Thanks for the great review. Yes, this one with the changes will appeal more to some, less to others. Just need to pay attention to the areas we have pointed out and consider it against your library. Thank you
Thanks! Hmm, if without EQ, probably will prefer DB1 over these, but my personal favourite amongst the ones I've tried is probably still the Tanchjim Tanya. With enough EQ though, the CCA CRA might be one of the top options for me under 35 I think. Technical performance is slightly better I think.
Should I get the Kato...? I almost checked it out but then it hit me... "There are so many cheaper alternative out there that is decent enough to be enjoyable"
As someone who got the Kato after saving up for a while I can safely say - if it's pushing your budget, only get them when you're 100% sure that you'll like the tuning. I upgraded from the tin t2 plus ($50), and while the Kato is a notable step up in detail retrieval and clarity, the tuning is just not my cup of tea. I kinda feel bad for missing out on so many great sub-$20 deals like the CRA or the DB1, but it's really hard to justify buying a bunch of cheap IEMs now that I've spent so much on the Kato.
@@KH-qk3kv It's kinda nice that at least there are decent cheap options these days to experiment around with to try and figure out personal preferences too. I think the plus side for those slightly more expensive IEMs are that it might be easier to sell them off in the used market? will have to take a loss though. for me no matter how good the technical performance is, if the tuning is too far away from my preference I probably still won't enjoy it. 😅
Which one do you think gives the most accurate footsteps of the enemy in the game, please help KZ ZES///KZ DQ6S///CCA CRA///KBEAR LARK///KBEAR KS2///KZ EDX PRO///KZ ZEX PRO///KZ ZSN PRO X
hmm, unfortunately i don't play that much games, but i think anything with enough mids and treble and less bass will probably help make footsteps sound clear. in this case, i think ZSN Pro or ZSN Pro X would probably be okay. Lark would probably be even better since it has less bass on paper, but it's also more expensive though, and i don't think in the end it will make much of a difference since they are all in ear monitors after all.
😅I haven't been keeping a close track of audio stuff actually so haven't tried a lot of the newer stuff. A while back i just got a bit fatigued with testing IEMs/earbuds. It was wearing my ears out literally with all the A/B testing, comparisons, and what not. ended up decided it wasn't really something I enjoyed doing anymore. I've just been using stuff i enjoy instead of constantly trying new stuff (with tuning i might not even enjoy), and it's making me enjoy my music a lot more these days. So apologies, for now still no plans to start testing audio stuff. 😅
Hi, is this more treble intense compared to the original ZEX? I like the ZEX sound signature and I don't like the CRN sound signature - is it more close to a CRN sound or a ZEX?
in terms of upper mids and treble, probably more like the ZEX, and more treble to me at least. but bass wise, all 3 are quite different. you can check out Paul's measurements here. pw.squig.link/?share=KZ_ZEX_Stock,KZ_ZEX_Pro,KZ_DQ6S
the KZ CRN is probably closest to my preference. but with EQ, i think the CCA CRA might be technically better though. if i'm using it with my phone with poweramp, most of the time i'm using the CRA
@@rollingchopsticksunfortunately not, but i have tried the CCA CA16 Pro which seems to be pretty similarly tuned and similar driver setup from graphs I've seen. don't really like the tuning which is too bassy for me., still prefer the CRN and CRA over them.😂 pw.squig.link/?share=KZ_ZAS,CCA_CA16_Pro
Hi sir what about compared to zsn pro x with 200core+ gold copper cable swap+wide bore tips im able to tamed the harness and piercing sound. It's super awsome. What's ur thought is it worth to buy another cra ad dg6s over my tamed+wide stage and sound separate is much more prominent now than the bs all stock zsn pro x. I writes too long I think lol.
hmm. i think the CRA with EQ or mods to tame the treble would probably be my personal choice between the two. It's the cheaper option, and I think has slightly better technical performance? 😅
@@axhng I also think same. Because the single fast dd and new tech in cra will be better than those old zsn x with cable mods+wide bored tip+150hr burn in will help beat my belove zsn x, I'd have no ideas zsn can sound so clean+less harness and piercing when doing those thing i use budget Realtek 5686 dac =awsome. Hope cra will get better than zsn x. Thanks for responding im subbed to u sir
@@hanquah yeah. the new driver is really quite good for the price. I don't have the zsn pro x, but have tried the zsn pro and zst x, and it's a nice step up for sure, especially in terms of timbre.
