Thanks
@Rockwell75 for letting me try his Zen Pro and Moondrop Kato.
Here is my brief first impressions of the Zen Pro:
Similar to the OG Zen, Zen Pro has very satisfying bass depth, control and texture. Bass transient (attack and decay) behavior is among the best I’ve heard out of in-ears, beating out the IER-Z1R in technical prowess by a hair but loosing out in a sheer extension by few clicks. The bass of the Zen Pro is also characterized by its versatility as it can be quite nimble and pacey on fast bpmed(?) techno and house tracks but also manages wonderfully realistic and organic on classical or jazz when necessary. The mid-bass of the Zen Pro is weighted ideally for my taste and it works amazingly well with most of my music library. The midrange is most definitely the meat of the Zen Pro’s sound signature. Tuning is slightly upper mid-forward but, unlike the OG Zen, the Pro doesn’t really ‘shout’ its midrange on to the listener. It has an uncanny ability to ‘centre’ the vocalist in its headstage, seemingly escaping stereo separation almost completely, but at the same time avoids the somewhat excessively intimate and forwardness of the OG Zen.
The mids are smooth yet there are gobs of details and micro dynamics to sound not boring and counter the full bodied nature of the bass to lower mids transition. Clarity is excellent but the midrange isn’t as crisp as, for instance, multi BA driven Traillii or GS Audio SE11, but I appreciate how the detail is not presented as aggressively. And Yes, most of the thinner-sounding high-end armatures (Odin and MEST for example) still have the upper hand when it comes to clarity, imaging and microdetail, but it is amazing how close the (comparatively) gargantua dynamic driver of the Zen Pro comes close to those levels of performance.
The treble transition is seamlessly smooth, yielding a clear high end with no harshness or sibilance. The treble is definitely better extended than OG Zen and seems a bit more present in the lower treble area. The top end does lack the effortlessness of the Traillii or the sparkle of the Elysium. Expectedly, it is not as crisp and resolving as with many of the EST-based IEMs, resulting in less aggressive detailing but also a generally pleasant an non-fatiguing sound. Again, the treble of the Zen Pro is more impressive when taken out of context and not juxtaposed to the bass and midrange, which do tend to crowd it out somewhat.
Lastly, the presentation of the Zen Pro is more than noteworthy in itself. The deep soundstage is one of the most apparent and striking aspects of the sound. Sound stage height and width is similarly spacious, giving the Zen Pro an open feel on par with many closed back headphones.
Compared to the FD7, Zen Pro sounds a bit more dynamic and vivid overall. By contrast, FD7 sounds more relaxed, diffused, romantic and slightly warmer. FD7 has some of the most realistic reproduction of stringed instruments I’ve heard out of an in-ear outside of the JVC FX series, adding to their excellent timbre the right amount of crispness, detail, and texture for the most minute nuances of string motion to be distinguished. By comparison, Zen Pro’s timbre for stringed instruments has a slight metallic tinge and edginess. Piano, woodwinds and percussion however sounds very tactile and real on Zen Pro which surprised me greatly.
I loved the OG Zen but ended up selling because it lacked the last 5-10% of intangibles and tuning prowess. Now with the Zen Pro, Dunu seemed to found that last bit of ingredients to perfect it.
I am considering to acquire one for myself.
