@ttorbic has!
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It’s tuned by Crin, and KZ has just announced it publicly and slapped Crin’s logo on it. Basically KZ ZEX Pro = KZ x Crinacle CRN.
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I do own it. 
Signature: Mids focussed/forward balanced neutral. Warm colouration.
If vocals and mids microdetails are your thing then I can’t imagine a better single DD set. Honestly.
Amazing timbre and perfect coherency as you would expect of any single DD set.
Vocals are intimate and sultry both male and female… and you hear every nuance in their voice… Every vocal thrill, every breath, all the emotional content intended by the singer. The vocal microdetails are impressive.
More musical than clinical though the amount of details is surprising. Treble is surprisingly present and lovely with no harshness or sibilance.
Bass is detailled, textured and authoritative and never lacking at all for me except in songs that require big amounts of subbass despite seeming bass light on graph. It was surprising to me when I first heard it.
For bassheads who desire more bass, I put a low shelf boost with a high pass filter at 20hz and it satisfies my basshead cravings through and through. Awesome subwoofer like boom coupled with great bass details. I have put a 9.5db bass boost at 20hz with a broad q of 0.45 previously and it boosted cleanly with no distortion and keeping it’s impressive level of texture and details still.
I have 12 IEMs and the Dark Magician or the Mest MkII (both with bass EQ applied) are my go-to bass head sets.
Note weight is to me nice and thick but not too thick and plucked acoustic guitars, violins and other mid centric instruments sound divine.
Oh and it slams well.
Soundstage is average as per most IEMs.
Imaging has Mest vibes to it with sounds sometimes coming from unexpected places.
Clarity is good.
Instrument separation is good.
To me and my friends that own it, it has surprisingly shot up very quickly to the top of the rankings very quickly.
Although not the very best in many aspects like imaging, soundstage and others… The top-tier microdetailling, musicality and quality of the vocals brings it a long way beating out some kilobuck and multi-kilobuck for myself and my friends who own it.
A very high quality Single DD.
If you would like more testimonies from my friends pm me and I’ll send the discord chats that I’ve saved and answer any other specific questions you have.
I only know of one review:
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This is fantastic, thank you!
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If you want my personal impressions, see further down below. If you wish to hear from more experienced hobbyists and reviewers, in addition to what @PopinTeddy posted, check out:
- KZ X Crinacle CRN (ZEX Pro) Not Very Quick Look - YouTube
- KZ ZEX PRO unbox and first impressions - YouTube
- KZ x Crinacle CRN (ZEX pro) | The first Tribrid from KZ | Unboxing & Review - YouTube
My two cents
Context: I purchased KZ ZEX Pro to get a taste of tribrid tech. My daily driver / personal end-game right now is the Yinyan Aladdin, and those are hybrids. Bear in mind these are ~245 USD, so I know I’m not being fair in my comparison since ZEX Pro is ~35 USD. But my other <50 USD sets are all DD, so IMO makes more sense to use the Aladdin, which has BA tech inside.
Now, in a nutshell, I agree with the feedback given by others. Plus, my two cents:
- What I like: ZEX Pro sounds fairly neutral but with some sub-bass, good clarity / detail retrieval. No bleeding of the mid-bass into the mids, sufficient treble. Personally, it’s not fatiguing. Wide soundstage and acceptable imaging. Good seal.
- What I don’t like: bass is lazy (rounded maybe?), and there isn’t enough mid-bass for male vocals and stringed instruments like the cello sound musical. Treble can sound artificial, thin, with a metallic sheen that is more present than in reality (e.g., the violin upper register sounds too thin and metallic; some resonance peaks from brass sound off).
- Few other notes: 1. I don’t mind the stock tips, but I used Kbear 07 silicones. 2. Fit is fine, but the prominent wings or horns on the shells do get in the way of insertion, so I need to twist a bit more when putting these on. Shells are a bit on the heavier side, but no discomfort after a couple of hours. 3. They benefit from more power (I used ifi zen dac v1, SE), although I understand it can be driven through a phone dongle if needed.
