[bhazard]

  Been listening to my A4's several hours today. Awesome buds, very impressed, and they just keep sounding better.
 
They are addicting to listen to and playing with the filters is fun and keeps them fresh. Lots of tips included to get a good fit.
 
Such a fun and enjoyable sound these have, great job on these excellent sounding buds!

Aren't they awesome? try black/black and black/pink

 

[1TrickPony]

Hey everyone, so my brand new LZ a4 arrived today from Penon audio.
Can someone please explain the ear tips to me? there's the black ones in the plastic slip, with silicon and foam, and then there are 3 pairs of black silicone's in the foam plate, along with 3 pairs of grey tips. And yet, none of them actually fit the earphones properly, it takes a few minutes just to get them on. Does anyone have a similar issue?

you'll need to squeeze the body and roll them, and eventually slip them onto the lip at an angle. There are plenty helpful folk who'd given their personal recommendations. good luck and hopefully you'll get well rewarded!

 

[nealh]

now the fun begins...



update 1: went from fidue balanced cable to now using the Penon sample cable. I believe it's more the power/impedance today's going to give a different impression sound-wise.

balanced: more mids quantity in terms overall presentation compared to the rest of the spectrum. I'll say "yes, more details" but I suspect it's the impedance pushing them more to the fore.

Penon cable + alo Rx amp: vocals, instead of the mids as a whole remain forward, while the rest sit well together. my subjective take: I prefer this presentation.

I agree with another post that there's more "separation" by going balanced though I suspect it's got to do with the nature of the LZ-A4 being a hybrid being affected. (grain of salt here: far from an expert in the field).

why no longer staying "balanced"? I have a really good iem dedicated amp, and aside its sound specialty, the volume pot is so darn practical! Anyhow, I'll be off to describe this "elephant in a dark room". someone else may have a different take. that's fine.

Penon sample cable? Do u have a linked to that cable?

 

[1TrickPony]

Been listening to my A4's several hours today. Awesome buds, very impressed, and they just keep sounding better.

They are addicting to listen to and playing with the filters is fun and keeps them fresh. Lots of tips included to get a good fit.

Such a fun and enjoyable sound these have, great job on these excellent sounding buds!

cheers to that. there's so much truth to your posts. hard to get bored when everything falls into place.

 

[1TrickPony]

Penon sample cable? Do u have a linked to that cable?

I'll ask and make sure, and let me get back to you. From what I was asked, to give them a proper feedback because they might include them for future buyers.

I'm liking them so far. Haven't tried the Dunu yet. I don't plan on cable rolling with these. I'll try them later direct without any amp. From my current gear and experience, I like everything to sound smooth and cohesive. I tried running them balanced but it limited my choices. Again, ymmv.

no worries, I'll keep you in mind nealh.

impression update: cable feels supple, more so than stock. it seems longer. the weight is lighter, and I enjoy my LZ-A4 worn over the ears. My stock cables are no longer around but I don't any "differences/improvements" from memory. Going balanced though will most likely provide a different experience.

 

[Francisk]

Has anyone compared the sound of the LZ-A4 with the Dynamic Motion DM200H? I'm very impressed with the DM200H's end to end frequency extension with fantastic detail retrieval without any low mids leaking into the mids. The transient attack of the DM200H is just spectacular especially on drums and percussive instruments. I'm really curious how the LZ-A4 compares to the DM200H. If the LZ-A4 sounds better and have better detail retrieval with better end to end frequency extension then I'll definitely purchase one.

 

[TWerk]

  Aren't they awesome? try black/black and black/pink

 
Yep, they sure are!
 
I like the black back the best. Black with black sounds really nice to me.  Black with pink is good, more neutral (less) bass.
 
Almost all the front color filters I like with the black back filter except perhaps blue/gray not as much as the other four.

 

[Podster]

Yep, they sure are!

I like the black back the best. Black with black sounds really nice to me.  Black with pink is good, more neutral (less) bass.

Almost all the front color filters I like with the black back filter except perhaps blue/gray not as much as the other four.

