KZ Carol Review
Intro
Hello everyone, today I have with me the latest set of true wireless earphones from the audio brand KZ (Knowledge Zenith) named the KZ Carol. Now, KZ has come a very long way with their wireless products. Now, the Carol has an MSRP of only $30! However, at this moment you can purchase this set for only $21! Friends, you don’t even need to read any further to know that the Carol is a fantastic deal. In fact, this one is a steal. Folks, I’ve reviewed a few KZ tws over the years and owned many more. One thing I’ve seen is that the quality is steadily getting better. Each set seems to make incremental improvements over the last set according to their price point. In my opinion $30 (especially $21) puts the Carol dead smack in ultra-budget territory. You would think that the Carol would have “ultra-budget” problems too. You would think it’d be a bare bone offering with no real features, tinny sound, weak sound, frail build, horrible chipset, ya’ know… ultra-budget stuff. Especially for a true wireless set of earphones! Anytime I review a tws under $45 then I know I’m not exactly dealing with the “crème de la crème”. So why is it that the Carol brings none of those feelings whatsoever? I’ve had the Carol for just over three weeks and have used them daily for every use-case a set of true wireless could be used for. One thing is for sure, KZ is putting their price to performance capabilities on full display here.
I’ve heard a few…
Once more, I’ve reviewed a few true wireless products from KZ and have owned many more. Enough to have a very good idea how far KZ has come in this area of the Audioverse. Wireless is easily the largest piece of the pie when it comes to personal audio and the competition is massive. Now, I’ve reviewed the KZ VXS (VXS Review) which I thought (at the time) was the best sounding tws that $60 could get you. Again, at the time. After that I reviewed the KZ AZ20 (AZ20 Review) which was and pretty much still is one of the best Bluetooth adapters that you can get for the price. Lastly, I reviewed the KZ Xtra (Xtra Review) which showed off KZ’s ability to add features like ANC, pass through, Game Mode, and also carrying very good audio codecs while at the same time absolutely nailing the tuning. Just a very well done tws iem and in my opinion the best KZ has ever made. Of course, the Xtra is quite a bit more expensive than the Carol. On top of the sets I’ve reviewed, I’ve also owned many iterations of KZ tws as they were always less expensive, always tuned well, and always came with great price to performance. Seems like nothing has changed.
Price to performance
Of course, the Carol has some competition in the $30 range and of course it’ll have to out duel some very competent tws earphones. Also… of course, almost none of these sets that the Carol is competing with carries ANC. Let alone pass-through, game mode, multi-point connection etc. Furthermore, if any set under $35 has ANC, it’s horrible, truly. This is no joke. Folks, I will talk more on all of this as the review moves along but I’m just getting it out of the way right now; you won’t find a more complete tws… anywhere… for the price KZ is asking for which is flat-out “better”. I truly don’t believe there is any set out there that does out-duel the Carol at this price. Maybe the Moondrop Space Travel which does also have ANC and some other features (I wish I had the Space Travel for comparison). Or another pretty big-name company in Shanling also crafted a $35 tws with ANC and features in the Shanling MTW60. Once again, I don’t have this set for comparison, unfortunately. Having said that, there are some sets which can step up to the plate in terms of sound quality (maybe), and definitely some for battery life. Maybe other sets have an app, maybe they can change EQ settings and many other singular features. Yet no set puts it all together like the Carol at this price. Again, except maybe the Moondrop set. At least none that I’ve heard of. Now that all of that has been said, the KZ Carol everyone…
Non-Affiliated Purchasing Links:
–Lazada (slightly more expensive)
Disclaimer:
I received the KZ Carol from KZ as a review sample and in exchange I will conduct a full review and feature at Mobileaudiophile.com. I have not received any payment or any other form of compensation for this review. This set is a review sample iem. KZ has not requested to pre-read any review and doesn’t have any control over “what” or “when” anything gets published to mobileaudiophile.com. All thoughts within this review are my own, though please take note that I will always have my own biases. This is impossible to get around. I try to be as objective as my subjective self can be, but this is an opinion piece folks. Thank you to the very kind people of KZ and thanks for reading.
