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The first thing that struck me about these earphones is the size of them - they're very large compared with most in-ear headphones. This is because of the dual driver setup, which gives good sound quality, but with compromises.

The ZS1 has memory wire, which is meant to wrap around your ears - but it has far too much of it. Unfortunately I found them very difficult to get set up. I couldn't find tips that would let them sit in my ears and get the proper seal. I actually gave up after about ten minutes and put them away. Because they're so big, heavy, tips are difficult to put on.

The only way I could evaluate the sound quality was to manually hold them in place, one hand per ear. When I did that they sounded good! Very strong bass, but good treble and mids. A really nice sounding earphone, but completely impractical. If I could've actually fit them in my ears and had them stay there they'd have gotten a much better rating, though I have scored them above as if they'd sit properly.

All in all, despite the good sound and low price they're completely impractical for me, so I have to give them a "do not buy" rating. I'd be interested to hear how others find them though.

Test setup: 256kbps mp3 files, Cyberdrive Clarity DAC feeding into a custom made PPA DAC, comparison headphones Audeze LCD2 headphones.

Disclosure: free review samples were sent to HeadphoneReviews for review.