Guess we all have different taste, been jamming Blk Back/Pink Nozz this week but my absolute fave setup is Blue Back/Grey Nozz

 

[kaiteck]

Rip, my red nozzle filter stuck inside my iem shell.

 

[DBaldock9]

Rip, my red nozzle filter stuck inside my iem shell.

Maybe try a drop of sewing machine oil, on a Q-tip, applied to the base of the nozzle. It might seep past the o-ring, if you can move it at all.

 

[kyuuketsuki]

I just got these. Amazing bang for buck. I'm currently on Red back black nozz. I have no idea how I'm going to test all the combinations though. Any suggestions for combos? I was going to try black black next. They came with black blue, but I didn't enjoy that too much. (Consequently, and I know this is somewhat vain, but I love the red accent on the black shells).

Some other observations, Final Audio Tips seem to work well with these, Comply do not. I also rather dislike the tip selection, I tried around 6 different sets of the ones provided and just couldn't get a good fit. Luckily I have many tips, with my ultimate backup being my spinfits. The wire is fantastic and reminds me of the wire I got with my ASG-2s which were a considerably more expensive hybrid. 

 

[1TrickPony]

I just got these. Amazing bang for buck. I'm currently on Red back black nozz. I have no idea how I'm going to test all the combinations though. Any suggestions for combos? I was going to try black black next. They came with black blue, but I didn't enjoy that too much. (Consequently, and I know this is somewhat vain, but I love the red accent on the black shells).


Some other observations, Fine Audio Tips seem to work well with these, Comply do not. I also rather dislike the tip selection, I tried around 6 different sets of the ones provided and just couldn't get a good fit. Luckily I have many tips, with my ultimate backup being my spinfits. The wire is fantastic and reminds me of the wire I got with my ASG-2s which were a considerably more expensive hybrid. 

enjoy bud, if you have to do comparisons, do help those who are still on the fence. if you're a mids lover, some of us endorse the grey and blue back. keep us posted!

 

[kyuuketsuki]

enjoy bud, if you have to do comparisons, do help those who are still on the fence. if you're a mids lover, some of us endorse the grey and blue back. keep us posted!

 
I'm definitely enjoying, but these things are making me rethink everything I know about IEMs. Where to start... Today was my first full day with them, so I'll give initial impressions. First off.... the tips I chose while they worked they didn't stay in my ear (despite them being the usual size I go for (medium). Luckily Final Audio tips that I got have a range they have a size below my typical medium before I hit small, and they also have extra small. The size down seems to be the sweet spot. I have been playing around with the back filters with black nozzles. Blue brings down bass a lot, almost to neutral. Black seems to be close to what I've been come be used to with my other IEMs in terms of quantity and similar quality. Enough bass to be fun but still decently close to neutral. I've noticed that the one consistent thing (and this is likely due to the drivers more than anything) is that the bass seems to be ALMOST linear to the mids. Sub and upper bass seems to roll off slightly with an ever so slight midbass hump. With black and blue backs this is almost imperceptible though, since it pushes it further up. There is plenty of treble extension with the black nozzle. 

For comparisons the only IEM I own that is comparable with these is my ASG2 which is a hooligan. An extremely fun hooligan though. I feel like these two would be friends. The back filters act a lot like the bass dial on the ASG2s (with far less fine control), but the end result is similar, except that nothing on these can even touch ASG2 bass quantity on full blast. But I've not yet heard an IEM that can, I needed to keep the ASG2s only ever so slightly open (so that the drivers could breathe but not too much). But the bass amount on ASG2s is just incredible and these don't have the same amount of quantity, but the ASGs were also far more boomy with a far bigger midbass hump. In a way these are what I'd have liked from the ASG2s in terms of bass (with red back and black front)

Here is where it gets hairy... The mids... I'm currently spoiled. With red back black front they are in no way lacking at all. Voices sound great instrumentation sounds great, separation is far better than I expected for $200. I mean... By any other means I should be floored. But coming from two Aurisonics sets as my main every day pairs (ASG2 and Rockets) they just upped the game. I still don't know what voodoo magic Dale and co did to make mids so luscious on their IEMs, but dang... I still haven't found the equal. I will probably try grey tip and blue black eventually to see if they can come close to matching,and it will be interesting if they do, but I feel that (based on FR chart of tip and nozzle combos) sub bass will suffer too much for my tastes, but that would be fine for things like folk, which will probably be my reference music for that. (So far I've been listening to rock, vgm (specifically persona 5 ost which is an interesting range, but because it is vgm has very little in the way of depth), and jazz.