Carol Pros
-Build Quality for a $30 tws
-One of the better stick-style designs
-Solid fit, seals very well, deeper fit than most tws
-Working ANC (Noise Reduction Mode) which actually does attenuate sounds
-All controls straight from the buds themselves
-Natural sounding Transparency Mode
-Phone calls are fantastic for this price
-Multi-point connection (insane for $30)
-Very deep and dense bass for a tws
-Clean, smooth midrange
-Non-fatiguing treble region
-Soundstage is actually pretty good for a $30 tws
Carol Cons
-Not everyone is a fan of stick style tws
-Case is rather large (looks weird in front pocket)
-KZ Carol doesn’t have an APP
-No volume controls (c’mon KZ!)
-The Carol has no truly hi-res audio codecs (only AAC, SBC) though it’s expected at $30
-Not the most detailed presentation
-Instrument separation isn’t the best in bass heavy songs
Packaging / Accessories
Unboxing
I don’t know why I actually write out unboxing sections. Why do I take the time? It’s rather boring I would think and I’m highly convinced that nobody has ever read one of them. Yet here I am. The funny thing is that tws unboxing sections are always the absolute most bare bones of any audio device type. A distant 2nd is source reviews, but I digress. The KZ Carol arrived at my home in a very small cardboard box. This box features a picture of the Carol on the front. Pull off the sleeve and you’ll see the Carol tws earphones fit snuggly into the charging case. Take that out and all you have is a quick manual with basic functions explained as well as some obvious stuff like “How to install them into your ears”. However, you do get some eartips folks. I wouldn’t use them, but you get them. That’s about it. No charging cable, not even a six-inch charging cable like most sets give out. Also, I don’t really care about any of that, and you didn’t read it so… I guess this never really happened.
Eartips
The eartips provided come in three sizes (S, M, L). These eartips are all black silicone narrow-bore tips which are fairly flimsy in my estimation. Not that they cannot be used but I much prefer 3rd party tips. One thing which KZ does that very few other brands do is add extra room for the Carol & their other tws products to actually use 3rd party eartips. This is awesome. Mainly because I don’t like tws eartips. They are always too shallow, never feel like they seal, and they are usually bad quality tips. Now, the KZ tips aren’t bad quality, per se, yet they don’t seal in my ears and trust me I tried. I instead went with the wide-bore blue Letshuoer eartips which sealed amazingly well and truly brought out the sound out of the Carol. I do believe you will get the best sound quality with wide-bore tips as they do help to make the sound feel a bit more open and airier as opposed to narrow bore tips which I feel make the Carol sound a bit stuffier.
Charging Case
The charging case provided is similar in many ways to every other KZ tws charging case in that it too is a hockey puck shaped case, circular, and fairly fat. I wouldn’t call it overtly large, but the case does stick out when in a pocket. Having said that, KZ cases are seemingly built well enough. I certainly wouldn’t call them cheap. I do like that there is a clear pane of plastic so that I can see inside of the case. It’s a nice touch. This case has no buttons and no indicator lights on the outside of the case. In fact, the only indicator is on the buds themselves as well as on the case internally, which you can easily see from the outside of the case. The internal light is actually a “KZ” logo, both on the case and on the buds, which is also a nice touch. Like I already spoke on, the case leaves just enough room inside to use “some” different 3rd party eartips. Now, you won’t be able to use longer tips as the case doesn’t provide enough room for those. However, there is plenty of room for some shallow fit tips like the Letshuoer blue wide-bore tips that I chose. I feel this is a huge plus folks. Eartips are one of the most important pieces to the audio puzzle and KZ does afford us enough room to experiment. One more thing, the charging case is large enough to hold a substantial 400mah battery which translates to an extra 42 hours of battery life per KZ.
Build / Design / Internals / Fit
Build Quality / Design
This brings us to the actual build and aesthetic of the Carol tws. Folks, this set is $30, and it’s a true wireless earphone. So, if you want a good signal it has to be made of plastic or another much more expensive production of some other material. We’ve seen all kinds of builds, but one thing has remained minus a few different true wireless. That is… They are all made of plastic. However, there’s good plastic and cheap plastic. There’s resin material but you rarely see resin shell tws. I can say for sure that this $30 set has some good plastic. Not cheap feeling or chinsy. It’s actually quite nice. The build is obviously a stem style, and the entire body is see through transparent which lends viewing of all of the Internals. By the way, KZ did a great job of positioning all of the Internals and making it look very cool. You can see the DSP chip, the mics… the everything. It really is a wonderful design for a stem style set. Beyond the design, the KZ Carol does have three mics per earbud hidden in certain areas as well as a vent near the nozzle. The nozzles reach deeper into the ear than most earbuds which helps tremendously with actually getting a seal. Also, the nozzles are oval shaped which does help them to get in the ear a bit better. At the end of the day, the build and design doesn’t look like any $30 tws I’ve seen before. This set is built very well, and the design is fresh and very unique.
