The astonishingly good KZ-ATE in ear headphones

[beesonthewhatnow]

I'd heard and read a few things about these online, enough to make me buy a pair.

They're a Chinese make, available form various places online, I got mine from Amazon. You should buy some too.

Firstly, what they're not. If you already have a set of in ear headphones that cost upwards of 100 quid they're not for you. If you don't get on with true "in ear" designs (i.e. you have to shove them right down your ear canal) then they're not for you either.

Fit, like all in ear designs, may take a bit of tweaking. The tips that come with them aren't amazing for me, I'll end up nicking a set of triple flange types from work. That said, your ears may be perfect with them. Also, again like all true in ear types you need to make sure they're the right way round and sealed in correctly. A slight downside is that they have no solid guide to hook the cable over your ear, just a weight on the cables to help pull them downwards. (see attached pic)

Other than that, they're amazing. Superb sound quality, good low end without being overhyped, with mids and highs that aren't particularly harsh. They're only a single driver but have a clarity to the sound that is better than some multi driver IEM's I've tried.

The best bit? They cost 10 quid.

10. Pounds. That is ridiculous.

If you have an iPod/phone/whatever, go throw away they junk they came with and buy some of these. Hell, buy two sets, then if they break of you lose them it won't matter.

Are these the best headphones on the market? No.

Are they the best value bit of kit I've ever bought? Quite possibly...

 

[mrs quoad]

If you already have a set of in ear headphones that cost upwards of 100 quid they're not for you.

Unless they're Sennheiser IE7s and you don't happen to have the unbelievably-shallow-yet-capable-of-supporting-a-hundredweight-of-driver-outside-your-ear-canal lugholes those particular fuckers were exclusively designed for, in which case throw the expensive fuckers away now and save yourself two years of misery, thinking "maybe good music is meant to sound this quiet and tinny."

Fuck you, IE7. Fuck you.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Unless they're Sennheiser IE7s and you don't happen to have the unbelievably-shallow-yet-capable-of-supporting-a-hundredweight-of-driver-outside-your-ear-canal lugholes those particular fuckers were exclusively designed for, in which case throw the expensive fuckers away now and save yourself two years of misery, thinking "maybe good music is meant to sound this quiet and tinny."

Fuck you, IE7. Fuck you.

Daft question- are you are you had them in right? The weight shouldn't really be on your ear canal, they should sit in the curve of your ear with the cable going over the top taking some of the strain...

 

[mrs quoad]

Daft question- are you are you had them in right? The weight shouldn't really be on your ear canal, they should sit in the curve of your ear with the cable going over the top taking some of the strain...

They just didn't fit. Horrendous fuckers. Tried them every imaginable way over the course of 2yrs before getting some klipsches that made me realise that the ie7s had, indeed, been an utter waste of money for my ears, thumbs.

Edit: I should add, this is an entirely personal rant, largely intended to say that some folks with inordinately expensive earphones might still benefit from £10 ones. Thumbs.

 

[keybored]

Link please? There seem to be a lot of clones.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Link please? There seem to be a lot of clones.

KZ Earphone, Ollivan Original KZ-ATE in ear Noise: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

The other bonus with them is the rather wonderful Chinese to English translations on the box:

"Perseverance origin from love. As audiophile we commitment to reappear the touching melody to everyone"

 

[PursuedByBears]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check these out.

 

[Jackobi]

Oh well, I recently bought a pair of Soundmagic E10 for £15, they're good but not quite as good as I'd hoped after reading reviews. I think I just got used to a much more expensive set of full Sennheisser headphones which blew me away when I first bought them. I didn't quite get the blown away experience with the E10s, more of wow these are very impressive for such small, in-ear headphones.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Have ordered. Ta for heads up.

 

[electroplated]

Ordered some yesterday because of this thread - just turned up and first impression is they sound good. Not sure if they are better than my other ones yet but definitely worth it for given the low price.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I'll definitely give these a shot. Need a new pair for running. Did you get yours from Amazon? Problem with good Chinese stuff is it often get copied or parts changed without you knowing.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

The may not be ideal for running, unless you can bodge some sort of wire loop to take the cable over your ears. As they come the weights will likely swing around and be quite annoying.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

The may not be ideal for running, unless you can bodge some sort of wire loop to take the cable over your ears. As they come the weights will likely swing around and be quite annoying.

Ah. I shouldnt have been so impulsive before ordering.

Anyway arrived today. I'm not a big headphone user. It took me a little while to figure out how they should fit. Can't believe how much background noise they block out. Sound quality certainly seems decent. Enough to have me searching out some 320kbs mp3 rather then just using Spotify.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

It took me a little while to figure out how they should fit.

Yeah, I guess it's not obvious if you've not used IEM type buds before. Hopefully the pic in my original post shows how they should sit in your ear. It usually helps to kinda twist them in rather than just push, if that makes any sense. The tip size is crucial as well. They only work when you have a good seal in your ear canal.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

broke my Skullcandy buds in my sleep

are these still the go to replacement beesonthewhatnow ?

 

[8ball]

I'm finding these excellent. Got them for the gym.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I'm finding these excellent. Got them for the gym.

I'm after some Bluetooth ones, although probably don't want to spend 40 quid...think they were cheaper?

 

[8ball]

I'm after some Bluetooth ones, although probably don't want to spend 40 quid...think they were cheaper?

I'm pretty sure these were cheaper then this last Christmas when I got them. That was the first link I found, so maybe they are cheaper elsewhere.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Cheers for this recommendation. Was looking for a new pair after yet another pair fucked up.
I come from the £150 part of the scale and although those sound better, it’s not massively so.

 

[kropotkin]

I'm finding these excellent. Got them for the gym.

Yeah, I've got those for audio-books while cycling. They cut out a bit with my phone in my left pocket if I turn my head to the right, but are fine with my phone in the right pocket (Bluetooth transceiver seems to be in the in line control on the right side). Just feels really wrong to have my phone in the wrong pocket. Sound seems good though!

 

[8ball]

Yeah, I've got those for audio-books while cycling. They cut out a bit with my phone in my left pocket if I turn my head to the right, but are fine with my phone in the right pocket (Bluetooth transceiver seems to be in the in line control on the right side). Just feels really wrong to have my phone in the wrong pocket. Sound seems good though!

Dunno what your pockets are made of, but I can walk half way across my pretty large gym away from the phone without it cutting out.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

KZ ATE KZ-ATE HiFi Stereo Headphones Noise Cancelling Earbuds - $8.99 Free Shipping|GearBest.com
currently £6.93 w/free shipping on Gearbest - as long as you don't mind waiting 2, 3 or 4 weeks

same are £10.20 on amazon atm - much quicker delivery - if you're bothered etc.blah.