The highs are fantastic. They go toe to toe with everything I've got. There seems to be even less roll off than on the ASG2s. They have great extension, they have fantastic clarity. They are everything I'd expect from an upper level IEM. 


Soundstage is impressive, but I haven't listened to enough of a variety of music that has a large sound stage to really get a good idea of how big or small. I will say that for the jazz and rock I've listened to it feels like I'm midroom of a hall. While ASG2s felt like I was front and center of the same room. They are less in your face than the ASG2s. However, at least for what I've listened to, I feel like they give the feeling of a virtual room of a large club/small concert hall venue which is about right for the music I've been listening to, this is very promising. Eventually I'll get to other genres of music that will better demonstrate or show the shortcomings of the IEMs.

But here is the thing that floors me. These are better in a lot of ways than the Rockets. Rockets are probably my ideal tuning (though that might be because I've been listening to them nearly everyday since I got them), but the microdivers have limitations. Dale did a great job at minimizing every limitation to the absolute possible making a near neutral but fun IEM with fantastic mids and great highs and suitable bass. These are closer to the ASG2s (which makes sense since they are both 2BA 1DD hybrids) in terms of what you get. And honestly the quality is so comparable is it kinda maddening. They are also more efficient than the ASGs which is always appreciated for mobile listening. I've also been playing with them connected to the NiceHCK HB1 (a MMCX bluetooth cable) and they work exceptionally well, to the point where I now feel like I have a TOTL bluetooth iem (they are a bit quiet, with normal volume on the bluetooth side, and max volume on phone side, but I expected that, and they are no worse off than my Tennmak Pros and far better off than either of my Shures (the 215s are good, but the 425s are too power hungry to really make the bluetooth cable work). It is $600-700 sound for $200. They are not the best I've ever heard (which is probably the Campfire Audio Vega, which I had the pleasure of spending some time with at CanJam NYC, seriously don't think I've ever been completely floored by an IEM before I tried those, even with all those multiple BA iems, a single 8.5mm dynamic driver producing that kind of sound is amazing to me, unfortunately I don't have $1300 to blow on IEMs, and there is also the issue of diminishing returns...)

The craziest part of having these in my ears all day is that I know that I haven't even scratched the surface of what these things have to offer. So far I've been most enjoying Red back Black Nozz. They have the right amount of bass to be really fun, but still lose nothing in the rest of the spectrum. I think Red back Black front will be my goto since it is so familiar, but Black and Black are really tempting. Blue Black not so much. They still have all the things I like in mids and highs but the bass seems a bit too subdued. 

So... there it is... my initial impressions of one filter combination... I just have to have further impressions and then try out 17 others extensively.... I'll be here all year...

 

[Lurk650]

kyuuketsuki, and now your next step is to go balanced

 

[Indigo Bob]

   
I'm definitely enjoying, but these things are making me rethink everything I know about IEMs. Where to start... Today was my first full day with them, so I'll give initial impressions. First off.... the tips I chose while they worked they didn't stay in my ear (despite them being the usual size I go for (medium). Luckily Final Audio tips that I got have a range they have a size below my typical medium before I hit small, and they also have extra small. The size down seems to be the sweet spot. I have been playing around with the back filters with black nozzles. Blue brings down bass a lot, almost to neutral. Black seems to be close to what I've been come be used to with my other IEMs in terms of quantity and similar quality. Enough bass to be fun but still decently close to neutral. I've noticed that the one consistent thing (and this is likely due to the drivers more than anything) is that the bass seems to be ALMOST linear to the mids. Sub and upper bass seems to roll off slightly with an ever so slight midbass hump. With black and blue backs this is almost imperceptible though, since it pushes it further up. There is plenty of treble extension with the black nozzle. 

