V-monks !

 Finally the cheapest of all earphones tested! 

After receiving a very impressive review with price below the 10 USD i was very such impressed with this article.A few more articles also shown good reviews and finally i decided to buy for a test

The parcel received in less than one moth via ebay and received in around 20 days from the in laws home. I had together with  me the ALG81 DJ and after opening the parcel i immediately tested i with a Shortwave radio of good audio quality and later with mine auxiliary HiFI player . the Amoi.

On the PL330 radio the sound was a bit more bassy with a bit lower treble  but it is  somehow annoying

On the Amoi and a Q3 recorder and MP3 player the sound is a bit better.

From what I understood the problem lies in the audio curve. Comparing to the 81DJs curve , the Monks has some better tuning to the higher parts of bassy range and lower gain on  the higher highs. Comparing with  other earphones as my  favorite Inkax HiFi or Music , well usable for smartphones  there is a huge difference on the trebles side

Spatiality : the earphones have excellent spatiality as with the DJ81 

Second minimal problem: after long time of using them my right ear was annoyed . I also tried to use the sponges but I didn’t manage to put them over their housing The hole is too small …. After 5 tries I desisted continuing…

IN the other side I liked very much that this is the fist time there is an earphone that reaches the spatiality  the volume and the near linearity of the sound that goes a little under a semipro model as DJ81 ! 4.5/5

 

my typical way to test head- and earphones 

update : testing monks with AKG77 

Being once in the main home i cross tested monks with AKG77. The sound of AKG77 was quite better with sharper audio .listening was in sequence than parallel

To get in more detail: 

1.monks are a bit bassier  as compared with DJ81 , on the 'higher' bass band 

2.The highest highs are a bit reduced  comparing to the 77

 

XDuoo X2 mini - review

 

Its a long time forgotten blog to make 

As you can see all my posts are referring to low and middle class mp3 models. keeping some money for reserve i was for very long time into looking for a  good model of higher class ie audiophile model; I finally rested into the XDuoo X2S an entry level audiophile model Aas far as i know this brand is well reputable in the audiophile market for their valve  amplifiers and other related HIfi equipment

The 2S is around 55 -65 Eu in ebay from China and found via France at 60 plus courier shipping at 12 EU Quite good price and quite  fast delivery service in just 7 days to Middle Greece. 

 

I  shot it a few days after receiving it but lost the opportunity to blog it due to other reasons. This is  the top view of the player. Unfortunately it is very small . much smaller from what i could expect 

Very simplistic design and controls comparing to my Amoi or even to the more complex Nintaus/SHMCI .  

and  VERY small !

And  the volume control!

For its size it is quite bulky . 3 times thicker than expected. 

 

Three  interesting  photos: There is support of Greek Chinese and Thai scripts ! 

TRN ZS1 IEM earbuds

This is the last IEM model i received bu this time from the ebay in around 25 days via speed pack the newse4rice between eBay and China for a bit 'faster reception'. There is a problem with this service that the packs ater being delivered in Greece are then left in the carrier service for unknown time and finally delivered in more than 20 days after. This happened with some midMay orders As for example a ties mini pack has been sent form the seller on 10May , arrived on my country on May 26th and still on 14-6 the parcel has not been received . This is the biggest problem of someone who monitors the orders via various tracking services

Now back to the subject . TRN is a company as the KZ in the same city Shenzhen making IEM earphones with good specifications . But just look at the box design Its very similar to the KZ models The only difference are the size by only 1-2 mm wider . Buds are put in exactly the same way as the KZ The only materiel that separates from th KZ crowd are the mini information , in different folded document and of course the angry Chinglish but using good and easy to read fonts The wording seems as like it was translated by Google !

