"I don't even listen to anything else anymore"
I originally got these mainly because I needed a cheap IEM to use when outside walking and cycling. So I needed something that would stay put in the ears well, and sound quality was second on the list since exteriors are far from an ideal listening environment as it is. I originally got the Xiaomi Pistons 3 for that purpose but after listening to them they didn’t agree with my ears at all, despite all the hype. I came here and lurked some more and that’s when I heard about the Zircons. The fact that they were bass-heavy intrigued me since all my headphones and speakers thus far were fairly anemic. I went over to AliExpress thinking they were gonna be like $50 based on the talk, but when I saw the price tag of $10 I immediately pulled the trigger.
Build quality:
The cable is braided and nice and doesn't exhibit much microphonics. Not a fan of the 90-degree plug for computer use, but it will probably be a welcome thing when I use them on a smartphone. The part where the phones split off into two seems like a potential weak point, as I see one member here already had theirs split off at that location, so I treat them carefully. I feel like the cabling could be more rugged with better strain relief. The IEM themselves are made from zirconium I guess, look totally high-end and have a nice ceramic clang to them. I like the material and color which has a black-greenish tinge to it. Nothing is plastic, which I like. Not a fan of plastic on earphones for whatever reason.
Comfort & seal:
The tips are fairly comfortable but the actual seal is somewhat hit or miss. Sometimes they seal right off the bat and stay there, other times I have to fiddle with them for 10-15 minutes before they give me the full bass and stay put. I tried some tips I had around and the stock ones are best from what I have but I ordered some triple flange tips so I'm gonna try those to get a really good seal.
Sound quality:
My other audio gear includes the Superlux HD668B over-ear headphones (big hype a few years back) and a Yamaha Rx396 receiver with a pair of Kenwood LS-85 100W three-way stereo speakers.
Both of those have been unused the past two days. The Zircons are all I listen to. Now I will preface that saying that I am not a basshead, or at least I didn't think I was one. I always preferred a balanced, flat, neutral approach to music. "The bass should be supporting the rest of the instruments, not overtaking them" - is what I always used to say to the people who'd crank the subs on their cars and drown out the rest of the music. And the Zircons just made me question that stance. The bass is definitely way up there in terms of volume, it's booming, loud, punches you in the face and doesn't let you forget about it for a second. But it does so in such a nicely balanced way, with such deep low end extension that you just can't help but sit there and listen to it with a big stupid grin on your face crying tears of joy like you're a 5 year old who just got their favorite Christmas present. And as unbalanced as the low-end seems to be compared to the rest of the spectrum, there is something to be said for an earphone that can pull out the deep 30 Hz subs from an Ice Cube or Dorrough song that you've listened to years before and never even knew it was there. Using Sinegen I could hear down to 25 Hz which would be like the Mariana Trench for my Superlux headphones. I definitely feel like the 20-40 Hz region on these earphones is done right and fetches a lot of depth and immersion you just can't get with other 'phones, but the area above that, from 50-100 Hz or so could maybe be a bit flatter and more balanced.
The mids seem okay, no real complaints there. But I have beef with the vocal region. 1-2 kHz sound recessed and vocals a bit more distant than they should be. If this area was a bit more forward it would be kick-ass.
Everything up and above 4 kHz or so I have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with. On one hand the treble is very smooth, without any noticeable spikes or harshness, I can turn the headphones way up and they don't aggravate me so I can listen for a long time. Detail is there, but it's gentle. On the other hand occasionally I find things to sound just a touch veiled and would prefer a slightly crisper treble.
Nevertheless, that is their sonic character and it is what it is. Overall, I freaking like it and the little faults that they do have don't prevent them from being a truly outstanding set of earphones for the price.
Technicalities:
One of the things that I was kinda worried about was how these headphones would play along with my output devices since they have a very low impedance of 16 ohms. It turns out I was right and they are fairly picky as to the amp's output impedance.
When I initially got them I plugged them into my computer's front panel headphone jack. I didn't hear anything terribly wrong at first but it did seem to me that the bass sounded kinda odd and rattly. My motherboard uses the Realtek ALC889 codec which supposedly has output impedance less than 2 Ohms on the rear jack so I thought for the hell of it I would plug it into the rear jack and see if that made a difference, and boy did it. The bass immediately tightened up and was now following the rest of the song nicely, and even better, the treble gained some clarity and crispness. I thought it was placebo so I did a couple of tests where I tried plugging and unplugging the earphones from one port to the other really quickly, and it was fairly obvious that it did sounded somewhat better from the rear jack. I let my brother hear and he heard it as well. It's not a night and day difference but it's definitely noticeable.
Later on in the day I went for a walk and took them along plugged into my very old Nokia mobile phone (pre-Android). The sound quality was really awful - the bass was all over the place and the treble noticeably worse.
I don't know how it will perform with a modern smartphone as I have yet to buy one but I hope the Galaxy S5 likes them.
Durability:
This has yet to be determined obviously, but I hope they last at least a year. Honestly, I'm worried that they will stop making these. Maybe I should buy about 10 of them and keep them in secure storage so that I always have a pair of Zircons to fall back on.
VERDICT: 9 / 10
Highlight songs:
Here are some tracks I keep listening to over and over on these headphones. I am just amazed by how good they sound:
Ice Cube - Why Me ft. Musiq Soulchild (Official Video)
Trackmania² Canyon - Menu Music
Yahel - Soul (Indra Remix)
Systek - The Singularity