This is probably the most balanced, and most info filled video I've seen on this whole KZ debacle. Though from the looks of a lot of the comments here, not everyone watched all of it. A shame really: the data and conclusions presented make the most sense, compared to what a lot of other people have been insinuating over the past few days. No, the drivers aren't fake. Yes, they are (the BAs anyway) poorly implemented. Yes, they will work if properly wired. Yes, KZ messed up (though I can see some people making counter arguments concerning the ZAS...eh). No, Crin and HBB didn't scam anyone; they just advised on tuning. Anyone trying to insinuate more than this without any real evidence past what was presented here just has an ax to grind. Really good work on this video Hi-Fri. I appreciated the amount of info you presented, and it didn't even feel all that long. :)
I clicked for KZ-gate but it's your story that really touched me. Respect to you and your parents. As more of a speaker guy, also using and liking full range single driver speakers, I did not understand how so many drivers in an IEM can produce a coherent sound. I just recently received a KZ ZEX Pro (CRN) and a CCA C12 and find them to be pretty good. Now I know why.
@@pin1771 These are my first decent IEM's so I can not make comparisons. I ordered them based on positive reviews and to me they are clear, detailed but not bright and bass similarly deep and controlled as the CRN. And who knows how many (if any) of those 5 BA's per side are contributing to the sound?
@@pin1771 I have no idea why 4 BA's are even needed for mids and one for treble. CCA is just a KZ sub-brand so my guess is they are there mainly for marketing purposes. Still, there's no arguing about the sound for that price. Conversely, the sheer engineering effort that should go into a 5-driver IEM to integrate all of them seamlessly would just not be feasible for a sub $40 product.
Very helpful and balanced video. As you say, there is no need for a witch hunt. Learning the truth by taking things apart (literally or figuratively) is a very sensible approach. Good work.
GREAT VIDEO! I bought my pair of ZAS less than 3 months ago, last week they broke while in a stage soundcheck.... due some kind of ¨sound peak¨... sad.... now i am researching and this got me a lot of good info to decide what to do...
It was really nice to hear your story. We'd be immensely grateful if you could test zs10 pro, as It is the most tried and reviewed multi driver iem kz iem by a lot of people. Thanks and wish you luck
I would definitely like to hear it, it has been best sounding one on my K5 Pro DAC/Amp, when I using the Aiyima DAC-A2, I thought it wasn't as good as IEMs like the C12, but outside of EQ, this sounds really great.
It's my first time listening/watching one of your videos, and have just liked your attitude and approach to this. Maybe it's because I'm also from the technical testing world. Keep it up man.
These are hybrid IEMs with 3 drivers in them, and they are (HBB and Crin) the "super-ear" tuners, none of them could address that 2 of the 3 drivers in each IEM not working (or no sound coming out from them)? Even a little bit of suspicion? Both tuned just a dynamic driver and didn't know? Funny, very funny.
So far as you’ve said ..if you like it ..then they’re good. I suspect a QC issue ..if the BA’s were missing that’s one thing ..but not assembled correctly that’s another. So far 2022 IEM’s purchased have been fantastic. Olina ✅ Midnight ✅ Great and informative video. Thank you 🍻🥓
RU-vid randomly recommended BGGAR's video on the KZ fuckup. I am so glad that got me here, the first few minutes of this video are great (I'm still watching), you got a new subscriber dude. I grew up tearing stuff appart and fixing things as well, I've been fixing old film cameras (ranging from "pretty old" to "geez _how old is that?")_ for about 6 years now so... Not the same thing, but same logic, you could say. Looking forward to new videos from you!
Great vid! I too went down the IEM rabbit hole in the midst of COVID (though not to the same DIY extent 🤪). Regarding the DQ6, I could see the wiring and driver phase being a QC issue, but physically blocking the nozzle is outrageous. I’d be curious how it sounds once you get everything hooked up properly.
Wow man great video. Your passion is contagious. Hope you keep on and don’t get bogged down talking meta about the hobby too much. I’ve seen that start to happen as newer channels come up. I think it might scare people away like the witch-hunt stuff. People come to enjoy music and learn more about good audio and I almost forgot that 😅
Crinacle did a good job doing his best tuning defect product. These defect doesn't make the CRN bad IEM, but it prove that kz greatly wasted its potential. I hope there will be a guide to rewire/mod KZ IEMs so ppl can make use of these inaudible BAs.
are you active in the forums and such? if so - a link will be great :) your videos are just on point. sure there are good channels like that of HBB or DMS, but what you're doing is different and so interesting.
