IEM for a stupidly small amount of money

Update:
My TFZ Series 5 have some 70 hours of burn in under their belt, I think they have changed, but can't say for sure as I have been listening daily.
I have punctured the bass vent a bit and put a ribbon of silicone between nozzle and tip (front vent mod) as James suggested. And I use single flange silicons tips with larger opening than stock.
No other mods.

I like them more every day. What is behind all of this?
+ I think the seductive depth of soundstage is one major contributor. The soundstage does feel huge and quite impressive. There are no gaps in soundstage like with many other iem-s. It's shape is perfect half sphere in front. (Similar depth I heard with Apex Pinnacle amp with good hp-s and even speakers. After comparing to other great amplifiers I think it was coloration, but very seductive one.) More depth and forward projection than HD650, yet less width and height.
+ The other thing is that these have no glaring flaws. No peaks, no weirdness in timbre. To my ears these might be the most smooth sounding hp-s I have heard so far. So smooth I think that it might be a coloration as well. The smoothness coupled with slight downward tilt in treble makes them easy on bothersome tracks. Rather forgiving.
+ The sub bass is technically pretty darn nice. I have discovered content I didn't really notice before. Its clean and has good resolution. Other hp-s that have had as much boost down low have not accomplished this.

Some minor to moderate flaws:
- The mid to upper bass is not as tight and solid as I'd like. There is like some incoherence in high bass. To borrow a speaker example it sounds like crossover point overmatch b/w woofer and midrange. It's not super bjaad at all and actually bothers me only coming from HD800 or 650 or MSR7 all of which have less bass anyways. And have different bass response. More mid bass and less sub. While TFZ is the opposite.
I have settled to about +3 dB sub bass, completely flat makes the incoherence in high bass worse to my ears. Bass is easiest to manipulate with the front venting mod by James.
Mind you, to my ears there was subjectively about 10-12 dB of excessive bass in pure stock form. Most of it in sub bass.

- There are some recessions in the spectrum. Most noticeable are 3.3k and 5.5k broad recessions. These are really noticeable while coming from HD650. A bit less so coming from HD800. As a result some instruments are less 'whole' sounding. With some tracks this bothers me more than the bass. Good thing is that these recessions are not nulls or holes in spectrum, so the content in sound is still played and resolution is still very good. (I sweeped with tone gen. I have no measurements rig.)
FYI I don't hear recession in HD800 at 3k like everybody else seems to.

- Some minor shout at around 2 kHz as Strato pointed out, but it hardly bothers me at all.

In sum I think these are good enough to stick into EC2A3 and listen as main hp-s. They don't embarrass themselves next to HD650. While HD650 has many things over the TFZ the TFZ has some over HD650 as well.
For sanity check I compared IE8, P1, RE400 with TFZ-s as well. These are all toys next to the TFZ. These sound like small hp-s while the TFZ-s sound like large hp-s.
I am thankful to Roti for bringing them to the spotlight. For 80 bucks these are ridiculous value if they last longer than 2 months.

Salt, salt, salt:
-IEM-s tend to be rather sensitive to ear geometry so I understand not everyone hears them as I do. For counter point my brother with very different ear shape and much smaller ears liked them as much for the same reasons. We have disagreed on iem-s many times before.
+/-They don't seem to be friendly of crappy portable devices either.
Out of my Samsung phone they suck.
Out of Clip+ they are alright but nothing super special.
Not a fan of the pairing with Mojo either, makes treble weird (rather it digs out the shitty treble of Mojo hp out).

+These are very comfy in my ears. The shallow fit and luck that I have large ears make them fit nicely. I forget I'm having them on.

edit: added more comments

 

Just received the Series 5 today as my very first pair of iems ever! I'm coming from HD800S and HD650 modded.

Wasn't quite sure how to wear these correctly, went with the foam tips and jammed them in. The silicone wrap arounds are fiddly, but once in position they seem to remain. As for the sound, first impression is like many others - super bassy! I'll let them run for a few days and see if they change before trying out any mods. I wasn't sure if I could get into iems, but so far so good!

 

What equipment of yours do they pair well with?
Did your portables lack the power to drive them convincingly or was it primarily a mismatch with their colouration?

