12 are functional. It's quite a bit cheaper than the BA10, too.
You'll probably have to EQ it. For me, the mids are too upfront in the stock form.
This is how my pair measures after mods and EQ (I'm a fan of the Diffuse Field/Etymotic tuning
):
The channel balance is quite impressive, especially considering these have 12 cheap BAs in total.
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Turns out a 30ohm impedance adapter will reduce the upper mids of the AS12:
Here's how it compares to the Aria and ER3SE:
The 2kHz peak makes it a little shouty, but much better than before. More importantly, this makes it sound quite good without the need to EQ.
Here's how it compares to the Aria and ER3SE:
The 2kHz peak makes it a little shouty, but much better than before. More importantly, this makes it sound quite good without the need to EQ.
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ScrofulousBinturong
100+ Head-Fier
That shell is so pretty!I bet even the more expensive IEMs have the same tuning concept with no real crossover as you can't really fit a good inductor low pass filter circuit in that small shell for the DD or the Bass BA. Like this Leisurely Audio (aka GS audio) E16 with 4 Sonion ESTs, 12 BAs per side priced at RMB 8000, the circuit board only involves caps and resistors. (of higher quality than those in KZ IEMs, but still dity cheap)
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