ZERO AUDIO-Ear Stereo Headphone Carbo Tenore ZH-DX200-CT

-Update on December 6th, 2018:I am still blown away by these. They seem rather tough too. I've had a few dozen (yes, a few dozen) occurrences where either the left or right earbud gets yanked *very* hard right out of my ear while I'm just going about my business while enjoying my music. Yeah, I'm a bit clumsy. Each time it happens, I expect to find that the earbud that was yanked out no longer works, yet they are still both producing excellent audio quality for me.If anything, I think they are getting better and better with continued use, kind of like how a fine wine gets better with age. I never believed in that whole break-in period with speakers before, but maybe it's true because I certainly keep thinking that they seem to have an even better sound than they did brand new. I'm not 100% convinced it's true yet, but I'm certainly no longer 100% sure it's just The Placebo Effect! I'm beginning to believe there's something to it.Finally, I have to repeat something I said in my original review because I definitely still feel this way: if I ever break these, I feel my only choice for a replacement on the entire market is another pair of these! Sure, the temptation would be there to say that it's an opportunity to try some other earbuds in this price range (that is, something I can afford), but I'd be afraid of never finding anything that have as good of sound as these do (without spending a few hundred dollars, which I never have).-Update on November 16th 2018:Someone here on Amazon named EZAS updated their review to say they sent theirs back. This person claimed their reason was some kind of "graininess" to the audio quality. I'm not hearing this at all, so I don't know what they are talking about. They said it kept their music from being musical. While testing their new Carbo Tenores, this person said they were easily staying focused on testing and skipping to the next track instead of forgetting they were just testing (that is, they weren't getting lost in the music). Again, I don't know what this person is talking about. The sound I get is extremely clean and perfectly balanced, and it takes me away every time. I even recently used these for watching a movie, and it was an amazing experience.This person also said they have to turn the volume up to get these to sound their best. Really? That's not my experience. If I can say anything related to using a high volume, it's that these are so well balanced that I can use a high volume when I'm in the mood for a high volume and I never get any fatigue.Perhaps the Carbo Tenores that EZAS ended up with were defective. All I know is, I'm not experiencing anything negative. It's all 100% positive and I'm also rediscovering my music. I admit that I'm a little bit of a bass head though, so I guess if I were asked to find something to complain about, then it would be that these aren't improperly balanced with a boosted low frequency range! I had Sony MDR-EX71 earbuds (look them up) that finally quit working on me recently, and those were rather bass heavy - while also being nice and clear and balanced. I kinda miss that bass heaviness, but I do realize that such a bass heaviness gives a false impression of what the music was intended to sound like. Please allow me to elaborate.I'm in the middle of listening to all of Dream Theater's studio albums. With the Carbo Tenore earbuds, I discovered something interesting. On Dream Theater's album called Systematic Chaos, they did a fantastic job changing the sound of the drums to match the music. On some songs, the bass drum was super powerful and very up-front with extra low-end and punch. On other songs, it was much less noticeable. What I'm getting at is, if I were using earbuds that are designed to be bass heavy (like I think the Sony MDR-EX71s are), I think those songs with a much more powerful bass drum sound would have been enough to make me want to turn the volume down. However, thanks to the extremely good balance that the Carbo Tenores have, I didn't need to adjust the volume at all.I would rate the sound quality of the Carbo Tenores as "THX Certified".***Original review:***If I ever break these or lose these, there's absolutely no question about it: I'd buy them again as though they are the only earbuds that exist.Be advised though: with earbuds that have this type of tips (it's a very common type), you have to create a perfect *WET* seal in your ears. You can't just insert them dry because that won't give you a perfect seal and it will result in sound leakage, and sound leakage makes the sound become weak and thin and unpleasant. You want to create perfectly sealed little studios in your ears. When you do, you'll know it. This is just the way it is with earbuds like these. It's nothing new.You also need to try all 3 of the tip sizes provided because if you don't, you might be missing out on a noticeably superior sound. I've had these earbuds for 9 days, and today I discovered that the large earbuds provide a much better sound for me than the mediums due to a much better studio-like seal in my ears. I was already very happy with these earbuds, but now I'm blown away.

I don't want to use wired earbuds plugged into my phone - the phone jacks break to easily. I reserve that for emergencies or when my BT setup is not available. And I do like Bluetooth; I have the MW600 which though quirky does what I want, including having an FM tuner. But the buds that come with it are cheap, and even when you size the cushions right, you get lots of outside noise, no bass, just not a great sound. So I went with the bulk of the Tenore reviewers and got a set - changed cushions to the Large, and started listening via my MW600. Wow! So nice to hear a full range of audio in listening to music. I resumed commuting nearly 3 months ago after 7 years only commuting a little - I need my music to relax, even nap, but when awake, make me feel good. And I've finally gotten that back again. Really great sound!BTW, I will order some Comfort cushions - not the isolating, I think; I need to have some idea of what is going on around me. I have checked out the size - this takes the 200's! I may also see what other cushions I have and check them out too.At any rate, these sound great, and work well with my BT. Please remember - these do not have a microphone - the MW600 already has one.So if you want great audio and don't need a mic, this is a great choice at a very nice price!

