KZ - DQ6

These iems are hard to drive. (due to 3 driver setup)
Straight out of the box:
- bass is below avg
- mids & highs are avg
- imaging is good
- vocals are good
- soundstage is avg
One may use EQ to ramp-up the bass but overall the sound is dark and dull.
(nothing different from 10$ iems)
Skip this one and consider zsn pro x, zs10 pro or blon bl03 based on your budget.
In general, if you want great clarity, soundstage, separation and bass - consider hybrid drivers. (BA + DD)
BAs provide exceptional mids and highs while DDs handle the lows really well.
Blons are an exception because their 32ohm DD is technically far different from other DDs.

Ordered these after a lot of deliberation and consideration. I'm not a bass head, with my daily listening including a lot of Snarky Puppy, Coldplay, with occasional hits of Pop and EDM. I have a trusty pair of Audio Technica M50x headphones with a UAD Solo interface for home listening, but I often prefer earphones for travelling and bedtime listening.

The sound, then!
Out of the box, the first thing that instantly hit me was just how loud these are! Perfect for when you need to drown out the sound of aircraft engines, annoying aunties and crying babies.
But more importantly, there is a LOT of headroom for you to EQ the sound and get it where you like it to be. I personally did not like the mildly peaky highs, but a quick trip to the EQ and I have these singing just how I like! The bass is punchy, the mids are smooth and the highs nice and airy, without being too screechy. There's also enough clarity of sound where you're discovering previously unheard nuances in some songs!

If you've read reviews online, then yes, the eartips stems are, infact, narrower than usual, but fortunately for me, one of the stock eartips provided work just fine!

Might purchase a pair of spinfits if I feel like splurging, but definitely not a necessity. Might also purchase a bluetooth cable that KZ sells, I can imagine that being useful.

Bottom line, you should give these a shot!

Recently some Youtubers opened up the DQ6 and found that only the sound from 10mm DD reaches the ear of the listener. And KZ themselves gave some BS response to this aquisition. I have a DQ6(aka DQ2:/) myself, and feels cheated by their mislead marketing. The content is out there if anyone want to confirm this. I gave a positive review before, and I am changing it now since it doesn't seem right supporting a company without any morality.

I got started with IEMs with the first generation of the MEE Audio M6 Pro's and after that I bought a pair of KZ's (KZ ZST X) and I've been a big fan of the form factor because it offers high quality audio both on the go or even in doors when you want something a bit more breathable for your ears than over-ears. These are by far my favorites that I've used so far, because they fit super well and are extremely stable in the ears, making the sound much better. A better fit means better bass and soundstage.

So I'll go through each aspect of these to help anyone considering these as options make a decision (SPOILERS: It's a definite "Buy!")

The packaging (7/10): These are the first things you see when you receive the headphones and the packaging looks beautiful. It shows what the IEMs look like and it's very minimalistic. You open the packaging to reveal the earbuds inside and, underneath it, its cable and eartips. The only reason it isn't a full 10/10 is that the accompaniment of accessories is minimal, as is usual with KZ earphones. As compared to something like the M6 Pro's which come with a large variety of eartips (including Comply foam tips) as well as a carrying case, this might seem a little lacking. I personally don't mind this, as I already have leftover cases and pouches from previous headphone purchases, but if you've never purchased an IEM before, you might want to consider getting a pouch for this to keep it safe when traveling with these.

Looks (9/10): Now, this is a rather subjective category and maybe a little superficial, but in my opinion the KZ DQ6 is a very attractive looking earphone. The version I got was with the silver faceplate, but they can come in black as well, and the faceplate is metal and looks very attractive. If you wear IEMs in public, you're bound to get looks from others due to the way they fit around your ears, but at least they'll get something nice to look at with these. The faceplate gives this minimal and simplistic feel which most people with modern design sensibilities would enjoy.

Fit and comfort (10/10): Now, keep in mind that everyone's ears are different shapes and sizes, so this category may not be the case for you, but I think the fits of these are universally pretty good. The mould of these is a bit more like a custom IEM than other KZ's and includes wings for added stability in your ears. The eartips these come packaged with are very soft and not at all irritating to my ear canals (I have very sensitive ear canals and am prone to infection, so this is important!). The wire the fits around your ears is just barely noticeable and these IEMs are very lightweight so they end up being very comfortable and fit well for my ears, but your mileage may vary.

The cable (8/10): The quality of the cable here is superb for the price. They're tangle free and, most importantly, they don't easily get disturbed by tapping. I gave it the "tap test" when listening to music - meaning I tapped on the wire several times to see if I'd hear any disturbances in the sound and... nothing. These cables are overall very nice. These earphones use a 2-pin straight connector as well, but they are housed in such a way that they fit together very well and could not easily come off from casual pulling like other IEMs with 2-pin connectors.

The sound (9/10): Now, as a preface for this, I would note that my ears are *extremely* treble sensitive and I am a bass guitar player so I have a general inclination towards the mids bass, and sub-bass frequencies. The songs I tested these with are
> In the Court of the Dragon by Trivium
> Creatures X: To The Grave by Motionless in White
> Props & Mayhem by PTV
> It Never Ends by BMTH
My testing was all hardcore, post-hardcore, and metalcore and there was no burn-in period (I personally do not believe in burn-in as a practice. I've tried it and it will change the sound minimally by mellowing out highs and smoothing out bass response by a barely noticeable amount to discerning ears, but for a beginner audiophile, this will not be noticed).
- These earphones are fitted with three dynamic drivers, so the reproduction of the bass and and middle frequencies is superb.
-The sound signature of KZ earphones is a little bright and these are no exception, but the highs here are tastefully done and did not at all cause issues for my ears even during passages with pinch harmonics and screechy vocals.
- Being earphones with multiple drivers, these have very good detail retrieval and I found myself hearing little quirks in the music I was listening to that I had not noticed before.
- These have a remarkably open soundstage for a pair of IEMs. Yes, they do feel a little boxed in because that is the nature of IEMs, but it's not at all a bother.
- They have a very balanced sound signature with no frequency feeling too overpowering, but the mids are ever so slightly recessed, but it's not to prominently lacking.

Overall, I'd say these are def...

Over trebles poor bass excellent mids

I always wanted the best sound and wanted a bang for buck earphones/IEMS which can provide a good and clear audio quality. Well i have to say the Audio quality will blow you away if you are coming from the earphones of brands like xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus,Noise,Boat or others then my friend you don't really know what real audio sounds like. The bass is very different and clear not overpowering like other earphones I have used. Transitioning from MI Dual driver and Mi Superbass to Kz IEMs is a whole different experience the time you put these earphones in you will feel the audio you used to hear on other earphones is just too much manipulated by brands.

You also should remember to use good device to play music on these IEMs most laptops above 50K Inr and Phones above 15K are good enough to handle these also if you are like me then install Dolby or DTS via magisk then the quality really starts to jump.
Also a humble request to the Company Please Give better eartips as the one's in the box are crap.

It was not my first experience with the IEMs but this one was a game changer for the price. Full marks for the headphone guru for the suggestion