Internals
For a $30 set, KZ has really added quite a few features, and those features all have circuitry which fits inside the stem area of the Carol. However, when speaking on Internals inside of a personal music listening device, I think its most important to speak on the actual drivers. Well, the problem is that we don’t really know a whole lot. The only thing that I can tell you is that KZ used their very popular 10mm Composite Diaphragm Super-Linear Wideband Magnetic Dynamic Driver. So, it’s a very good driver folks, like, very good. It features an N52 Neodymium iron magnet structure and high-tension voice coils. This is the driver they’ve used a number of times on some very good iems and it’s good to see it in the Carol.
What else is in there?
Beyond the driver there is also a bunch of other stuff that I don’t know much about. I can tell you that KZ used a DSP chipset, but I cannot tell you which one. The chipset they used will get you AI driven hybrid ANC, pass-through, game mode, and multi-point connectivity, Bluetooth 5.3, but it also only gets you AAC and SBC codecs. Not a bad thing but also most sets will provide at least Aptx. Once again, KZ used three microphones per earbud and each came equipped with hybrid call noise cancellation, and I’ll say it now, phone calls are awesome on this set. So, most features are covered in the chipset they used, and I wish I could tell you which one. However, it’s obvious to me that it is a very capable chipset. Lastly, KZ went with a dual transmission ceramic antenna which is a very cool thing to see on such a low cost tws iem.
Chipset
Once again, I have zero idea what DSP chipset is used within the KZ Carol. Despite that, I know it’s obviously a very solid chip. I know this for a few reasons. For starters, this chipset gives the Carol Bluetooth version 5.3 and with that it also has hybrid active noise cancellation, Ai powered call noise cancellation, game mode (Low-Latency), pass through or “transparency mode”, as well as a very nice tuning and very good range. The low point of this chipset is the audio codecs. The Carol’s chipset offers AAC and SBC codecs. Now, I do have a solid argument that codecs aren’t very important. Even using AAC you are still getting 24bit/44khz sample rates which is very high along with a bit rate of a decent 264 kbs. Not the best, but also not the worst. AAC usually doesn’t have the best latency either which is why it’s great that KZ added a game mode for when lip syncing is off a bit. That said, I have yet to have a lip sync issue when watching videos, and I watch a lot of them. Also, SBC codec can really surprise you. The sample rate isn’t the best, but the bitrate can get you up to 328 kbs. However, sample rates are only 16bit/48kHz. Honestly, it’s good enough for what sounds like some awesome audio capabilities and that is good enough for me. It’s gotta sound good. So, it’s actually a very capable and solid chip. Even if I have zero clue which one it is.
Fit/Comfort
Now, fit and comfort is completely subjective and personal to each different user. I can tell you that once I got the eartips situation figured out that the Carol is a very comfortable set of tws. That body of the shell sticks out a bit more than others which makes it much easier to fit into my ears and sit there comfortably. Obviously, I have no idea how they will fit you but the comfort I get is very high.
Controls / Functionality
Earbud controls
Thankfully KZ saw to it to make all controls (except volume control) available on the buds themselves. I hate that they didn’t add volume controls, but I am managing. However, it is great that every other control is a tap or two away. You have play/pause, answer/hang-up, forward track/backward track, game mode, pass through, ANC, and you can summon your voice assistant very easily too. KZ provides a manual which goes over all the controls and it’s very intuitive and easy to follow. I’ll add a picture in this review of that so you can see what I’m talking about. Honestly, it isn’t much different than any other bud but it’s nice to have those commands on the ready.
Functionality
As far as control function ability goes, I should first mention that the touch surface is awesome. It is the entire stem which is very easy to hit in the mark every time. Most buds will be a small circle at the top of the earbud and while that is not a bad thing, it also isn’t an entire stem. Of course, we’ve seen this style in the past and so it isn’t anything new. However, it’s still a cool piece of the puzzle. Anyways, the actual touch surface is very sensitive which makes getting a solid finger tap very easy. Of course, the downside to a sensitive touch surface is the fact that you can, and probably will have phantom touches. It happens. Still, the Carol is not some jenky cheap earbud that takes forever for me to pause or forever to switch tracks. No sir… Carol works right away, everytime. I realize this seems like a petty thing. Tell me that when you have a set that is horrible in this regard.