For comparisons the only IEM I own that is comparable with these is my ASG2 which is a hooligan. An extremely fun hooligan though. I feel like these two would be friends. The back filters act a lot like the bass dial on the ASG2s (with far less fine control), but the end result is similar, except that nothing on these can even touch ASG2 bass quantity on full blast. But I've not yet heard an IEM that can, I needed to keep the ASG2s only ever so slightly open (so that the drivers could breathe but not too much). But the bass amount on ASG2s is just incredible and these don't have the same amount of quantity, but the ASGs were also far more boomy with a far bigger midbass hump. In a way these are what I'd have liked from the ASG2s in terms of bass (with red back and black front)

Here is where it gets hairy... The mids... I'm currently spoiled. With red back black front they are in no way lacking at all. Voices sound great instrumentation sounds great, separation is far better than I expected for $200. I mean... By any other means I should be floored. But coming from two Aurisonics sets as my main every day pairs (ASG2 and Rockets) they just upped the game. I still don't know what voodoo magic Dale and co did to make mids so luscious on their IEMs, but dang... I still haven't found the equal. I will probably try grey tip and blue black eventually to see if they can come close to matching,and it will be interesting if they do, but I feel that (based on FR chart of tip and nozzle combos) sub bass will suffer too much for my tastes, but that would be fine for things like folk, which will probably be my reference music for that. (So far I've been listening to rock, vgm (specifically persona 5 ost which is an interesting range, but because it is vgm has very little in the way of depth), and jazz.

The highs are fantastic. They go toe to toe with everything I've got. There seems to be even less roll off than on the ASG2s. They have great extension, they have fantastic clarity. They are everything I'd expect from an upper level IEM. 


Soundstage is impressive, but I haven't listened to enough of a variety of music that has a large sound stage to really get a good idea of how big or small. I will say that for the jazz and rock I've listened to it feels like I'm midroom of a hall. While ASG2s felt like I was front and center of the same room. They are less in your face than the ASG2s. However, at least for what I've listened to, I feel like they give the feeling of a virtual room of a large club/small concert hall venue which is about right for the music I've been listening to, this is very promising. Eventually I'll get to other genres of music that will better demonstrate or show the shortcomings of the IEMs.

But here is the thing that floors me. These are better in a lot of ways than the Rockets. Rockets are probably my ideal tuning (though that might be because I've been listening to them nearly everyday since I got them), but the microdivers have limitations. Dale did a great job at minimizing every limitation to the absolute possible making a near neutral but fun IEM with fantastic mids and great highs and suitable bass. These are closer to the ASG2s (which makes sense since they are both 2BA 1DD hybrids) in terms of what you get. And honestly the quality is so comparable is it kinda maddening. They are also more efficient than the ASGs which is always appreciated for mobile listening. I've also been playing with them connected to the NiceHCK HB1 (a MMCX bluetooth cable) and they work exceptionally well, to the point where I now feel like I have a TOTL bluetooth iem (they are a bit quiet, with normal volume on the bluetooth side, and max volume on phone side, but I expected that, and they are no worse off than my Tennmak Pros and far better off than either of my Shures (the 215s are good, but the 425s are too power hungry to really make the bluetooth cable work). It is $600-700 sound for $200. They are not the best I've ever heard (which is probably the Campfire Audio Vega, which I had the pleasure of spending some time with at CanJam NYC, seriously don't think I've ever been completely floored by an IEM before I tried those, even with all those multiple BA iems, a single 8.5mm dynamic driver producing that kind of sound is amazing to me, unfortunately I don't have $1300 to blow on IEMs, and there is also the issue of diminishing returns...)

The craziest part of having these in my ears all day is that I know that I haven't even scratched the surface of what these things have to offer. So far I've been most enjoying Red back Black Nozz. They have the right amount of bass to be really fun, but still lose nothing in the rest of the spectrum. I think Red back Black front will be my goto since it is so familiar, but Black and Black are really tempting. Blue Black not so much. They still have all the things I like in mids and highs but the bass seems a bit too subdued. 

So... there it is... my initial impressions of one filter combination... I just have to have further impressions and then try out 17 others extensively.... I'll be here all year...

Black fronts definitely provide a special soundstage compared to other IEM's I have tried!