KZ Busted for Muted Accessory Drivers

Nah I remember this making waves a while back, you're not mad .

It's more that they just about ripped the design off nearly wholesale but made some adjustments for airflow purposes I think.

https://m.aliexpress.com/i/32961985939.html

Edit:

Oh huh there was a version on Massdrop? Spaced on this

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones...ived/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

 

KZ ZS5. Check the pictures eg here:

https://www.headfonia.com/review-kz-zs5/

Edit: although this is more to the point as an actual review:

https://www.headphonesty.com/2018/03/review-kz-zs5-budget-iem/

 

I find copying the shell shape in plastic for a 25$ iem is far less egregious than advertising your fake/muted drivers. If someone is really confusing a 25$ iem with their 1k iem... I don't even know. I kind of just don't really like IEMs though so maybe I'm way off base on this, none of them sound good enough to me to overcome them making my ears make rivers of wax and how much that takes me out of the music. I've tried like every kind of tip, and not really motivated enough to go custom ear canal molds when I already just don't like them.

passive BA/electret radiators natural lifelike placebo maximizes unity gain dynamics for 40% of our customers (pi^2*# passiive drivers^#driver types/earlobe drag coefficient*c)% of the time everytime.

Do these quiet drivers have more or less effect than super tweeters to a humans lister? :/

 

CCA is the beta testing brand for KZ, some CCA IEMs will be rereleased with KZ branding after couple of months and some won't at all, that's why you see more unique designs on the CCA IEMs.

 

The little triangle logo is a particularly nice touch. But there are even funnier pictures of the ZS5:



I forget whether it was this model or an earlier one that prompted @Brause to coin the term "ChiFi chainsaw".

 

Not that it makes them any better, but they don't make those anymore. Still f'ing scummy. Just providing info.

I also think the ZEX Pro came before the ZEN Pro (they also had the ZEX before the Pro model). The IEM's themselves look nothing alike except one letter of the name when you write it.

KZ and CCA are bottom feeder budget IEM's that barely sound halfway good. Some of them still sound better than Skullcandy if you want extreme V-shaped and not dark mud.

 

There are so many examples of ChiFi chainsaws, lots of TRN and KZ models..."icepicks" in the 2-4 kHz region. I have used more micropore tape than toilet paper in the last few years.

Here two great ones from my collection of cruelties that cause headaches just by looking at them. The one behind the spoiler I'd call the Tibetan plateau.

Spoiler: Tibetan Plateau

Newer KZs typically have a small trough between their 2 kHz and 4-5 kHz peaks.

P.S. I still have the ZS5 somewhere. I think I paid around $30 CAD. Vocals sounded hollow and nasal.

 

Absolutely!

Previously, KZ had "borrowed" the Sennheiser IE80 shells. Here the KZ IE80...yes, they existed....I have a pair. A classic in harshness. Never measured them.





Then, TRN "lifted" the Dunu Falcon's shells for their V80. Great bass, the rest meh.

Spoiler: TRN V80

Shure was ripped-off by NiceHCK. Another sonic atrocity.

Spoiler: NiceHCK DT600 Shure Lookalike

There are tons of different "DIY IE800s" around...which morphed into that awful "Rock Zircon". And almost every budget earbud is based on the Sennheiser standard design (e.g. MX560).

Examples are likely countless.

I remember a T-Shirt in one of the Beijing markets that featured the logos of adidas, Puma, and Nike...just to go sure...didn't Biodegraded receive that as a souvenir?

P.S. Why do I suddenly have the urge to take my Overkill album out for a spin. I bought it back in 1979.

 

Yep! Can't find it now so it must've been among the items donated before I moved (it was always a bit tight and my beer muscle would now overwhelm it) so maybe you'll see it in Calgary. Classic Adidas blue with 3 stripes down the arms, other logos on front & back, from memory.

 

“But the upper-mid peak brings out the soul of the female voice!”

 

OK, I did bit of testing on the "KZ IE80" which was discontinued in 2017. The whole thing may be fake but KZ even implemented the functionality of the original's bass dial. And it works, I tested it...see FR.

"Everything connected, Cptn.!"

Even more scary, the tuning is quite decent. There is one awful upper midrange spike which I tamed with micropore tape.

And now this thing sounds actually... errm...reasonably good...and so much different from any other KZ of that era (and today).

I wonder what the original sounds like...as far as I remember, the number of positive reviews was manageable.

Spoiler: KZ IE80 unmodded FR

 

I tend to find that mp tape, while very affective for reducing the peaks, slows down the leading edges a bit, making the leading edges a tiny bit more resonant in impact, same with the bass.

Cotton in the nozzle with a little hole in the middle has similar effect on fr response, but it actually smooths down leading edge impact..