[o0genesis0o]

Quick OOTB for KZ x HBB PR2


▶︎Personal Purchase from KZ Global Shop at $29USD

▶︎The measurement appears almost a re-shoot of discontinued Tangzu’s legendary Planar, Wu Zetian.


Wu Zetian = 14.5mm full-size planar
PR2 = 13.2mm full-size planar (bellsing?)

I run PR2 through 3 sets of 60min online burn-in session from this site:
https://www.chord-m.com/en/?runin=open

A pretty nice comprehensive initial burn-in tool that works great to most of transducers.

The right-out-of-the-box performance was a nightmare…I removed 70% of my out of box comments with “maybe I‘ve expected too much from KZ”.


I’m really curious what Crin (the burn-in disbeliever) would comment his out of box comment on PR2 VS A proper burn-in completed set of PR2. He has enough sensitive set of ears to tell a huge difference of this change

️PR2 requires significantly higher level of gain to have a proper sonic performance.
️With Stock foam ear tips that is attached to PR2 out of box, and standard KZ stock cable, PR2 isn’t performing the true potentials

—Tonal Balance
As well-expected from HBB collaboration, warm and relaxed treble neutral that matches perfectly to tracks with “energy / momentum “ prerequisites. It also has good amount of detail articulation and with slightly accentuated air region, if you feel PR2 lacks air, you probably belong to “artificially generated air” lover.

—Timbre Tasting
Top Note: Tactile yet Nimble sub-bass
Heart Note: Smooth and tonally accurate mid
Bottom Note: Far reaching and pretty natural treble

—PR2 vs Wu Zetian OG


On the paper, PR2 appears to be more detailed around treble and air region?

I performed direct A-B test both using same ear tips (SpinFit CP360) and Wu’s 4.4mm balanced stock cable.

▶︎Wu has a noticeable advantage over PR2 for the planar driver performance in terms of transient response.

Wu sounds light and fast, PR2 sounds slightly slow when directly compared to Wu Zetian, I’d day 90% in speed.

For tuning wise both Wu and PR2 are almost same projectile, you can refer my Wu’s OOTB for the tonality.

Here is my Wu’s out of box impression as



▶︎For Bass-Mid, the performance gap is 100 : 90 For Treble 100 : 95 for Wu : PR2

They are almost par

▶︎Planar performance at almost bare minimum budget, for the price of $29, I bet this is hard to beat Planar experience anyone would chip in.

Overall experience, my expectations was very high, and PR2 actually met with that high expectations which is very rare occasion to my experience in any IEM open box experienc.

Also, although with HBB’s tuning advise, I’m quite surprised KZ is now able to tune IEM to fit to the target without sacrificing timbral accuracy which unfortunately did not happen back then to Zex Pro /CRN.

PR2 is 90-95% Wu Zetian and is best IEM of KZ has offered to date. Wow, great job in offering A-class IEM with that low budget!!

Yeah, I’m so tempted to add these PR2 to my collection just to have one decent planar IEM. They are also good for giving amps a work out and convince people that they need external amp

 

[baskingshark]

Yeah, I’m so tempted to add these PR2 to my collection just to have one decent planar IEM. They are also good for giving amps a work out and convince people that they need external amp

Haha were you in a cave for 2022 and didn't ride on any planar IEM hypetrain?

Kidding, but yeah I saw a few local audiophiles who bought the PR2 and they were complaining on social media that the venerable apple dongle couldn't drive the PR2 even on max volume (by driving they mean not volume but the dynamics, bass tightness etc).

I don't have the PR2, but from the advertised specs of impedance 15 ohm and sensitivity 94 dB, it does look like this Pokemon might need amplification.

 

[Carpet]

Haha were you in a cave for 2022 and didn't ride on any planar IEM hypetrain?

Kidding, but yeah I saw a few local audiophiles who bought the PR2 and they were complaining on social media that the venerable apple dongle couldn't drive the PR2 even on max volume (by driving they mean not volume but the dynamics, bass tightness etc).

I don't have the PR2, but from the advertised specs of impedance 15 ohm and sensitivity 94 dB, it does look like this Pokemon might need amplification.

Then they can find out how thirsty high powered dongles can be on phone battery!

 

[WAON303]

▶︎Planar performance at almost bare minimum budget, for the price of $29, I bet this is hard to beat Planar experience anyone would chip in.

This set probably makes a LOT of stuff under 100 bucks obsolete.

30 bucks got you garbage 5+ years ago, it's hard to believe you can get a competent set for 30 bucks nowadays, and not just a set that's well tuned.

