[kiler]

Yeah I'll probably will I am in the dire need of a DAP :b Even though the Zero sound awesome out of a smartphone.

 

[HiFiChris]

More than 200 hours of burn-in are over. 

My initial impression hasn't changed much - good in-ears but clearly on the bassier side of balanced (esp. in the upper bass), coming from the UERM/ER-4S/SD-2/MR3. Strangely I find them somewhat v-shaped - not only in the upper treble, but also in the middle highs around 5 kHz where the graph shows a dip, I hear a peak (probably a resonance in my large ear canals). Tuning is quite well done though.

Great bass control and speed. Good minute detail retrieval although the mids aren't the sweetest (but nicely detailed though). (Really) good performance for the price. Can compete well against other dynamic driver in-ears below $200, but is about on the same level as other (dynamic) in-ears that I consider as excellent budget offerings (comparisons to budget and higher priced models will be found in my review).
Good overall impression.

So let the casual and then the critical listening phase begin...

 

[NLNH]

  More than 200 hours of burn-in are over. 

My initial impression hasn't changed much - good in-ears but clearly on the bassier side of balanced (esp. in the upper bass), coming from the UERM/ER-4S/SD-2/MR3. Strangely I find them somewhat v-shaped - not only in the upper treble, but also in the middle highs around 5 kHz where the graph shows a dip, I hear a peak (probably a resonance in my large ear canals). Tuning is quite well done though.

Great bass control and speed. Good minute detail retrieval although the mids aren't the sweetest (but nicely detailed though). (Really) good performance for the price. Can compete well against other dynamic driver in-ears below $200, but is about on the same level as other (dynamic) in-ears that I consider as excellent budget offerings (comparisons to budget and higher priced models will be found in my review).
Good overall impression.

So let the casual and then the critical listening phase begin...

on what daps tho?

 

[HiFiChris]

 

   

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

More than 200 hours of burn-in are over. 

My initial impression hasn't changed much - good in-ears but clearly on the bassier side of balanced (esp. in the upper bass), coming from the UERM/ER-4S/SD-2/MR3. Strangely I find them somewhat v-shaped - not only in the upper treble, but also in the middle highs around 5 kHz where the graph shows a dip, I hear a peak (probably a resonance in my large ear canals). Tuning is quite well done though.

Great bass control and speed. Good minute detail retrieval although the mids aren't the sweetest (but nicely detailed though). (Really) good performance for the price. Can compete well against other dynamic driver in-ears below $200, but is about on the same level as other (dynamic) in-ears that I consider as excellent budget offerings (comparisons to budget and higher priced models will be found in my review).
Good overall impression.

So let the casual and then the critical listening phase begin...

 

on what daps tho?

 
DX80, DX90, Geek Out IEM 100, UHA-6S.MKII

 

[NLNH]

   
DX80, DX90, Geek Out IEM 100, UHA-6S.MKII

 
ergh try a phone 

 and direct from laptop/ PC
 
^ this does matter, considering the price tier

 

[HiFiChris]

 

   
DX80, DX90, Geek Out IEM 100, UHA-6S.MKII

 
ergh try a phone 

 and direct from laptop/ PC
 
^ this does matter, considering the price tier

Why that?!

 

[vapman]

@HiFiChris I think when I have done enough listening to write a review my impressions will be about the same as yours.
 
I understand why people would want to know how IEM like this, at this price point, want to know how it sounds out of non-fancy DAPs and without amps and stuff. Unfortunately for those guys I use a cool DAP and a nice amp, but I did do some listening directly out of my laptop's headphone out (it is my duty as a reviewer of a free review sample) and actually found the mids definitely became more present. It turned more V shaped sound as soon as I plugged it into any amp.
 
Maybe a certain level of power changes its sound signature? I'll need another few days to say for sure.
 
I still say they're as good as the Aurisonics Kicker

 

[NLNH]

 

Why that?!

 
Consider people who would buy a $50 Bucks iem, such is more realistic....
A laptop's output is definitely not on the weak side, in terms of quality and power, so as phones.
 
Phones have pretty ''safe'' tunings and rely more on the DAC output than analogue amping, more control for this type (zero) of iem....
And the tuning is not aimed to please audiophiles. (just imo here)
Daps used to have higher gain/ amping considerations thus and so there is more need for pairing, also a tendency to match with some iems,  vice versa.
 
