KZ ZS10 Pro in ear Monitors Wired Headphones, 1DD 4BA Metal iem, High Fidelity Gaming Earbuds with 2pins Tangle-Free Cable, Noise Cancelling Wired Earphones for PC Game Music Video (blue, without mic)

So far, this is my first and only foray into the wild world of Chi-Fi. I was a bit reluctant at first, because as a general matter, I try to avoid purchasing anything made in China. (Long story short: I love China and the Chinese people, and have even lived and worked in Beijing. But the ongoing genocide of the Uyghurs is morally comparable to Russia's actions against Ukraine. You just can't do business-as-usual as long as that's happening.) However, what made Chi-Fi an acceptable exception to me was that these firms tend to be relatively tiny operations, very different from the manufacturers of laptops and cell phones, catering to a specialty, niche market of people who, to put it kindly, are detail obsessed. So unlike with other products, I think I can be reasonably assured that no Uyghur slave labor went into the making of Chi-Fi earbuds.So, what about the earbuds themselves? I'm not exactly an audiophile myself. Many of the audiophile reviews I've read remind me of wine reviews. What I can say is that, after 9 months of putting these buds through the paces, they've held up like a dream, and performed at a level vastly superior to any earbuds I've ever owned. The kind of quality possible now, on a low budget, is simply unearthly.There are a few mild notes of criticism I can offer, which I hope the manufacturer can take as constructive criticism. First, there's the cord. I'm okay with the longer length, truly. If anything, that's a bonus. But as others have noted, there needs to be a tie or something to much higher, closer to the face. Second, the rubber tips generally are pretty firmly attached, but there is one that, once every month or two, manages to separate itself from the ear bud. So, even firmer attachment is needed there. Finally, it'd be nice if there were magnets or some other physical mechanism that would allow these buds to attach to each other when not in use. That would make it less likely that they'd get tangled.But to keep all this perspective, on the whole, this is a 5 star product. Just one that has a few small ways it could be even better.UPDATE (October 2022): On the whole, I'm still quite positive about these earbuds, but I wanted to mention one potential problem I've noticed. For some reason, the left earbud now is softer in volume than the right. I've tested this on every device, and it's always quieter. But here's the weird thing: only at first. Once it's been in operation for a good 5-10 minutes, the disparity vanishes, and the volume is balanced between the two sides. I'm going to see if a different cord makes a difference soon. I suspect it won't, because I've already experimented by swapping the two tips of the cord the earbuds came with, and the volume disparity remains, which at least tells me that the problem is in the earbud itself, not in the cord. If any audiophiles or Chi-Fi fans can explain this, I'd love to understand how or why this happens.

Day one review (will be updating as time goes).I ordered these after seeing a good number of YouTube reviews (shout out to dankpods), expecting them to sound as cheap as their price. But holy sh*t was I surprised the first time I hit play. It's been so long since I've had proper earbuds/headphones, that I forgot all the small sounds that's in some of my favorite music. These things are simply great for the price. They most certainly aren't as good as something that cost $500 (USD), but they're $50 and SOUND like something I spent $150 or more on.Lows are low, but not over done (looking at you Skullcandy, you bassy af sobs). The highs are crisp, nearing sparkly, but again, not over done. The mids are clear, if a little soft as compared to the lows and highs, but still perfectly fine. They aren't "reference" sound quality, but well tuned with a "soft V" sort of curve, nothing overpowers and drowns out another frequency range.They can go loud AF (my pair Ohmed out at around 28Ω with the cord, so be mindful of your previously used volume level when hitting play for the first time), pretty sure you can drive these with a potato, much less a phone.The buds bodies do have a good bit of "air" in them, which gives a wider more open sound quality to them, but it also let's in a bit of outside noise.These things are shockingly comfortable. They're heavy, but not fatiguing.The tips it comes with (four different sizes,all the same "style") are serviceable for my ears and their shape, but some folks may want to get some "aftermarket" tips (lots of great companies out there for tips, you'll just have to shop around if the provided tips aren't for you).Packaging is simple, and clean.If you're into keeping boxes/packaging, there's just two super small and thin plastic bags to throw out (one that the cable comes in, and one that the extra tips come in).The user guide is a bit "chinglish" (English is NOT the manufacturers native language, so 1000% pass as English is freaking hard), but more than understandable enough to get the job done. It's short, to the point, and with an absolute minimal amount of fluff and wank (I'm willing to bet the little bit of fluff and wank in the guid is more from translation errors, than actual fluff and wank, unlike Samsung's user guides).My pair of ZS10 Pros came with the old cable (brown, right angle [90°] 3.5mm jack) which is a bit of a shame, but using up new-old stock instead of throwing them in the trash is actually a pro in my book, not a con (I'll just order the updated cable and keep the one it came with as a backup).The inline mic/remote on this particular cable feels quite cheap and terrible, but that's one of the things that got addressed with the newer cables from my understanding. The mic quality is legitimately really good though.Overall, these things are great and the very definition of "Affordable, not cheap".