KZ ZS10 PRO REVIEW

KZ a.k.a Knowledge Zenith opened the new age of the ChiFi in 2008. KZ has one of the best value performance ratios and really pushed the boundaries with its ten drivers In-Ear Monitoring under $100.

Over the year, there are countless different models and you’ll get confused easily because of this. AS, BT series for the balanced armature. BT, ZS for dynamic/hybrid drivers.

What we’ve here for review is one of the top line KZ series, the KZ ZS10 PRO.

UNBOXING KZ ZS10 PRO

Very simple packaging, a little bit too simple I would think for the “Pro” series. I even though I received the wrong the product when the KZ ZS10 Pro arrived at my doorsteps.

Slide the box and you can see that the KZ ZS10 Pro displayed under the transparent plastic.

Below it, you could see the cables, guide and ear tips. The packaging is really simple and without any additional accessories such as case nor pouch.

I don’t mind to have a very simple packaging like this in exchange for a cheaper price.

WHAT’S INCLUDED?

• Two IEM with 4 Balanced Armature + 1 Dynamic Drivers on each side.
• 3.5 mm two pin cable.
• 3 pairs of silicone tips (L, M, and S)
• User guide
• Warranty card

KZ ZS10 PRO ACCESSORIES

Other than the tips attached originally to the IEM, KZ ZS10 Pro comes with the black star tips in three sizes, there’s nothing special about the quality.

Even though it’s pretty standard but the ear tips are a good match and provide a good seal to my ear. This is quite surprising for me as normally I don’t receive a good seal from the included ear tips from the ChiFi.

The cable is soft and flexible in a golden brown color. this cable doesn’t come with any mic. because of the flexibility, the cable is hard to keep it untangled.

L-shaped 3.5mm Gold-plated headphone jack. The plastic quality is a little bit below my expectation but with the L-shaped jack, by design, it has better durability.

The Y split is unmovable, there’s no extra ring to adjust it. made from the same plastic material as the headphone jack, I still think that the plastic quality is not that great.

The 0.75mm 2 Pins connection on the cable is special, it has a raised jack, it?s very secured and improvement from the standard 2 pins connector. KZ ZSN, ZSN Pro, CCA and Tripowin has the same connector.

This is a sad news if you buy the newer generation upgrade cable, you’ll not be able to use it for different brand IEM.

KZ ZS10 PRO Review Build and Design

KZ ZS10 Pro casing has a combination between a transparent blue acrylic with a shinning metal faceplate giving a futuristic vibe. Another available color is black and purple.

From the transparent blue acrylic, you can see the cables, dynamic and armature driver are placed nicely. There’s a little bit of trace of transparent glue here and there but overall you’ll see that it has a solid and good construction.

On the faceplate, you can see the vent for the air pressure. the faceplate is not my cup of tea, it’s easily scratched and I prefer a more subtle design.

I do understand that KZ wants to show the engineering part (drivers) to the audience but in my opinion, if they can make something like the Noble Audio casing that could raise the bar even higher.

The aesthetic is better than the rest of the series (compared to KZ AS12 as an example) while KZ ZST would be more universally accepted for the simple design. the weak spot for ChiFi is that they like to put their model, brand name, etc on the faceplate. they should really think about removing it or replacing that with a really good branding logo.

KZ ZS10 Pro has an ergonomic design and is comfortable to wear. It’s naturally fit into the ear, one thing to take note is that. KZ ZS10 Pro is one of the most comfortable IEM that I tried for a budget CIEM.

Sound isolation is good as well, I think something good about KZ is that they keep improving their IEM, even though sometimes I think they are releasing way too much and too soon.

The 2 pin connector has a preparatory design. Good news, it’s working better than the normal 2 pins connector and you still can use your other 2 pins cable (even though it will look a little bit weird). Not so lucky with the cable though, your investment will only work for KZ’s family.

KZ ZS10 PRO SOUND IMPRESSION

Lows

The bass is alive and sound natural, that’s my first impression hearing from Fantasy – XX. It has a nice decay, the amount of decay just nice it’s not too fast or slow. the attack is pretty fast without any hesitation, it sounds a little bit aggressive here but still acceptable.

The bass has a good feeling in the sub-bass region. I can feel the bass rumbling. While hearing wide awake – Katty Perry, I felt that somehow that the bass is not really accurate when the song has multiple layers of bass, that specific bass layer becomes a little muddy

The feeling is like when you put a peanut butter on the bread followed by chocolate on top (the peanut butter will not mix that well with the chocolate).

Mids

Because of the bass is a little bit powerful and bleed into the mids, the response in the mid is a little bit “quieter” compared to the bass, it’s recessed on the bottom mid-spectrum. Don’t be mistaken, the mid still surviving well

Voices sounded a little bit too sharp for me in Say Something – A Great Big World, Christina Aguierella.

When I’m hearing duet, sometimes I feel that the male and female voices don’t gel too well like in Marvin Gaye – Charlie Puth, Meghan Trainor.

Highs

The treble has a little bit too much sparkle. I feel that KZ wanted to maximize all the sound spectrum which will fire back at some point of time.

Sibilance is there but still controlled. Sharpness doesn’t bother me that much and at the end of the day it feels more relax comparing to much more aggressive IEM such as Tripowin.

The highs do compliment the powerful bass making the sound signature if pretty fun actually if you don’t try to pick every single fault on it.

Spatial

The sound stage is standard with the same length in the wide and height.

Placement is standard and performing as it should but it’s not giving any wow factor. Separation is above average and sometimes feels like they are too individual.

KZ ZS10 PRO REVIEW SUMMARY

Overall impression on Knowledge Zenith ZS10 Pro, I know I sounded a pretty negative but surprisingly KZ ZS10 Pro is a really fun IEM, I do still find it tiring to hear after a certain period of time but definitely much better than Tripowin.

If you don’t mind how it looks, I’m pretty sure you’ll be happy with KZ ZS10 Pro. It’s easy to drive this earphone even with a handphone.

KZ ZS10 Pro exceeds my expectation and performing really well for a wide range of music. the performance exceeds the asking price of KZ ZS10 Pro which is at USD 48.99.

I have a high hope that at the end of the year this would be the best IEM in its price range.

You can purchase Knowledge Zenith KZ ZS10 PRO at Linsoul USD 45 or Amazon USD 48.99 and right now they are having KZ ZS10 Pro discount promotion with a $5 discount coupon for KZ ZS10 Pro and that will slash down the KZ ZS 10 Pro price to USD 43.99.