The latest Waist Drum from HZSOUND packs a 6mm micro dynamic driver with a polymer composite diaphragm enclosed in high-quality 304-grade stainless steel bullet-style ear cavities.
HZSOUND Waist Drum uses a high-purity OFC silver-plated cable with standard 2-pin 0.78mm connectors.
Both the earpieces and cable sides have letters R and L on them to indicate the Right and Left sides, in which you have a hard time seeing in the dark. It would have been much better with just one “red” ring on the Right side. The cable has a 3.5mm L-shaped plug for easy connectivity with mobile devices.
HZSOUND Waist Drum is also available with an in-line microphone. The microphone shell is made up of aluminium alloy material. It has three-key in-line control buttons allowing the users to easily use multiple media controls (Volume, Play/Pause, Call pickup/disconnection).
Features
- Compact Bullet-shaped form factor.
- Stainless Steel ear cavities.
- Balanced Hole Semi-Open Back Design.
- Two-pin 0.78mm connectors.
- High-purity OFC Silver-Plated Cable.
- Available with an in-line microphone.
- L-Shaped termination plug.
What’s in the box
Technical Specs
- Impedance: 16Ω.
- Sensitivity: 104dB.
- Distortion: 1%.
- Frequency Response Range: 20Hz-40kHz.
Price: 33.99$
I would like to thank Keephifi for providing me with the review sample of the HZSOUND Waist Drum (no affiliate link).
Sound
I found the bass to be quite generous, but well controlled. The sub-bass region had rumble, intensity, and a strong sense of ambience. The sub-bass that came from the Waist Drum almost feels atmospheric which is impressive for a budget-priced dynamic driver. It extends very well and punches energetically. Bass is speedy and has a very quick decay. Not the most natural but some may like this cleaner-sounding signature.
However, when I listened to drum hits I found that Waist Drum was not able to present the transients of drum hits. Each drum hit seemed to linger for a bit too long making drum hits a bit muffled, taking away the snappiness of drum hits. Although the bass quantity on the Waist Drum is generous, I would have wanted to hear better drum transients from the Waist Drum.
Male vocals on the Waist Drum are a little recessed with detail struggling to shine through as result. When I listened for texture in the vocals it sometimes felt a tad glossed over. I also found that the male vocal range was slightly thinner than I expected it to be. Female vocals though are a different story. The female vocal range seems to be slightly elevated, and a bit more textured compared to how male vocals sound. While the midrange plays fairly well when there’s just one instrument playing, I found the Waist Drum to fall short when multiple instruments are being played at the same time. I would have wanted to hear a unique timbre to each instrument in the recording. Guitar plucks are prominent and well defined. Guitar plucks are believable even the decays sound natural and snappy, I can even hear how the guitarist is shifting his fingers on the fretboard of his guitar. The upper midrange on the Waist Drum is detailed but on the bright side, may be more elevated for my taste as there can be slight harshness on high volumes or on some tracks.
The treble range is also well extended being able to present transient decays well. Details in the upper treble range were prominent where chimes and cymbals are believable. The energy in the upper mids is carried over into the treble. It is airy and has a good amount of clarity and sparkle.
I found that Waist Drum can present soundstage quite well and extends well beyond the edges of my head. There is a bit of depth in the soundstage also. However, when I listened to tracks that have precise placement of sound elements, the Waist Drum can only present a general direction of where each of the balls falls.
Sum-Up
To sum it up, the HZSOUND Waist Drum isn’t going to blow minds but it presents a refreshing tuning with a relatively budget price tag. Its build is solid and has an attractive design if you are in search of a bullet-style IEM with detachable cables. But talking about budget IEMs there are many competitors lately even with lower prices which you might also consider depending on your sound preferences. I think Waist Drum has potential for sure, let’s see what happens after some modding.