So to my ears, the KZ ZEX Pro sounds good for the value, but I just can’t hear the benefit of the magnetostat driver, and the BA drivers aren’t good enough to come close in timbre to the Aladdin’s BAs. In addition, the DD’s performance falls short, and I prefer more mid-bass than Harmon target. In essence, I like it, and if my budget were limited to <50 USD and I wanted to try a multi-driver tech IEM, this would fit the bill. In reality, I have the Aladdin, and so the ZEX Pro doesn’t have a place in my collection (I aim for minimalism in this hobby, for budget and other personal reasons).
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Short Bus takes a walk on the…
Side
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Something I wrote up on the Aladdin and the Oxygen. Thought some of you may find it interesting!
YanYin Aladdin and Tanchjim Oxygen comparison
Context
I am doing this comparison for two reasons: 1. I got the Oxygen as a TOTL single DD that is prized for its tonality and technicalities. I wanted to compare it against my current end-game, the Aladdin, which is a hybrid; 2. Since they are in a similar price bracket, some people who are looking to get a new IEM may be considering both options and may benefit from this review.
Preamble
- Driver configuration: Aladdin (1DD + 3BA); Oxygen (1 DD)
- Source: Qudelix 5k (no EQ), Spotify
- Cables: Balanced, 2.5 mm for both IEMs
- Eartips: Stock Aladdin eartips on both Aladdin & Oxygen
- Test playlist: Mix of jazz, classical, film scores, female & male vocals
- Photos credit to me
Fit
- Both very comfortable. Aladdin shells are larger and heavier, but still comfortable to wear for many hours. Oxygen shells are very light and small, and needs to be pushed right against the concha for proper seal.
Impressions
- These are both excellent IEMs, so I had to listen very carefully for 2 hours, constantly switching between the two, to tease apart the differences
- What I believe the Aladdin does better:
- Soundstage: Feels grander than the Oxygen. Has more height, more depth, although width is similar.
- Mids are more forward, and I prefer the vocals on the Aladdin every so slightly.
- Bit more clarity and separation in the treble, which is expected given the Aladdin is a hybrid
- What I believe the Oxygen does better:
- Note-weight: I never fully appreciated what reviewers meant by “note-weight” until I compared BA vs DD sets. The Oxygen makes notes sound…heavier, fuller. This may be related to tonality. For e.g., cymbal hits and bass guitar pulls feel like there is more substance.
- Bass: There’s more mid-bass, and maybe this helps with the note-weight as well. Seems a tad faster or more defined than the Aladdin. I think the sub-bass extends a tad further in the Oxygen.
Conclusion
I got the Oxygen hoping I would hear a striking difference between the Aladdin. In this regard, I am a bit surprised - there is no clear winner. This means the Aladdin is an excellent hybrid set, and I am very pleased that it’s in my collection. I heard another reviewer say that the Aladdin sounds like a single DD - they are that well tuned.
I still need to spend more time with the Oxygen to understand its niche or specialty: I am not disappointed by them, and they are a noticeable upgrade from the Mele, but I expected something more. Maybe I will hear more differences after I spend more time with them and do more A/Bing.
Happy listening!
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So impressively concise! Very fair points and carefully done!
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Review for Aladdin is great. Seen a lot of people comparing it to Tea, but there’s just really scarce English YT reviews out there. Nice!
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I asked a sample specificaly to do that.
🤷🤦🤷
No response from Penon??
Nope. Maybe it’s for the best🧐
yeah, you’ve got the Tea and EJ07m and etc etc 
just need to try a planar! Did you see that Shuoer is releasing a planar?
Yes I’ll try my first planars this week
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rumor has it, that it’s the same driver that is in the 7hz timeless
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I got caught by the KZ marketing and bought the “electrostatic” ZEX (non-pro) and came to a similar conclusion… no clue what the magnetostatic driver is supposed to do. Pretty bassy IEM, but bad quality bass, pretty muddy mids and no treble/air… judging by the graph, the ZEX Pro looks better, but won’t be to my taste anyways…
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Same thought here, no clue what the MST does in the NRA/ZEX Pro…
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What is that case? Looks like the Blessing 2 case, which I really liked. Where did you buy it?
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