Compare In-Ear Monitors

Five KZ sets, side by side. All of them are the no-mic stage version, all use a detachable 0.75 mm 2-pin cable and a 3.5 mm plug, and all are stocked in Mount Maunganui.

How to read this

Driver count is not a score. A sixteen-driver set is not “twice as good” as an eight-driver one. What extra drivers actually buy you is separation — splitting the frequency range across specialised drivers so a hi-hat and a bass guitar do not have to come out of the same diaphragm. That matters enormously in a dense band mix and barely at all if you are practising alone at home.

Balanced armature vs dynamic. Dynamic drivers move more air, so they do low end easily and sound full. Balanced armatures are small and fast, so they track detail cleanly but need help for real bass. Hybrid sets use both. All-BA sets like the AS16 Pro X trade a little low-end weight for speed and precision.

Impedance and sensitivity tell you how loud it goes. Lower impedance and higher sensitivity mean more volume from the same source. Everything here runs happily off a wireless belt pack or a desk headphone output — none of it needs an amp.

Every set, side by side

More drivers is not automatically better — it buys separation between instruments, which matters most in a dense band mix. Every set below is the no-mic stage version with a detachable 0.75 mm 2-pin cable and a 3.5 mm plug.

Model Drivers (per side) Total Impedance Sensitivity Best for From
KZ EDX Pro XWarm and full — lifted bass, forward vocals 1 × super-linear dynamic driver (per side) 2 23 ± 3 Ω 108 ± 3 dB Your first in-ears · vocalists · a spare set in the gig bag $79.00 View
KZ Castor ProHarman: neutral and honest · Bass Up: weighted low end 2 × 10 mm dynamic drivers (per side) 4 Harman 22–40 Ω · Bass Up 16–22 Ω Harman 101–104 dB · Bass Up 100–103 dB Drummers · bass players · anyone who needs the low end in their ears $114.00 View
KZ ZS10 Pro XDetailed and separated — crisp highs, controlled bass 4 × balanced armature + 1 × 10 mm dynamic (per side) 10 29 Ω 112 dB Full-band stage monitoring · busy mixes · the all-round pick $164.00 View
KZ ZS12 Pro XBalanced and adjustable — 4-position tuning on the Tuning version 5 × balanced armature + 1 × 10 mm dynamic (per side) 12 25 Ω 106 dB Touring players · changing rooms · anyone who wants metal shells $179.00 View
KZ AS16 Pro XReference-flat — fast transients, extended treble 8 × balanced armature (per side) — no dynamic driver 16 19 Ω 116 dB Vocalists · engineers and MDs · checking mixes on the road $179.00 View

Prices are the lowest variant price in NZD, GST included. Scroll the table sideways on a phone. Not sure which to pick? Email info@bandfactory.nz and tell us what you play.