[benchan2]

Interesting, but I'd want to examine them myself. Doesn't make sense to toss in two extra drivers and not have them contribute at all.

There were some more similar posts about that. Still you can always see it for yourself.

 

[Slater]

So long story short. Some day the cover of another ZS5 falls off. The owner found the wire connecting one of the BA fells off, and there is no audio crossover despite there are 4 units. However the sound is the same.

So instead of putting it back by himself, he decided to disassemble the whole thing. Since the DD is not fixed by glue and other way, it is not that hard.

Taking the BA and DD out, he found there is only 1 real tube at DD that sound can go out. Other chambers are sealed.

So basically there is only 1 DD and 1 BA (inside the bore) that actually work. The other two drivers are blocked. And since there is no damping for the BA, it is rather soft or treble will be too bright, implying it is not contributing to the sound much either.

So it's basically a glorified ZST, and KZ is suckering in people with the "more is better" 4-driver sales pitch? Nice haha

If that does turn out to all be true, it would be a very big blow to KZ's reputation.

 

[Slater]

1. ATR has no tuning foam.
2. Nothing really unique inside - same as ATE (just wider nozzle inside diameter and slightly different breathing hole port cover material).
3. Grill-mod to ATR makes much less effect than with ATE but it helps slightly.
4. ATR with "open-back" grill mod is better than stock.
5. I have tried many different tweaks but still loving my ATE FF-mod more than ATR.
6. If ZST didn`t have treble issues (for my ears at least), then it would top my ATE FF-mod in overall SQ but soundstage of FF-mod is something special.
Haven`t tried modding ZST yet. I`ve stopped modding IEMs due to being involved with new production IEM.

Thanks a BUNCH CoiL! So that tells me that the biggest issue with the ATE was the port not being large enough, and they addressed this on the ATR (as it has a pretty substantial port). The ZST's is pretty substantial as well.

I still love my open grille mod ATE as well (thanks to you).

I plan on grille modding the ZST one of these days to see if any additional gains can be had, so I'll be sure to post any significant results.

 

[benchan2]

So it's basically a glorified ZST? And KZ is suckering in people with the "more is better" 4-driver sales pitch?

Nice haha

Um, you can put it in this way if you like. However as far as I can tell, KZ does not seem to be a whole headphone company, basically it just find ODM from different companies and publish them. So their products are not necessarily connected.

 

[Sylmar]

So it's basically a glorified ZST, and KZ is suckering in people with the "more is better" 4-driver sales pitch? Nice haha

If that does turn out to all be true, it would be a very big blow to KZ's reputation.

It could be and maybe deservedly so. Strangely though I still enjoy them very much. Confusing situation.

 

[ricemanhk]

Um, you can put it in this way if you like. However as far as I can tell, KZ does not seem to be a whole headphone company, basically it just find ODM from different companies and publish them. So their products are not necessarily connected.

I suspect they are the ODM for others...not the reverse.

Anyway 1. They are not going to put in extra drivers just for show, because most people are never going to see the inside of the earbud. And from the pics, those look like real drivers and BAs, not empty fake ones. But more importantly 2. ZS5 sounds really good and both the sound signature and freq curve would indicate the use of both DDs, otherwise you don't get such a flat response. But hey If they can do this with only 1 DD + BA and the other 2 are purely for marketing purposes, then more power to them!

 

[Vidal]

I can see the KZ RD team saying this multi-driver earphone sounds crap, it's better with only 2 drivers.

Marketing say they need 4 drivers or the product won't sell.

So KZ RD come back with 4 driver earphone that sounds as good as the 2 driver model, everyone is happy.

Makes no odds to me if there's one or six drivers, until recently my favourite earphones only had one and not even a proper back cover. It all comes down to what it sounds like.

(Oh, and I very much doubt that the two extra drivers don't contribute somehow)

 

[Slater]

I suspect they are the ODM for others...not the reverse.

I am assuming he is referring to the, um, 'inspired' shell designs (at least on the HDS2, ZS3, ZS5, etc)

 

[ricemanhk]

I am assuming he is referring to the, um, 'inspired' shell designs (at least on the HDS2, ZS3, ZS5, etc)

No, ODM means making the product for someone else to slap their logo on it. Sort of like those Verizon or Tmobile branded phones that were likely made by Huawei or ZTE (big ODMs before they became OEMs).
Ben was saying KZ doesn't make the IEMs but is only the brand owner and uses multiple suppliers for the different IEMs, but I doubt this is happening.

