It's curious how the Trn V20, the grandfather of the Xuanwu, was acclaimed by critics at the time, and has practically the same highs as this one, with the difference that the Xuanwu is much more refined in the mids. I have Xuanwu and found it excellent. I believe that the collector's intention is exactly that: to have several different "stars" in this chi-fi universe.
I disagree on the CRA - they're probably the best budget v shape. a little aggressive in the treble at first but that seems to have mellowed with use, and they're just fun, engaging buds. If you listen to that kind of music exclusively, they're simply more fun than the "technically" better options. I like them for exercise and commuting, where my more expensive, neutral pairs just feel kinda thin. If you want a "fun, energetic" sound for occasional use, it's hard to not recommend them for so little. I'd be a lot iffier on a v shape like that in the $50-100 range.
Thank you Mr. Vortex for the information about some low tier budget IEMs that we should avoid, due to the competition on entry level market is getting more intense these days. Btw I wanna ask something. How about CCA CXS? Is it leaning towards the "gem" side or the "trash" side?
Yeah im quite surprised the CXS is not in the list . cause its almost the same product as the DQS. both has atrocious sibliant nature to it. Just get the wan er / hola / salnote zero. way better purchase.
IEMs used to be sooo expensive now there is reasonable competition everyone is cutting corners like you said to under cut and hopefully compete in the market i could do with getting some but i wouldn't know where to start what would you recommend in the 50 pound range ?
Yes, that's why there are more cost-effective products. What kind of sound quality do you need to determine the price range you want? now there are too many choices.
Lol....I have 3 of these....and what u explain about them is what I actually like(boosted bass and mids with less treble--cca fla, dqs, and the first one)...mostly because I'm a bit sensitive to the highs
Thanks for a new type of video vortex. Have been watching you since the start. Just wanted to say thanks for the idea of setup, I sorta shot my video like you did. Also more videos on iems to avoid (on your subjective opinion) in particular price range would be nice.
i do think it really depends on what you want to hear on your iem .. for my setup, all i wanted to hear primarily is my voice and my guitar .. so, a balanced single driver is just fine for me
Niceee video vortex 😍😍I'm neww to IEM I'M SOOO confused🤧🤧 what are the ime should I buy , I'm the guy who loves to watching series, movies, listening songs and podcast if you see this comment please tell suggest me the IMES ( BUDGET IME) which is sutible for my use case ✨
I watch lots of movies and listen to all types of songs, so what is suggestion ? Im planning to buy kz zsn pro x or kz zna or kz zex or kz zst x. Kindly suggest among these
What's your opinion on the QKZ x HBB and Kbear Rosefinch? I'm looking for bass heavy V-shape headphones. Can you recommend me better ones below 100$? I'm listening to electronic music and hip hop mainly. I feel like that the most IEM's that audiophiles are recommending are mostly lacking on bass (no offense it for sure always depends what music you are listening to)
I would really agree with the assessment of EDX ultra being much better unit. I bought KZ ZSN & EDX PRO but those are two other IEM's I wouldn't recommend, EDX ultra for me sounded better surprisingly. Out of the box the EDX ultra doesn't have much of the KZ treble, it still has peaks but it doesn't sound like you have two tweeters on both side of your ears.
You need to check the prices of these two products, which is difficult to compare with this product. Both in terms of price and appearance, as well as the sound curve
Oops youre a bit late, Just got the Stellarius and you are right. Bit with 3mm tips and an additional screen on the nozzle the are so close to spot on. Haven't finished tuning but they respond beautifully and have more than enough sound stage to exploit if you are keen. Very responsite driver but suffered from reverberation and base cancellation.
@@VortexReviews1 Yes, but I am compairing $1200 to $160 and they are now very close. If the replay is not there you can not tune it. I am sure they would perform differently on a phone and would not try. But as a holiday from headphones they rock.
Thumbs up for keeping it real Vortex. ! could had just throw in bunch more KZ (ZAR, CXS and HM20) tbh but nice informative approach to prevent newbies wasting their money on the wrong thing. Also hey vortex, can you enable the equalizer function on your squig? Wanna try eq the s12 pro but only one database apart from yours has it that looks more accurate.
What's wrong with ZAR? It's a well tuned V shape iem. Not everyone wants the same Harmen tuning. Its also built well and has decent quality drivers. Just a tad over priced.