I think the CRN thing is well in the terms of "tuning", as you described it. The DQ6 is probably too, but there is some bad taste to it. I think the problem was, that they offered them both an existing model to play with and they didn't want to make it a completely new IEM. Especially HBB, from what I understood, was really interested to tune the DQ6. Now what if they went back and forth and KZ found out, that they would get exactly the tuning that HBB wanted, when they just switch off these two "treble monsters". And then what? Taking them out entirely, but then it wouldn't have been a DQ6 anymore. Or leaving them in, so you actually get what you payd for (in hardware) although 2/3 don't do much? They could have taken them out, describe the whole process and make it a BIG FIND, that HBB found out, that making the DQ6 half the price would also improve the sound by a lot ... hmm. Sounds weird, because why didn't KZ find that out in the first place. Now it would have been a scam, if they had put disfunctional drivers in there, like broken leftovers or empty hulls. But they work, they get fed electricity, just not much. And by the way, the DQ6S sound quite good imo. The only thing, that I could argue is, that as a single DD, they would have probably sold at the price of the CCA CRA instead of twice as much. And there would have been no unecessary eletrical waste shipped around the globe (because most people will make no further use out of these drivers, I guess). It seems to be the chinese way. It reminds me of that silver cable I bought from TRN. It was supposed to be 1.2 meters. And technically, if you measured from the tip of the plug to the stretched out hooks and the outer edge of the QDC connector, then it was 120.3 cm ... Useable cable length was more like 98cm. I have to sit very close to the table to make it work. But TECHNICALLY it's somehow 120cm ... I guess. Silver is expensive, I get it, but still ... Probably KZ will learn from that. Hopefully they will improve.
This is all pretty effen Techy for an old dude like me. Could you answer this, please? Should I buy the Linsoul KZ AS16 Pro? It may be my 1st and only pair as I don't need IEMs and use my headphones maybe twice a year, I am just very curious.
I paid £70 (UK GBP) for the KZ ZAS, I'm still in the return window from Amazon, I also bought the Bluetooth adapter for another £40. Honestly speaking I was blown away with the sound as they are my first IEM's going from some cheapo headphones, but I would have been blown away with anything half decent. Any recommendation for alternative ear hook BT IEM's that are bass heavy ? Or are these some of the sets that are OK ? I'd appreciate any advise as I spent a lot more than i wanted to on these.
Unfortunately I don't have any recommendations for Bluetooth IEMs that are bassy. I don't use Bluetooth IEMs so I'm definitely not the guy to ask. If you want much better sound I would return the IEMs and get the Olina, but it is not a bassy set. Honestly if you're looking for bass you're probably good sticking where you're at, that or maybe take a look at the Trippowin TC01. They're KILLER iems for the money and will probably give your ZAS a run for it's money. But again, ZAS is definitely not a bad option.
@@hi-friaudioman Thanks for your response. I think I'll keep them, they do sound very good. Might look at the Trippowin TC01 as a secondary pair. cheers !
Спасибо за видео. Целиком согласен. С продукцией KZ знаком с 2013го года. Тоже разбирал и тоже делал сам наушники, преимущественно динамические. Сейчас возникли затруднения по причине, что живу я в Украине. По поводу багов KZ мне кажется, что причина в отсутствии контроля качества. Полном отсутствии. Были случаи, когда 2 пары наушников одной модели, купленные в одном магазине звучали по разному. Были случаи когда левый и правый в противофазе. Перебирал модель ZST, удалось добиться нормального звучания, обойдя конденсатор и подключив арматуру последовательно к динамику. В KZ ZSN приглушил высокие от динамика поролоном, оставив арматуру открытой. Пропала грязь на верхней середине.Еще раз сасибо и удачи вам. Thank you for the video. Entirely agree. I have been familiar with KZ products since 2013. I also disassembled and also made the headphones myself, mostly dynamic ones. Now there are difficulties because I live in Ukraine. As for the KZ bugs, it seems to me that the reason is the lack of quality control. Complete absence. There were cases when 2 pairs of headphones of the same model, bought in the same store, sounded different. There were cases when the left and right are in antiphase. I went through the ZST model, I managed to achieve normal sound by bypassing the capacitor and connecting the armature in series to the speaker. In KZ, ZSN muffled the highs from the speaker with foam rubber, leaving the armature open. The dirt on the upper middle is gone. Thank you again and good luck to you.
Hey thank you for your honesty thank you for your integrity and thank you for taking the time to just be neutral in state the facts and I appreciate that very much and you have a wonderful day
Yesterday just bought a pair of Kz x HBB DQ6s, and being someone like you who loves to disassembly things I was searching for a video tutorial if it exist of someone taking a par my headphones, started watching this video and I am pretty surprised of what you and the reddit people have founded I live in Argentina, paíd for this headphones like $8.000 local currency And after watching this, as you said for half the price I would get the same audio quality. Now I m thinking, should I disassembly this things, wire the 6mm drivers in parallel and use a 2mm drill bit to enlarge the chanel to connect to the tip or just wait and see if you make a video showing if it worth it. Anyway amazing video full of info, I will be waiting for a video testing this sound mod If something in this text doesn't make sense or has a orthographic mistake my apologies, English isn't my native language.
