- Jan 2, 2006
- 10,455
- 35
- 91
Holy crap.
So I was looking for a cheap backup pair of IEMs. I usually listen to Westone W60s on a DragonFly Red DAC. The W60 has six balanced armature drivers in each monitor and the sound is superb.
During my research for a backup I stumbled upon the KZ ZS10. Each monitor has four balanced armatures and a single dynamic driver for the bass. And it costs less than $50.
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/kz-zs10.23034/reviews
For less than $50 I figured why not? There is literally no other IEM that comes close to the number of drivers in each monitor for this price.
I just got them and I'm incredibly, incredibly impressed. Coming from a $1,000 Westone W60, I'd be happy using the $50 ZS10s as my daily drivers. I've listened to an awful lot of different IEMs (like over 30) and these ZS10s stand out. I'm having a ton of fun listening to EDM with these.
- There is a lot of detail and separation in the midrange and the soundstage is pretty wide for an IEM. There is very little shrouding going on.
- Cheaper IEMs usually turn into complete mud or crunch in the low range, but these still have good detail in the lows that don't muddy up the mids.
- Cheaper IEMs also tend to overcompensate on the highs by being too sparkly. The sparkle gives the illusion of clarity, but it only ends up hurting and fatiguing your eyes with extended listening. There IS sparkle on these, but it's not too bad. I use an equalizer to bump down the 4k and 6k frequencies just a tad and they become excellent and you can listen to them for ages.
- With 4k and 6k bumped down, vocals sound excellent.
- The lows get more boomy than my W60s. The large dynamic driver has less detail for sure and there's not much punchy, tight, accurate bass, but they give these a nice warm, full sound.
- They're big and the ear ports are pretty wide, so they might not be comfortable for people with smaller ear canals.
- Huge bonus points for using detachable wires with I think a standard two-pin connector. No more tossing out a perfectly good pair of monitors just because the wire's gone bad.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say these are the best IEMs you can get for $50, period. Full stop. I've listened to quite a few $300 IEMs in the past and think the ZS10s are better.
There's a thread on HeadFi about DIY IEMs. You can buy Knowles balanced armature drivers yourself and with a lot of difficulty make your own six-driver IEMs for hundreds of dollars cheaper than if you bought Westone or UE for example. So I don't believe that good, detailed, fun sound is so elusive that you can't get it for a couple hundred bucks or less.
So I was looking for a cheap backup pair of IEMs. I usually listen to Westone W60s on a DragonFly Red DAC. The W60 has six balanced armature drivers in each monitor and the sound is superb.
During my research for a backup I stumbled upon the KZ ZS10. Each monitor has four balanced armatures and a single dynamic driver for the bass. And it costs less than $50.
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/kz-zs10.23034/reviews
For less than $50 I figured why not? There is literally no other IEM that comes close to the number of drivers in each monitor for this price.
I just got them and I'm incredibly, incredibly impressed. Coming from a $1,000 Westone W60, I'd be happy using the $50 ZS10s as my daily drivers. I've listened to an awful lot of different IEMs (like over 30) and these ZS10s stand out. I'm having a ton of fun listening to EDM with these.
- There is a lot of detail and separation in the midrange and the soundstage is pretty wide for an IEM. There is very little shrouding going on.
- Cheaper IEMs usually turn into complete mud or crunch in the low range, but these still have good detail in the lows that don't muddy up the mids.
- Cheaper IEMs also tend to overcompensate on the highs by being too sparkly. The sparkle gives the illusion of clarity, but it only ends up hurting and fatiguing your eyes with extended listening. There IS sparkle on these, but it's not too bad. I use an equalizer to bump down the 4k and 6k frequencies just a tad and they become excellent and you can listen to them for ages.
- With 4k and 6k bumped down, vocals sound excellent.
- The lows get more boomy than my W60s. The large dynamic driver has less detail for sure and there's not much punchy, tight, accurate bass, but they give these a nice warm, full sound.
- They're big and the ear ports are pretty wide, so they might not be comfortable for people with smaller ear canals.
- Huge bonus points for using detachable wires with I think a standard two-pin connector. No more tossing out a perfectly good pair of monitors just because the wire's gone bad.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say these are the best IEMs you can get for $50, period. Full stop. I've listened to quite a few $300 IEMs in the past and think the ZS10s are better.
There's a thread on HeadFi about DIY IEMs. You can buy Knowles balanced armature drivers yourself and with a lot of difficulty make your own six-driver IEMs for hundreds of dollars cheaper than if you bought Westone or UE for example. So I don't believe that good, detailed, fun sound is so elusive that you can't get it for a couple hundred bucks or less.
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