KZ ASX 10-Driver Earphones Review (1) – The Great Pretender
Pros — 10 drivers; great channel balance; good ergonomics.
Cons — Overcooked, thumpy bass and treble missing in action resulting in a muffled, congested, narrow sound with overly recessed vocals; subpar accessories; not worth the money.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The KZ ASX earphone is the first super-budget earphone featuring 10 drivers. KZ hold on to a strong V-shaped tuning with the bassy side keeping the upper hand – and a weird, most irritating early treble rolloff. Stay away!
INTRODUCTION
Knowledge Zenith (KZ) have supplied the world with close to 50 budget earphone models since 2014. Almost all of them are V-shaped with a boosted upper midrange and this repetition has been the subject of forum discussions for the last 3-4 years. In order to release even more of the same, they created the spinoff brand CCA. Lately, KZ copied themselves by releasing essentially the same iem under the previous name “upgraded” by an “X”, namely the KZ ZSN Pro (X). With the 10-driver BA model KZ ASX, the company not only has the upper hand in the ongoing driver war, it also breaks into the >$100 region.
I jokingly wrote in June 2017 on audiobudget.com: “…OUTLOOK: we are already anxiously awaiting the release of the KZ ZS7 in September [2017]. They will sport 11 drivers each side and cost $57… And as we start receiving our mail orders from China after long delays, KZ release their ZS9 just in time for Christmas (17 drivers per side; $87)…”
I was not too far off.
Q3 of 2020 sees another batch of KZ earphones flooding the market and generating much interest. The KZ ASX investigated here is their new flagship.
SPECIFICATIONS
Drivers: 10 (1*BA22955s, 1*29689s, 4*30017, 4*31736)
Impedance: 20 Ω
Sensitivity: 106 dB/mW
Frequency Range: 20 – 40,000 Hz
Cable/Connector: QDC 2 pin 0.75 mm
Tested at: $100
Product Page:
Purchase Link: Wooeasy Earphones Store
PHYSICAL THINGS AND USABILITY
Not much in the box: the two earpieces, a cable, 3 pairs of silicone eartips, the paperwork, and a totally redundant plaque. The content is essentially the same as for their $10 KZ EDX. The cable is subpar for a 10-driver $100 earphone, it is the cheapest of cheap: thin, hard, stiff. I have had better KZ cables in cheaper models previously. But it works technically and it has zero microphonics. Strangely enough, KZ holds on to the 0.75 mm standard whereas the world has moved on to 0.78 mm. So it may be hard to find a precisely fitting “upgrade cable” other than a KZ one.
Despite the enormous size of the earpieces, ergonomics is great. The shells fit well in my ears, they are very light, and they were comfortable over longer listening periods. Isolation is good. The eartips with their rather thin membrane worked very well for my ears, too. I always got good seal.
Equipment used: MacBook Air & EarMen Sparrow dac/amp; iPhone SE (first generation).
TONALITY AND TECHNICALITIES
Follow these links for some background information:
My tonal preference and testing practice
The frequency response of the KZ ASX is once again strongly V-shaped. But this time, and against expectations, it is not the upper midrange that hijacks the sound but rather the thumpy, boomy bass. Yes, the low end is very well extended but it is über-authoritative, very visceral, and simply quickly fatiguing for most listeners. And it smudges into the vocals. The low-end adds a dark colour to the sound.
The other weird feature is an extremely early rolloff starting in the lowermost treble. Cymbals disappear in the mix and there is not even chance to get sibilance. Treble extension is essentially non existent.
Squeezed in between both ends is a trough 15 dB below the upper midrange peak where the vocals have to fit in: yes, they are recessed, and very much so. The voice quality is not bad, a bit lean, but there is not enough goodness. And singers disappearing behind drums is not realistic. Yep, midrange transparency and clarity suffer greatly from the bass bleed.
Strangely enough, there is no hotness from the upper midrange plateau between 2 and 6 kHz. All its excess energy is needed to balance the über-bass – however with mixed success. But when the music is light on bass, the upper midrange starts ice picking.
Together, the overcooked bass and missing treble extension create a Sennheiser-type veil which add up to a mushy, lacklustre, narrow overall presentation. A bit of sparkle by treble extension would have done well. It is that lack of treble extension that remains most memorable of the KZ ASX. I wonder what each of these drivers is doing and whether all of them are actually activated and produce sound?
Bass/non-treble also cause the soundstage to be rather narrow with not much depth either, but it is tall (albeit it remains narrow up there). 10 drivers, what can they do for resolution, layering, separation…not much as the bass smears over everything. This drivers once again work against each other rather than harmonizing. The technicalities do not live up to the driver count.
Timbre is initially ok, but with time that muffled, muted impressions takes over.
In summary, to me the KZ ASX are the sonic equivalent of horse blinders crossed with a rusty old car held together by duct tape.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Nothing new in the KZ ASX. KZ continue flooding us with quantity and not quality: more drivers, higher prices, but small sound. The company is stagnant and obviously completely misses the boat while the competition has not been sleeping. The accessories of their $100 flagship KZ ASX are not different from their $10 KZ EDX model and their tuning remains V-shaped…now almost 50 times over. I wonder whether all 10 drivers are actually connected and working…the sound is virtually dead above 6 kHz. Storage bag/container? Nope! I am not sure how anybody can justify spending $100 on this earphone. A driver-count novelty on paper that is totally futile in reality. Earphones such as the KZ ASX give Chi-Fi a bad name. There are much better options out there. Save your money…here you find another opinion on the KZ ASX.
Until next time…keep on listening!
DISCLAIMER
The KZ ASX review unit was provided unsolicited by Wooeasy Earphones Store. Thank you very much. Following my review, the unit was shipped to the next reviewer.
Get the KZ ASX (or rather something else) from Wooeasy Earphones Store
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