I get that, like 2 weeks ago I bought my first audiotechnica with a nice Amp and dac, and I don't think I can go back to my skullcandy unless I eq the hell out of them, they are still bassy and fun, but I can't believe I used to think they sounded perfect, so yeah once you train your ears a bit, it's really hard to go back to normal audio quality.
Very informative. I have KZ ZEX (original) and I like them very much. Good to know the ZEX work fine, according to the video at minutes 26:00 and 43:00 , but, sad to know the bad practices of the company. Thank you for sharing and good luck.
@@pin1771 Yes, for the price, its sound good. Its bright V shape IEMs, easy to drive and suitable for smartphones with headphones jack. Definitely sound better with external DAC headphones amp or USB audio interface.
We need the official biopic. If I can ask for first rights of refusal on my directorial debut I’d appreciate you giving me the opportunity 🤷🏼♂️😂 Btw, I subbed ya a while back and have been very glad to have done so. I always enjoy the videos and this one was no exception..it was cool to hear a little personal background about yourself, all teasing aside
Hey man a little advice - If your background noise is going to be that loud run your video through byenoise app before posting it’ll get rid of the fans etc well worth a few dollars. With iems that computer kicking on is loud.
Is that the AC or the computer fan cutting in and out in the background? iBasso IT00's 1 DD seems to be working just fine? lol...Really interesting work man keep it up us nerds love it 🤓👍
My first IEM was KZ ZSN pro and KbearvKs2. Before that I was into wireless audio. The first of those was the Skullcandy Sesh Evo. My passion didn't really take off until I bought the better ones like Soundpeats H1 and CCA C10. Then started getting better versions from there. The Blons, Moondrops, Tin, and on and on.
@@MK-ro7ee it has a BA and single driver. In that sense it sounds great in the soundstage ability and separation. Great for gaming. The tuning is good for rock, metal, hip hop. Other than that those others are slightly better tuned though.
Oh my god. I literally made this comment in Crin's original channel, I think. I said if you were gonna buy KZ's, I can only recommend two: KZ ZST - cuz I think this was the first IEM that gave them their house sound. All other models almost sound the same. KX ZEX - cuz it has a different driver technology Lo and behold, the ZEX has the working Magnetostat and the ZEX Pro doesn't. That's probably why I didn't like the pros. 🤔🤔 In one of Bad Guy Good Audio's videos, I commented that I like the ZEX over the Pros
I actually remember the ZST’s, probably my second set from KZ after I lost my ES4s that a friend gifted to me. Used the ever loving shit out of them wired and with the bt adapter until I lost them. I’ll need to get a proper ZEX to hear the differences but at least despite the issues with the ZEX Pro, I mainly got them for crin’s tuning to go away from the typical KZ sound and for that job, they fit the role perfectly fine. I’m likely not going to buy any more KZ products in the meantime since this whole debacle has everyone wondering which of their releases actually has fully working drivers and which ones have duds barely making any output to justify their existence.
I stopped buying KZ/CCA/TRN in 2019 and prefer to buy fewer higher quality sets. The last KZ I purchased was the ZSX and C12 and I believe I purchased the TRN BA5 in December. I do use the C12 at the gym off my phone and it gets the job done. Last night under an overhead fluorescent light I removed the C12 from my ears and looked at the BA units and it looks like 2 of the side by side units are capped off. I’m curious how many of those units are firing. I did prefer the ZSX over the C12. Needless to say I’ll never purchase another set from the KZ/CCA/TRN end of the pool. Although the fact that there’s a KZ /Tripowin connection, is it hypocritical to support Tripowin? I mean they’ve been knocking it out of the park with the MELE/Olina and now the Lea among others that flew under the radar. Olina is next on my list after being very satisfied with the Moondrop KATO.
I'm certainly not going to get rid of my KZ ZS10 Pros but I will probably hold off on anymore KZ products until they prove to be honest. Still nice to have decent sounding cheap IEMs for variaty and for taking places or for uses when I don't want to bring my FH3's, OH10's, or ect. And honestly they still sound so much better than even some of the priciest things I've tried from average retail stores previously, if they get their act together KZ still has a decent thing going
I have known that kz iem some of its ba dont work. I did have zs6 and zs7 with inverted wiring on ba but I made a crossover board/frequency divider for zs6 and later zs7, tune them to suit my taste. I just came across this drama when my co-worker commented on my zas, I told them the factory crossover board is useless and show them the crossover board I made for my zas.