I thought it was going to take a while before full sized IEM planar sets would drop below 50 bucks, boy was I wrong!

 

[AmericanSpirit]

This set probably makes a LOT of stuff under 100 bucks obsolete.

30 bucks got you garbage 5+ years ago, it's hard to believe you can get a competent set for 30 bucks nowadays, and not just a set that's well tuned.

I thought it was going to take a while before full sized IEM planar sets would drop below 50 bucks, boy was I wrong!

”what a wonderful world” we are living in

Yeah, I’m so tempted to add these PR2 to my collection just to have one decent planar IEM. They are also good for giving amps a work out and convince people that they need external amp

haha come join us! It’s pretty worthy set especially with H570 & NiceHCK cables.

Then they can find out how thirsty high powered dongles can be on phone battery!

ture that

Haha were you in a cave for 2022 and didn't ride on any planar IEM hypetrain?

Kidding, but yeah I saw a few local audiophiles who bought the PR2 and they were complaining on social media that the venerable apple dongle couldn't drive the PR2 even on max volume (by driving they mean not volume but the dynamics, bass tightness etc).

I don't have the PR2, but from the advertised specs of impedance 15 ohm and sensitivity 94 dB, it does look like this Pokemon might need amplification.

you are invited to join KZ pokemon club

Before KZ was full of magicarps now they have gyarados!

 

[Carpet]

Quick OOTB for KZ x HBB PR2


▶︎Personal Purchase from KZ Global Shop at $29USD

▶︎The measurement appears almost a re-shoot of discontinued Tangzu’s legendary Planar, Wu Zetian.


Wu Zetian = 14.5mm full-size planar
PR2 = 13.2mm full-size planar (bellsing?)

I run PR2 through 3 sets of 60min online burn-in session from this site:
https://www.chord-m.com/en/?runin=open

A pretty nice comprehensive initial burn-in tool that works great to most of transducers.

The right-out-of-the-box performance was a nightmare…I removed 70% of my out of box comments with “maybe I‘ve expected too much from KZ”.


I’m really curious what Crin (the burn-in disbeliever) would comment his out of box comment on PR2 VS A proper burn-in completed set of PR2. He has enough sensitive set of ears to tell a huge difference of this change

️PR2 requires significantly higher level of gain to have a proper sonic performance.
️With Stock foam ear tips that is attached to PR2 out of box, and standard KZ stock cable, PR2 isn’t performing the true potentials

—Tonal Balance
As well-expected from HBB collaboration, warm and relaxed treble neutral that matches perfectly to tracks with “energy / momentum “ prerequisites. It also has good amount of detail articulation and with slightly accentuated air region, if you feel PR2 lacks air, you probably belong to “artificially generated air” lover.

—Timbre Tasting
Top Note: Tactile yet Nimble sub-bass
Heart Note: Smooth and tonally accurate mid
Bottom Note: Far reaching and pretty natural treble

—PR2 vs Wu Zetian OG


On the paper, PR2 appears to be more detailed around treble and air region?

I performed direct A-B test both using same ear tips (SpinFit CP360) and Wu’s 4.4mm balanced stock cable.

▶︎Wu has a noticeable advantage over PR2 for the planar driver performance in terms of transient response.

Wu sounds light and fast, PR2 sounds slightly slow when directly compared to Wu Zetian, I’d day 90% in speed.

For tuning wise both Wu and PR2 are almost same projectile, you can refer my Wu’s OOTB for the tonality.

Here is my Wu’s out of box impression as



▶︎For Bass-Mid, the performance gap is 100 : 90 For Treble 100 : 95 for Wu : PR2

They are almost par

▶︎Planar performance at almost bare minimum budget, for the price of $29, I bet this is hard to beat Planar experience anyone would chip in.

Overall experience, my expectations was very high, and PR2 actually met with that high expectations which is very rare occasion to my experience in any IEM open box experienc.

Also, although with HBB’s tuning advise, I’m quite surprised KZ is now able to tune IEM to fit to the target without sacrificing timbral accuracy which unfortunately did not happen back then to Zex Pro /CRN.

PR2 is 90-95% Wu Zetian and is best IEM of KZ has offered to date. Wow, great job in offering A-class IEM with that low budget!!

I detected a hidden message, your deliberate misspelling of "artificially generated air". This should have course been "artificially generated ear" or "AGE" for short. AGE is the result over time, of hearing loss, produced by repeated exposure to loud noise (in extreme cases this can even be deliberate). The symptoms are a profound loss of sensitivity to higher frequencies. This produces "treble seeking" behavior and a marked preference for increasingly bright signatures. These poor disabled individuals are literally deaf to your criticism and grumble in response with comments like "Bass head!". Many of us are doomed to eventually succumb to AGE as we get older.

