[rsbyrs]

Do the standard Castor highs sound less harsh when compared to the bass version?

 

[Okcerg]

Do the standard Castor highs sound less harsh when compared to the bass version?

I only got standard Castor and I don't find it harsh.

 

[DaveLT]

Do the standard Castor highs sound less harsh when compared to the bass version?

Yes. Castor silver is not as harsh but I wouldn't call castor black harsh either.
That's reserved for the pianist

 

[DynamicEars]

Long but interesting post, thanks. Did you mod the PR2 and Krila the same way?

Similar way, but the PR2 with foam to reduce trebles more.
My Krila mod is on this thread if I'm bot wrong, or maybe I just post on discovery thread, but basically similar mod too, with little cut of foam attached to BA nozzle on Krila.


About Castor, I also don't find harsh. They are intense and can be shouty on higher volume level but never sounded harsh. Harsh is peaky edges, and Castor don't have that luckily even with stock out of the box.

 

[CasualListener99]

I just received the CXS. The cable is the stock cable but with Cooper color instead of silver plated.

Does it make any difference?

At first tried the silver plated because there were a couple of them laying around. Then tried a Xinhs silver plated cable and seem to notice more detail. Might be imagining things, though.

Now I'm trying the Cooper color Kz cables and it sounds fine.

Got the Xinhs cable for a different/better iem. I'm wondering if these cheapo Iemd also deserve a better cable.

Advice?

 

[DynamicEars]

I just received the CXS. The cable is the stock cable but with Cooper color instead of silver plated.

Does it make any difference?

At first tried the silver plated because there were a couple of them laying around. Then tried a Xinhs silver plated cable and seem to notice more detail. Might be imagining things, though.

Now I'm trying the Cooper color Kz cables and it sounds fine.

Got the Xinhs cable for a different/better iem. I'm wondering if these cheapo Iemd also deserve a better cable.

Advice?

Cables can make differences but very subtle compared to source, tranduscer itself, or even eartips.

Copper cables tend to have warm, smooth, weight characteristics where pure silver are more cold, edgy, analytical.
Changing from pure copper to pure silver is the most audible
But copper with little bit silver or silver plated, mixed copper silver sometimes really hard to tell.
Some pricey cable becaue of the good material also great but they aren't more than 5-10% differences. Even some cables are really really overpriced.
I suggest to save money to fund great source chain. Cables are the last improvement if you already have everything.

 

[r31ya]

Similar way, but the PR2 with foam to reduce trebles more.
My Krila mod is on this thread if I'm bot wrong, or maybe I just post on discovery thread, but basically similar mod too, with little cut of foam attached to BA nozzle on Krila.


About Castor, I also don't find harsh. They are intense and can be shouty on higher volume level but never sounded harsh. Harsh is peaky edges, and Castor don't have that luckily even with stock out of the box.

castor is not harsh,
but yeah it kinda edges on being shouty at higher volume,

and great review,
i was wondering why the bass while textured, have a bit rumble, a bit thumpy, its doesn't quite go "clear deep" that my old TFZ KingPro did, either driver limitation possibly the localized smear that cause it.

Cables can make differences but very subtle compared to source, tranduscer itself, or even eartips.

Copper cables tend to have warm, smooth, weight characteristics where pure silver are more cold, edgy, analytical.
Changing from pure copper to pure silver is the most audible
But copper with little bit silver or silver plated, mixed copper silver sometimes really hard to tell.
Some pricey cable becaue of the good material also great but they aren't more than 5-10% differences. Even some cables are really really overpriced.
I suggest to save money to fund great source chain. Cables are the last improvement if you already have everything.

Older budget series have cable so crappy it actually easy to tell the difference between the bad default and aftermarket.
the infamous kz brown is one of them. but budget default cable is getting better nowadays, well at least in the $30~50 segment.
KZ have rather decent default with their PR1 Pro but unfortunately didn't carried through their later model.

personally i bought a budget but decent cable, things like faaeal hibiscus which are only $15 or so but its should able to change from "bad" to "standard" so to speak.
or you want to hunt a good modular cable to adapt to your source.

I haven't dip myself to $100+ cable so i can't say much.
my most expensive cable is my HE400i (2020) headphone cable which i bought mostly because i need the balanced out to drive the planar driver. Its an custom audioquest cable for $60 or so but since it changes from 3.5mm single ended to 2.5mm balanced out, it does have difference but its mostly from the source and power difference.

 

[CasualListener99]

Cables can make differences but very subtle compared to source, tranduscer itself, or even eartips.

Copper cables tend to have warm, smooth, weight characteristics where pure silver are more cold, edgy, analytical.
Changing from pure copper to pure silver is the most audible
But copper with little bit silver or silver plated, mixed copper silver sometimes really hard to tell.
Some pricey cable becaue of the good material also great but they aren't more than 5-10% differences. Even some cables are really really overpriced.
I suggest to save money to fund great source chain. Cables are the last improvement if you already have everything.