@@axhng going to buy it after cny. What to loose anyways its cheaper than zsn im my area. Another quick question t3+ vs cra which one have the best quality in overall department. Just your opinion. I'm in the fence wether go budget or go t3+ and not looking back anymore, need some enjoyment for clean+balance+clarity in separation sounding+timbre also abit of low end controled bass. That's all I hoping for amd zs10 pro is my last low cost iem I think. Sorry drag u into my mess. Iem is like a lucky candy sometime 🤦♂️
@@hanquah no worries at all. Good idea probably since no one is really shipping anything during this period. I've not heard the T3+ actually but from reviews I've seen it doesn't seem to be the most technically capable around? It seems to be more of a smooth and balanced all rounder type of tuning? so might not have as much perceived clarity as the CRA's brighter tuning with more treble. So far Tin Hifi have had more misses for me than hits, so I'm kinda not the biggest fan. 😅 But yeah, sometimes it's so hard to say since there are expensive IEMs that aren't that good, and there are cheap IEMs that punches above their price. sometimes need a bit of luck to see if the tuning suits your taste or not too. at least with cheaper IEMs it's not that big of a loss. Some extra reading materials/info: www.head-fi.org/showcase/tin-hifi-t3-plus.25560/reviews#review-27534 Ranking list by RikudouGoku docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YNuslYM4CrhMPrOLofzTm4ei7HEfP8AI1zxswrMw2ho/edit#gid=930033404
personally, without EQ i'll prefer the KZ CRN's tuning since i listen to a lot of female vocals. but ultimately will depend on personal preference. This is probably more suitable for male vocals.
@@arivintejalakam for its price, pretty good i think. i like it more than the hyped cx31993 actually. though i would still prefer the apple usb-c dongle more, just that it doesn't work well with android phones and work better with computers.
@@arivintejalakam yeah. the only way is to use UAPP which would help with the volume, but that's not exactly a cheap app, and the UI isn't as good. I think most things with CS43131 should be somewhat decent actually.
the one i'm using in the video is that JCALLY JM04 Pro with realtek alc5686 DAC. Probably not the best sounding around, but for the price, i have zero complaints. :)
for me i'm using poweramp on my phone, so I'm using that to EQ. mainly to lower the bass a bit, boost the 3khz a bit, and tame the 5 and 8khz region a bit. though that's just my preference. There are other music players that can do EQ too, but it depends on the music player itself though. Like on my mac i'm using iTunes, and it doesn't have good EQ options, so i don't use them with my computer at all.
I guess would depends on your preference. The bass quality on this seems better, but I'm not a fan of the 8k peak that I hear. So I personally would prefer BL03.
Thanks for the speedy review! I ordered my pair the day they came available but they still have yet to ship. I'm disappointed to learn about the sharp 8K peak. Are there any other warm sub-$80 IEMs that you would recommend over these? I'm looking for laid-back treble and hefty bass.
thanks! not sure if everyone would perceive that 8k peak though. like Paul Wasabii's graph matches what i hear with my ears more, but HBB's own graphs shows the peak at 9k and at a much lower level, which might be where he's hearing it. since i usually am not too into bass heavy sets, I don't have a ton that comes to mind actually. first one that comes to mind for "laid-back treble and hefty bass" is actually the Sony MH750. 😂 though not sure if how easy that is to find. There are sellers on shopee, aliexpress, though not sure which seller would be more trustable. Another option is to look for used phone market for older sony phones and ask if the sellers are willing to sell them separately if they still have the unused earphones. sony bundled those with their flagship phones for many years until the Xperia 5 II i think. The cable kinda sucks though, but they're super cheap. Another that comes to mind would be the KBEAR Robin. I haven't tried them but the tripowin mele looks like it could be another option too just based on FR. the FR for that actually looks like it would be more to my liking over the DQ6S since it has more energy around 3k and less 8k You can add those models i mentioned using Paul's squiglink database to compare the FR. pw.squig.link
I think CRA is a bit better in terms of technical performance to me. But then tuning wise, it kinda depends. CRA is a bit more V-shaped sounding with more bass and treble. especially around 5k and 11k, which might make the 8k peak a bit less tolerable even though quantity wise, it's kinda similar to the DQ6S. without EQ, DQ6S will probably be my choice between the 2 since it's easier to listen to. Slightly fuller sounding mids too. Though the tuning on both are not my cup of tea. 😂
that is actually kinda hard for me to answer since i haven't tried that many around that price range. There are a lot of frequently mentioned option like HZSound Heart Mirror, Moondrop SSR, Tripowin Mele that i've not tried. But if I had to name some i've tried that I like straight out of the box without EQ, they'll probably the Tanchjim Tanya, NICEHCK DB1, and maybe the first ZEX Pro I own (I tried another later batch with crinacle logo and it had a bit more bass and 8k peak somehow). With a ton of EQ, the CCA CRA will probably be on that list too since the driver is really quite capable. Or if you're in the US, adorama once had some crazy sales for the Etymotic ER2 series for like 49USD. 😂 But other than these, the other IEMs i prefer exceeds the $50 price already. sorry can't be of more help here.
