Pros — Well built, comfortable shell
– Accessories are good enough to not look for replacements
– Gets loud quite easily (I’ve run out of good things to say at this point)

Cons — Generally awful sound
– Flabby bass with zero definition, texture, and extension
– Completely wrong timbre
– Nasal/honky midrange
– Lower-treble peak can get fatiguing depending on genre
– Low-resolution sound with atrociously poor treble

INTRODUCTION

I will cut to the chase with this one.

KZ ASF is an IEM I cannot recommend under any circumstances. KZ usually gets things somewhat right but this is a turd that you can’t polish, and anyone who tells me otherwise will only get a stern stare filled with disappointment and disbelief.

KZ ASF is one of the new/refreshed models from KZ and apparently it replaces the AS10… or something like that among the dizzying array of IEMs they’ve released over the past three years. It almost feels like eternity, but I digress. The ASF is supposed to have a soothing sound without the trademark peaky KZ treble. In a sense, it has succeeded in that, but the solution was more like lopping the head off than cure the headache.

Extremities, man.

Note: the ratings given will be subjective to the price tier. WooEasy Store was kind enough to send the KZ ASF as a review unit. Disclaimer.

Sources used: Sony A55

Price (while reviewed): $60

PHYSICAL THINGS AND USABILITY

IN THE BOX…

The tips are decent (it’s a new variant, not the Starlines), the cable is decent, and as always KZ doesn’t find you worthy enough to throw in a carrying case or, *shudders*, pouch! But hey, we’re not getting this for silly ornaments, so we can look past that I guess.
3/5

APPEARANCE, HAPTIC, AND BUILD QUALITY

Yet-Another-Resin-Shell (YARS) makes an appearance again. The backplate of the KZ ASF is of aluminum (it seems) with some nice adornments on top. The nozzle is metal but be aware that it’s thinner (past the lip) than previous KZ offerings so some third-party tips may not fit snugly (Spinfit CP-100 for one).

The 2-pin ports are raised which sucks. Other than that, the KZ ASF shell quality and finish is adequate for the price-range. One thing that sticks out is the lack of any channel marking, even though KZ found the space for printing random text on the housing instead of something that’s more practical but hey… logic is at premium sometimes.
4/5

ERGONOMICS, COMFORT, ISOLATION, AND FIT

Despite the bulbous shape and larger-than-average housing the KZ ASF is fairly comfortable to wear. There is no driver flex as it’s an all-BA design and isolation is above-average. However, I can imagine someone with small ear-canals to have some potential fit issues but this likely won’t be widespread.
4/5

TECH INSIDE

The KZ ASF is a 5-balanced armature design with the newly released “S” models of the previous Bellsing/Knowles-clone BA drivers they were using. These drivers are apparently a new design and has improved things by a margin as per the claims. The bass driver (22955s) is apparently a vented design, though I didn’t see any bass-vent in the shell itself so I am doubtful about the proper implementation of the driver here. There is one mid-range driver (29689s), two upper-mid/lower-treble driver (31736s), and lastly one upper-treble driver (30095s). The drivers are arranged within a 3D-printed driver housing though there is no physical cross-over via tubing. KZ claims they put a lot of R&D effort behind this but the end results are hardly inspiring as we shall see.

The general sound signature of the KZ ASF is dark, with extremely rolled-off treble. The mids are overly scooped and upper-mids are too de-emphasized so there’s a severe lack of pinna gain. A dark v-shaped tuning is very hard to pull-off and KZ ASF fails spectacularly to pull off the trick.

The following impressions were made with the stock tips and cable.

Lows: Muddy, bloated, messy, flabby – pick your word. The low-end lacks sub-bass rumble and the extension is only a hum that has no definition or texture to it. The mid-bass boost also masks the subtle bass note shifts and there’s an utter lack of bass kick/slam. The bass is beyond disappointing, really, and I suspect that failure to vent a vented BA has resulted in this mess.

It’s just horrible. One listen and you’d know things are gonna go downhill.
1.5/5

Mids: The KZ ASF has a very strange midrange tuning. The lower-mids are scooped below 1KHz, but then there is a very sharp rise which peaks at 2KHz. This peak, however, isn’t enough here as there is a distinct lack of clarity. Female vocals are muffled, male vocals are nasal and honky. Nothing sounds right, midrange instruments are congested, their outlines blurred.

Resolved details in the mid frequencies are worse than some $10 IEMs nowadays. It’s incredible really how wrong things have gone here. If you thought the bass was poor, this whack mid-range tuning makes that look competent in comparison.
1/5

Treble: There is no treble extension at all. None. Nada. Zilch. Zip.

Cymbal strikes and hi-hats are barely registered. They are not just after-thoughts, they’re almost like aberrations that wasn’t even meant to be there but somehow spilled through the cracks. Even the most hardcore of metal tracks sound mushy, gushy, soggy as the sock after you accidentally step into a puddle.

There is a strange lower-treble peak around 5KHz that adds some presence but on some tracks this strange peak can induce fatigue and of course it’s just a straight downslope from there on. The treble doesn’t do much wrong because it doesn’t even exist, a bit like the second eye of cyclops.
0.5/5

Soundstage: Soundstage feels wide due to the de-emphasized upper-mids but there’s zero stage depth and height.
2/5

Imaging: Things are mostly placed left and right but there’s no sense of finer imaging. At this point, I have lost my hope anyway.
2/5

Bang-for-Buck: The KZ ASF will find itself short of the competition at $15.

It costs $60. Unless you want to use it as a modern art-piece (it’s not), a paper-weight (heavier things available for no cost), or something you gift to your enemies to piss them off – I can’t see the value in here.
0/5

Source and Amping: It gets very loud out of even regular phones and cheap dongles. Is that a good thing? Well, let’s assume for once it is.

SELECT COMPARISONS

vs BLON BL-03 ($25): The BLON BL-03 is much better than the KZ ASF in every single aspect apart from accessories and comfort.

vs BLON BL-05S ($35): The BLON BL-05S is much better than the KZ ASF in every single aspect apart from accessories and comfort.

vs Final E3000 ($50): The Final E3000 is much better than the KZ ASF in every single aspect.

vs Final E1000 ($30): The Final E1000 is much better than the KZ ASF in every single aspect.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The KZ ASF brings back nostalgia. It’s almost as if I’m listening to a no-name multi-BA IEM from 2014 bought off of Taobao, but only it costs $60 this time around instead of $6 and I’m left regretting my life choices.

Dear KZ, you have the resources, you have the capital, please oh please make use of them on something that is actually great. Not another derivative, or as is the case with the KZ ASF – not another disasterpiece.

Your fans deserve better, and you sure as heck should do a lot better.

MY VERDICT

Overall Rating: 1/5

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DISCLAIMER

WooEasy Store was kind enough to send the KZ ASF as a review unit.

Can be purchased from WooEasy Store.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

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