V-MODA Zn In-Ear Monitor Review

From its headquarters in Milano, Italy headphone manufacturer V-MODA has brought an injection of stylish yet reasonably priced high-quality headphones to the industry.

The company achieved notoriety when when it launched its award-winning Crossfade M-100, a sub-$300 headphone that punches well above its price-point. The M-100 delivered clever design and versatility in a tough package that stands up to the rigors of the most demanding mobile headphone use. Unique designs and a distinct warm sound signature are mainstays of V-MODA.

The company has earned a reputation for well-designed products with an aesthetic that speaks to durability as much as style, while maintaining a distinctly pleasant acoustic signature. CEO Val Kolton has been able to identify and fill niches in the headphone market by listening to the hi-fi community and responding in new designs.

V-MODA has done it again with a rugged new in-ear monitor it calls Zn. While these aren’t the manufacturer’s first earphones, Zn is V-MODA’s flagship in the earbud department. With a bit of Breaking Bad flavor, the earbuds are named for zinc in the Periodic Table. But its namesake isn’t just a platitude, there’s actually zinc in the housing around the drivers and V-MODA says it provides the Zn with its unique acoustic profile. 

Zn retails at $180 and V-MODA claims it’s engineered to specifically compete with much more expensive earphones in the $300 to $1,000 range.  It’s a bold claim to say your product competes with higher priced products and we’ve all heard it before. But V-MODA isn’t generally known for indulging empty hyperbole.

Design

What about these real zinc earpieces? They certainly look cool as they transform what are usually just plastic earpieces into a kind-of functional jewellery. V-MODA says they’re made from a zinc alloy cast in a patented process with what V-MODA calls… “microscopic precession necessary for consistent acoustic quality”.  The company also says the zinc alloy not only looks great, it provides a unique hardness and resonance nature for a fine-tuned audio performance. Having spent some time with Zn the first impression I get is durability. These are tough looking earbuds, constructed with rugged material.

While the earpieces are composed of zinc, the cable is a critical component in holding everything together that tends to be the weakest link in most earphones. Zn’s cable is made from reinforced Kevlar that’s flexible yet stiff enough to resist entanglement and tearing. The cable looks and feels rugged enough to endure many years of service providing music on your travels and comes in one or three-button varieties (for Android or iOS respectively) with a built-in mic. Zn is also backed up with a 2-year warranty. But that’s not all… V-MODA is so confident you’ll love Zn you can order a pair for a 60-day trial period and send them back for a refund if you’re not completely satisfied with the sound quality.

The buds themselves are compact with gleaming alloy housings around the back-end. Inside each earphone is an 8-mm driver rated at 16-ohms. And for you athletic types, Zn includes a set of ear-clips that stabilize the listening experience when you’re in motion. 

V-MODA tells us that the Zn is a limited edition earphone. It seems the earpieces include built-in acoustic filters between the drivers and housing. These filters are a unique Italian-made design that, according to V-MODA, controls the airflow mechanics inside the earpiece and are the primary gatekeepers of the acoustic tonal quality that V-MODA has built into this design.

On the official thread over at Head-Fi.org, V-MODA CEO, Val Kolton has talked about the limited availability of certain parts so you may notice some on-again/off-again availability of Zn at most retailers online.

Included with the earphones are eight pairs of V-MODA’s own Bliss 3.0 eartips and a small carrying case with a magnetic fastener that holds everything together and easily slips into a pocket. 

V-MODA Zn IEM Sound Quality Tests

V-MODA says the 8-mm drivers inside the earpieces are specially tuned for crystal clear midrange and clarity. So, one might expect they’ll perform with a flatter frequency response like a true in-ear monitor should.

Generally, I am a full-sized, over-ear headphone person. Even using a good pair of earbuds, when compared to open-back, over-ear headphones you can expect limited soundstage. What’s worse is sometimes earbuds can make it sound as if music is playing inside your head. I prefer the wider soundstage of full headphones that sound like I’m the middle of a concert. The other common drawback to earbuds is experienced during longer listening periods, these sessions can get uncomfortable when using silicone ear tips usually provided by the manufacturer.

On the plus side, the earbud form factor can provide a certain amount of acoustic isolation which is perfect for those of us that work at a desk in front of a computer all day. The extreme portability of earbuds is also a plus, they’re generally quite efficient so external amplification may be optional. But if you can put a DAC/amp behind any earbud it will almost certainly improve the sound.

