Sorry if this isnt the correct category to post this as I’m new here.
I just got my first pair of “nicer” iem’s, the KZ KZ10 Pro, but I didnt get surprised at all with them, especially for someone coming from cheap in-ears included with your phone. I mean, they are good, but I did not got blown away with the sound as most reviews say…
I feel like something is missing but I have no idea what it is…
So I was wondering if its the cable that came with them? I bought the version with the cable with a mic. I’ve heard bad things about the included cable on these, but can they affect the sound that much?
Should I buy another cable? Or what have been your experiences with these iem’s?
Pls help a noob entering this audio world :)) Thanks!
What stock iems did you get with your smartphone? If it is a samsung phone with their AKG iems, those are pretty decent from what I know.
Otherwise, do you get a good seal? If you dont get a good seal with your iems, you wont get good sound.
If you are planing on staying in this hobby and not just get an iem then be done. Then I suggest that you get yourself a good silicone tip collection. it is very important to have good tips, as having the wrong one (bad fit/seal) is pretty much a deal breaker for everything.
You can take a look at my database for iem rankings and tip rankings: RikudouGoku's Database - Google Sheets
I recommend thatyou get some Final Audio Type E, Elecom EHP-CAP20 and Radius Deep mount tips.
Cables dont change the sound, if you do hear a difference it is placebo. (except if you are using a BA only iem, those can get affected by the different resistances of cables, that will cause changes in their overall tonality.)
If you do want another cable I recommend the Faaeal litz copper, Tri Through or the Kbear Rhyme.
As for the ZS10 Pro itself, I had it like 2 years ago. It was decent at the price back then. But not anymore. I dont have it in my ranking list since I dont have it anymore, but I am guessing it would be around D tier.
If you want to take a look at some other KZ iems, the DQ6 and the ZAX seems pretty good.
They were some generic ones, they dont even have a brand name on them lol, they were from my old phone
I tried my best to get the best seal possible with the tips that came with them, so I dont know if the seal is perfect anyway
No, I dont plan to spend huge budgets on headphones or iems. I’m just someone who cares about price to performance and likes to hear some casual music without spending to much (i’m only 18 so I will not spend any larger amonts of money that soon)
This ones have 4 BA’s so could the cable affect the sound? I’ve seen someone on HeadFi saying they having a lot of resistence because of the mic, but I dont understand anything about cables 
I bought them for 25€ and the reviews said they were amazing for the 50€ back then, so I dont know
You are the same age as I was when I started chi-fi in 2018 lol.
The ZS10 pro is a hybrid though, so the cable resistance thing shouldnt matter as much here. But it is certainly possible that the cable is “lemon”. (a bad unit)
I say that if your budget is limited you could try some other ones. Like the KZ EDX or the DQ6. (they are cheaper on aliexpress and thats where I buy from.)
Yes I believe I also paid around 60 usd for it 2 years ago. BUT chi-fi progresses very very fast. So its not a surprise that some cheaper iems right now is actually better than those.
If you want to avoid KZ due to this experience. You could take a look at the new Kbear KS1 (no they are not KZ lol, despite looking similarly).
You could try this little mod with the included tips to see if you get a better seal:
From the HeadFi thread on cables, how bad is 1200miliohms of resistance for a cable?
I also hear a lot of static when nothing is being played but most likely its still there behind the music when I listen but thats probably because of the very low required voltages to be driven so that is probably my pc (I’m running straight from my headphone jack, because I didnt plan to spend even more money on a dac)
And even if they surprised audiophiles 2 years ago they would probably surprise just a guy listening to music right?
Your pc might be the culprit then.
You really should get a cheap dongle dac/amp. It help a lot.
That hiss is caused by the pc dac. Usually 1.2ohms is pretty bad but not enough to cause hissing on an iem with 24 ohms.
I suggest you get a dongle like the sonata hd pro or even the Apple dongle is a good one.
I totally understand your situation:
I bought ZS10 Pro after not using iems for a long time in 2019, they sounded good but nothing mind blowing.
