LinsoulKZ ZS10 Pro, 4BA+1DD 5 Driver in Ear Monitor, HiFi Wired Earbuds, Gaming Earbuds, Hybrid IEM Earphones with Stainless Steel Faceplate, Detachable Cable for Musician(with Mic, Black)

I have all the full-size headphones and amps I need now. I've never been a massive fan of IEMs or earbuds, due to comfort issues, breakage/fragility, losing them, or lack of bass, or thin sound. Then again, I never invested in any high-end IEMs like Shure, let's say. I've got Hifimans, Fostex TRP40s, Sennheiser closed,and even a new pair of Pioneer DJ headphones that are great but not super comfy, alas. But why wouldI need more headphones or an IEM? I wasn't going to pull the trigger, no matter what. I'd love to hearsome electrostatic headphones, but I am not paying 2 grand for them.Then Zeos from YouTube was raving about these a few weeks ago,and I just went and hit purchase, no hesitation. I was confident they would sound amazing, if he was praising them, and lo and behold, they bleedin' well do. Oh, do they ever. And this resolves the question of why buy more headphones, because once you hear these, you'll realize why, and the answer is, now you own a pair of IEMs that cost under $70 that sound and perform like a premium $300 pair of headphones, if not better, and are totally portable, if you don't feel like lugging those giant AKGs, Audeze, or Fostex around all day long, as tempting as that might be.They sound like a compressed (I mean, focused and more intimate!) version of my Hifiman or Fostex's,with substantially better and deeper bass response than either. Soundstage is decent, if not massive. Detail/separation in both channels is excellent to REALLY excellent. Deep, and tight bass, Plus detailed warm mids, and crisp, rich highs, but not strident or annoying, or fatiguing, at all. The power and bass response these are capable of puts a lot of over the ear headphones to shame. I can only imagine what the higher end Linsouls sound like, T1s ,etc., as well. But, I'll take these! These also put to shame the wretched Audio-Wrecknica M50xs I made the mistake of buying a few months ago, and instantly returned to Guitar Center, after they nails on a blackboard high-end-ruined my ears and sanityafter a day or two of auditioning. Absolutely hideous plastic junk, those headphones. Unlistenable. Unless you like metallic, screechy mids and highs, and NO bass whatsoever. By contrast, I put the Linsouls on, and they sounded great right out of the box. This is very rare indeed.For the money spent, these are one of the biggest steals in the audio industry currently. Hands down.The comfort level is decent, for IEMs, depending on what caps you use. I guess the cable might do with someupgrading but I'm no going to bother, it's fine for me. You can if you want to. On my Creative Labs G6amp, you only have to crank the volume up to maybe 4-8 to be super loud on most sources. Listeningright now to Dave Brubeck's Take Five at maybe vol. 4 and it sounds unreal. I had to back off a bit on the bass and power on the G6, and tame these a bit, but they sound amazing at any level. Hardly any distortion that I can discern.Brushed metal alum. outside, transparent body on ear-side. Fit pretty snug and aren't too annoying,like many IEMs. I got the basic Silver and clear version, with mic (which I have almost no use for). Are theyas pretty as a Mondrian? No, but they look cool, so I don't know what people are bitching about. Cord seemspretty quality, and non-tangly or janky, and the connection posts seem solid thus far.Build quality overall seems quite good. But I would invest in a small case for these, as any IEMs are a bit fragile or given to catching, etc. They seem to be comfortable for listening at a few hours on end, if necessary, also a huge plus. Listening to tracks from Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Van Halen, Bob Marley, Sisters of Mercy, and Steely Dan, lossless or otherwise, restored a lot of the bottom-end that is sometimes lacking on even my best mid-fi planar headphones. And I'd still go so far as to recommend the Linsouls for jazz, or classical as well. The warmth and detail is present enough for it. Outside noise isolation is quite good, for budget IEMs with no active NC.There's definitely something to be said for IEMs. Now I realize what the fuss is about, especially when they perform as well as these do, it's a totally different listening experience to the already wonderful Fostex or Hifiman over the ears, open or closed, plus these are 10000x more efficient than planar headphones. Also, if you demand really solid, deep and tight bass for the music you listen to, these are absolutely the IEMs for you. You will not experience bass responsewith the Fostex or Hifimans like this, I can assure you (unless you EQ and amp the piss out of them), though I love both of those headphones dearly. Yet it's not exaggerated, it's just there if you need it.For portable use and just plain music enjoyment, I cannot imagine spending $55 and getting anything much better than these Linsoul Pros. I also recently picked up a pair of cheap JBL $18 earbuds, they are darned good, a lot better than you would think, but still, nothing NEAR what these little bad boys are capable of delivering. These are on a whole different level. They sound stupendous. Through the Creative Labs G6 amp, these sound like a great pair of, perhaps, Klipsch or Paradigm bookshelf speakers, with a bit of extra "subwoofer" kick! I cannot recommend these more heartily. This is $55 very well spent for any audiophile on a budget, no question about it. And, you don't need to spend another $120 on a headphone amp to enjoy them, a nice bonus. Linsoul has hit it out of the park. The 5 microdrivers will decimate you! How they accomplished it, is not important. How stonking these sound and perform, is what's important. Buy them now. P.S. Question came in today about running with these: I haven't or walked that muchyet with these, but, I think they'd be ok for running or walking exercise outdoors, although totally wirelesssport earbuds might be better for real hardcore gym or exercise applications, like better XBass Sony wirelessgym earbuds, etc. Although the Linsouls seem to fit snug and stay in place well. But they are cabled, sothere's that to consider if you're going to use them for running. For a treadmill, I would say they'd be just fine.