Just try anyways, this should give it more justice 

 Do get it tested on iphone if possible

 

[vapman]

  A laptop's output is definitely not on the weak side, in terms of quality and power, so as phones.
 

Huh? Yeah they are... I really doubt any laptop can put out more than 80 or 90mW of power, and even if it can, it's going to be at a very low resistance, like 10 ohms. On top of that, it's going to have a miserable DAC and be noisy!
 
IMO a laptop is even worse than a smartphone in terms of quality to expect from it. A desktop computer is equally bad IMO.
 
I don't understand what you mean by "in terms of quality and power, so as phones." though

 

[mochill]

LG Gram has 1w+1w of power per channel

 

[HiFiChris]

  [...] but I did do some listening directly out of my laptop's headphone out [...] and actually found the mids definitely became more present. It turned more V shaped sound as soon as I plugged it into any amp.
 
Maybe a certain level of power changes its sound signature? I'll need another few days to say for sure.

 
Some laptops have some nasty DSP s...ugar involved that changes the tonality. Not a good thing.
 
 

 
Consider people who would buy a $50 Bucks iem, such is more realistic....
A laptop's output is definitely not on the weak side, in terms of quality and power, so as phones.
 
Phones have pretty ''safe'' tunings and rely more on the DAC output than analogue amping, more control for this type (zero) of iem....
And the tuning is not aimed to please audiophiles. (just imo here)
Daps used to have higher gain/ amping considerations thus and so there is more need for pairing (also a tendency to match with some iems,  vice versa.
 
Just try anyways, this should give it more justice 

 Do get it tested on iphone if possible

 
Ah, now that's reasonable. I saw that going totally different in my mind and thought you had completely different intentions (been there, done that). 

 
So fortunately no need for me to post this gif below although I already prepared it. 

---

 
Well, the all of the stuff I am using allows for really really low output power and volume, in case you want to bring the level adjustment thing because of different sensitivity into the game. All the stuff I am using has got a flat FR and clean output (including the low-tier $30 DAPs, my iPhone 4 that I bought for audio playback alone as well as my laptop's soundcard). So nothing here that doesn't have a more or less clean and especially linear output.
But I'll promise to use low budget sub $50 DAPs and my iPhone. 

 

[mochill]

http://www.lg.com/us/laptops/lg-gram-15Z960-A.AA75U1-ultra-slim-laptop

 

[vapman]

http://www.lg.com/us/laptops/lg-gram-15Z960-A.AA75U1-ultra-slim-laptop

That's neat but this and the LG V10 are very, very different from the norm. 99% of people here or who intend to buy the Zero probably don't have this particular model laptops. There are lots of laptops out there, and the majority of them are MacBooks now.

 

[NLNH]

  Huh? Yeah they are... I really doubt any laptop can put out more than 80 or 90mW of power, and even if it can, it's going to be at a very low resistance, like 10 ohms. On top of that, it's going to have a miserable DAC and be noisy!
 
IMO a laptop is even worse than a smartphone in terms of quality to expect from it. A desktop computer is equally bad IMO.
 
I don't understand what you mean by "in terms of quality and power, so as phones." though

 
that is too broad to be commented that way ,all depends.... while quite some daps relies on android/ linux platforms...
being said, what actually makes these stands out? 

 
 
Further more, Daps/phones runs on a single Lithum battery (voltage may be stepped up) on a smaller circuit board compared to PC, can you really say it is more dedicated to produce better sound than on a PC which you could turn off wifi, eliminate background apps, running at higher voltage and enjoy much more ram and calculation power? Not an anti-dap guy here of course but I want to know why you make that comment lol
 
I'm putting the gain and noise control into consideration when I was talking about the overall performance on laptops up there anyways,
while the output power in mW just reflects the max SPL you can get, it is not correlated to quality or else everyone have to buy 2000W amps for their speakers lol.

 
And... on my PC on board there is a mid tier dac equivalent sound card which actually sounds quite decent to me...... 

 
Just personal experience up there, take it easy.

 

[warrior1975]

Interesting. I have fiio X1 and X3 OG, ipod touch 5 and 6g...and my trusty lg v10.