How do you tell the new ones from the og?
Just go to the QKZ official store on Ali where they list it as “Original”?
Just realized that all the “Original QKZ VK4” on the official shop are all upgraded versions… Are the flush 2-pin sockets vs the QDC sockets the way to tell apart old and new?
I found a seller that used the word “original” and had a picture of the OGs. The new version has QDC connectors which makes it easy to tell them apart.
Also, I deliberately went for a lower volume seller guessing they were less likely to have gotten the new ones in stock.
Yes, that’s right.
Checked the package that arrived while I was in the UK. Very disappointed that in spite of “original” wording, and all photos showing old connection, was shipped a new one. Seeing how a “dispute” works out in AliX, otherwise I’m out some or all of $10 for a trash earphone.
WTF,
WTF indeed,
WTF for 10char.
I hope Ali is sympathetic to the different versions legitimately being a big deal as far as sound goes. I guess I’ll wait until it’s daytime in China again to find out.
I just wanna say we should move on from the vk4 these days imo there are better / other options for the price point. The vk4 was great when It was basically the only one in the market but people should look for alternatives.
Any recommendations?
Best sub $20 currently IMO
Quarks for neutral bright
Kz EDX for bassy
The TRN mt1 isn’t bad either
Personally I like the quarks the best. But can be a bit shouty for some
Based on the graph of the original, no, there is nothing equivalent at that price point. Just KZ tuning and things like the Quark and Tanya. None of which appeal to me.
Edit: Apologies and I stand corrected — see post that follows.
CCA CRA might be the closest, but ofc, graph doesn’t tell everything
I think Vortex said in a discord channel that they still sound a bit different, but I’d take the shot and go with CRA if I didn’t have the VK4 already.
Shit good call forgot this one existed
Haven’t heard VK4 but I have tested CRA for 3-4 days.
They are quite bassy. I’d say a warm V-shape.
Have a somewhat edgy presentation.
Texture is there.
Good extension on both ends.
Treble not piercing as other KZ sets.
What’s bad is imaging and stage. Narrow Stage, with only 2D, Left-Right imaging.
(In Yosi Horikawa’s Wandering and Crossing, it feels like looking through a door rather than getting immersed in the sounds)
Below average on instrument separation as well.
(Tested with some busy jazz tracks)
So if you want deep bass/good treble extension, fun slam for Hip Hop/Rock and textured presentation for Metal/Deathcore, they can be a keeper.
That sounds a lot like the VK4 at average insertion depth. For me, the trick to elevating the VK4 to a higher tier is to go down a size on tips and shoot for deeper insertion. That flattens out the signature and takes them from V shaped to U shaped.
Here is the seller to AVOID on AliExpress, for VK4 purchases but preferably for anything.
They have been giving me the run-around, pretending the photos on their page match the photos I took of the item, and flat out denying that there has ever been a different version (although I included photos from this thread of the old version, and FR graph comparison too)
VAORLO Factory Store is a bad seller and should not be bought from. They have made no attempt to own their mistake.
They updated the dispute to offer a $0.00 refund, and I Google translated the following message they left for the AliExpress adjudicators:
There is no case that the buyer said that the goods are not on the right board. We are selling the original authentic products. The products sold have not had any problems until now. It can be clearly seen in the pictures uploaded by the buyers that our products are all based on actual goods. Standard, including the quality of the product itself is no problem! There is no difference between the real thing and the pictures uploaded by our sellers and the video. When communicating with buyers, buyers always say that it is not this product. It can be clearly seen from the products uploaded by our buyers that we are saying that it is the original QKZ. -VK4 earphones, (It can be seen from Figure 1 and Figure 2 that our sellers uploaded the products for sale on the platform. Figure 3 and Figure 4 are the pictures taken by our own sellers) and our sellers have always been selling this product. No other products have been replaced, so there are no buyers who buy different products.
ALL of their product photos were of the old style.
Interesting how the seller was given space to write a short novel, but I had to explain the nuances in a 200 character limited box.
UGH what an evening. The “submit” button on the dispute form was broken in Firefox, I had to rewrite and upload photos in Chrome all over again (worse than it sounds with an old iMac with the HDD speed mine has).
Damn… you definitely met an outlaw of the AliEx Wild West (aka EAST)… Feel sorry for your lost mate, but thanks for the heads up.
Best thing to do is to avoid VK4 at all cost from now on…
EDIT:
I just checked QKZ official store on AliEx for the VK4 and noticed that they’ve completely scraped the VK4. Same on Amazon UK, no Amazon promoted version (the updated version) anymore.
Can this be a sign that a saving grace is in the making? 
AliExpress followed up with a $0 refund offer too.
$10 may not seem much to lose, but it is significant for me. Even though I’ve listened to some expensive earphones, everything is within a closed PayPal Credit bubble separate to family finances. Anything I have to spend on audio at all is from years of “trading up from a paperclip” type progress (which is why I’m always scouring at something I’m genuinely interested in trying but at a great price, to have a low risk resale), and you’ll notice I don’t actually get to keep most of what I have a chance to listen to. A $10 increase to budget doesn’t happen all that often, meanwhile a $10 decrease while being left with nothing listenable or no improvement on prior setup is a frustration.
I trusted the seller’s photos, and I trusted them to do the right thing when their photos were clearly incorrect. This seller can’t be relied on for either. Please if you can help it, don’t support VAORLO Factory Store on AliExpress. If another seller has the item in stock, there’s a good chance they may be a more reliable source, at the least if anything goes wrong.
I’m really sorry to hear about your situation. I got lucky that the seller I bought from actually delivered the OG version, but it’s a crapshoot. Whether it’s your seller or any other, at this point I wouldn’t count on reliably being able to buy the OG VK4 from AliExpress.
QKZ really f’ed this one up 