Specifications
-Core Specs
–Bluetooth: V5.3
–Chipset: ???
–Supported Bluetooth Codec: SBC / AAC
-Battery
–Battery Capacity: 40×2 mAH(Earbuds) 400mAH (Case)
–Charging Time: ＜1.5H (Earbuds）＜1.5H (Case)
–Charging Port: Type-C
–Total Playtime: 42 hours
-What’s in the Box
–KZ Carol Wireless Earbuds
-Charging Case & 3 pairs of eartips
-User Manual
–Specs Cont…
–Driver: 10mm Composite Super Linear Dynamic Driver
-ANC: Hybrid Adaptive ANC with up to 55 dB attenuation
-Mics: #6 in total
-Multi-point Connection: Yes
-In Ear Detection available: No
-Gaming / Low-Latency mode: Yes, 55 ms
-Touch Controls: Yes
–Frequency Response: 20hz to 20khz
–Earbud battery life per charge: 7 hrs
–Water Resistance: Yes (I don’t know what level of resistance)
Features
Game Mode (Low-Latency)
I am amazed that KZ was able to add in as many features as it does have and one of those features is “game mode” or “low-latency mode”. To be honest I rarely use this feature but when you need it, you need it. Now, KZ advertises that the latency in game mode can get as low as 55 milliseconds, which is ridiculously low. That’s basically as fast as the natural time difference. You cannot tell if there is any latency or lag at all. So, for videos it is fantastic. Yes, it does eat up the battery a hair faster but nothing you’ll notice. Where it really pays off is graphically high and chaotic games. Anything like first person shooters like “Call of Duty” etc. will have a very slight lag only sometimes. Only in heavily congested sequences. I did try this out for quite a while and can attest that the 55 ms doesn’t seem very far off. Still, no Bluetooth is perfect and of course there are moments of lag. That said, I still find the $30 Carol better than the $120 Soundpeats Capsule3 Pro Plus in this regard. So that’s saying something. Even more so when you take into account that the Capsule3 Pro Plus has one of the best chipsets. All in all, game mode is a good feature, and it works pretty well on the Carol.
Hybrid Active Noise Canceling (ANC)
The Carol is superior in its price point for actual noise cancellation. Mainly because I don’t know many sets that even offer ANC at this price. There’s a few like the Shanling MTW60 and Moondrop Space Travel and a few others. Now, the ANC isn’t the cream of the crop, or best of the best (obviously, it’s $30), but it’s still good. Of course, the selling point for ANC is how well it attenuates certain sounds. I should add this first though; friends, we will never get to the point that all noises are canceled. At least not with the tech we have now. That said, it’s come a very long way. There was one point not too long ago that even thinking about noise cancellation on a set of tws was just not happening. Now most sets past $60 have it. Believe me, I’ve tested so many tws with anc and very few times am I blown away. For the most part a set will either cancel higher pitched noises or low droning noises. It’s usually one or the other and sometimes a special set will give you a little of both. It’s never a full outside noise cancellation. Many sets need to rely on not just the active noise cancellation, but also some passive noise isolation as well.
How good is the ANC
Please don’t expect miracles folks. KZ does a better than good job of implementing ANC on the Carol and I cannot stress enough how amazing it is for the price. You just don’t find $30 sets with good noise cancellation. Now, the Carol doesn’t do well with higher pitched noises. Whistle, people talking, TV playing in the background. What it does very well is with consistent low droning sounds like an AC running or a car engine, plane engine, fan blowing stuff like that. Other sounds will be marginally less direct, but not attenuated. So, it’s not perfect. Again, this is not a bad thing folks. The Carol is so far better than I ever would’ve dreamed it could be. Comparable to much higher priced true wireless earphones with ANC. Just as good as any $60 and above Soundpeats product and darn near as good as the KZ Xtra. I also feel the Carol does a hair better than the Moondrop Space Travel as far as real-world ANC is concerned. So, it works very well even according to its price point.
