Zyn Cymbals (part two)

Following on from the previous update, this is part two of my look at some of the new Zyn cymbals. This time around, I looked at some of the Dark Knight models and a Raw model.

Dark Knights

Ok, straight away, the answer to the obvious question which I’m sure a lot of people will be asking: no, the finish does not come off on your hands or sticks.

Years ago, I tried some other cymbals with a visually similar style to these and I found the finish came off on both my hands and sticks/heads. Not so here. This finish is the result of a proprietary process which seems to be pretty robust, although that’s not to say the finish won’t get scratched off in transit, but that’s preventable and arguably the case with any cymbal with a finish applied to it.

Anyway, the models…

The medium hihats were really nice to my ear. They were softer sounding than the previous pair but not quite as bright. I think they would fit well in most musical situations that don’t require a loud presence.

The two rides were both thin and fairly light and that was apparent when playing them. Neither of the bells were overly pronounced, but I wouldn’t have expected them to have been with the type of cymbals they are.

The smaller of the two was a 20” light ride with the larger being a 22” medium. The 20” was very rideable and it was easy to accent/crash on although its decay was relatively short. The 22” had much more in the way of brighter overtones and a wider sound spectrum but as a pair I felt they balanced each other out quite nicely.

For me, these are definitely a more subtle, gentle, lower volume offering than the models in the previous review. They have presence and definition to them which I enjoyed but they definitely top out quite early in volume, although that wasn’t an issue.

The line features many different options including splashes and speciality models on top of the regular types you’d expect.

https://rubixdrums.com/search?q=zyn+dark+knight&options[prefix]=last

Raw

The Raw was an interesting cymbal.

Basically a barely finished cymbal which wasn’t flat, this is an crash/effects/ride model, the type of which is becoming more popular.

To crash on, it’s open, dry and almost gongy; I would say somewhere between a crash, a china and a model with the big holes in. When ridden, the stick sound is very dry and refined with the lack of lathing being clear.

The Raw also comes with two magnets to adjust/tune the sound. I found that these made for a cool option and definitely changed the sound depending on where they were placed.

I initially thought this would be a bit of a one dimensional cymbal with only limited use but I actually found it was really surprising and multi-faceted.

As was the case for the other models I looked at, I really liked these cymbals too. The Dark Knight models, I have to be honest, were much more than I was expecting when I originally got them because they had a cool character and I enjoyed playing them.

The Raw isn’t something I would probably use myself because it wouldn’t work with what I normally play but trying it definitely made me appreciate that type of cymbal.

More details over at https://rubixdrums.com/collections/zyn-cymbals?page=1