These are great BUT...Update after a month:I sent these back. The problem is a very slight graininess. It's slight, but it keeps music from being well musical. I wouldn't call them sterile or analytical. They do have a nice detailed sound. They are slightly revealing of poorly recorded music or low bit rate. They need a little bit of volume to sound their best. I have about 25 songs I use to audition speakers and headphones. While using these I found myself skipping to the next song instead of forgetting that I was auditioning headphones and getting lost in the music. And while using them that bit of graininess on horns or grating vocals (think Bob Dylan) would pull me out of what I was doing. They are very light and I wasn't crazy about the angled cord but it wasn't a big deal either. Another pair of phones might be better if you wear them wire over the ear but these are so light you may not feel the need to wear them over ear.Knocking a star off for the slightly irritating sound on some music.Original reviewFirst let me say these only have about 20hrs of time on them so I would not call them fully broken in yet but they should be over that new out of the box sound.Like a lot of people I'm looking for all the sound I can get in cheap headphones. And technically these are very good and the internet is filled with great reviews. The highs are good and just walk the line of sibilance. If sibilance is there you can hear it, but it's not going to make you want to scratch your ears out. Mids are nice but not particularly impressive. Mid bass is not as controlled as I'd like but it's not smeared either. Drums are handled adequately. I'd like to hear a little bit better separation between kik drum and bass guitar, but it's not bad either. There is a very subtle bloom/extension on the bass. You don't really notice it but you would notice if it was missing. The bass is quirky. If you like a big emphasised bass it's not here. If you like super controlled bass (like hearing the beater on the kik drum and the pluck of fingers/pick on bass guitar strings) it's not here either. But for many people, I think they would find the bass handled well overall. The level of detail on bass I'm talking about just doesn't come on sub $50 headphones.They do a very good job with acoustic guitar. Where I think they do best is on details like cymbals, and other things with 'ring'. Don't get me wrong these are very nice phones, i'm just being super picky for people who are trying to pick based on the sound signature.I'm not a soundstage guy, but I would say that soundstage on these is barely adequate. There is no sense of space around the instruments and all the instruments sound like they are in a straight line. There is little sense of the room the instruments are being played or and/or you can't hear much of reverb on the instruments. I'm not saying that these things aren't there at all, but they don't stand out.What I'm saying is they do a very nice job, and do a nice job for the price, but I'm not hearing the $100+ headphone beaters some make these out to be. But I can see where some people would really like these, and many people do if you read reviews They just are not super impressive in ways I look for. While I could make a case that these are technically better I liked my Vsonic GR02 Bass Edition more. And I liked my old NUFORCE 700M's (about $90 at the time) much better.At times they are a touch forward and a bit unforgiving of poorly recorded music. Not bad, just a bit unforgiving. A case can be made that is a good thing in 'phones because that is accuracy. And I agree but sometimes it is enough to take me out of the music. If something is bit blaring, like a trump, you are going to notice it is blaring. If you hate Bob Dylan's voice you will really hate it with these. LIke right now I'm listening to Miles Davis and the horn just doesn't sound right. Yeah it should be raw and in your face and it is, but it lacks a certain depth of the horn that would/should balance that out.They can be a tiny bit dry, a bit sterile? By that I mean they lack a bit of musicality that makes me want to listen to more music. When I was first auditioning with my music I found myself skipping to another song instead of getting lost in the song and forgetting that I was auditioning headphones.I suspect that these might benefit from a headphone amp, but I"m not going to buy a $50 amp for $50 headphones. I'd rather put that money towards a bigger budget for the phones themselves.I wanted to try these to see what I think of these and if your budget is less than $50 they are probably hard to go wrong with for a balanced sound. Not flat, not V-shaped, and not too fatiguing. If you told me I had to keep these I would not cry myself to sleep but I plan to up my budget a bit and find something that suits me a bit more. At touch more musicality, a bit more air around the instruments, and more impressive mid-range.Note: in spite of my criticisms I'm giving these 5 stars because they really are very good and I could see where people would really like these.

Tydlig, väl definierad bas och fin kvalitet över mellanregistret och med okej diskant. Kommer med ett par olika storlekar för öronpluggar för olika behov. Löjligt pris för vad du får. Skulle lika gärna kunna kosta tre gånger så mycket om de var av ett mer känt märke.Kvalitet som nyköpta över ett år efter inköp.