The cable is quite thin and sodt and can be  tangled very easy 'As sluts' as ew call this phenomenon in Greek Many times i spent too much time to untangle it in order to use it in my ears . I kept the, plugged into the earbuds and i do the same in all other models

The buds are very close to the ZSN in size and appearance but the design is quite different 

Performance

The audio level is not so strong as with the KZ models and is much closer to the Sound magic model And very different to the KZ models and is heard as generally poor  INoder to get the best audio i had to add the wide eartips that add a huge bass in the sound

This is a comparative comparative audio response as based in aural listening There are a little bassy adds but the trebles are qiute higher which remind the standard audio quality of BLON03 as noticed by others IN a way this can be called as subtle trebles especially in the higher part of the band 

Comparing to the ZSN its sounds with deep bass missing and treblier in the higher part 

in this article i have listened to these very beautiful story songs from MSia and Insia

1. Segalania pasti by Aida Agil a rock song 
2. Euphoria by Rere Reina a disco song in English
   
3. Semaking Sayang by Wulan Alora a dangdut pop song
   

They were also tested and compared with the tones test  audio yelding the following curves

The part on the left is from KZSN the other is the TRN with just 3 db of difference in amplitude 

And  this is the difference between the two earbuds in terms of frequency response

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A nice notice

Just looking at the plugs the have nearly the same length and distance between the poles 

As for example  the plug of the EDX can fit perfectly into the socket of the BLON03 but the cable plug of the BLON 03 cannot be plugged into the EDX as tits cable is protected by a cover 

this is the proof of the above 

I have also tested the plug of the TRN to perfectly suit into the socket  of the KZ ZSN . in this way i have tested  he sound of both and well he

KZ ZSN Pro 1

This is another of the KZ series in my artillery bought from the European part of Ali via Poland with a little more cost in both item ans shipping (via  speed delivery logistics )raising the total cost to around 15 Eu . The speed carrier delivered it to around 15 days as it could be a standard package. 

Therε is not more story behind this pack . it was tested in home for only a few seconds and then repacked into its box for later review The sound seemed to me very loud , louder than the EDX with lots of bass  that makes it seem very close to my AKG 81DJ in sound.

a few days later while in parents house i used my new

 The case is exactly the same as with the EDX 

 

AS with EDX tere is the same amount of accessories 3 different tips by size a cble better then the EDx's fatter of 4? cores with less tangling except for the bud part  that uses thinner cable and includes also microphone There is also a info booklet that is the same as in the EDx model with the same bad but erey hot Chinglish language 

And this is the closeup of the earbuds. This is a see thru plastic case that shows the interesting insides. I didnt change the buds but they  fit perfectly  in my ears so no reason to change them . 

And a closeup of the 6 tips included in the case. small medium and large size 

This is a short overview of the model with some interesting photos 

Operation 

As with previous models I made the test together with EDX and Soundmagic my standard natural sounded earbud and with AKG DJ81 as it sounded in first phase very similar. 

I was quite wrong : the sound even of the same audio level was very different: Indeed the bass was very close to the AKG model but middles an highs are quite higher making the feel of a cassette s sounded with Dolby off! Practically this makes the feeling of very crisp middle sounds on voice and instruments. under this condition i kept them to listen to the Q3's music for around one hour that is with various Malay songs with a totaly different feel than any other earphone due to the instrument and voice crispness The only problem is that tinnitus was again raised. it is a problem happened around 2002-3 after using for very listening for very long times a transistor  radio with superhets (whistles) caused by nearby radio stations on shortwaves.

The next and final step was the cross test with between EDX and Soundmagic using my test file the tones sound file 

Zoom to watch the photo in better

 

I post the amplitude level for the first time. as it is clear the ZSN is ahead with 3 db higher volume  than the EDX Just using the statistics dialogue it shown the numbers below: 

Model	Peak level	RMS max	Avreage RMS	Mean RMS
ZSN	0	-3.4	-15.5	-11
EDX	-3	-6.7	-18.9	-15
SM 10	-9.6	-12	-19.9	-17

I leave this info for you to analyze. 

Click on the photo to see that zoomed From the photo itis clear that both KZ models have higher upper band levels that makes both trebly with EDX being higher in the lower part of the trebles band. SM instead are better in the middles 

Addition 

Long time listening between this and the Sound magic and EDX 10 yield better listening towards Soudmagic. ZZSn pro is good for being used with a smartphone then listening with a MP3 player. Instead  EDX is better than ZSN for a mid time listening ie below one hour !