Thanks

 

[Carpet]

I'm using the non-tunable version. I listen to almost everything...

Simgot EW200 is getting a lot of praise. Tripowin Piccolo and Chu2 would be options. I like the Juzear Clear. Not much back on Hizdizs MS-1 Galaxy yet.

 

[4ceratops]

Paul Wasabii on Castor Bass. Nice listening, he was obviously satisfied...

 

[DaveLT]

castor is not harsh,
but yeah it kinda edges on being shouty at higher volume,

and great review,
i was wondering why the bass while textured, have a bit rumble, a bit thumpy, its doesn't quite go "clear deep" that my old TFZ KingPro did, either driver limitation possibly the localized smear that cause it.



Older budget series have cable so crappy it actually easy to tell the difference between the bad default and aftermarket.
the infamous kz brown is one of them. but budget default cable is getting better nowadays, well at least in the $30~50 segment.
KZ have rather decent default with their PR1 Pro but unfortunately didn't carried through their later model.

personally i bought a budget but decent cable, things like faaeal hibiscus which are only $15 or so but its should able to change from "bad" to "standard" so to speak.
or you want to hunt a good modular cable to adapt to your source.

I haven't dip myself to $100+ cable so i can't say much.
my most expensive cable is my HE400i (2020) headphone cable which i bought mostly because i need the balanced out to drive the planar driver. Its an custom audioquest cable for $60 or so but since it changes from 3.5mm single ended to 2.5mm balanced out, it does have difference but its mostly from the source and power difference.

I use a QKZ Q1 Max for all my IEMs. Yes there's a difference but it also highly depends on source (high vs low impedance) I've heard silver and copper, those are impossible to tell the difference if the gauge is similar.

I made a balanced cable for my Hifiman Deva Pro using the same silver wire that comes with the aftermarket cables anyway

 

[Nimweth]

Can somebody create a product page for the KZ Castor? I am almost ready to post my review of the Harman version. Thanks.

 

[acr01]

Cross post from discovery thread, for KZ users here :

THE KZ CASTOR
So my Castor is arrived, I bought the Bass version as they have more unique tuning for me to mod them.
I bought the Castor with my own money, $13 shipped, an IEM that anyone can buy if they are willing to. I have no affiliate with KZ nor any connection with them
and this isn't a review post, more just honest impressions from someone that already happy with his endgame things. Just because the budget segment is very interesting to me, and to fulfill my Mod hobby as how far the budgets can be better.

The usual KZ small box and accessories, just like any other KZ standars, so I didn't take photo of them as I assume all of you ever unboxing a KZ, at least once.
I just took off the L and R driver and store the box, but the unit shell are stunning, made the lazy me grabbed my camera and did little simple set up and took few photos of the Castor. The shell design and the color is elegantly beautiful, they are quite a looker, and don't look like cheapo tranduscers at all. I do think this is the best KZ design I ever had.




So my impressions out of the box, they have great timbre, sounded natural, though intense on upper mids and lower trebles, I'm using 1110 setting as reference with Faeall balanced cable, with Fiio BTR7 as the source:
(I won't use M17 as this is a budget set) and the Pentaconn Coureir Brass on the tip. I will talk about switches later, but I like the 1110 more than others (best balance to me)

Bass : sub bass can't go real deep even though they have 2 DDs with 10mm on the lower frequencies, I can hear the limitation but very capable and passable for something below $50.
Mid bass quite punchy but bleed at the same time with smear (I guess from bad airflow of the filters, as usual). The drivers are quite tactile, they are on fast type so upper bass and texture is quite good
even they are bleeding. They aren't bass head level, above neutral but don't think like Legato. Impact is good enough, better impact than Krila.

Mids : with 1110 tuning, mids are clear, decent details, intense on high mids and lower trebles that made them little bit shouty and little bit towards thinner side, but not as thin as KZ PR2 or Krila because of
big bass counter balance. What impressed me is the timbre, they sounded natural much more than Krila and PR2. Hand claps and finger snapping didn't sounded artificial.

Trebles : lower trebles are too much even for me (who listening to Mest and Z1R that have intense trebles), but I have to give score on the natural timbre presentation. They didn't sounded sibilant of high trebles,
not tizzy, just intense and shouty lower trebles on high volume. The extension on past 10khz are great, airy with great technicalities and still sounded natural.

Technicalities : like recent KZ, they have great technicalities, and I was surprised of how good the details and imaging coming from the DD. Krila and PR2 (of course) have better details and resolution, but this Castor have best balance between technicalities and naturalness, they never sounded over sharp. Soundstage is on medium size, little bit smaller than Krila and PR2. Overall technicalities isnt star of the show but very good score as budget IEMs here.

Overall on standard (non modded) maybe I like Castor than Krila and PR2 because Krila bass is more linear, and I feel castor have better tuning on the bass, and the timbre, where Castor is better than the two.
Details are best on PR2 but mids sounded thin, the Castor is ready out of the box. I mod my Krila and PR2 though, and mod my Castor also to have better sounding. Will talk about this later on post Mod section.