haven't heard the ZS10 Pro in a long time so can't really say for sure. though from what i can recall at least, it's a slightly more relaxed and more natural sounding due to the driver used.
![[UA] Eternal Fire проти NAVI | EPL Season 20 Malta](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/chvlsDygrZM/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for the great review. Yes, this one with the changes will appeal more to some, less to others. Just need to pay attention to the areas we have pointed out and consider it against your library. Thank you
Thanks! looking forward to your full review!
Thanks again for awasome crisp review 👍
which is your most favourite iem under 35$ ?
Nicehck DB1 is better than theses?
Thanks! Hmm, if without EQ, probably will prefer DB1 over these, but my personal favourite amongst the ones I've tried is probably still the Tanchjim Tanya. With enough EQ though, the CCA CRA might be one of the top options for me under 35 I think. Technical performance is slightly better I think.
Appreciate your response 👍 Astrotec Vesna and Vesna EVO bullet style iem with japan LCP drivers under 40$ are they good? Any ideas?
hi buddy. Any plans of reviewing Tanchjim Ola?
Should I get the Kato...?
I almost checked it out but then it hit me...
"There are so many cheaper alternative out there that is decent enough to be enjoyable"
haha. yeah. kinda the same with me too. unless i have the cash to spare of course lol.
As someone who got the Kato after saving up for a while I can safely say - if it's pushing your budget, only get them when you're 100% sure that you'll like the tuning. I upgraded from the tin t2 plus ($50), and while the Kato is a notable step up in detail retrieval and clarity, the tuning is just not my cup of tea. I kinda feel bad for missing out on so many great sub-$20 deals like the CRA or the DB1, but it's really hard to justify buying a bunch of cheap IEMs now that I've spent so much on the Kato.
Buy headphones better price to performance ratio.
@@KH-qk3kv It's kinda nice that at least there are decent cheap options these days to experiment around with to try and figure out personal preferences too.
I think the plus side for those slightly more expensive IEMs are that it might be easier to sell them off in the used market? will have to take a loss though. for me no matter how good the technical performance is, if the tuning is too far away from my preference I probably still won't enjoy it. 😅
If you want to go cheaper, the Moondrop Aria and the Tin T3+ are good choices.
Lol triple?
Only the one DD in the middle is working
Which one do you think gives the most accurate footsteps of the enemy in the game, please help KZ ZES///KZ DQ6S///CCA CRA///KBEAR LARK///KBEAR KS2///KZ EDX PRO///KZ ZEX PRO///KZ ZSN PRO X
hmm, unfortunately i don't play that much games, but i think anything with enough mids and treble and less bass will probably help make footsteps sound clear. in this case, i think ZSN Pro or ZSN Pro X would probably be okay. Lark would probably be even better since it has less bass on paper, but it's also more expensive though, and i don't think in the end it will make much of a difference since they are all in ear monitors after all.
hey alex what are your thoughts on the KZ DQS?
ps. i miss the iem vids
😅I haven't been keeping a close track of audio stuff actually so haven't tried a lot of the newer stuff. A while back i just got a bit fatigued with testing IEMs/earbuds. It was wearing my ears out literally with all the A/B testing, comparisons, and what not. ended up decided it wasn't really something I enjoyed doing anymore.
