KZ Busted for Muted Accessory Drivers

This really feels like what I’ve read about GPUs. They basically sell the same chips on different models but disable cores for the cheaper ones.

 

Or have empty spaces where memory modules would be on higher end SKUs. Think this also happened with the infamous NZXT H1 riser cable; there were hints that the board in question was a repurposed one and so was tooled for multiple products, but this is contributed to it becoming a literal fire hazard.

Could be misremembering but yeah looking at GPU teardowns the practise of having boards be shared across multiple SKUs is common. Makes me wonder if I can get a bios to turn my 5600 XT into a 5700 XT, just with lower VRAM.

 

The difference in core count and speed are related to yields and binning. Some chips will have flaws that will require sections to be disabled, though yields will improve over time. Chips further out from the center of the wafer of chips will be of lower quality needing more power to run at desired speeds, and this can improve a bit with new steppings.

Of course there are cases where they will artificially do this to meet a shortage. Same with CPUs.

 

This makes a lot of sense to me. And reminds me of Grado cartridges, which they are transparent about.

Grado Red and Blue cartridges are really the same but due to manufacturing variability, some are better than others. The ones that meet the higher spec are sold as Red and the rest are Blue.

 

Reminder thread of why I don't like IEM folks that much.

 

Hydrocodone? Only minor drama. Not even that exciting either. Get some rest man.

 

Eh, they're often not just disabling them for no reason. With GPU supply being what it is, I wouldn't count on a chip sold as a 5600 XT being suitable to run stably as a 5700 XT. A while back I built a PC with a Phenom II 720. This was a 4-core CPU disabled down to 3 cores, but AMD did a halfhearted job of crippling it, so the right motherboard could run it with all 4 cores. The thing is, though, they were binned like this for a reason. I could get a good overclock with 3 cores, but with the 4th core on there wasn't much stable headroom - it certainly couldn't hit the specs of AMD's best 4-core part without risking crashes. Maybe with a more expensive motherboard that had better power delivery parts, but that defeats the purpose of cheaping out on the CPU to begin with.

I think now they're better at binning than they were a decade ago, and right now they're certainly motivated to sell every part as the best thing they can possibly make it.

The only thing I've seen comparable in this hobby is tube grading. Like, I've never seen a slightly crippled amp that does 1.6W into some load instead of the 2W its model normally would. Or a special cut-rate version of one of the measurement-obsessed DACs that drops a zero from the THD.

 

Tube grading is more often about sound linearity: does the tube sound 'correct' or does it start to break up across an expected performance range ? Power output has more to do with bias adjustments & design of the amplifier than with the grade of tube.

 

I mean, the dude thinks the Apple dongle is audibly transparent for transducers that don’t need much power, and he thinks FR response tells the biggest story. So can you really blame him for not caring to check if the other drivers produce actual audible sound, if KZ met his FR response tuning?

 

Having an online presence doth not an expert make.

 

I'm just going to correct an assumption and point out that @Crinacle goes out of his way to disclaim that frequency response is largely a matter of personal preference and that mere FR squiggles need not speak to how competent a transducer is.

https://crinacle.com/2021/06/04/the-tonal-technical-dichotomy-the-ief-evaluation-system/

https://crinacle.com/2020/04/08/graphs-101-how-to-read-headphone-measurements/

I do think FR is a determining factor in how much one might appreciate a transducer (even with minor mods the HiFiMan HE4XX and HE350 in particular were simply too painful for me-- aaaaargh!), particularly with IEMs where there are a myriad of factors that affect the perception thereof. As to the remarks on the Apple dongle: the concept of "audible transparency" has always to me translated to glossed over minutiae and overly sterile presentation. I only briefly got to try a Lightning-to-3.5mm dongle a few years back out of a family member's iPhone and it was... insipid. Eh, preferences.

 

Oh, I just watched his video about how can you sort of see how a headphone sounds by FR response, where he said that FR response is the most telling part of how a transducer sounds, and distortion characteristics don’t matter.

Haven’t read his articles on the matter beforehand.

 

Context matters a lot because this is a hobby inextricably tied to perception. The fact that there's an element of skilled listening to it as well confounds things further, haha. It's really easy to misunderstand what someone else might mean unless you invest a healthy chunk of time into trying to see where they're coming from IMO; it's made for some... spirited discussions in the past.

 

The first time I ever heard about KZ was in connection to them making fake Andromedas...so I've kind of always thought of them as a little bit sketchy. There is a segment of this hobby that is fixated on that elusive $50 or $200 IEM that turns out to be a "giant killer" so there is a natural incentive for IEM makers like KZ to throw lots of bells and whistles into an IEM without actually spending the R&D to properly implement them. This business is unfortunate but in the grand scheme of things not too surprising. In other news I got my hands on the KZ CRA-- it's a $15 single DD that sounds stupidly good for how much it costs. Something of a scaled down Zen Pro. Ups and downs.

 

I think you mean the CCA CRA. CCA is basically KZ with another name. Although it appears that CCA has some of their own designs.

 

Indeed-- thanks for the clarification.

 

I probably didn't choose my words properly but didn't they blatantly rip off the Andromeda (or some aspect of it) somehow, to the point that there was a bit of controversy around it? Or was it another brand? Or am I totally imagining things? I'm prepared to completely eat my words if so.