Another photo of beautiful Castor with another recent KZs PR2 and Krila :


Let's talk about 2023 trend now : IEM Switches, not Nintendo Switch 2.
KZ bringing back their 4 Switches, non gimmicky switches that alter the sound tuning? kinda agree, BUT actually they don't have 16 permutations. I observed the switch tuning and measured them and have my conclusion here:


The crossover between 1st DD and 2nd DD is roughly at 300hz, so I neutralize the graph on this frequency, easier to look at.

the number 1 and 2 are BASS tuning (or affecting the Bass DD only, the 10mm driver)
1 for adding sub bass level, and 2 for adding high sub bass level. When you turn on the no 2 switch, which is high sub bass level it will ignore the switch no 1, so ON the 1 or off the 2 will
results the same : High sub bass gain. Turn on the switch 1 and 2 together will result same as turning switch 2 only, they dont sum the bass quantity.
See the graph here :


1 = Sub bass gain
2 = sub bass High gain

00 = bass switch off
10 = adding sub bass level
12 = 02 = adding High sub bass level, see the graph show no differences at all between 0100 and 1100


the Next Switches are number 3 and 4, they are MIDS & TREBLES tuning (or affecting the 2nd DD, the 8mm driver, 300hz above)
3 for adding Mids (after 300hz) and trebles at the same time (can't boost mids only or trebles only)
4 for adding High level boost of Mids and Trebles
again, they behave like the first 2 switches so if switch 4 is on (Mids and trebles High boost) the switch 3 is ignored, wheter you on or off, doesn't make any differences.
See the graph here :

3 = Mids & Trebles gain
4 = Mids & Trebles High gain

0000 = all switch off
0030 = adding mids and treble level
0004 = 0034 = adding mids and treble High level, see the graph show no differences at all between 0001 and 0011 (exactly overlapped but actually purple line is there)

Playing around with Switches, I feel that the 1110 setting (1 on, 2 on, 3 on, 4 off) is more suitable to me, because 1 and 2 are on, they have more sub bass, so not only mid and upper bass focused and on the 3 switch will perceived as more balanced tuning, the bass will perceived as reduced (but actually they are having more mids and trebles) with note the crossover are wont be affected so they are like stay on the same level (around 300hz)
See the graph here :


neutralized:


MODS

So here I'm buying the Castor for mods purpose, as I did with Krila, Hola, Pr2 and other budget sets, like I did with Blon BL-03 in the past.
I skipped all the trial and error here :



Basically I want to tame down the high mids and lower trebles, with good airflow for the bass, and still having great technicalities. I tried so many methods and after some experiences,
I found this mod is the best working method with the sounds : double the Mesh500 / Tanchjim filter with tiny needle hole in the center. Adding foam or not depends on how intense the trebles and high trebles.
For Castor, I didn't put foam (I tried with foam, but I didn't like as the foam tamed the upper trebles too much for my liking and Castor already have great timbre and non edgy, therefor absorbing edgy notes with foam aren't necessary)


Step by Step tutorial (ignore the foam photos, I took off the foam in the end):

1. uplift the original filter on the nozzle with small needle or safety pin
2. double (stack) your Mesh500 / Tanchjim Filter
3. put the stacked Mesh500 on some papers (don't pull them from the plastic base) and pinch tiny hole on center with small needle / safety pin (Very important for bass airflow)
4. put on the stacked Mesh500 with hole onto the nozzle gently (the biggest 5mm mesh500 actually is slightly smaller than Castor original filter 5.5mm) but they can be sit on the lid without problem, just patiently put them on the center.
5. do the same on other unit.


And here the result with the same 1110 setting, but I switch to 111


Grey is the default Castor with 1110 tuning
Purple is modded 1110 tuning
Orange is modded 1111 tuning, neutralize to same level with 1110 tuning for easier comparison of bass response perceiving.

More balance tuning, smooth mids, better bass because of better airflow, minimum bass bleed. Definitely better to me. I wish I could lower the pinna gain area but triple stacking Mesh500 made them overdampened even with hole, and killing the trebles too much.
Currently, this is the best mod I can think of unless you want to go deeper Mod with resistors and resolder that required some serious skills which I don't have.
I like Castor after mods, and I do feel they aren't just another beater set. The bass shelf is different, not so linear, while punchy. The timbre is so good, with decent technicalities too. I like them better than Krila (compared modded to modded sets). The PR2 though after modded still have advantage of planar driver, the details, resolution and speed, but PR2 required some serious power to wake them up.

Sorry for looooong post, thanks for reading

Cheers,


DynamicE beautiful shots these are.

What beautiful shots these are! The 100mm f2.8 always has that wow effect for me.

 

[ldo77]

Does someone know how to completely turn off the AZ15 or AZ10 ?

 

[saldsald]

Testing some modding possibilities. This is the ZVX with a modded DD and an additional 30095.