Zs10 pro probably, and i bought it months ago knowing that, my first chi-fi, and they are great, if sound great, doesnt matter how many drivers theres inside of it
Thanks for using your skills for the Forces of Good. Currently have some Zex Pro (CRN) in the Amazon cart as my first set of (mostly) balanced signature headphones. The reviews about the balance are still accurate, I imagine, but this is sketchy as hell. I'd rather have a balanced single driver marketed as such with a matching smaller size and lower cost instead of having decorative drivers inside. Keep up the good work!
25:05 My guess here is that the development team at KZ was unable to tune the drivers so that they sound well enough, and deadline was already approaching, so they had to launch it into production like this. Anyway, for all of the good IEM models they make, I think I can forgive them a little bit of bullshit like this.
To be honest this entire fiasco exposed reviewers just as much as KZ. It showed just how little value an opinion really has and how bias can impact your perception of a product.
I have the ZEX Pro before it got rebranded. You mentioned that there is sound coming from the other driver but at a very low level, would using an amp change the level of the other drivers so that we hear more of them? Just curious.
I bought the BA10s a while ago and there was somethign not right. Like you I opended them up and ..oh dear,,, 2 wires in one didnt even make it to a driver has thety were glued tight under the crossover board I just shook my head. That wass a few months ago and now I see your post here and it only supports a notion that I have in that KZ probably outsource the build and so they would assume that QA is rught up there.. When in fact, they are getting a raw deal like customers. Just a thought.
Thx for the video, I agree 100%. I like KZ products, for me they are more consumables I can trust. I had IEMs 10x price of KZ but was not nearly as happy with them overall, and they had all sorts of problems too. Although criticism is well deserved, I don't like all the holy crusade against KZ, especially from the people who actually like the sound of them, its bit too much.
Yeah, for sure. They pump out a lot of products. Some are duds, but most of them are great for the price and even as competition heats up KZ still manages compete and at least recently they've been listening to their customer base and making adjustments. One thing I can say is I never received a dead KZ iem, out of the 20+ I've owned I've never had a problem with any of them and although not the best sounding I've heard much worse from higher end companies.
I think those are legit - just one driver. The concept makes sense and they're not all that cheap. The difficulty in tuning them well is a statement that they probably as they say they are. At least from more reputable brands like Tin, 7Hz, etc.
Good backstory. "Quit screwing around Jeff." Reverse polarity on one of the KZ DQ6 minidrivers, now that is funny! They could have doubled the price spent on the main driver.
I've been using KZ ZS10 Pro and ZSN Pro for years. Recently I've been looking for TWS and went with KZ Xtra. While waiting for my delivery I've been catching up with KZ line-up and just noticed all that drama that took place in 2022. Two years later I find it hilarious. I doesn't really expose KZ but the entire IEM community. For years KZ has been a darling of budget IEMs (and I'm talking about independent reviews here), until someone discovers that not all drivers work or perform as expected and now what... they're suddenly are horrible? :D Well first of all it doesn't matter how many drivers they have, they should just sound good to their owner. Yeah, KZ has been deceptive on how their drivers work, but who I really stopped trusting is the IEM reviewers.
Thanks for the info. I'm currently building my own custom IEM as a private/collage project and ordered the KZ AS06 for the internals. I will definitely check every BA driver before installing. I guess these issues are related with newer IEMs from KZ. Sad to see, specially because of the wasted materials, while having resource limitations word wide.
Ouch. And I just bought a DQ6. It'll be here today or tomorrow and now I feel ripped of. But maybe not, I bought it for 15 USD. So I guess this is why it went down in price. This will be my first IEM. I hope it's good. I'm not rich, I plan to buy another if I like DQ6. So, it's sad to hear this simply because I don't have that much money set aside for stuff like IEM so I do feel like I wasted money for two non working DD.
Oh yeah, definitely. I do all kinds of stuff. I fix cars, computers, etc. I built my own motor bike a while ago and drove it 12K km before it got stolen. Lol.
Are you going to open up the Softears Volume at the back or at least measure the phase? As claimed by Softears it has matched phase across and I wonder if that is just another lie. Also their "crossover" FR graphs seem fabricated too. Thanks.
Also just to add to that, they didn't lie about the variations phase linearity so I'm sure they're probably telling the truth with the volume, but I will definitely double check!
Nice review by ya jf, anyone who thinks that crin or hbb, whatever couldnt hear the difference of how a single dynamic driver vs avin dual or tribrid , knowin how they play as a iem, is outta there minds...demos or not, thoze 2 shoulda noticed the difference, wen most of the baz, or etc were not playing. I ave a revonext rx6, daul drivers, and i can hear wen one part of it is picking up the mids treb, and the driver is playing the bass..ofc they were gonna post no mas..smh..
