Interesting. It was a short catchup after roughly two years of letting my chifi collection simmer down to favorites and survivors. I think around the time of the YT tuner drama broke out is when I put my credit card away and got back to work.
2 Year KZ / CCA Set Update
Permanently Deceased:
CCA NRA. I missed these but not enough to replace them. I had to admit at the time that the ZEX Pro was better, but those too developed connector issues around the same time. More on that later.
Revived from the Dead:
CCA CRA: these have died and been resuscitated like 3 or 4 times in my rotation. They get relegated to a dark corner but I keep coming back, like a schmuck. Why? They're a great pair of beaters, that's why. They suffered a small channel imbalance which caused me to write them off, but later I managed to correct this out on my btr3k at just "L2" (out of a possible L30 something) and the CRA have soldiered on faultlessly ever since on their stock cables. Resolution isn't very good when the music gets busy and ... oddly enough, sometimes it feels like the bottom end has dropped out of mine. Weird. The venting is also a little whacky - sometimes it sounded like the left shell had been split open, but taping over the vent made this sensation go away ... mostly. Vent on the right channel is clear but sounds more closed. I think I got a janky pair of these given the hype but they keep ticking.
ZEX Pro (sans cursed crin badge): Love/Hate. Out of the box, they're just so soooo ... perfunctory. Around the same time that the connector pin on my NRAs experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly, I hate-tossed the ZEX Pro into a box alongside of them and quickly forgot about the whole mess whilst listening to Wagner on the GK10s and imagining dirt being tossed into a grave from the perspective of someone being buried alive. Like the CRAs, these developed a channel imbalance, and the pin connector was damaged so I wrote them off and did what needed done. *dusts off*
So after getting scratched up and bouncing around in my junk box for nearly two years, I exhumed these from the cardboard grave. A factory KZ cable and some precision crimping from a very finely pointed set of needle nose pliers brought the little bastards back to life. Mysteriously, the channel balance seems to be diminished ... it's not totally gone but corrects out with just a slight adjustment. Before you point out the obvious, the connector damage was to the right piece, but the volume drop was on the undamaged left.
The ZEX Pro are just as I remembered them. Preeeetty good. Not great. But pretty good. On a challenging track (hey Nadine even penned a lyric with Pokemon in there) the ZEX Pro sparkle and show off their resolution, separation, and so-so staging. Drums, two styles of vocals, strange things happening above 12k, and a driving bass line: this track is a pop driven sonic torture test.
As some of you may recall, I'm a shameless EQ'er and the ZEX Pros need a significant lift on the upper end for me to enjoy. Out of the box I just don't like the tuning at all. I will likely hang them back up and leave them to zombie around some more until I have some need to compare the great tuning viral outbreak against something else.
Long Term Update:
KZ ZAX. these are almost 4 years old now and are still my spouse's daily drivers that I occasionally borrow without consent. The ZAX have been a real set of troopers. These are KZ OGs. When pushed the bottom end is just a lil' soggy but everything else is so sweet. She spends most of her time with them watching the streamers so crisp dialogue and nice rumbling sound tracks don't cause these to break any sweat. I marginally prefer the ZAX to the CCA C12, but I think they are very similar, truth be told.
My KZ BA10s and CCA C12's are still in impeccable working order but I don't spend a lot of time with either set since those cheapo AKG K52 are nearly welded onto my head when I'm at my desk. This admission is just as demeaning and unholy as it reads. The BA10s are still probably the best sounding pair I own. Since I WFH, the sound isolation can be a bit too much and I sometimes miss the calls for a honey-do or a scratch at the door from Doggo who would rather burst and die than to besmirch his favorite rug, which is all of them. Last but not least, I've found that I'm vulnerable to sneak attack while wearing these which is less than favorable to my aging and faded cardiovascular system. sidenote: CRA are really good at blocking out just enough noise to concentrate while not being completely shut out to the room. As a result of this unfortunate bundling of high quality materials, the BA10s and C12's stay coiled up in a dark canister away from UV most of the time.
I noted that the BA10 have disappeared altogether from AliExpress. I remain too poor for enjoying single malt in private behind a locked door, but some fine day, my pair of BA10 will be in great shape to enjoy it. *wipes cold coffee slobber from chin* OK. Enough chitter chatter, it's time for serious business.
Pokemon Shopping Questions
Because it's been too long, I have to flush some money I don't really have down the toilet. Luckily, since I love the KZ brand and everything they're about unapologetically and without reservation, I know that it's gonna be a 1 button eco-flush.
* Is the Trio a rebadged DQ6 with flippy bits? I gave those away and kind of missed the little buggers after the fact. The cut-away sales graphics seem to infer a different driver arrangement than DQ6. Might the new trio excel in Jazz where the DQ6 fumbled? Will they still rock an AC/DC or a Poison album as deftly as a late 80s vintage boom box? My tiger striped spandex leggings are very intrigued, even if the rest of the world would have me shot dead on the spot for wearing them.
* Vader triple. "High Resolution" - TBD.
* Castor / Merga - dual 10mm/8mm driver. Too cheap to ignore? If the connectors break, what can we expect of dipswitch assemblies? My hopes are not high and since I EQ, the Merga is high on the list.
* CRA Pro: KZ being the trends chaser they are had dug in to the super thin / rigid diaphragm story. I don't expect them to replace my Heart Mirrors (which died *mad grief*, different thread), but might these out-resolve the normal CRA, or do we just have here some prototypical marketing embellishment from our friends? They look a bit premium and I'm genuinely curious if these might tick a few boxes for me.
* Planar sets: The PS1 seems well received and I like the cut of that top-end jib. In reality I don't think these will do anything better than my BA10 or GK10. Still, I can't help but to wonder what the PR3 sounds like if it were massively over driven on a balanced cable. Since switching to *coughs* Windows 11, I discovered that the Linux driver was robbing me from a lot of power in the E1DA PowerDAC 2.1. That thing - lordy lordy lordy. It was loud before, but now it's just out of control! I can't use the PowerDAC with more than about 8% volume on a balanced cable (if I'm pushing it). I think I'm ready to sink some guitar driven ear claws into a pair of these and play with my food a bit.
* CCA Pianist: I know. I'm a complete sucker for CCA, but this does look interesting ... are two BAs enough to break the cycle of mediocrity that flows down the brackish and polluted waters of previous KZ 1+1 offerings?
* any notables I missed?
are completely non-offensive to my ears. I know that sounds like faint praise but I've found I'm treble sensitive and on top of that one of my ear canals is difficult to seal. The frequency response seems fine to me. That out of the way, the timbre or the presentation is what I can describe as warm. Also, they use a lot more digits on the dial to get to the same level as my ASFs. This is fine. The dynamics are really different as well. I don't know why or what that difference is exactly, but it's there. It's like when you listen to a song and there is a lot of energy in the song, you feel that energy in a more intense way? Not really sure about that. However, the bass is not as precisely presented as the ASF and it masks the detail which is why I 