Thanks for your opinion, I agree with everything you said, alternatives to kz I would say are kiwi ears cadenza, tangzu waner SG, hbb khan which has less treble harshness at louder volume than the truthear zero, although the truthear zero sounds very good at a sensible listening volume, and sounds more dynamic, and the bass quantity and quality is about the same, midbass probably has slightly more impact on the khan than the truthear zero ,from what I can tell, I think also the tinhifi C3 is another great option, thanks for your honest opinion,it's refreshing
CCA FLA bad set? WTF are you talking about? It is very good and very affordable, smooth and quite natural sounding pair of earphones, pretty good single dd for that matter too, not to mention the shell is comfortable with great fit. You are talking total rubbish here about FLA, thumbs down.
Fla is alright, out of the box it sounds like it's buried in some sort of insulating foam, truly awful, once they are burned in they are nice for certain jobs.. A natural timbre, black background, but treble rolls off pretty quick.. I am listening to you on a set right now. That's what I use them for, media consumption.
I had the OG ZAS 10 ..that was ok and gave that to a friend to introduce them to IEM’s . I’ve got the KZ ZAS ..BLOATED BASS TO HELL AND BACK!..and at that point I gave up on KZ .
@@VortexReviews1 I’ll put my IEM stable as representative of the hobby…moderately priced and each bring something to the party….but they gotta bring something.
AliExpress sells $8 usd CCA CRA that are 25ohm 99db but the real $20 are 34ohm 105db I got a crap pair linsoul sold on Amazon they sound shreekie no bass even with eq boost.. completely different KZ models being sold on Amazon.. can't believe making fake 20$ iem..
@@VortexReviews1 I bought on Amazon off linsoul.. the real ones have colored pic on front of box and clones have black and white image.. So yes box is completely different and they weigh 27g instead of 29g as well even on box says that ..
@@FilthyMoss Linsoul is a official distributor of those so I blame CCA. Send it back if you don't like it and tell the store about the changes. They can investigate.
The price can not highlight the quality of the product!but KZ is dedicated to the production of products, often research headphones with high cost ratio, just for everyone to enjoy a better sound.
XuanWa is really good when you throw a little EQ at it. It responds quite well to EQ and I gotta be honest here, who in the hell listens to an IEM without using some kind of EQ preset/custom setting? Very rare that an IEM sounds great out the box with no EQ.
I love EQ, always have. Really makes me smh about how this community mostly avoids eq like the plague. With a good driver, there are endless possibilities. Saves a lot of money and fun too :)
It would be nicer if you put it in text, i mean you want to help people that dont know what the hek are you talkint about, intead of try to decifre wich model are they fron the google tranlator, if you like to talk to people that already know all this models, keep that why
I didn't do it for the views and did it as it felt right as folks need to stop wasting money on poorly tuned gear when there is better stuff out there.
It's curious how the Trn V20, the grandfather of the Xuanwu, was acclaimed by critics at the time, and has practically the same highs as this one, with the difference that the Xuanwu is much more refined in the mids. I have Xuanwu and found it excellent. I believe that the collector's intention is exactly that: to have several different "stars" in this chi-fi universe.
I never tried the V20 and I am surprised you like the Xuanwu but if you like it then fair enough.
I disagree on the CRA - they're probably the best budget v shape. a little aggressive in the treble at first but that seems to have mellowed with use, and they're just fun, engaging buds. If you listen to that kind of music exclusively, they're simply more fun than the "technically" better options. I like them for exercise and commuting, where my more expensive, neutral pairs just feel kinda thin. If you want a "fun, energetic" sound for occasional use, it's hard to not recommend them for so little. I'd be a lot iffier on a v shape like that in the $50-100 range.
OG CRA are not bad at all.
CRA have two version, OG and New kids on the block...
Two of them have different tuning
Same with qkz vk4 OG. Was legendary
@@kloningankumain4802 Indeed.
@@VortexReviews1 cra and cra+ right? Or is there a stealth revision of the regular cra
@@kaeroseon Stealth revision of the normal CRA.
Excellent alternative approach.
And I dig it.
Thanks!
Thank you Mr. Vortex for the information about some low tier budget IEMs that we should avoid, due to the competition on entry level market is getting more intense these days.
Btw I wanna ask something. How about CCA CXS? Is it leaning towards the "gem" side or the "trash" side?
it would have been a gem if not for the trash tuning
Yes and no. CXS has a nice DD but poor tuning like wafflezz said.