Out of the box, I tested the V-MODA Zn IEMs with the largest pair of Zn included eartips, in the Bliss 3.0 line. I soon abandoned them in favor of a pair of Comply Isolation Plus eartips which have become my favorite since using them for an RBH EP3 earphone review. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Comply tips I wouldn’t consider the in-ear form factor for long listening sessions. But foam tips are so comfortable and the acoustic isolation they provide is such a dramatic effect they make the perfect companion for computer work. The nearly absolute lack of ambient environmental sound really helps brings out detail across the frequency spectrum but especially in the bass.

After much listening the verdict is… awesome!

As promised the tonal quality is easily perceived as quite even-handed across the audible spectrum, Zn is rated with a 2-to-25,000 Hz frequency response. Even using the Comply tips, which can augment bass, there was no audible bloat in the lower-end. The bass was powerful where required but never at the expense of the detailed midrange.

Thomas Newman: Spectre Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the latest installment of James Bond franchise is on my personal rotation when I need work-music with no lyrics that propels my mind forward. Thomas Newman’s second Bond soundtrack does the trick.

The music alternates between rhythmic percussion with a Spanish flair to tensely dramatic. The Zn earbuds were perfectly suited to both. The earphones effortlessly provided rich, warm tonality to orchestra pieces like Vauxhall Bridge and were equally at home when the soundtrack switched to its more rhythmic pieces like Los Muertos providing some bounce with a fair amount of toe-tapping pump in the bass, perfect when you’re OCD’ing on a line of code or copy.

The Comply tips make the perfect companion to the Zn tonality. It’s nice to get the extra bass that the foam tip’s isolation provides. But since the Zn isn’t specifically tuned to bass, it never seems to go overboard.

Heavy Metal on Zn

As the name suggests, zinc is a heavy metal, so I had to test them out on some of my amplified guitar favorites. A handmade Spotify playlist runs the gamut; from Metallica and Pantera to Coal Chamber and Disturbed. But these days its heavy on the Motorhead, always a staple on my phone's music collection, the band has been on heavy rotation lately as I mark the passing of Lemmie who left us so much great sound on Dec 28 2015. To celebrate the music of Lemmie — Zn was going to be tested for heavy metal!

The sonic demands of metal are surprisingly subtle considering its detractors will call it a bunch of noise. There is a lot going on in the mid-range, but without a subtle punch down low, it’s easy to lose the heavy in heavy metal, leaving it sounding more like anemic tin. V-MODA’s Zn provided just the right balance for rock and the right detail for vocals. While the earbuds are revealing they definitely give off a warm tonal quality that prevents them from being truly analytical monitors. I can see how V-MODA has developed a loyal following for its signature sound as it is a distinct profile that constitutes a departure from the full-sized planar magnetic headphones I’ve been listening to the most lately.

In listening to songs like the Motorhead anthem, Rock and Roll, too many headphones these days don't get it right. In an effort to bloat the midbass, possibly for the benefit of electronic and hip-hop, they over-represent the bass drum at the expense of everything else. So, I have to conclude that these might not be the IEMs you're looking for if you're specifically looking for a lot of pounding bass. But Zn is more than capable when it comes to midranges, guitars and the human voice takes on a silky quality that is difficult to describe, Zn seems to exude sonic pleasure.

Conclusion

For $180 you can’t go wrong. I haven’t heard enough $300 to $1000 IEMs to really give any credence to VMODA’s claim that Zn can compete in this price range. But it’s a good bet that if you’re looking for warm, musical listening experience from a pair of earbuds that won’t leave you feeling acoustically claustrophobic, Zn has all the right elements in place.

The best compliment I can give the new V-MODA Zn is the fact that they’ve replaced my full-sized Denon DH-600 headphones as my go-to at work. I wouldn’t give up the mix of plush comfort and punch of the DH-600 for just anything! These are great headphones for long jam sessions particularly suited to what I like to hear at work that ranges from no-lyric dub-step, ambient, screaming hyper metal or mellow classic jazz.

I found the Zn armed with Comply foam tips are comfortable for extended listening and they provide me with a more adaptable sound signature that is a great for any mood or music.  Color me impressed these are damn good IEM's.