Fast forward to summer of 2020: i lost them while running and bought a pair of Final audio E1000 for 30 euros, they had good reviews, i would say on par with the ones about the ZS10 Pro.
These actually blew me away, they sounded really good and were a clear step up from the KZ.
Maybe 2 years ago were relly great, but IMHO i think it was “overexagerated” because of the hype train.
There is always a hype train in the budget chi-fi world lol.
Your experience might just be from the earbuds you came from and your expectations just not meeting up. There’s also the issue of maybe these aren’t the sound you really want.
I have and listen to both the AKGxSamsung earbuds and Earpods and enjoy them. Good stock buds. The difference from them to “better” sets comes down to how much detail and such.
I’d say the tips might be an issue. Lots of folks (including me) struggled with finding the right size when I got into IEMs. Too small leads to little to no bass. Too large, same deal and also less treble.
Regardless of age, a good set will still sound good. I’ve got IEMs from 8 years ago that still sound good.
Expectations are hard to deal with in this hobby. Folks can hype up $500 headphones all day, but when you finally get them… there’s the chance you can question the price tag versus your $30 set.
The light hiss you hear is just due to inferior amp/DAC on whatever you’re using. That’s not a bad thing, quite common with IEMs. I wouldn’t run out to get a dongle DAC or whatever to just solve this.
I’ll say this too: Cables don’t change much overall, even with shit cables. Maybe a touch more detail with the right IEMs, or there might be issue with the old ones. But I wouldn’t jump on a new cable thinking it’ll turn everything around.
Yeah, that and the various covid lockdowns in my country do not give me enough confidence to get better iems, not that i really need them since at the moment i am pretty satisfied, but still. Always keeping an eye on the next possible pair of iems.
Cables from aliexpress are pretty cheap so I could try maybe, even if they dont change the sound at least they look better than the brown cable 
They are more durable as well. Take a look at the ones I mentioned before. Those are my default recs.
I’m a slut for matchy matchy cables. 
I dont know how I feel about a cable being almost as expensive as the iem. Do you have some cheaper recs?
Do you have any idea if this is good or not?
TRN cables are known for their bad QC. I highly recommend that you do not get them.
As for other cheaper cables…honestly I think it is worth it to spend the extra 5 usd or something to get the faaeal cable. It is that high quality, the cables that are cheaper are worse in build quality and may break faster (personal experience here, most of my sub 10 usd cables are dead) I personally use that cable with a lot of my 300 usd iems.
Linsoul are currently selling Blon BL03 for $26.99 or £19 with free postage. Bought 3 pairs for friends who listen to hi-res streaming on their phones with stock in-ears to introduce them to the rabbit hole of audio desire. You have to be cruel to be kind
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Mic cables usually interfere with bringing outside noise like microphonics too but that honestly shouldn’t be a big issue. TBH there is just some gear that has underwhelming first impressions or keeps on being underwhelming forever. There’s been tons of gear that I think will have a WOW FACTOR but dosent, instead I learn to enjoy it more through the long run. And there’s also gear that dosent have the wow factor and… I never manage to really like haha.
Like my boi the dragon ball z man said its also possible that the tip seal is ruining it for u.
Also
Cables do make a difference. But that’s up to you and your ears to find out later. In the price range that goku plays with alot of stuff is revealing so he probably hasn’t been able to really notice. But once you get to stuff like Tia trios etc which are super revealing, cables make fairly big differences. I can easily and repeatedly listen to differences in cables
There are mostly 2 camps in this. Those that dont believe it and those that do. I am in the hybrid camp, the placebo, that any differences is caused by other biases like visuals.(except all BA iems, but pretty sure non will dispute different cables (different resistances changing the FR on those like the Andromeda.)
I’ll definitely be happy to leave it as a difference in opinion. Heck some people still believe amps and dacs don’t make a difference lol.
I’ll just say that I don’t put much into frequency response and measurements only because alot of the sonic capabilities that headphones, speakers, IEMs have is not measurable atm. (Not measurable with machines, dosent mean our ears can’t measure them)