Yeah im quite surprised the CXS is not in the list . cause its almost the same product as the DQS. both has atrocious sibliant nature to it. Just get the wan er / hola / salnote zero. way better purchase.
@@VortexReviews1 so does it mean they executed the tuning poorly so the driver itself isn't able to reveal its own maximum potential?
@@aaf268 That's one way of putting it.
IEMs used to be sooo expensive now there is reasonable competition everyone is cutting corners like you said to under cut and hopefully compete in the market i could do with getting some but i wouldn't know where to start what would you recommend in the 50 pound range ?
Depends on what sound you want but the Kiwi Ears Cadenza and QKZ HBB Khan come to mind.
Yes, that's why there are more cost-effective products. What kind of sound quality do you need to determine the price range you want? now there are too many choices.
Thank you for making this video Vortex and the heads up! 👍✌Appreciate you Looking out for us, the enthusiast and consumer.
Thanks for watching and no problem at all.
Not all opinions are correct, but they still need their own judgment.
Lol....I have 3 of these....and what u explain about them is what I actually like(boosted bass and mids with less treble--cca fla, dqs, and the first one)...mostly because I'm a bit sensitive to the highs
Ok 👍
I appreciate the heads up kind sir 😊
Any time and thanks for watching.
Hello big iem bros any suggestions for a bassy set to complement my 7hz zero I'm looking for something within the same price range
QKZ x HBB might be a good pick for you.
Thanks for a new type of video vortex. Have been watching you since the start. Just wanted to say thanks for the idea of setup, I sorta shot my video like you did.
Also more videos on iems to avoid (on your subjective opinion) in particular price range would be nice.
Thanks for watching and the support. I might do a video like that if there is enough in a certain price bracket.
@@VortexReviews1 thanks! Will wait for 'em
@@hokagoteatimereviews Cheers!
i do think it really depends on what you want to hear on your iem .. for my setup, all i wanted to hear primarily is my voice and my guitar .. so, a balanced single driver is just fine for me
True but these aren't balanced sounding.
@@VortexReviews1 agree .. can you recommend to me an iem with balanced single driver then? thanks ..
@@attybong maybe something like the wan'er or the Hola.
Yes, the use of many headphones is closely related to you.
Nice video man. Thanks for your honesty about these products.
Thanks and no problem at all.
What do you think about kz zvx and kz dfi (standart)?
Not tried either of those.
Niceee video vortex 😍😍I'm neww to IEM I'M SOOO confused🤧🤧 what are the ime should I buy , I'm the guy who loves to watching series, movies, listening songs and podcast if you see this comment please tell suggest me the IMES ( BUDGET IME) which is sutible for my use case ✨
What is your actual budget? If it's under 20 USD then the Truthear Hola, Moondrop Chu 2 or Tangzu Wan'er.
@@VortexReviews1 thank you so much for your reply sir ✨✨
Can I buy kz edx pro sir ✨
@@yogakarthickkk You can but the EDX Ultra is better if you want that type of model.
I watch lots of movies and listen to all types of songs, so what is suggestion ? Im planning to buy kz zsn pro x or kz zna or kz zex or kz zst x. Kindly suggest among these
Probably none of these unless you can't get anything else. Tangzu Wan'er or Truthear Hola are my budget picks.
How about Tripowin Olina SE and HZsound Heart Mirror Zero?
SE is meant to be good and not tried the Zero.
@@VortexReviews1 Hmmm I think I will purchase SE. So many choices for single DD under 100 USD makes me inconsiderate
@@wanaboed So many indeed.
What a BASED video, thanks Mr. Vortex 😎
Thanks for watching :D
What's your opinion on the QKZ x HBB and Kbear Rosefinch? I'm looking for bass heavy V-shape headphones. Can you recommend me better ones below 100$? I'm listening to electronic music and hip hop mainly. I feel like that the most IEM's that audiophiles are recommending are mostly lacking on bass (no offense it for sure always depends what music you are listening to)
Both are bass heavy and I never tried the Rosefinch. Rosefinch might be good for you and the 7hz Legato is another option.
I would really agree with the assessment of EDX ultra being much better unit.
I bought KZ ZSN & EDX PRO but those are two other IEM's I wouldn't recommend, EDX ultra for me sounded better surprisingly.
Out of the box the EDX ultra doesn't have much of the KZ treble, it still has peaks but it doesn't sound like you have two tweeters on both side of your ears.
Agreed.