Design copying is another issue altogether of course.

 

[minhmap859]

By this picture, I think the ZS5's inside looks rather faithful to what they advertised.

Well, Idk, but maybe the BA that fell out was was the ultra-treb one that only dog can hear? I don't know Chinese, so if someone can translate what was said below, it would be very appreciated.

 

[ChickenButcher]

I just received my KZ ZS5 blue with mic today.

Unfortunately, I am facing a problem with the new mic cable (the one with volume control) . For the first hour of use, the controls were working fine. However after the first hour, I realized the controls were laggy, unresponsive and it suddenly increased the volume to 100%! Luckily I took off the earphones in time to avoid my ears from exploding! Now the controls are totally dead and not working at all. Anyone experienced this issue? Was I just unlucky and got a faulty cable, or is it a common problem to everyone?

P.S. I am using LG V10.

 

[Slater]

I can see the KZ RD team saying this multi-driver earphone sounds crap, it's better with only 2 drivers.

Marketing say they need 4 drivers or the product won't sell.

So KZ RD come back with 4 driver earphone that sounds as good as the 2 driver model, everyone is happy.

Makes no odds to me if there's one or six drivers, until recently my favourite earphones only had one and not even a proper back cover. It all comes down to what it sound like.

Yeah, well said Vidal. What you are describing happens so much in industry it's not even funny. Companies often grant entirely too much influence to the Sales & Marketing departments, and I've seen this firsthand with the companies I've worked for through the years. They are a necessary evil though.

The original Atari Lynx gaming handheld was developed to be as small and compact as possible, ergonomic to use, and efficient (to compete with the Nintendo Gameboy). I mean, it's a portable handheld gaming system after all right? The Engineering and Design team had working prototypes that ticked all of the boxes, and it was ready for manufacture. Know what happened next? The knucklehead Marketing department told them to redesign the external shell to be humongous (an increase of almost 100% in size), full of totally empty space, because they said people want "to feel like they are getting their money's worth and so the product has to be big". Needless to say, it was a total flop because it was ridiculously gigantic and difficult to hold & use due to it's enormous size. Realizing their bonehead mistake and lots of lost market share, they redesigned it back to the original compact size, and released it as the Lynx II. I'm assuming the Marketing geniuses had to look for new jobs (or at least they would be if that had been my company). Whoops!

I'm just joking around with my comments about KZ. Like you pointed out, the single most important thing is how it sounds. Doesn't matter if it's 1 or 20 drivers.

Personally though, knowing what KZ was capable of accomplishing with the ZS1 rev 1, I think if they had instead used less drivers but used a proper crossover, they could easily produce an end-game IEM with the same cost of the ZS5. Perhaps this is what they are planning with the ZSR Pro.

 

[ricemanhk]

By this picture, I think the ZS5's inside looks rather faithful to what they advertised.

Well, Idk, but maybe the BA that fell out was was the ultra-treb one that only dog can hear? I don't know Chinese, so if someone can translate what was said below, it would be very appreciated.

Top left, Bass DD
Bottom left, High freq BA
Right, sub-bass DD
Middle, mid-high BA

It's strange the smaller DD is labeled as the sub-bass one?

 

[ricemanhk]

I just received my KZ ZS5 blue with mic today.

Unfortunately, I am facing a problem with the new mic cable (the one with volume control) . For the first hour of use, the controls were working fine. However after the first hour, I realized the controls were laggy, unresponsive and it suddenly increased the volume to 100%! Luckily I took off the earphones in time to avoid my ears from exploding! Now the controls are totally dead and not working at all. Anyone experienced this issue? Was I just unlucky and got a faulty cable, or is it a common problem to everyone?

P.S. I am using LG V10.

Sounds like a short inside the control. Could be moisture as well, dry it out and give it another try tomorrow, if still doesn't work then exchange it.

 

[CoiL]

Interesting, but I'd want to examine them myself. Doesn't make sense to toss in two extra drivers and not have them contribute at all.

Yeah, I want to disassemble ZS5 too... I think that guy missed something. I don`t belive KZ does such "cheating".