I've just been using stuff i enjoy instead of constantly trying new stuff (with tuning i might not even enjoy), and it's making me enjoy my music a lot more these days. So apologies, for now still no plans to start testing audio stuff. 😅
Hello. How does this compare to the ZS10 Pro X? Thanks
Great review 👍
Please review TRN MT1 PRO
Hi, is this more treble intense compared to the original ZEX? I like the ZEX sound signature and I don't like the CRN sound signature - is it more close to a CRN sound or a ZEX?
in terms of upper mids and treble, probably more like the ZEX, and more treble to me at least. but bass wise, all 3 are quite different.
you can check out Paul's measurements here.
pw.squig.link/?share=KZ_ZEX_Stock,KZ_ZEX_Pro,KZ_DQ6S
so which of 3 is your cup of tea
the KZ CRN is probably closest to my preference. but with EQ, i think the CCA CRA might be technically better though. if i'm using it with my phone with poweramp, most of the time i'm using the CRA
@@axhng have you ever used the KZ ZAS ??
@@rollingchopsticksunfortunately not, but i have tried the CCA CA16 Pro which seems to be pretty similarly tuned and similar driver setup from graphs I've seen. don't really like the tuning which is too bassy for me., still prefer the CRN and CRA over them.😂
pw.squig.link/?share=KZ_ZAS,CCA_CA16_Pro
Hi sir what about compared to zsn pro x with 200core+ gold copper cable swap+wide bore tips im able to tamed the harness and piercing sound. It's super awsome. What's ur thought is it worth to buy another cra ad dg6s over my tamed+wide stage and sound separate is much more prominent now than the bs all stock zsn pro x. I writes too long I think lol.
hmm. i think the CRA with EQ or mods to tame the treble would probably be my personal choice between the two. It's the cheaper option, and I think has slightly better technical performance? 😅
@@axhng I also think same. Because the single fast dd and new tech in cra will be better than those old zsn x with cable mods+wide bored tip+150hr burn in will help beat my belove zsn x, I'd have no ideas zsn can sound so clean+less harness and piercing when doing those thing i use budget Realtek 5686 dac =awsome. Hope cra will get better than zsn x. Thanks for responding im subbed to u sir
@@hanquah yeah. the new driver is really quite good for the price. I don't have the zsn pro x, but have tried the zsn pro and zst x, and it's a nice step up for sure, especially in terms of timbre.
@@axhng going to buy it after cny. What to loose anyways its cheaper than zsn im my area. Another quick question t3+ vs cra which one have the best quality in overall department. Just your opinion. I'm in the fence wether go budget or go t3+ and not looking back anymore, need some enjoyment for clean+balance+clarity in separation sounding+timbre also abit of low end controled bass. That's all I hoping for amd zs10 pro is my last low cost iem I think. Sorry drag u into my mess. Iem is like a lucky candy sometime 🤦♂️
@@hanquah no worries at all. Good idea probably since no one is really shipping anything during this period. I've not heard the T3+ actually but from reviews I've seen it doesn't seem to be the most technically capable around? It seems to be more of a smooth and balanced all rounder type of tuning? so might not have as much perceived clarity as the CRA's brighter tuning with more treble. So far Tin Hifi have had more misses for me than hits, so I'm kinda not the biggest fan. 😅 But yeah, sometimes it's so hard to say since there are expensive IEMs that aren't that good, and there are cheap IEMs that punches above their price. sometimes need a bit of luck to see if the tuning suits your taste or not too. at least with cheaper IEMs it's not that big of a loss.
Some extra reading materials/info:
www.head-fi.org/showcase/tin-hifi-t3-plus.25560/reviews#review-27534
Ranking list by RikudouGoku
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YNuslYM4CrhMPrOLofzTm4ei7HEfP8AI1zxswrMw2ho/edit#gid=930033404
If without eq,plug in and listen music ,this is nice ?
personally, without EQ i'll prefer the KZ CRN's tuning since i listen to a lot of female vocals. but ultimately will depend on personal preference. This is probably more suitable for male vocals.
Can I know the KZ CRN's full product name ?
@@kinhuiteoh3368 it's the KZ X Crinacle CRN, but also called ZEX Pro.
Okay thanks !
Which usb c dac is that?? Is that jcally jm 20??
hi there, it's the JCALLY JM04 Pro with realtek alc5686.
@@axhng ohh ok, whats your opinion about it, thanks for the replay btw
@@arivintejalakam for its price, pretty good i think. i like it more than the hyped cx31993 actually. though i would still prefer the apple usb-c dongle more, just that it doesn't work well with android phones and work better with computers.
@@axhng yah the volume of apple dongle is not good enough on android. I was eyeballing on that jm20 with cs43131
@@arivintejalakam yeah. the only way is to use UAPP which would help with the volume, but that's not exactly a cheap app, and the UI isn't as good. I think most things with CS43131 should be somewhat decent actually.