Le cuffie hanno pienamente soddisfatto le mie aspettative, sinora. Il packaging è spartano e gli accessori consistono esclusivamente in un sacchettino di stoffa e tre differenti tappini di gomma (un assortimento molto più limitato di quello che correda per esempio le più economiche e comunque ottime Soundmagic E10) ma le cuffie sono estremamente leggere e calzano molto bene. Il suono è equilibrato ed estremamente dettagliato senza essere affaticante ma rimanendo invece sempre estremamente musicale. I bassi sono ben presenti anche se tutt'alro che preponderanti (le cuffie non son probabilmente le più indicate per un "basshead") definiti e secchi.

Despues de experimentar por mucho tiempo con audifonos que requieren utilizarse dentro del canal del oido (como estos), llegue a estar completamente convencido de que jamaz volveria a utilizar audifonos de este estilo simplemente porque lastiman demasiado el canal del oido. Pero despues de leer excelentes comentarios en algunos foros y luego una publicacion en theverge, decidi comprar estos audifonos y no podria estar mas contento!.Lo principal que es la calidad del audio es simplemente impecable, en especial los bajos! ("bass"). Estos reproducen unos bajos sublimes: completamente solidos y bien definidos, absolutamente otro mundo si los comparas con audifonos de marcas muy populares como "beats" o bose que retumban horrible al reproducir los bajos, aunque si te gusta el bass/bajos un poco exagerados, no creo que este producto sea de tu agrado. Los mismo aplica para otras frecuencias de audio (medias, altas...) todo absolutamente bien definido, balanceado y lo mas importante, mezclado. El audio que reproducen estos audifonos es muy espaciado, me refiero a que se escucha como si estuvieses en un pequeño teatro o recinto donde no se siente que tienes a un lado al vocalista (o demas instrumentos) pero tampoco se escucha como si el artista se encuentra a distancia; es muy dificil explicar este efecto, que desde mi punto de vista es perfecto pues no escuchas la musica ni muy lejos, ni demasiado cerca.Vuelvo nuevamente a la comodidad de uso. Estos audifonos son diminutos, facilmente puedes recostar tu oido en una almohada mientras los utilizas y el pequeño chicharo en tu oido NO se mueve ni se escucha diferente!!!, es increible la comodidad. Aunque probablemente esto varia de persona en persona pues si tu oido tiene razgos fisicos que no se adaptan a audifono, obviamente se van a mover y causar incomodidad. En mi caso afortunadamente quedan perfectos.Por ultimo solo resta decir que sinceramente los materiales de construccion del cable no parecen muy duraderos. Tampoco son cualquier cable chino de 2 centavos pero se nota que el cable y construccion del audifono es algo fragil. Hay que cuidarlos bastante.

I've had these headphones for over a year now and they are still my go-to set. I haven't felt the need to get a different pair yet because I'm just so impressed at the quality and the value for money you get with these.I've tried a few different pairs of earbuds in the past, such as the JVC HAFX40A, and I usually try to aim for pairs that won't break the bank. Having checked many earbud threads in forums, I was pointed in the direction of the Carbo Tenores, as they were apparently the best midrange earbuds available. I wasn't disappointed.The earbuds are shaped like bullets, with a rubber cap that can be replaced with the two sets of different sizes included. The buds are coated in a shiny foil and feel quite solid, although the wire is placed at a somewhat odd angle to the rest of it. This could make them less durable, but I've not had mine break just yet. The earphones come with a little bag for carrying them in which I found to be just enough to keep them safe.The end of the wire has a jack which is placed at 90 degrees to the cord. This seems a little odd, but I've found this to actually add some extra durability to the wire as it cannot bend where the jack is, which is where most of my pairs break.The sound quality of these earbuds is really quite something. I was amazed at just how much better my music sounded, and I honestly could not believe that they were not more expensive. The highs are very crisp, if somewhat sharp (hence the 'tenore'), with the rest of the range feeling punchy in all the right places. I am able to clearly hear the bass in almost every song in my collection, which ranges from dance to funk and from classical pieces to rock. There is little sound leakage from the earbud and I found them to be rather effective at drowning my surroundings out when placed in my ear, in which they fit snugly.I'm very happy with these headphones and would gladly buy another pair if I was in need of another.

Build quality is pretty good with supple cables, and some decent strain relief on the right angle connector. Strain relief near the headphones is pretty short where I would rather see be a bit longer. The carbon fiber and aluminum based housing is extremely light and small. Interchangeable silicone tips are mediocre at best. The stock tips have ridges that dig into the skin in your ear when you try to achieve a good seal. To remedy this irritation, I installed a set of Comply foam tips size t-200 which fit perfectly.Sound quality is clear and warm-neutral. Instrument separation is good, but not great. Lows are punchy and fast, Mids are clear, and highs are here and there.For 50-60 dollars, one of the best value headphones for people with small ear canals.