Yinyoo KZ ZST Colorful Hybrid Balance Armature with Dynamic In-ear Earphone 1BA+1DD Hifi Headset (Purple, No mic)

Great little pair of headphones, surprisingly clear, balanced, and expressive with full deep bass that isn't loose or muddy and free of any high volume rumbles or rattles, very linear and expressive mid range, with extended but not artificially accentuated high frequency extension (like many low quality headphones that extend bass and high end to make up for their shortcomings). Highe end frequency reproduction was natural, and poignant without any harshness. They are lightweight, look and sound great for music and calls, fit very well and stay in place. All for 17 pounds. I've paid a lot more and gotten a lot less. The only thing to be aware of is they do require about 24-48 hours of continuous playback in order to "burn in" and smoothen out a bit as the drivers need to loosen up a bit or they sound strident,or screechy when first used. I think any negative reviews must have been people that didn't really give them a chance to settle in.

I actually bought these KZ ZSTs (with mic) to serve as my new reference earbud after a recommendation from audiocheck.net as these are very inexpensive but provide some of the widest sound I've heard from an in-ear bud. But more on that later.I've been "into audio" since I was a teenager working on sound desks in a variety of situations and think I have a reasonable ear and wide range in musical tastes. But am aware that with advancing years, my frequency range of hearing and perception can change. I've aimed to measure things as objectively as possible within the constraints that my ears will not be the same as yours but refer to websites that you can check for yourself.Frequency response.Using the test files from audiocheck.net, I tested the low frequency response and I can hear down to 20Hz without difficulty. Using the 22kHz to 8kHz sweep, my ears kick in at 15-16kHz and the sweep progresses down to 8kHz without any painful peaks.For dynamic range, I tested them to be audible down to -60dB below full scale (volume set to 80% in Windows 11).The bass shaker track failed to identify any rattling which is also a good thing.FIT and ISOLATIONFit in my big ear canals was OK with the middle sized tips but I benefitted from using the larger size to improve isolation and any typing noise disappears when playing anything through them above very low levels.They are low profile enough that I might even give them a try as my buds for sleeping but have some more buds to try which are very low profile and claim to be better for sleeping.MUSIC GenresRunning through my usual test playlist I've yet to find something I wasn't happy with. These cope with EDM, Jazz, Funk, Blues, classical/orchestral and I'm very happy with the purchase. Listening to the orchestral themes from "How to Train Your Dragon" was rousing and the separation of the instruments was impressive. Normally with in-ear buds the orchestra can sound like they are all bunched together but not here.Tl,DR;Thanks to audiocheck.net for the recommendation. With the 5% voucher these were only £19 and worth every penny.These are very competent earbuds which are very musical for most genres. My usual wireless in-ears are five times the cost of these and these will now be my reference pair against which other headphones are compared.

They're good iems, have a nice base and fit quite well but do lack in overall sound quality

These IEM's sound very clear and are impressive value for the quality. They come with 6 pairs of tips (3 White and 3 Black sets, 3 sizes).I use these on my iPod and my PC for video, music and gaming purposes.One thing to note on the PC side of things is that i occasionally had issues with low humming sounds while playing a select number of games. It's been a couple months since i last noticed this (may be one of those random things)This seemed to be down to the electrical noise created in my system while my Graphics card was under load. Switching to front panel audio or using a cheap USB sound card resolved this though i did have to sacrifice a little audio quality.Im yet to test the results with a proper PCI-E sound card but im sure there will be an improvement.

Let's start with the positives, 1. They feel great in the ear very comfortable, they have quite a decent sound stage, better than the airpods I was using previously, (this is using the enhancements built into my OS) If you're on a Samsung version of android, make sure that the dolby atmos and UHQ upscaler are on, and definitely boost the low mids and bass (do this on a separate app) the cable is nice and quiet (doesn't amplify any rubbing between the cable and say a tshirt or a beard) the plastic does feel of a high quality, would say its a marginally worse build quality to something like the shure se215'sNow, for the bad. The bass and low mids suck, basically nonexistent, the treble is very sibilant (the S sounds are quite harsh) the mids aren't strong in the slightest, I've boosted 500hz by 3db and there's no punch, even pushing to 6db and it doesn't improve it. Most likely due to a weak bass response. Even with a significant bass boost it doesn't do good. I believe altering the crossover will help this.In conclusion. For £17.99 they are respectable and better than anything I've heard in this price range, they have a similar sound to my sennheiser HD4.40 BT, just 1/4 the price, more comfortable, and smaller. However, I think you'd be better off spending a bit more money on a pair of IEMs with more drivers. I'd like to try the KZ AS16s or ZS 10s before I give a recommendation on what to buy instead of these. If you are on a tight budget, and don't mind tuning the bass and mids to sound a bit more pleasing, and especially for Samsung users who have the enhancements for stereo width built into the samsung version of android OS. I am disappointed with the way these were hyped up to me from recommendations from friends, and musicians on youtube.Edit - after using for around a month I got used to the less present bass, after tuning that is. The 3.5mm jack cable broke when removing from my 3.5mm - 1/4in adapter, on the day after I could return the product.