Multi-Point Connection
Now this is another feature that is very nice to have if and when you need it. I’m talking about “multi-point connection”. Multi-point gives the Carol. The ability to be connected to two different sources, or phones, or a phone and a tablet, really any two devices at once. So, I can watch a video on my iPad and then get a phone call on my cell phone and simply answer the call without the connection completely breaking on the iPad. Once I hang up and open back up my iPad it works there again. No loss of time fiddling with Bluetooth settings. Now, I have to confess that I haven’t tried this feature out yet. I’m simply going by what I’ve seen in the past and used in the past. So please forgive me. I just know that the Carol has this feature. I will edit my results when I have a moment to actually try it out.
Pass-Through Mode
The next feature is called “pass-through mode”. Some brands refer to it as “transparency mode” as well. This mode allows the listener to not only hear your music, but also hear the outside world. This is especially helpful when out jogging and you need to hear your surroundings. I was actually very impressed by KZ’s pass-through on the Carol. It doesn’t sound overly artificial like so many sets out there. There’s a hint of boxiness to the sound but for the most part it sounds extremely natural. I use it all the time in my office when I have a video playing and people asking me questions. I don’t have to take them out of my ears to hear the person. I’m telling you; the Carol has a good transparency mode.
Phone Calls
Now we get to one of the best features on the Carol. That is its ability to replicate a natural sound through phone calls. I test a ton of tws folks. Many you never hear about because I tell the brand that I don’t want to review them, something doesn’t tick the boxes for me. However, the Carol has very good call quality. KZ advertises that it has hybrid AI powered noise cancellation for phone calls. This is where the AI tech inside, along with the feed forward and backwards mics actually clear out any background noises so to provide a cleaner sound for phone calls. In the same breath, the Carol has a very natural sound for phone calls. I actually use the Carol for online meetings, and it always goes well. Really a good job here KZ.
Waterproofing
Okay, so this is another instance where KZ failed to actually tell us what the level of waterproofing comes with the Carol. That said, I know it has some level. When I know more, I’ll tell you.
Sound Impressions
Note: I want to quickly make mention that I do not use EQ when reviewing tws iems. I may occasionally clue the reader in to how well a set reacts to EQ, but I want this to be an almost right out of the box review. I have a hard time not including what this set can sound like with some addition or subtraction of db’s at specific spots in the frequency. For the KZ Carol I used the “out-the-box” sound with zero EQ. Also, I listen using either UAPP (USB Audio Player Pro) or Poweramp using flac files stored on my devices.
Summary
This brings us to the actual sound quality of the KZ Carol. I hear a warmer sound from the Carol yet with decent air to it as well. Maybe just enough. I’d definitely consider the Carol to be a V-shaped tws iem with a smooth and silky demeanor. Certainly, less crisp and precise as some other sets. The Carol is fun, and the Carol is easy going with no harshness to the sound at all. Note weight is a bit more substantial being that there is some slight bleed over into the midrange (just enough) which adds a touch of warmth and weight to the mids. Detail retrieval is not the best either, but also, the Carol isn’t tuned to bring out every last detail. It’s tuned for the masses with a bigger bass section which serves as the foundation of the KZ Carol along with that milky style midrange. Perhaps a hint recessed in the lower mids but definitely enough energy as you make your way to the pinna gain. Let’s check out each 3rd of the mix…
Bass Region
The low-end is deep, it’s palpable, there’s some density to the Carol when presenting deep bass lines. Listening to the Carol I hear a mid-bass heavy sound yet with plenty of sub-bass muscle to add some growl to most of my tracks. Without question the bass region carries the most emphasis which brings in that warmth across the signature. Couple that with a slightly less rambunctious treble region and what you are left with is a set of tws that can really pound. The sub-bass is guttural in its bass guitar growl with that meaty and dirty grunge to the sound. The Carol shows this off perfectly in the track “Groove” by Ray Wylie Hubbard. Dirty, deep, dense, and delightful. The mid-bass can slam too yet with a softer note edge. Not pillowy but also not hard lined, just slightly fuzzy. Which is absolutely something you should expect out of a $30 true wireless earphone. In the same breath, it’s still very dense, textured and substantial for a set of $30 true wireless. Kick drums in “Glass House” by Kaleo sound downright resounding, full, rounded and very clean. Clarity is better than most bass emphasized tws at this price. You have the big earthy and hollow boom with that organic decay. Each note is crisp enough to come across with good clarity yet not crisp enough to sound coarse or abrasive. I wouldn’t call the transient decay ultra-fast, but the attack is immediate and tacky which sounds very nice to my ears. Certainly not slow or laggy. Enough decay to sound atmospheric. The bass region isn’t the most defined and can sound a hair one-noted at times but for a set of tws just trying to sound fun… I feel KZ hit their mark. The bass sounds very nice.