 

The TFZ is rather high sensitivity, more than other IEM-s I have here. More than MSR7. Power is not an issue.

I have only 1 portable for my on the move listening, a Clip+. The Clip needs no introduction, it's a great little player but it just lacks refinement, dynamics and clarity the TFZ-s are capable of. Still enjoyable combination though. It replaces my MSR7 in my work listening.

I have a Chord Mojo for loaner. With every hp I've tried the treble is annoying to my ears, even with the TFZ. Despite Mojo's better technical ability in most parts I like Clip+ better with most music.

Most of my listening and the above impressions come from EC2A3 <-- Soekris Dam (in the ball-park with Yggdrasil).

The take away is that these are very capable at discerning amp, source and recording quality, while still managing to be forgiving.
These have traditional dynamic transducer traits, scale very well and are picky with amplifiers.

 

If you have not listened to this IEM with all three mods (vent diaphragm pierce, grill/filter removal, and alcohol swab placement), you have not heard this IEM as it is meant to be heard. And if you haven't, you are missing out. In a big, big way. I have spent the last 5 days listening to this beast and comparing it to all of my favorite IEMs and headphones.

Bottom line, this phone is special and I totally agree with Id's post above. These phones (once properly modded, of course) leave nothing, and I mean _nothing_ on the table. In case you are wondering, yes, I sold my Andros 4 days ago and I don't miss them one bit. In addition, all of my other IEMs are also up for sale, that's how good these things are.

As above, stock, these are for s***. They require full mods, but once done, prepare for some serious music. I may even liquidate my headphone inventory, that's how good these f***ers are.

 

Okay.. I could not resist urge to check what TFZ Series 5 really is after reading previous posts here. I still think that it is another hype that it can compete with Andros but could not resist any longer so just placed my order. Once I get it, will listen stock sound for some time and apply all 3 mods to compare between and other earphones (IE800, ER4S, EPH100 etc)... Hope I have not caught up with another hype...

 

No hype, at least from my end. Perform the (easy) mods and you will have an awesome, awesome IEM.

 

Thanks. I should receive it in 2 weeks. Will report my impression soon...

 

I think its pretty good even before mod, combined with low price, it became my staple in "everyday/commute" set-up along with Zx-2 as i wont be it that much trouble if i broke/lost it.
Mod sure does helps a lot imo, did the bass vent/front vent mod and it became much better.

 

Before it arrives, I will try to figure out how to do all 3 mods introduced. Hope they are not difficult to do. I think that the hardest one would be poking holes with needle. Hope I do not damage the driver...

 

Anyone else spot this?

 

Nope, I sure as heck didn't, but I'm interested as I've been mentally masturbating about getting the Series 5.

 

http://www.tfzither.com/works_detail-18-9.html

The series 7 look interesting. Compared to the S5 which have 1 dynamic driver, the series 7 have a 9mm driver, 5mm driver and a dual BA. Price is expected to be 300USD. There is another iteration that uses inferior faceplates, but equal internals at 195.

Talk about value. While other manufacturers are raising already insane prices and reducing the cost and parts used, the price of these actually increase in line with parts used.

If they get the crossovers right, this will be very very interesting.

 

Looks very nice, also mmcx connectors is a bonus as i can swap some cables for fun later.

 

Ooh, the Series 7 does look pretty good, detachable cables to boot, and MMCX at that. Great cable rolling times ahead.....though I think I'd just stick to my ALO SXC 24 and share it between my Jupiter and this. Guess I'd put off my plan to get the Series 5.....

 

Oh, No... I ordered Series 5 yesterday before seeing your post about series 7 coming up....

 

Haha its still 2-3 months off before release anyway.

 

Well, I guess I'll just have to make do with my Campfire Audio Jupiter, Sennheiser IE800 and Fitear Parterre till it's released. I'm rather fortunate, I was on the verge of actually making my way to the city to grab a pair of Series 5, but had been mentally masturbating over it......sometimes, it pays to procrastinate.

 

So NOW do you believe it's a TOTL IEM? It sounds bonkers good btw.

 

Nice looking cable you got there! Is that DHC?