With all this frustration going on and some people which receive(d) a dud HK6, I can tell you, I ordered them as well and they will arrive soon, but I'll probably have to send them back after all the reports about them just sounding off... Unwanted stuff happens and this is bad luck and
if they sound off or if the QC is just really bad on these then the hype should genuinely stop so people don't order them hoping they'll sound amazing. I will definitely share some impressions once they arrive.
In any case, what I wanted to say is, if you're feeling a bit unhappy about Chi-Fi headphones lately, and I'm also sorry about your LZ-A5
@bhazard, give the QKZ VK1 a try if you like a neutral/natural sound signature with a very smooth but still detailed top end.
Again, I'm not giving recommendations lightly and I had a lot in In-Ears in the past so I do have some references and I can safely say that these punch waaay above their price, I'm talking about 10 times as much. I'm of course baffled myself, after I received them via mail yesterday my expectations weren't high, but I was also expecting them to sound OK for all the good ratings they have on Ali, but I didn't expect this at all.
Let me give you some short impressions after about 4-5 hours of listening:
Comfort:
The comfort on these is rather nice. If I push them in too deep, the case does push a bit on my ear, so I don't insert them as deep as possible, which is rather deep, but on its own not uncomfortable! They are very lightweight and the design is rather ergonomic, nothing to complain about yet!
Soundstage:
Impressive. The soundstage is rather wide and comparable to my IMR R1's which are about 29 times the price. I have to give them more time in my ear to further judge this though!
Bass:
Tight, detailed, not overbearing at all and it sits along the midrange in terms of quantity. I wouldn't say they lack bass or sub-bass at all but compared to the bigger drivers of the IMR R1's they provide a bit less sub-bass to my ears, although they may sound even a tad more natural down low. The bass is satisfying and it has a very quick decay which I attribute to the graphene drivers used. If you're a basshead, you might either want to EQ them a bit or maybe look elsewhere.
Mids:
I was very surprised by the mids these provide. They are, to my ears, a bit V-Shaped but the midrange shines through without getting colored too much. I would say I prefer the midrange of the IMR R1's since they just sound a bit clearer, but this may also be because the R1's have, to my ears, a bit of boosted top-end. Overall, I really like the mids. You hear a lot of detail in them and you would never ever expect this from a 17€ headphone.
Highs:
Maybe my favorite aspect about them is that they sound rather smooth and don't boost the highs, at least not to any extend that it would cause any fatigue. I'd say I prefer this smoothness in the top-end over the IMR R1's insanely clear treble, at times at least, because especially at work I don't any headphones which drain me through grinding highs. Even though the top-end is smooth, I wouldn't call it recessed at all and there is still a lot of detail.
Microdetail:
Microdetail is impressive. Again, very impressive for 17€ headphones, actually unbelievable considering the price. I also attribute this to the graphene driver which probably offers a rather distortion-free sound which lets a lot of details come through.
To sum it up, they are great. The build quality is good, although I would improve the connector since it is a bit loose and this might become a problem if being used daily, maybe! I cannot say anything about them regarding long term usage. Also, I think they sound as good because the driver is something special. They call it "Helmholtz resonating double cavity" and it has 2 graphene drivers inside with "Magnetic flux close to 1 Tesla". Oh, and they received a High-Fi certificate as well as the German Red Dot Design Award, which is crazy a bit.
If you have a bit of money to spare and/or if you're looking for a bang for your buck iem or spare headphones in general, just give these a try. For 17€ they give you so much than you'd expect and a second pair is already on the way, just so I can gift them to a close friend and blow his mind!
Cheers guys!
(or, alternatively, all what I've said is BS and I am bassless IEMs fan now)