Midrange
Looking at the midrange I have to give KZ credit. It isn’t every day that a $25 to $30 set of true wireless which is essentially tuned for guilty pleasure style bass can also bring such good presence to the midrange. Folks, the mids are very nice. I hate to keep bringing up the price but it’s impossible not to. I’ve heard so many tws friends and rarely do they sound as good as the Carol at this price. I’m almost embarrassed to say how many I’ve owned. So, I do have some history with this price range. This is one of the first $25-$30 tws which actually has depth to the midrange, roundness of notes, great note weight without sounding veiled. These are important points. Usually, a bigger bass will intrude and usually will make the sound overcast, murky, and veiled. Also, usually tws iems at this price aren’t using the best drivers and are usually not tuned with the experience that KZ has. I absolutely think their experience paid off in huge ways for how well this set sounds. The mids are rich but not thick, they are lean-lush and with good density as well as good clarity for the tuning. Obviously, the Carol cannot compete as far as clarity is concerned with a set tuned with less bass and more treble energy. However, KZ wanted their set to sound both fun and musical and that’s exactly what they got.
Mids cont…
So, the lower-mids are a hair recessed but I really don’t feel this is an issue at all. The bass intrudes ever-so-slightly into the low-mids which adds just a touch of weight and warmth. Look at the graph, the bass basically flattens out before 250hz to 300hz which is almost perfect. Just a touch of richness in the low-mids gives males some authority yet at the same time the Carol never lost that clean note outline. Not too softened. Again… for a $30 true wireless. Dermot Kennedy in “Rome” sounds full, stoic, authoritative but also emotionally charged and melodic. Really nice for the price. Of course, details aren’t popping out everywhere like some sets, but the timbre is very organic. Now, the upper mids do see some shimmer, some slight glitter, some levity from the pinna rise which helps percussion have that nice, controlled snap, some bite and strings do have some edge to them. Really not bad at all. Females come across nice too without sounding harsh, or glaring. The pinna rise is only around 8dbs at its peak which is a great number to offset a bigger bass. It’s actually a very nice balance. Female vocalists like Caitlyn Smith in the track “High” shows off the Carol’s ability to sound both sweet and feathery as well as ballad-like and resounding. There is some congestion during the chorus, but many wired sets can’t make sense of that track’s chorus too. Again, not the most detailed, separation is only average, and layering isn’t the best on planet earth but there is depth, and it does sound very musically gifted with enough presence and energy to make my music sound nice. For a $30 tws that is.
Treble Region
Listening with the Carol I feel the treble isn’t overly boosted yet still provides enough levity up top to give some crispness to the midrange and add some decent air to the sound as a whole. Without question this is not a treble heads’ delight. That’s for sure. Nor should you expect that for this price. Again, tuned to be fun, Bob your head, get the gym juices flowing, dance while you clean type sound. I wouldn’t say that KZ was looking to extract every last detail from your music with this set. Which brings me to the next point; the KZ Carol doesn’t have any of that forced resolution either. It’s a tastefully emphasized sound which creates a very good balance dynamically. I feel the treble is lifted enough to provide some nice clarity to the sound overall as well. However, the point still remains that the bass is probably the focal point of the Carol.
Treble cont…
To add to that, the treble region does have some decent bite for a true wireless and notes move fairly rapidly up top. I also hear better than average extension into the upper treble as stuff like the secondary harmonics of a cymbal strike honestly don’t come across as splashy. I’m telling you; KZ did a very nice job tuning this set. No EQ. Now, in complicated tracks the Carol’s treble can get a bit congested if there is quite a lot of treble activity. Still, for the most part the treble region is pretty clean and clear. Again, maybe not the most detailed but it really does fit the overall tuning. That being; non-offensive, non-fatiguing, smooth and very musical.
