[Audio fledgling]

I only intended to start my adventures in IEMs with one, through a somewhat odd circumstance, I ended up getting the Heart Mirrors and ZS10 Pros in quick succession. And after having them both for a couple months, I started to notice something really strange.

Essentially if I A B test the IEMs against each other and against the TWS that I had before I discovered IEMs. The ZS 10 Pros almost always come out on top, (exception is a cappella, with pentatonix and similar music, the Heart Mirrors consistently win).

Here's where things get weird, the IEM I actually spend more time listening to is definitely the Heart Mirror, and not by a small margin either. If I just want to listen to something, I usually end up grabbing the Heart Mirror. It's like to borrow a metaphor from Thinking Fast and Slow, if I'm using system two, I pick ZS10 Pros, but my subconscious system one, has a strong preference for the Heart Mirrors. Any ideas what might be behind that?

Really scratching my head.

Impressed enough with both pairs, that I'm thinking of climbing up the ladder a bit and future, trying to hold off for the 11/11 sales this year, will see if I make it that long . I kind of thought picking two as different as the Heart Mirror and the ZS10 Pro would pretty clearly tell me what my preferences were, but it's actually made me more perplexed.

 

[earmonger]

Maybe it's a matter of comfort with a different fit. Or maybe the Heart Mirrors are slightly shinier objects.

 

[baskingshark]

I only intended to start my adventures in IEMs with one, through a somewhat odd circumstance, I ended up getting the Heart Mirrors and ZS10 Pros in quick succession. And after having them both for a couple months, I started to notice something really strange.

Essentially if I A B test the IEMs against each other and against the TWS that I had before I discovered IEMs. The ZS 10 Pros almost always come out on top, (exception is a cappella, with pentatonix and similar music, the Heart Mirrors consistently win).

Here's where things get weird, the IEM I actually spend more time listening to is definitely the Heart Mirror, and not by a small margin either. If I just want to listen to something, I usually end up grabbing the Heart Mirror. It's like to borrow a metaphor from Thinking Fast and Slow, if I'm using system two, I pick ZS10 Pros, but my subconscious system one, has a strong preference for the Heart Mirrors. Any ideas what might be behind that?

Really scratching my head.

Impressed enough with both pairs, that I'm thinking of climbing up the ladder a bit and future, trying to hold off for the 11/11 sales this year, will see if I make it that long . I kind of thought picking two as different as the Heart Mirror and the ZS10 Pro would pretty clearly tell me what my preferences were, but it's actually made me more perplexed.

The ZS10 pro is a hybrid that is a deep V Shaped tuning (boosted bass and treble), whereas the Heart Mirror is a single DD which is neutral bright (bass lite with boosted upper frequencies).

You possibly like flat tunings more? The Heart Mirror also has a better timbral accuracy than the slightly artificial timbre in the ZS10 Pro (I have both). So perhaps for some music genres like jazz and classical, the Heart Mirror sound more natural? The boosted bass makes the ZS10 Pro better for rock and EDM.

 

[Audio fledgling]

The Heart Mirror also has a better timbral accuracy than the slightly artificial timbre in the ZS10 Pro

Thanks baskingshark! I think your point about the timbre is spot on. All those drivers in the ZS10 Pros give them really solid instrument separation, and very sharply defined note attacks. I think that's what was making them sound more "impressive", for lack of a better term, when I was A B testing with a couple songs. What my subconscious was cluing into, was that the Heart Mirrors sound much more natural by comparison.

That had been bugging me for a while, I could tell the Heart Mirrors were doing something right, but I couldn't quite find the right words for it, while the strengths of the ZS10 Pros were really easy to describe. Thanks again!

Might try my hand at writing up a Heart Mirror review soon, a bit hesitant though, I feel like a very small fish in a very big pond.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I only intended to start my adventures in IEMs with one, through a somewhat odd circumstance, I ended up getting the Heart Mirrors and ZS10 Pros in quick succession. And after having them both for a couple months, I started to notice something really strange.

Essentially if I A B test the IEMs against each other and against the TWS that I had before I discovered IEMs. The ZS 10 Pros almost always come out on top, (exception is a cappella, with pentatonix and similar music, the Heart Mirrors consistently win).

Here's where things get weird, the IEM I actually spend more time listening to is definitely the Heart Mirror, and not by a small margin either. If I just want to listen to something, I usually end up grabbing the Heart Mirror. It's like to borrow a metaphor from Thinking Fast and Slow, if I'm using system two, I pick ZS10 Pros, but my subconscious system one, has a strong preference for the Heart Mirrors. Any ideas what might be behind that?

Really scratching my head.

Well...what exactly were the criteria you evaluated the ZS10 Pro and Heart Mirror on to judge that them that way, ie, that you deemed the ZS10 Pro superior in almost every genre save for those you listed where the Heart Mirror is superior?

 

[cpilling]

Another thing I might consider is that there is simply something about the sound of the Heart Mirrors that you like. As baskingshark noted, perhaps you simply like the tuning/timbre more, but it could go even deeper than that. For example, I own a pair of Audioquest Nightowls. I do not like the tuning of the Nightowls (very dark), and they are not the most detailed, best imaging, et al headphone I own. But there's just something about them that I can't get enough of.

I guess what I'm getting at is that even if you like the tuning, timbre, etc. of the ZS10s more, there is still more to how much you enjoy the headphone than that.

 

[Audio fledgling]

Hi all, thanks for the thought-provoking commentary. I had a post for the thread all thought out, then the KZ driver controversy hit. Ended up doing some rethinking after that.

I think a significant part of what was going on, has to do with the way AB testing kind of works, it was creating an artificially short listening duration when I was comparing things. The ZS10 Pros are a little like cake, while the Heart Mirrors, at least to my ears are little bit more like curry, if that weird metaphor makes any sense. If you only take a few bites, or short listen, it's easy to pick the cake, where if you're going to have a big bowl, at a certain point, the curry becomes the easy pick.

Also, if you've got a set of ZS10 Pros, here's a fun little experiment, to test how subjective your experience of audio is. Check out some old-school ZS10 Pro review content from the time when they were a pretty universally well-regarded IEM, then listen to them for a while, then check out the recent controversy content around KZ and then give your ZS10 Pros another listen. I for one was a little unsettled, by how much I could push around my subjective enjoyment level of the ZS10 Pros.