The discovery thread!
Apr 27, 2023 at 4:22 AM Post #77,536 of 101,043
In my experience, the graph-is-god kind of people do not seek better sound quality. They just want to feel superior, without due diligence. For someone who claim to be “scientific” their behaviour is more cultish and blind-faith than scientific, because otherwise, they would be curious.

I’m not on side of folks who disrespect anything less than $6600 Traillii + $$$$$ PWA cable + $$$$$ DAP. There is ultra good, no compromise sound, and then there is adequate sound. People get what they can, so let them be happy with that rather trashing their setup. Ironically, I see the graph-is-god camp trashing the other camp more than vice versa.
Allow me to weigh in on this.

Graphs are valuable tools. However I purchase audio gear to listen to, and for that I use my ears. If my ears say one thing and graphs another, the graphs get ignored. Which is seldom the case, since more commonly graphs paint a picture my ears deliver a more refined and nuanced rendering of.

It'd be intriguing to live in a world where graphs told us everything we need to know - then we wouldn't have to demo anything before buying, and Canjam wouldn't exist. Things aren't so simple. You've correctly pointed out many aspects of sound are not visible in graphs - soundstage dimensions, note weight, dynamics & resolution. These are some of the most desirable audio traits, and are coincidentally what separates budget IEMs from their more costly brethren.

Yes, there is reason for spending more. Which is not to say bang for buck doesn't fall off a cliff above ever-more-modest pricepoints, particularly with cables, but there is always a higher level of performance to be reached in this hobby - which helps keep it fun, or infuriating depending on your perspective.

I respect those mature enough to keep an open mind and wise enough to grasp the limitations of man's understanding of himself. I suspect fabled audiophile 'golden ears' do not exist, rather individuals process the data fed to their conscious minds by their senses differently. Which is why for instance those with severe cases of autism are incapable of functioning - their brains lack the ability to filter out sensory data, bombarding them with unendurable amounts of stimuli every waking moment.

Our unconscious minds discard most of the nuances of what we hear automatically, purely as a survival mechanism - after all much of our DNA still thinks we're living in caves dodging Sabretooth Tigers. Is it possible to train the mind over the course of years to pay more conscious attention to what others reject? Of course it is. The eyes of detectives improve in spotting clues with training, and cooks probably sniff fresh ingredients better with experience. Their nostrils aren't growing any larger, they're simply processing the information fed by their senses differently.

The point I'm labouring to make we've barely scratched the surface of our understanding of the human mind, and how it interacts with sound. I've no doubt certain frequencies inherently affect our emotions in different ways, and composers & musicians probably know all sorts of tricks to exploit this. We've not yet reached a point where science can explain everything... and what sort of a dull, colourless existence would this be if it could?
 
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Apr 27, 2023 at 4:44 AM Post #77,537 of 101,043
I have the Z300 x HBB on the way, sell me on the KZ x HBB PR2 and what would I "NEED" to drive it?
haven't tried PR2, mine will arrive at... *check est arrival dates* 1 June. yeah.

but it is based on KZ PR1 Pro





it was then retuned by HBB with new dampers apparently,

343446843_822760192893329_1470432850324473620_n.png


The og pr1 pro is pretty well recieved tough its abit harsh sounding for me (moving from OG Aria).
marketing blurp intentionally stated the word "Smooth and natural sound" which might be one of the goal of the retune.
Some noted that this could be HBB attempt to create budget Heyday

12050600.png


other than that, couldn't say much until early impression pops out. usually IanFann got his unit early then PaulWasabi and Vortex, later on Akros and others.
its a $46 ($32 on other store discount) for a true planar iems not the SPD or RPD or whatever they try to call the coil based pseudo planars.

---
also to note, hows KZ doing recently? well, this could be good indicator


 
Apr 27, 2023 at 5:08 AM Post #77,539 of 101,043
thanks!

Actually I found $29 deal for PR2.. so I cancelled $45 order from KZ Official.

It’s from KZ GLOBAL store, the same old one I’ve been using.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mP50dBI

$15 off from $44 to $29 😍
N7YIXGCCGG5S

Mine worked and another one on twitter confirmed it worked for him too.

Working for me. Thanks for the link. Now i need to decide very fast if i actually need them.....ummm ahhhhhh..errrr... hhhhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnngggg...
 