You need to check the prices of these two products, which is difficult to compare with this product. Both in terms of price and appearance, as well as the sound curve
A very good, consumer friendly video, thanks man.
Thanks for watching.
Honesty, love it!
Thanks Rich.
I guess the same earphone sounds different to different people, but I feel like KZ has been improving recently.
My opinion is they have gone backwards from the better models of last year.
I think so, too. KZ has been making progress, constantly updating its products for everyone.
BGVP Scale bad? What you are talking about? They sound great, best thing you could buy for 18 dol.
I disagree. Tangzu Wan'er or Truthear Hola are better tuned.
Oops youre a bit late, Just got the Stellarius and you are right. Bit with 3mm tips and an additional screen on the nozzle the are so close to spot on. Haven't finished tuning but they respond beautifully and have more than enough sound stage to exploit if you are keen. Very responsite driver but suffered from reverberation and base cancellation.
A better shape and the filter / damper is needed like you said. Needed more work before being released.
@@VortexReviews1 Yes, but I am compairing $1200 to $160 and they are now very close. If the replay is not there you can not tune it. I am sure they would perform differently on a phone and would not try. But as a holiday from headphones they rock.
@@rodm1949 Indeed and I understand.
So you can think more about these products, just like you said.
@@evaristebourotte Indeed, just found GoldPlanar GL20 on Ali which hasn't been mentioned. 28mm planar driver goodness.
Thumbs up for keeping it real Vortex. ! could had just throw in bunch more KZ (ZAR, CXS and HM20) tbh but nice informative approach to prevent newbies wasting their money on the wrong thing. Also hey vortex, can you enable the equalizer function on your squig? Wanna try eq the s12 pro but only one database apart from yours has it that looks more accurate.
What's wrong with ZAR? It's a well tuned V shape iem. Not everyone wants the same Harmen tuning. Its also built well and has decent quality drivers. Just a tad over priced.
@@burns0100 man Kz Zar has a resolution problem according to graph. It cost around 120 dollars in my country. For 120 dollars it is bad tunning
Harman tunning is best for Normal people in general.
ZAR is way overpriced for what it is and thinking of it I could have included the HM20 as well. I will ask Super reviews about adding the EQ to mine.
@@VortexReviews1 thanks.
I like this approach 👌
Thanks.
Thanks for your opinion, I agree with everything you said, alternatives to kz I would say are kiwi ears cadenza, tangzu waner SG, hbb khan which has less treble harshness at louder volume than the truthear zero, although the truthear zero sounds very good at a sensible listening volume, and sounds more dynamic, and the bass quantity and quality is about the same, midbass probably has slightly more impact on the khan than the truthear zero ,from what I can tell, I think also the tinhifi C3 is another great option, thanks for your honest opinion,it's refreshing
Thanks very much and never tried the Truthear Zero but I see what you mean. You mentioned all the good iems out there at the moment.
Why the dqs ?
Dqs is trash EdX Ultra is so much better better tuning better treble extension
Even CRA at $15 destroys all of kz new releases like fla CXS etc
@@gtaracingchannel8717 sadly, CCA already stealthy retune the new unit of CRA and made it worse than the OG one.
It's not very good.
@@gtaracingchannel8717 CRA vs CXS: The dynamics and the "spacialisation" are way better with the CXS. CXS lacks extension in the treble range.
DQS is of very good sound quality, especially the price can be compared with many expensive headphones, you can try to listen to the sound.
Excellent, great idea!!! I hope you're not going to have on your back a sort of Triad of headphones.....😂
What you mean?
@@VortexReviews1 It was supposed to be a joke, but it's not very good I admit. Sorry
@@sonhouse9636 No need to be sorry 👍
I agree on every one of these. Better units for the same or less money.
cheers
Not all products need to get a low price is a good product, then you can consider QKZ
Excelente video muchas gracias 👍
Gracias
Great video idea, my dude!
Thanks and this was on the back burner but had time to do it and the recent crap IEMs was the right time to do it.
Thank you!
👍
Cheers for watching and the support.
CCA FLA bad set? WTF are you talking about? It is very good and very affordable, smooth and quite natural sounding pair of earphones, pretty good single dd for that matter too, not to mention the shell is comfortable with great fit.
You are talking total rubbish here about FLA, thumbs down.
We are entitled to our own opinions and mine is based on the unit what I have here.
@@VortexReviews1 fair enough
@@jag0937eb No problem at all 👍
Yes I'm with you, I also like CCA FLA, so I don't totally agree with his video but maybe like he said everyone has a different opinion.