Great IEM, with the right gear to drive these sucker, you won't be disappointed! Make sure to use the correct tips for your ears? It could be difference between having no bass, or having the best music experience at this price point. However, the wire could be a bit longer, cuz if your music equipment isn't close enough, it could require additional wire or setup to fit this awesome IEM. Overall, I am liking it for its size and functionality.

---Updated Review. Initial Impressions follow after the break---So, KZ's bundled cables, at least in the unit I received and reviewed, are mislabeled. Because the cables have a predetermined curve and need to be plugged in a specific way for the IEMs to fit in your ear, the mislabelling caused not only a right/left switch, but also a phase shift.After identifying and rectifying the cabling error I have only one thing to say: Wow.These are genuinely mind-blowing. Below I've listed some of my test tracks and my impression of those tracks through these IEMs. For this testing, I am running them through a Schiit Magni3/Modi3 stack. All files are FLACs that I rip myself using EAC for anyone that wonders.Dire Straits - Money for Nothing: The guitar at the start comes across clearly and there is an appreciable amount of weight to them. On the downside, the guitar comes across as fairly smooth instead of having the gritty, crunchy texture that I am looking for. There is an astounding level of clarity through the entire track. The KZ ZS10Pro picks out details that many other IEMs have not. Notably at 5:19 there is a soft clicking that sounds almost like a muted cowbell. Many oft-hailed sub-200 IEMs from popular brands fail to pick this up with the same amount of definition. The lead singer sounds a little quieter than I like (possible lower mid dip?) but is still plenty clear. Not at all recessed as my initial impression suggests.Crooked Still - Little Sadie: The opening line of this song is voice only. On good gear, before the instruments come in, the singer's hyper enunciation can create an astounding effect. These IEMs deliver that opening without blinking. Everything is crystal clear from the "S" sound in the word Sadie to the quick inhalation of the singer. That "S" sound also highlights sibilance issues very well and I can say with confidence that this set does not have any that I can make out. Once the instruments do kick in, the massive soundstage becomes quite evident. The issue with sound placement and imaging I spoke of in my initial review are completely gone. Placement is good. Not holographic or breathtaking but still accurate and natural sounding.Ludvig van Beethoven / Carlos Kleiber, Wiener Philharmonic - Symphony No. 5, Allegro con Brio: The placement of sound on this track is very important. Kleiber's vision for this masterpiece comes across beautifully through the KZ ZS10 Pro. The soundstage is also front and center in this track. If you close your eyes, you can place yourself smack dab in the middle of the concert hall. The ZS10pros are exceptionally agile too. The sudden changes between pianississimo (very very quiet) and fortississimo (very very loud) are handled without any noticeable hiccups. The one flaw this track highlights is that the ZS10 Pro does not have an exceptionally black background. it is not bad by any means but it is far from being silent.In general a very, very good IEM. crisp vocals, excellent instrument separation, and the ability to resolve a lot of detail are some of the highlights here.Now onto some unpleasantness. KZ. Please do some Quality Checking. this was a small mistake that very nearly made me think everyone that has ever praised your gear was lying. It is inexcusable to send out a device with cables labeled in a way that leads to phase issues. I triple checked to ensure I wasn't the one making a mistake. For the asking price, these tick enough boxes to make them an easy recommendation but the cable issues mean I cannot confidently say that everyone that buys them will have a good experience unless they know to swap the cables if the phase issues are evident._________________________________________________________________________________________Initial ImpressionsIf I were to judge on build quality alone I’d give this 7 stars. For the money this level of it and finish is absolutely astounding. Too bad then, that they sound as poor as they do.This is my first foray into super budget iems from China. Given the solid performance we get in EarPods, or any of the other earphones thrown into phone boxes from lg, Samsung, and one plus, I was expecting at the very least to get something that rivalled those. Nope.The ZS 10 Pro has fairly strong base. Treble is also decent if a bit on the tinnier side. But the mids. Did KZ try to design this IEM to remove vocals from tracks? Everything in the mid region is so recessed you could very easily mistake them as ambient sound instead of part of the track. There is also the question of the awful imaging. While the soundstage is wide, sound appears to only come from one of 3 spots. Dead center, far left, or far right. Also the balance is off as the right sounds significantly closer than the left. This I felt in my music but I had to use some simple channel testing tones to make sure. Of course I double checked with my gr07 to make sure it wasn’t my hearing that was causing this effect.If you asked me to recommend something under $75 I would recommend hunting for a thrown away pair of phone bundle earphones, or something like the $5 vemonk before I recommend this.Given the price though you could buy them just to jazz up your collection from a visual standpoint. Just don’t ever plug em in.