Technicalities
Like I’ve already stated, the KZ Carol is not the most detailed tws iem out there. Also like I’ve stated already, this set only costs $30. Beyond that, the details aren’t bad at all. Perfectly good for simply chilling and listening to music. However, the Carol won’t win any awards for its ability to discern the most subtle of details. Separation is pretty good so long as you aren’t listening to a bass dominant track or a congested and busy song. Besides those two scenarios I find the Carol to be clean enough to have decent separation. Imaging is also about the same, same parameters and caveats. The soundstage is actually better than average in my opinion. Yes, it’s decently wide, not narrow, not congested too. But it also has some depth of sound field which is more than I can say for 98% of tws sets at this price. So technically the Carol isn’t a wizard, but it is a very good set in this regard considering the price.
Comparisons
*Note: Once again, the one set I wish I had for review comparison would be the Space Travel from Moondrop but unfortunately, I don’t have it. So, I decided upon the Soundpeats Clear just because it is in the price point and the sound is really great for the price. This will not be a duel to the death. In fact, they are very different from each other and serve different purposes. This comparison may not be helpful at all actually (LOL) but I will finish it anyways.
Soundpeats Clear ($39)
One set I really enjoyed around this price point is the Soundpeats Clear (Clear Review). Like the Carol, the Clear is also a stem style earphone, and it too has some transparency of its stem. The Clear has a 12 mm bio-composite diaphragm dynamic driver and is basically bare bones as far as features goes. However, it can still hold its own. Really a nice sounding set.
Differences
To begin, the Carol is a hint bigger in both shell and stem length. I also find the Carol more comfortable and easier to get a good seal. The Clear has a 12mm huge DD while the Carol is dialed back with their 10mm Ultra-linear dynamic driver. Now, the Carol has a ton of features that the Clear doesn’t have like multi-point, ANC, pass-through, etc. However, the Clear also has a game mode or low-latency mode as well. So, the Carol definitely wins out in features, but it also wins out in price as the Carol will run you $25-$30 while the Clear is just under $40. One thing the Carol doesn’t have that is a huge selling point is the Soundpeats APP. Folks, this is so huge as it has a bunch of features inside but most importantly it has a 19-band graphic equalizer. Your EQ settings save to the buds as well and so that is a very nice feature to have.
Sound Differences
To start, both sets have very deep bass regions with the Clear coming across a hair denser (by the slightest of margins). However, the Carol has more mid-bass slam and sounds better for kick drums and bass drops to me. Both bass regions are very similar, and both are very good for the price. As far as the midrange goes, the Carol has better and more rich note weight and better tactility and is simply more musical. The Clear has the cleaner sound, thinner, more shimmer in the upper mids too while also being a hint more detailed. Still, the musicality of the Carol wins out for me and also, the Carol is not very far behind in detail retrieval. We are talking about very subtle differences. I think the biggest difference between the two is note weight and the sound field layout. Now, in the treble, I actually find these two to be similar. Both smooth, both decently detailed, but the Carol has better treble extension to my ears. I think overall I would call the Carol the more fun set and the more all around set sonically.
Final thoughts on this comparison
I had so many sets to choose from for this comparison, but I had to choose a set in a similar price range, style, and one that could stack up sonically. That set was the Clear for me. Having said that, I’d personally take the Carol every day of the week. That’s not to cast shade in the Clear either. It’s a fine set. However, look at all the features of the Carol. Also, guess what, those features on the Carol all actually work very well. It’s just a no brainer set for the price. However, if all you need is sound quality and could care less about any feature then the Clear is a good way to go.
Is it worth the asking price?
Of course, the Carol is worth the asking price. Look at the price tag, enough said. Without a doubt the Carol is one of the more features packed tws earbuds on the market while sitting squarely in the ultra-budget range. It isn’t every day we see a set like the Carol at this price. Of course, you do have sets like the Moondrop Space Travel or the Shanling MTW60 which also both have ANC (only 35db attenuation, the Carol has 55db attenuation) and some other features but the Carol really does put it all together wonderfully in my opinion. If anything, the Carol is simply another good option for those of you who cannot spend $60 to $100 for good ANC and other features. I guess this is where I’m coming from when I say of course the Carol is worth that price. I’ll say it again though, I haven’t seen or heard every set within the $20 to $35 price point. So, there could potentially be a set (besides the Space Travel) which competes sonically while still being as feature rich. Still, at the end of the day the Carol is a solid option at a very low cost.