What's your connector cable type c?
the one i'm using in the video is that JCALLY JM04 Pro with realtek alc5686 DAC. Probably not the best sounding around, but for the price, i have zero complaints. :)
@@axhng suggest me some of the best budget friendly ones
can ewe get a link to your Spotify profile or some of your playlists?
sure thing, this is the playlist I used in this particular video. :)
open.spotify.com/playlist/47vnhy5UzP5ArcZE3av04r
@@axhng thank you! :D
Well, i guess sibilance will always be part of their tuning recipe 😅
😅 it could also be that i'm more sensitive to that region as well.
@@axhng might be the case but it's actually easy to tell if they are sibilant or not so to me that's a fair warning :-)
im tired of kz products thats always i dont like of there iems😑
How do I eq iem? I have the cra
for me i'm using poweramp on my phone, so I'm using that to EQ. mainly to lower the bass a bit, boost the 3khz a bit, and tame the 5 and 8khz region a bit. though that's just my preference. There are other music players that can do EQ too, but it depends on the music player itself though. Like on my mac i'm using iTunes, and it doesn't have good EQ options, so i don't use them with my computer at all.
Thank you so much
This or blon bl03?
I guess would depends on your preference. The bass quality on this seems better, but I'm not a fan of the 8k peak that I hear. So I personally would prefer BL03.
@@axhng ok great thank u
Does it has bass
yeah, it's a pretty bassy set to me.
Thanks for taking the time🎶🙏
Thanks for the speedy review! I ordered my pair the day they came available but they still have yet to ship. I'm disappointed to learn about the sharp 8K peak. Are there any other warm sub-$80 IEMs that you would recommend over these? I'm looking for laid-back treble and hefty bass.
thanks! not sure if everyone would perceive that 8k peak though. like Paul Wasabii's graph matches what i hear with my ears more, but HBB's own graphs shows the peak at 9k and at a much lower level, which might be where he's hearing it. since i usually am not too into bass heavy sets, I don't have a ton that comes to mind actually. first one that comes to mind for "laid-back treble and hefty bass" is actually the Sony MH750. 😂 though not sure if how easy that is to find. There are sellers on shopee, aliexpress, though not sure which seller would be more trustable. Another option is to look for used phone market for older sony phones and ask if the sellers are willing to sell them separately if they still have the unused earphones. sony bundled those with their flagship phones for many years until the Xperia 5 II i think. The cable kinda sucks though, but they're super cheap.
Another that comes to mind would be the KBEAR Robin. I haven't tried them but the tripowin mele looks like it could be another option too just based on FR. the FR for that actually looks like it would be more to my liking over the DQ6S since it has more energy around 3k and less 8k
You can add those models i mentioned using Paul's squiglink database to compare the FR.
pw.squig.link
please test out whizzer bs1
I came from Twitter
How does it compare with the CCA CRA?
I think CRA is a bit better in terms of technical performance to me. But then tuning wise, it kinda depends. CRA is a bit more V-shaped sounding with more bass and treble. especially around 5k and 11k, which might make the 8k peak a bit less tolerable even though quantity wise, it's kinda similar to the DQ6S. without EQ, DQ6S will probably be my choice between the 2 since it's easier to listen to. Slightly fuller sounding mids too. Though the tuning on both are not my cup of tea. 😂
Which iems do you prefer under 50$?
that is actually kinda hard for me to answer since i haven't tried that many around that price range. There are a lot of frequently mentioned option like HZSound Heart Mirror, Moondrop SSR, Tripowin Mele that i've not tried.
But if I had to name some i've tried that I like straight out of the box without EQ, they'll probably the Tanchjim Tanya, NICEHCK DB1, and maybe the first ZEX Pro I own (I tried another later batch with crinacle logo and it had a bit more bass and 8k peak somehow). With a ton of EQ, the CCA CRA will probably be on that list too since the driver is really quite capable. Or if you're in the US, adorama once had some crazy sales for the Etymotic ER2 series for like 49USD. 😂
But other than these, the other IEMs i prefer exceeds the $50 price already. sorry can't be of more help here.
Tin T2 is still very good for its price and has a more lower midrange focused tuning than most of the IEMs coming out these days
How is this compared cut zs10 pro?
haven't heard the ZS10 Pro in a long time so can't really say for sure. though from what i can recall at least, it's a slightly more relaxed and more natural sounding due to the driver used.
@@axhng thank you!