The Fragrant Zither (TFZ) Reviews and Impressions Thread

[courierdriver]

Ugggh!! Another King! King RS. TFZ is like Chicken Little running around screaming the sky is falling till nobody believes. TFZ with so many King models nobody cares anymore LOL! Shows by no mention of it by now. Kind of an MT300 look to it...
In a bit gaudy gold

TFZ little claiming again some "beyond imagination experience" and "breakthroughs" and "supercar level" blah blah. Aren't they all slight changes and strengths with some improvement here and there but same specs and now 4th generation of this aging 11.4mm N50 driver set up. $239 is quite a bit for a King model. At this point do you believe them?

I agree. I've been following their products for a couple of years now and eventually bought the No.3 in 2019. I like it very much (now that it's been well burned in). While it's nice to see them trying to get the most from the driver that you mentioned, it seems like pretty much every iem they release has it...but just with a slight different tuning. Wish that they would expand their horizon a bit, and try it in a hybrid. It's certainly a good DD but why not incorporate it with at least one or two BA's? Or maybe that plus an EST or two? I was considering getting the Live 3 a few months ago...but decided against it because I felt like I would just be rebuying the No.3 at a lower price. This new King at $239 US seems a bit overpriced compared to offerings from other companies. It's a hard pass for me. I think that for that price range, I'd try the Fiio FD5 first.

 

[alamnp]

I agree. I've been following their products for a couple of years now and eventually bought the No.3 in 2019. I like it very much (now that it's been well burned in). While it's nice to see them trying to get the most from the driver that you mentioned, it seems like pretty much every iem they release has it...but just with a slight different tuning. Wish that they would expand their horizon a bit, and try it in a hybrid. It's certainly a good DD but why not incorporate it with at least one or two BA's? Or maybe that plus an EST or two? I was considering getting the Live 3 a few months ago...but decided against it because I felt like I would just be rebuying the No.3 at a lower price. This new King at $239 US seems a bit overpriced compared to offerings from other companies. It's a hard pass for me. I think that for that price range, I'd try the Fiio FD5 first.

I got LZ A7 instead, still waiting to get mine

 

[baskingshark]

I agree. I've been following their products for a couple of years now and eventually bought the No.3 in 2019. I like it very much (now that it's been well burned in). While it's nice to see them trying to get the most from the driver that you mentioned, it seems like pretty much every iem they release has it...but just with a slight different tuning. Wish that they would expand their horizon a bit, and try it in a hybrid. It's certainly a good DD but why not incorporate it with at least one or two BA's? Or maybe that plus an EST or two? I was considering getting the Live 3 a few months ago...but decided against it because I felt like I would just be rebuying the No.3 at a lower price. This new King at $239 US seems a bit overpriced compared to offerings from other companies. It's a hard pass for me. I think that for that price range, I'd try the Fiio FD5 first.

Yep agreed, a lot of the TFZs seem to be one trick ponies in having excellent bass (and usually V shaped tunings).

They aren't cheap too, for their midfi offerings, (when there's a lot of other well respected midfi IEMs in that price bracket). But what doesn't help further is their confusing naming conventions, all the variants of Queens and Kings, with no chronological order for their namings.

 

[alamnp]

Yep agreed, a lot of the TFZs seem to be one trick ponies in having excellent bass (and usually V shaped tunings).

They aren't cheap too, for their midfi offerings, (when there's a lot of other well respected midfi IEMs in that price bracket). But what doesn't help further is their confusing naming conventions, all the variants of Queens and Kings, with no chronological order for their namings.

ditto, that keeps me buying more...
if it's just a different tuning from the same model...

they should move away from their naming system.

 

[deltecdpa]

My review of Essence, the first TFZ I own.
I like a lot!

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/tfz-essence.25090/reviews

 

[chickenmoon]

My review of Essence, the first TFZ I own.
I like a lot!

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/tfz-essence.25090/reviews

Yes, but any idea how do they compare to any of the plethoras of other (and mostly significantly cheaper) of these resin shells IEMs, TD02, TD06, TD08, i77, i77 Pro, Black Bat, Openheart Resin, DR2, DR2 Pro, etc...?

 

[deltecdpa]

Yes, but any idea how do they compare to any of the plethoras of other (and mostly significantly cheaper) of these resin shells IEMs, TD02, TD06, TD08, i77, i77 Pro, Black Bat, Openheart Resin, DR2, DR2 Pro, etc...?

No idea at all, sure there are some who may compete with Essence at lower price. And probably I will never know once I pick up one good I enjoy it for long time, I don't buy many iems (resin, metal or whatsoever they made of) I prefer listen to lot of music not to lot of Iems!

