this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2026
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I was really, really unhappy with my KZ ZST. They did sound good for the price, but they did not hold up at all and I found them uncomfortable for extended use.
That's interesting. I've had the opposite experience. Been wearing them for like 7 years. They're the only buds I can wear literally all day long and even forget they're there. I did replace the tips with comply foam ones though.
In my case, It was the shape of the enclosure that caused me discomfort, not the tips. I have tried pretty much all of the meme IEMs, most of them didn't work well for me, but I can still say that they sounded quite good for the price. Comfort is king when it comes any sort of headphone for me though. I usually prefer larger over ear headphones except when I am traveling. Right not my Etymotics are my go to IEMs.
What is a "meme IEM"?
There was a string of IEMs, almost all of them Chinese brands like KZT, that were all lauded as "sounds better than $500 IEMs, only cost $10!!!" that were way over hyped for a while. And I bought many/most of them because they were so cheap and then usually gave them away because they were not the magic thing the hype insisted.
I mean I'm not an "audiophile" and I found these to be a good combination of inexpensive, comfortable, and decent sound.
But I also haven't owned 1000 pairs of headphones so maybe I'm missing out.
As I said, they sounded decent, very decent for the price, I just found them uncomfortable. Headphones don't need to be expensive to be good.