I like listening to music, especially those tracks from the 90s and early 2000s when the music was actually good and authentic. And I recently got into collecting IEMs because these little pieces of equipment give me exactly what I want: pure high quality audio, without the wireless shenanigans as excuses to raise the cost.
This cheap looking piece of plastic made me think many. It has a basic dynamic driver (DD) on each side but the tuning is really good, so good that it deceives me with its price.
For only about 120.000 VND (~$5), the sound is so close to that of a higher-end one that is 10 times the cost.
The build
Compared to the normal EDC variant which has the design that fits the eyes of a 4 year-old, this “pro” version is more of for a grown man. Considering its price, the appearance is actually quite catchy and the internals can be seen very clear through the transparent case.
The wires and solder joints combining with the incredibly light weight gave away the feeling of a cheap product that will break the moment you drop it on the ground. Surprisingly this is not the case, as I have failed to catch it many times from 1.5m of height and above and it’s still functionally intact.
Looking at the cable kind of explain how they could keep the price down so low, it’s a KZ’s classic cheap OFC cable that appears in many of their budget products. But the connecting cable is detachable which mean you can replace it with any other cable as long as the profile is B-pin or 0.78mm.
Though as much as I would love to recommend getting a better cable, it’s not worth it considering the new cable will likely cost as much as the IEM itself.
The sound
The build quality makes this EDC Pro a dirt-cheap IEM, but the sound it gives is valued much higher.
The treble is nicely balanced with the higher-mids, which results in a clear vocal output. Though the higher-treble tends to be a bit intense and might cause discomfort when listening to female vocal for a long period of time.
For those who like their music to be “fun”, this EDC Pro kicks hard in the bass and can still maintain the overall balance of sound, which is impressive considering too much bass can dangerously produce a muddy sound.
Now I’m more on the neutral side so this style of tuning is not my favourite in the world. But still, hats off to the guys who worked on this piece of marvel, they did a really good job focusing on the quality of sound and potentially ignoring all the durability concerns.
A few months of abusing have passed and it’s still functional, good enough for me.
My two cents
Having listened to many IEMs with better sounds, I am amazed by the performance so close to those more expensive ones at such price range. It feels like there was some low-wage labor going on at KZ’s factory, or else they couldn’t possibly release this product to the market and expect any profits at all, either that or they might just be selling this product as a marketing campaign.
I have no affiliation with KZ, but I think they should have put more metal to the build and add another 0 to it’s price.
Should you buy it?
It’s dirt-cheap, just get one and thank me later.