Glad to hear that the PR2 approximates the Wu Zetian. That's my favorite planar and something cheaper to use as a daily driver is welcome. Mine have shipped, so looking forward to comparing them!

 

[Carpet]

Akros on CVJ TXS vs TRN MT1 MAX vs Whizzer X Opera Factory OS1​

 

[gadgetgod]

Got to listen to this beauty for 10 mins yesterday(a friend bought a unit, got shipped at my address) so i auditioned some tracks and clicked some images. First let's dive into the images.

Some very very short impressions!!

EXCELLENT, I repeat Excellent TONE, the timbre and tone are super good and organic. I absolutely loved this set in terms of tonality. Vocals, Instruments sound so clean, precise, and lush. The stage is a bit intimate and the vocals are a bit forwarded, but my god the bass, the damn solid bassssss, the kinetic feel is simply superb, it hits like a damn truck and rumbles the soul. I wish I could have more time with the set but sadly, had to send it to my friend. Will try to squeeze in some hours this sunday.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

This set probably makes a LOT of stuff under 100 bucks obsolete.

30 bucks got you garbage 5+ years ago, it's hard to believe you can get a competent set for 30 bucks nowadays, and not just a set that's well tuned.

I thought it was going to take a while before full sized IEM planar sets would drop below 50 bucks, boy was I wrong!

I remember when $30 guaranteed you bloaty v shaped until the Xaiomi Pistons 2 and the Havi B3. That's when the wheels of chifi started to rear it's head and spin fast, and the Vsonics came in and for $30, people started saying 85-90% of the performance of $100 sets. Then the Zero Audio Tenore blew the roof off the price to performance, and then....here we are today, with my $15 Ling longs with performance of sets three-four times the cost, planars for $30, and the Z300 providing high fidelity/audiophile quality sound at $35.00. It's come a long way.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Akros on CVJ TXS vs TRN MT1 MAX vs Whizzer X Opera Factory OS1​

Love Akros but PASS on all that budget garbage.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Got to listen to this beauty for 10 mins yesterday(a friend bought a unit, got shipped at my address) so i auditioned some tracks and clicked some images. First let's dive into the images.



Some very very short impressions!!

EXCELLENT, I repeat Excellent TONE, the timbre and tone are super good and organic. I absolutely loved this set in terms of tonality. Vocals, Instruments sound so clean, precise, and lush. The stage is a bit intimate and the vocals are a bit forwarded, but my god the bass, the damn solid bassssss, the kinetic feel is simply superb, it hits like a damn truck and rumbles the soul. I wish I could have more time with the set but sadly, had to send it to my friend. Will try to squeeze in some hours this sunday.

Great! Now what is it?

 

[Surf Monkey]

Got to listen to this beauty* for 10 mins yesterday

*Fir Audio Radon 6

 

[o0genesis0o]

Haha were you in a cave for 2022 and didn't ride on any planar IEM hypetrain?

Kidding, but yeah I saw a few local audiophiles who bought the PR2 and they were complaining on social media that the venerable apple dongle couldn't drive the PR2 even on max volume (by driving they mean not volume but the dynamics, bass tightness etc).

I don't have the PR2, but from the advertised specs of impedance 15 ohm and sensitivity 94 dB, it does look like this Pokemon might need amplification.

I was on S12 train. Within that month, it was impressive how much extra clarity and separation planar can bring to that price bracket. But very soon, traditional hybrid sets strike back with better performance and better tuning, so I haven’t bother with more planar since. At AUD $50, these KZ planar is insanely good.

These KZ planar IEMs sound day and night different between a small dongle and a full sized portable amp. The tonality stays the same, of course, but the stage and dynamic increase substantially.

 

[gadgetgod]

Great! Now what is it?

oh man my bad, I almost forgot to add the name lol. It's the Fir Audio Radon 6. With my limited exposure to this and the Xe6, I would say I prefer these over the flagship Xe6. Looks like I have to enter the saving mode now to grab one.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

*Fir Audio Radon 6

$3,299.00 for a dynamic + 4 BA + 1 EST, and here I sit, with a cheshire grin on my face, listening to my sub $500 Aure's, with stellar, and I mean STELLAR musical presentation. Mother Love Bone never sounded better, and I got $2,843 sitting in the bank for other things. lol