There’s a particular rabbit hole that starts with wondering whether expensive headphones are a scam, and the KZ ZS10 Pro is where a lot of people fall in. It packs five drivers per side, one dynamic for the bass and four balanced armatures for everything above it, into a metal shell that costs about fifty dollars. The cable detaches with a two-pin connector, the housings are aluminium with a steel faceplate, and they hook over your ear rather than hanging from it. Twenty-four ohms, so a phone drives them fine. No battery, no app, no pairing.
The tuning is bright and bass-heavy at the same time, which sounds contradictory and mostly isn’t. Detail in the treble is genuinely impressive for the money, drums and percussion snap, and there’s more low-end shove than the driver count would suggest. What suffers is the middle: midrange timbre is the acknowledged weak spot, and voices can sound slightly off in a way that’s hard to describe but easy to notice once someone points it out. They measure out around 7.7 out of 10, fantastic for the asking price, which matches what my ears say. Buy these for excitement, not accuracy.
Build is the pleasant surprise, and it’s why these hold up. Metal shells and a braided replaceable cable mean a broken wire costs a few dollars rather than the whole earphone, and the over-ear hook keeps weight off your ear canal on long sessions. Two things to know. The uncoated metal is a scratch magnet, so they will look worn well before they sound worn. And isolation is patchy: it blocks a decent amount overall but leaks badly below about 700Hz, so engine rumble on a bus or a train still gets through. These are earphones for a quiet room or a walk, not a subway platform.
There’s no Bluetooth, no charging, and no software, just a two-pin cable into a 3.5mm plug. That detachable connector opens things up though, since two-pin cables are everywhere and cheap, so a Bluetooth neckband or a balanced cable are both easy upgrades later. Worth knowing before ordering: the version on most listings has no microphone, so check whether you’re getting the mic variant if calls matter. A few owners have also reported fit problems with certain quarter-inch adapters, which is worth a moment’s thought if you plan to use these on an interface.
Get these if you’re curious what a multi-driver earphone sounds like and you don’t want to spend two hundred dollars finding out. They’re for the person who listens closely at a desk, on a sofa, or on a quiet walk, and who enjoys a bit of sparkle. Skip them if you need isolation for commuting, or if you want a neutral, honest tuning to work against. If accuracy is what you’re after at similar money, the Sennheiser IE 100 PRO is the more grown-up choice. But for pure fun per dollar, the ZS10 Pro is still hard to beat.
Pros
• Five drivers a side at a price that seems like a mistake
• Detachable two-pin cable, cheap and easy to replace
• Bright, detailed treble with real bass behind it
• Metal build feels far better than the money
Cons
• Midrange timbre is the acknowledged weak point
• Leaks low-frequency noise, so poor on trains and buses
• Bare metal scratches easily
• Most listings ship without a microphone
Our score: 7.6/10