If you like the FLA then that's fair enough.
Fla is alright, out of the box it sounds like it's buried in some sort of insulating foam, truly awful, once they are burned in they are nice for certain jobs.. A natural timbre, black background, but treble rolls off pretty quick.. I am listening to you on a set right now. That's what I use them for, media consumption.
Media consumption is fine with them indeed.
'Xuanwu' is real trash. It's really worth the money. Thank you for picking out the other crap too.
Thanks for watching.
I very much agree with your point of view. It seems that it takes a lot of money to say so.
bgvp ns10 review please
I don't have it and probably won't get it.
I had the OG ZAS 10 ..that was ok and gave that to a friend to introduce them to IEM’s .
I’ve got the KZ ZAS ..BLOATED BASS TO HELL AND BACK!..and at that point I gave up on KZ .
Nice of you to gift that and they need to change.
@@VortexReviews1 I’ll put my IEM stable as representative of the hobby…moderately priced and each bring something to the party….but they gotta bring something.
@@carminedesanto6746 Yep.
I personally really enjoy the v shaped sound signature of the KZ DQS
Glad you like it.
For Moondrop Stellaris, I have to say that no one should buy this, I only used it for a week then the left earbud had no sound, waste of money🙄
Sorry to hear that.
You have earned my respect
Thanks very much.
KZ ZS10PRO X is pretty good although it's not that cheap.
Indeed and much cheaper than the ZAR.
Not cheap things without good sound quality, KZ has always been hacked on the road.
this is unusually different & great, thank you
No problem.
I liked the xuanwu unlike the qkz hbb that one seemed too dark and many recommended it to me the old kz es4 sound better than those
We all have different preferences.
BGVP often have quality issues and very sibilant.
I haven't tried many from them but I see what you mean.
Finally!
Better late than never :D
AliExpress sells $8 usd CCA CRA that are 25ohm 99db but the real $20 are 34ohm 105db I got a crap pair linsoul sold on Amazon they sound shreekie no bass even with eq boost.. completely different KZ models being sold on Amazon.. can't believe making fake 20$ iem..
Are they fake ones sold by legit stores and Linsoul are selling fake ones as well?
@@VortexReviews1 I bought on Amazon off linsoul.. the real ones have colored pic on front of box and clones have black and white image.. So yes box is completely different and they weigh 27g instead of 29g as well even on box says that ..
@@FilthyMoss Linsoul is a official distributor of those so I blame CCA. Send it back if you don't like it and tell the store about the changes. They can investigate.
The price can not highlight the quality of the product!but KZ is dedicated to the production of products, often research headphones with high cost ratio, just for everyone to enjoy a better sound.
Nice review 😁
Thanks 😁
THE OLD 2PIN IS THE BEST
Indeed.
XuanWa is really good when you throw a little EQ at it. It responds quite well to EQ and I gotta be honest here, who in the hell listens to an IEM without using some kind of EQ preset/custom setting? Very rare that an IEM sounds great out the box with no EQ.
most folks don't use any eq.
I love EQ, always have. Really makes me smh about how this community mostly avoids eq like the plague. With a good driver, there are endless possibilities. Saves a lot of money and fun too :)
It would be nicer if you put it in text, i mean you want to help people that dont know what the hek are you talkint about, intead of try to decifre wich model are they fron the google tranlator, if you like to talk to people that already know all this models, keep that why
I have the TRN Xuanwu and to me they are great! 😊🤫
Glad you like it.
@@VortexReviews1
i bought the fla's......
What do you think?
Kinda like this approach.
Thanks Jason.
TRN Xuanwu good iem for my opinion.
You are way better than Ian fann.
He's greedy old man.
Thanks and I don't know him well. Why do you say that?
I think his video is full of malice. I don't think it's all good, but free speech
All your video attracted few views from public. Only this kind of malicious video get great attention. That’s unfortunately for a reviewer dude.
I didn't do it for the views and did it as it felt right as folks need to stop wasting money on poorly tuned gear when there is better stuff out there.
I don't think these behaviors are feasible. In order to increase the popularity of video, spray other brands of headphones at any cost.
Did you even read my comment above?
Subjective opinions are kind of useless.
Tga k a warning ⚠️ that brand bluetooth earbud has trash sound I prefer real bluetooth earbud but not fakes bluetooth earbud
I don't understand what you're saying? Do you speak English?
He's probably form England