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Apr 27, 2023 at 5:29 AM Post #77,541 of 101,043
thanks!

Actually I found $29 deal for PR2.. so I cancelled $45 order from KZ Official.

It’s from KZ GLOBAL store, the same old one I’ve been using.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mP50dBI

$15 off from $44 to $29 😍
N7YIXGCCGG5S

Mine worked and another one on twitter confirmed it worked for him too.
Eugh, why not. Grabbed a pair :D
 
Apr 27, 2023 at 5:52 AM Post #77,543 of 101,043
thanks!

Actually I found $29 deal for PR2.. so I cancelled $45 order from KZ Official.

It’s from KZ GLOBAL store, the same old one I’ve been using.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mP50dBI

$15 off from $44 to $29 😍
N7YIXGCCGG5S

Mine worked and another one on twitter confirmed it worked for him too.

I've purchased a few things from this store before and had no problems. They were also offering free shipping which the official store wasn't. When I cut and pasted code it wouldn't accept. Retrying and entering it manually it worked.

What's next, pairs of planar IEMs coming free in boxes of cornflakes?:L3000:
 
Apr 27, 2023 at 6:19 AM Post #77,544 of 101,043
thanks!

Actually I found $29 deal for PR2.. so I cancelled $45 order from KZ Official.

It’s from KZ GLOBAL store, the same old one I’ve been using.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mP50dBI

$15 off from $44 to $29 😍
N7YIXGCCGG5S

Mine worked and another one on twitter confirmed it worked for him too.

Well i did it. You're a terrible enabling influence American. But appreciated.

Now that i'm Timeless-less it will be nice to have a well tuned $30 set that can compete with $1k+ sets technicalities. What a wild time to be in this hobby.

I'm curious, where did you find the code?
 
Apr 27, 2023 at 6:24 AM Post #77,545 of 101,043
Apr 27, 2023 at 6:35 AM Post #77,547 of 101,043
Apr 27, 2023 at 6:36 AM Post #77,548 of 101,043
I've purchased a few things from this store before and had no problems. They were also offering free shipping which the official store wasn't. When I cut and pasted code it wouldn't accept. Retrying and entering it manually it worked.

What's next, pairs of planar IEMs coming free in boxes of cornflakes?:L3000:
Kinda interesting considering many other brands (Kinera, TRN, KBear, SeeAudio) are spending quite the effort trying to have cheaper pseudo planar alternative and have to engineer a way to deal with its drawback while maintaining good price...

and here we have KZ who simply goes, "here's a $39 true planar".
 
Apr 27, 2023 at 6:42 AM Post #77,549 of 101,043
Kinda interesting considering many other brands (Kinera, TRN, KBear, SeeAudio) are spending quite the effort trying to have cheaper pseudo planar alternative and have to engineer a way to deal with its drawback while maintaining good price...

and here we have KZ who goes, "here's a $39 true planar".

IMHO, KZ were a bit late to the planar game, which has kinda sailed off in 2023. The hype for this year mainly seems to be concentrated on dual DDs and IEMs with tuning switches.

The planar frenzy of 2022 kicked off with the 7Hz Timeless, as consumers discovered planars brought great resolution and lightning fast transients to the budget CHIFI table. Ironically a few years back TinHIFI launched the P1 planar but the high amplification requirements and anemic bass made it kind of a niche proposition. Anyway, competitors saw the Timeless was a huge success, and tried to muscle in with their own planar IEMs. Even Moondrop and DUNU launched brand new planars in a hope of capturing the market pie.

KZ entered a bit later with planars, they also had some shenanigans in launching a Pro version of a planar 2 weeks after the original was launched, but that is par for the course for a KZ.
 
Apr 27, 2023 at 6:43 AM Post #77,550 of 101,043
thanks!

Actually I found $29 deal for PR2.. so I cancelled $45 order from KZ Official.

It’s from KZ GLOBAL store, the same old one I’ve been using.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mP50dBI

$15 off from $44 to $29 😍
N7YIXGCCGG5S

Mine worked and another one on twitter confirmed it worked for him too.
It worked. OMG, 13.2mm planar IEM for 30 dollars......

Hope the sound is good.
 

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