 

[chickenmoon]

No idea at all, sure there are some who may compete with Essence at lower price. And probably I will never know once I pick up one good I enjoy it for long time, I don't buy many iems (resin, metal or whatsoever they made of) I prefer listen to lot of music not to lot of Iems!

You're enjoying them and that's the main thing.

It was more of rethorical question so people who might be unaware know that this is not really a TFZ product but just another variation of a well known OEM IEM sold by TFZ at the most premium price, which, unless I am proven otherwise, I'd therefore regard as a rip-off.

 

[Vasarely]

I agree. I've been following their products for a couple of years now and eventually bought the No.3 in 2019. I like it very much (now that it's been well burned in). While it's nice to see them trying to get the most from the driver that you mentioned, it seems like pretty much every iem they release has it...but just with a slight different tuning. Wish that they would expand their horizon a bit, and try it in a hybrid. It's certainly a good DD but why not incorporate it with at least one or two BA's? Or maybe that plus an EST or two? I was considering getting the Live 3 a few months ago...but decided against it because I felt like I would just be rebuying the No.3 at a lower price. This new King at $239 US seems a bit overpriced compared to offerings from other companies. It's a hard pass for me. I think that for that price range, I'd try the Fiio FD5 first.

Think twice before you buy the FiiO FD5. I saw here at headfi.org 3 or 4 previously bought FD5s for selling. Something wrong with the tuning... On the other hand FiiO FD1 is excellent and much more cheaper (I have it).

 

[deltecdpa]

You're enjoying them and that's the main thing.

It was more of rethorical question so people who might be unaware know that this is not really a TFZ product but just another variation of a well known OEM IEM sold by TFZ at the most premium price, which, unless I am proven otherwise, I'd therefore regard as a rip-off.

Yes is possible that the driver used in TFZ iems are in common with other. brands, just tuned different. The TFZ catalog is already a small plethora with many models of same price range using the same component... is about the look more than, I think, how they sound. At least within TFZ the Essence is the only beryllium for now... the latest King RS could be a Live X in a different shell, due to use of the same gold diapraghm driver. I think TFZ and others are like phone makers, Xiaomi or Oppo make the shells and assemble with components bought elsewhere. If so, TFZ choose and tune properly good components!

 

[alamnp]

Think twice before you buy the FiiO FD5. I saw here at headfi.org 3 or 4 previously bought FD5s for selling. Something wrong with the tuning... On the other hand FiiO FD1 is excellent and much more cheaper (I have it).

I will stick with Believe and LZ A7, it will be a long time before I buy another IEM. These two are so good and can’t be compared to other IEMs

 

[Vasarely]

I will stick with Believe and LZ A7, it will be a long time before I buy another IEM. These two are so good and can’t be compared to other IEMs

I have Believe too and currently bought the FiiO sister JadeAudio EA 1 for $33.99 at Ali...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001250741576.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.57584c4dQAo3a6

 

[deltecdpa]

Recently I took a look in Ali, the price of Live X dropped at 144€ (from about 200) and Essence at 80€ (from about 110) But not all sellers, some still offer the two models at the higher price, some the iem alone, other with a (free?) BT earbud set, other "add 10€ to get a MyLove edition" that cost about 50€ alone... (the three options regarding the Essence!) If I had waited a bit more... but who knows? Then I discovered a wide bunch of Essence-style iems, of unknown brands: resin body, DD enclosed in a golden color drum, similar nozzle... at 15-20€. The (common?) DD is different, 10 mm instead 11.4 mm, and less sophisticated as I can see. Who knows, maybe one day I pick one of those and see how it does compared to the "original" Essence (I did not noticed those "copy" ones when I ordered the Essence, maybe they were on the market before the TFZ product..!)
For now I enjoy my Essence, pretty damn good.

 

[deltecdpa]

Two Essence reviews... the first quite bad, the second excellent. I agree almost 100% with the second, but can't blame the first. Different ears, different tastes. To me is the proof that the Essence's musical aggressiveness is not for everybody's taste.
Love it or hate it... I love it!

 

[Fawzay]

I have audition the Live X, Essence and King RS.... I found that Live X is better than both King RS and Essence because the Live X is the only TFZ line up with different Sound signature, mostly its V-Shape sounding but for Live X the vocal is forward and the bass and sub-bass is thumping and the treble is not sharp and piercing which is good, fairly musical.
However, The king RS hmm, I would say The King Pro to me is still better than the King RS. The King RS is heavier than the NO.3Ti. Once i put it in my ears my first impression:
sharp/piercing treble and in nutshell, is basically v-shaped sounding with tame bass than the king pro.

To my surprise, the essence is quite good, to those people starting their audiophile journey or venturing into good sounding iem. Neutral sounding but dont expect quality sounding from this. However, if you are going for quality at affordable price I highly recommend TFZ T2 Galaxy.