I also received my Zens today. I'm not here to start a war, but my first impressions are almost identical to crinacle's. I feel like I'm back to early 20's listening to highly compressed mp3. Paired with M8 I'm letting it burn in for 50 hours. Coming from EX1000, Flare Pro 2 HD and Illumination.
If I was not critical enough in my review here are some helpful pointers.
1) Believe it or not 50-75 hours burn-in makes a difference.
2) They due to their nature they will simply reveal what’s upstream. Meaning some monitors will sugar-coat a phone signature; if your used to that......well....there will be a difference.
3) Make sure the inside sound hole is not blocked by your ear. They need to breath. (This is a guess on my part, as it has been a concept before with other “ported” IEMs.
4) Quality music must be used, same concept as number 2 here.
5) Tips and fit make a big difference, as always.
Look at the home stereo speaker magnets; they love power.
Yes 100% regarding quality music, I have tried some older (mostly rock) albums and it did nothing for them. In that regard, I do think I need another IEM for those scenarios and still eyeing up the IER-M9.
Yes 100% regarding quality music, I have tried some older (mostly rock) albums and it did nothing for them. In that regard, I do think I still need another IEM for those scenarios and still eyeing up the IER-M9.
I also received my Zens today. I'm not here to start a war, but my first impressions are almost identical to crinacle's. I feel like I'm back to early 00's listening to highly compressed mp3. Paired with M8 I'm letting it burn in for 50 hours. Coming from EX1000, Flare Pro 2 HD and Illumination.
I imagine you have tried the different tips included and maybe even some others? To me, far from an expert, if I use the tips with the large bore all the way through I would describe the sound the way you did
Zen and M8 is a superb pairing, it really takes the Zen bass to elite level IMHO and the mids are so richly textured... male vocals gain some power and female vocals are sweeter than the other pairings run the Zen with (R6 2020, DX300, DX160). Only thing with M8 is the lower treble will be a bit less energetic, but that can be a good thing depending on your preferences. M8 will extract great resolution out of the Zen as well.
As far as pairing go, cycling among my 4 DAPs doesn't change the Zen altogether but all 4 have good power to drive them. Need to run them with the PAW S1 and check what happens, also try the AAW Capri which I didn't try yet...
I also received my Zens today. I'm not here to start a war, but my first impressions are almost identical to crinacle's. I feel like I'm back to early 00's listening to highly compressed mp3. Paired with M8 I'm letting it burn in for 50 hours. Coming from EX1000, Flare Pro 2 HD and Illumination.
I also received my Zens today. I'm not here to start a war, but my first impressions are almost identical to crinacle's. I feel like I'm back to early 00's listening to highly compressed mp3. Paired with M8 I'm letting it burn in for 50 hours. Coming from EX1000, Flare Pro 2 HD and Illumination.
please write more about how the Zen compares to the EX1k!
The EX1k is really a great reference, and an excellent DD IEM.
I had the Luna for testing and it beat the EX1k in dynamics and resolution. I really liked it but it was too expensive and the tuning was, let’s say “a bit unusual”.
I hoped that the Zen would pair much of the drive and technical abilities of the Luna with a more balanced tuning at a more affordable price.
So please, keep your comparisons coming! A critical word is much more useful IMO than a hundred praises...
please write more about how the Zen compares to the EX1k!The EX1k is really a great reference, and an excellent DD IEM. I had the Luna for testing and it beat the EX1k in dynamics and resolution. I really liked it but it was too expensive and the tuning was, let’s say “a bit unusual”.
I hoped that the Zen would pair much of the drive and technical abilities of the Luna with a more balanced tuning at a more affordable price.
So please, keep your comparisons coming! A critical word is much more useful IMO than a hundred praises...
That reasoning is flawed although frequent, wether praise or critic neither are worth squat if there is no material... writing an IEM is trash is just as meaningless as saying it's great if you don't describe how it sounds, how it pairs, how it will fit a potential buyer's preferences. Also, graphs are not enough, never. Ah and you should never look at a graph before auditioning so many people don't trust their ears or abilities they will just fall into the trap of confirmation bias with how they think the graph will mean the IEM will sound. Just my two cents.
This being said, I have sold the EX1000 but still I can tell it will be closer to Luna in terms of target audience than Zen. EX1000 is brighter than Zen for sure and that's why I sold it it goes beyond my personal threshold in upper mids and treble (while Luna is safer there at least for me).
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