The Why…
Because the Carol looks very cool. We saw other sets in the past with this design language like the Nothing Ear sets. Of course they are a ton ($) more to own. So, KZ took a small liberty and crafted the Carol in the same light. It’s a very cool looking set and actually built in a way that doesn’t feel cheap. The Carol has multi-point connectivity, game mode, pass through, hybrid ANC, and ANC for phone calls and meetings. Beyond the features, the KZ Carol actually sounds good. Now, I’m not saying they will blow your mind, but they are very well tuned and are very musical (my version of “musical”). You have deep and guttural bass, perhaps a hint one-noted but it’s textured and fun. The midrange has good presence in the mix with good note weight while coming across very smooth and easy to listen to for long periods. No glare, no shout, no annoying peaks or annoying sibilance either. The treble is decently detailed while remaining smooth and even well extended. I like that the treble balances the mix very well with the low-end too. Even the stage is nice for tws earbuds. Decent width, height and even some depth (which is a rarity). Finally, folks I’ve said this whole review that the Carol only costs $25 to $30 which is pretty awesome. Of course, the Carol is worth that much.
Ratings (0-10)
*All Ratings are given per the price point as well as the style of earbud. In this case I am rating the KZ Carol against the field of earbuds from $20-$35 US. Please remember that “ratings” don’t tell the whole story. This leaves out nuance and a number of other qualities which make a set of tws what it is. A “5-6” is roughly about average. Please take into consideration the “lot” of tws iems these ratings are garnered against. $20-$35 US true wirless earbuds is a fairly large scope of tws. So, seeing something like a 9 for instance should mean something special. My ratings are never the same and each set of ratings tells a different story. Each time you read one of my ratings it will be unique to that review. Basically, I create a Rating that makes sense to me.
Aesthetic
Build– 9.3 Very nice build for the price.
Design– 9.3 Slick look
Comfort– 9.3 Ergonomic, comfortable enough
Features– 9.9 All the bells & whistles
Feature function– 9.9 Everything works great
–Overall Rating- 9.5 🔥🔥🔥
Sound Rating
Timbre– 9.3 Nice timbre for analytical tuning
Bass– 9.1 Tight, deep, defined
Midrange– 9.3 Detailed, fast transients, clean
Treble– 8.8 Great treble
Technicalities– 8.7 Technically gifted
P2P– 9.9 Price to performance is fantastic on this set.
–Overall Rating- 9.2 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Ratings Summary
I’ll be very brief here as I really don’t think there’s much to argue over. I really do feel the Carol is one of the best sounding true wireless sets I’ve heard between $20-$35. I admit, I could’ve stretched the range up to $50 tws sets but I feel that if a consumer has just enough to buy the Carol, then they probably won’t be able to stretch that up to $50. Or even $40 for that matter. This is about you folks as you are who we are doing this for. Anyways, I really don’t feel there’s much I would change here. I have about seven sets in that price range and about 25 more that I’ve spent a ton of time with, and I truly feel these ratings are fairly close to accurate. Of course, I’m not you and you may think I’m nuts. I wouldn’t argue. So, I’m not going to complete the “Explain Yourself” section that I usually do. I feel a “9.2” overall sound score is very high, and I feel it is justified too. Now that I’ve said that I have to say this; please take these ratings with a grain of salt. Ratings are a horrible way to make a decision on any purchase as there are way too many variables not explained within a simple rating section.
Conclusion
To conclude my full written review of the KZ Carol, I first need to say a big thank you to KZ for sending over the Carol in exchange for a full review and feature at Mobileaudiophile.com. KZ always leaves me to my own devices and never asks anything out of me other than my honest opinion. That means everything to me and to mobileaudiophile.com. So, thank you KZ and Tyvan Lam for providing the Carol for review. Also, thank you. Thank you to the reader for taking the time out of your busy schedule to actually read this review. It truly means everything to us. Every click helps and the amount of time you spend is a huge help as well. So, thank you for reading this far and I truly hope this review has helped you.
Other perspectives
Now that you’ve read this entire feature of the Carol, I want you to now go and read, watch, or listen to someone else’s review. Please take time to learn of others’ opinions concerning the Carol. We are obviously all different and each of us has our own idea of what is good and what isn’t. The guy to the left of me may have a completely different outlook on this set and it will pay for you to take that opinion into consideration. It can only help folks. Beyond that, I think I’m done. Please take good care, stay as safe as possible and always… God Bless!
