EBS_freak

I have T1 Lives (triple driver). At the time they were the flagship. I watched with interest when they decided to bolster the number of drivers in their new range... but then facepalmed a little when they decided not to go with extra drivers in the low to introduce a bit of headroom for bassplayers and drummers. All the guys I know how have been with ACS and moved on have exactly the same issue. Andy however, is dead set against boosting in the lows because of the increased risk of hearing damage. There's a fine line - having enough headroom... but then entrusting people not to run their inears at ludicrous volumes. The T1s are a lot more revealing, "hifi" and faithful in their ability to reproduce audio. So what the ACS has in clarity, the ZS10 has in headroom. The ACS is light in the bass compared to the ZS10s... and boosting the lows in the ACS means that you run out of headroom very quickly. The soundstage of the ACS is also definitely wider than the ZS10s. There's definitely something wonky in the topend of the ZS10s - but I think I had already guessed that when I was looking at the response curves. The vocals are mids do a feel a bit recessed... although the mids are quite thick - probably helped along by the dynamic drivers. Dont get me wrong, I don't think the ZS10s are sonically great by any means... but they have a lot of headroom, built well... and the sonic signature may be better suited for longer playing on stage without ear fatigue... and above all, lets not forget the price of them. Defo preferable to the 215s as an entry level inear monitor.

@mrtcat- in my experience, silicon offers slightly more isolation over acrylic but in real world terms, this is negligible in a band context. If this SPL is high on stage, even with -26dB isolation on the inears, thats still a lot of sound to try and cut out. Remember, the rest of your face etc, is still being subjected to the sound - so this will be transferred through your skull etc, into your ears. But to answer your question, silicon is not going to make a big enough difference for you to even notice. I am assuming your fit is correct - push the inears in slightly - if there is a difference heard and the isolation improves, your fit isn't as good as it could be.

There's a bass in this picture?

So spent quite a bit of time with these ZS10s. Quite a different sound to what I’m used to. Warm, with not a particularly wide soundstage (blocking the port makes this worse) with the recessed upped mids and treble clearly audible. So whilst I don’t particularly dig on them for casual listening of music, this trait could be quite favourable for onstage use as it will keep your ears fresher for longer. Having said that, I do like the warmth of the dynamic but I do find them quite a fatiguing listen generally - but I think that may be down to the mid range bloom. What I will say though, for the money - great. This or a 215? No competition. And if you think that this whole setup is comparable to the cost of an entry level cable from the big boys... not a bad thing to have in the spares bag either!

Have you seen one in the flesh? The reason I say this, is that they photograph REALLY badly. They don't appear to look half as bad in situ. But again, I'm kinda used to the way that they look now! 😛

The drivers are still better in the 745 than the comparable 4Pro. The upside of the 4Pro is that imho, they look way better than the 745. The NX45A is the nicer looking version of the 745.

Top tip - never get involved with courier companies. 🤡s

It's his hat, right?

You missed off the bit where dood stated combo jack (as in both 1/4" and XLR)...

Stainless DR Hi Beam. Untouchable. If you want higher tension... Stainless DR Lo Rider.

Don't do this - you over compensate for your open ear and the volume coming into your ear from the IEM will be dangerously loud and you risk permanent damage.

Hot glue gun!

@jensenmann - I'd be interested in your thoughts on the Orchid box, I still reckon it's the best DI box for the incredibly cheap price (I moved from BSS). Even the SOS guys seem to agree - http://orchid-electronics.co.uk/Sound-On-Sound_Orchid_DI_Boxes_review.PDF

So confirmation - jiffy bag found sans peli case with Roxannes inside. I guess the customs declaration of "earphones" and their value was too much of a temptation for some light fingered miscreant.

Gigged on my ACS - they just don't do bass . I miss my Roxannes already - can't wait for whatever the situation that is going on at the moment to be resolved. Sounds like another day battling on the phones to see what it going on. In other news, still waiting upon some Red ZS10s to land on these shores... looking forward to hearing those.

On the way.

Things to really grind your gears... getting a notification from parcel force saying that your Roxanne IEMs have been damaged in transit. *sigh*

Scroll up a bit.. found a place in Singapore... but not a lot happening elsewhere at the moment. Certainly don't know of anybody who has ever rehoused dynamic drivers though.

Which here are you at?

Theyre actually Knowles balanced armatures (albeit generic off the shelf ones)... so they are the real deal in terms of quality of components.The issue is going to be finding somebody that is prepared to rehouse a dynamic driver... in fact, at the moment, you are hard pushed finding anybody to rehouse and sort of driver! Re: custom moulds - only had a conversation tonight about the importance of a custom fit. They are definitely the biggest improvement you can make to an IEM solution. Better isolation = less outside bleed = lower volume = drivers not working as hard = less distortion = better sound.

Indeed - the KZ earpieces have certainly ruffled some feathers. But what I would say is that the KZs are using off the shelf balanced armatures which in themselves are compromised to begin with.. and I certainly wouldn't be sure that the tuning, phase alignment, dampening and crossover were as good as the more expensive counterparts. As I've stated earlier, that response curve is quite telling... however, as you say, cheap enough to be great value for money.

They havent - its just the grey import market that enabled the purchase of much cheaper units has been (mostly) sewn up.

Must be quite difficult running a shop like BD so I doff my cap to them... although my most memorable BD gaffe was seen when looking at the used basses, the bass in question was described as mint... yet in the description, went on to detail the small amount of damage that was present on it

The dynamic is probably responsible for helping in the lows... and the smoothing out of the top end is probably due to the notable recess in the highs. Sound like a good result though - glad you are pleased with them. Given the end of the cheaper UE900s, these seem to be a good low cost alternative! Yay for KZ. Talking of dynamics, really looking forward to hearing the new UE live piece... it seems to be that the adding of a dynamic seems to be the on trend thing. Funny - people seem to be taking note now... but Unique Melody were doing it way back with the Merlin (2 high, 2 mid, 1 low (dynamic)) In other news, my Roxannes have gone to JH for an overhaul, the RHS seems to have become recessed in the highs... and it doesn't seem to be a wax buildup... so we shall see. Mind you, they have had a lot of use. Not looking forward to the bill though

I love a good speaker burn in thread...