Zolo Liberty+ Issue - Lower volume on right bud

Elmo - I have to be honest, I thought the cleaning the earbuds fix was bogus. However, I did it last night and removed what looked like a tiny sponge, and with a fingernail cleaned gunk off the gold mesh and it worked! Many thanks!

Mark

2 Likes

Your very welcome, glad it worked for you

3 Likes

I have the same problem, but wth the left earbud. Was all working fine and then nearly silent. Your fix of stripping it down and removing something might well work but we should NOT have to. It’s not in the remit or instructions that one has to dissect bits of an earbud every so many hours. It’s ridiculous. I shall be phoning Support on Tuesday. Not happy as it was a great product; now I’m not so sure.

Save from stripping them down you can always clean them with alcohol and a qtip. Let it sit for a bit and then suck on them to force remove any gunk…these headphones are not the only ones to be cleaned this way or have this issue as the earpods do too and if you look it up, they have the same cleaning method

I have the same issue. I’ve tried all suggestions to get this fixed, but still the same issue here.
It looks like a faulty production series?

My Liberty + was bought in January.

Have you tried my fix Here also try depleting the battery and then charging them up fully

Have you ever tried the volume balance slider on your phone. Just try it and if there is still a low volume on faulty earbud, go for a warranty claim. Plz also check if the earbud is blocked due to ear wax

I had this exact problem with my first pair of Zolo Liberty+ (from Kickstarter), but in the left earbud, I contacted support and they sent me a replacement pair. Then 2 days ago the exact same problem has happened again! Left earbud has decreased in volume! I tried cleaning them, but still not working correctly!! This can’t be down to user error if everyone is having these issues??

Take a look at my post above and give my fix a try, many have reported it fully restored their volume loss.

2 Likes

Just try following three tweaks;

  1. try to change/check different settings of your phone equalizer and if any improvement (try surround effects as it distribute the music more precisely into both speakers)
  2. if the above option fails go to settings and search for volume slider. Slide it towards the problematic side (left I guess) see if the sound increases.
  3. try to switch your settings from mono to stereo or vice versa.
    If nothing helps then the 4th and last option;
  4. Go for a replacement again.(I am using Liberty without a + and I guess its better as I tested + for couple of days and disappointed)

Hi, I had the problem with the Kickstarter Gold Edition, got a new pair from Zolo and now they got lower in volume slowly.

I decided to remove the gold metal filter instead of cleaning with Alkohol. If you do so you will find a second filter layer in black. This combination seems to be the problem:

If for expample you use the Zolos with a small rest of moisture after showering in your ear channel, these two layers of filters will cover any kind of dirt fast.

This fast effect was the reason I thought about an electronic failure.

But after removing the filters both pairs sound great again!

I you leave the channel open there is a risk of damaging the drivers.

These combined filter construction protects the drivers from moisture and dirt, but will always block the sound after a short period of time …

1 Like

To me the easiest possible solution is to remove the tip and suck the air through the channels (by mouth in my case or with some suction instrument) without removing the filters. Then clean the wax or dirt with the help of cotton swabs. Repeat it as many times as required.
I use to do it once in a week and it helps me alot.

So I just had the same problem and came to this forum. Saw the instructions about removing the screen and looking for a cover/gunk.

Well, what I found is that there is a rubber coating just under the screen and it appears that it was designed to be there. maybe as a water proofing. I will assume it was meant to be extremely playable and maintain its durability, but it appears that the rubber is becoming gooey with wear/heat. Once removed the headphone operates normally.

So instructions - I used an exacto knife to carefully remove the screen mesh from the body of the headphone. I was able to do this without bending the screen. Below you will find a black rubber skin and it can be removed by taking a small screwdriver head (jewelers tools) and carefully pushing/sliding around the outermost edge where the wire screen was held. once removed you will see the driver below.

Push the screen back into place and done. What I don’t know is whether the screen will stay in place - last thing I want is that screen inside my ear canal. Only time will tell.

1 Like

You should use super glue to keep the screens on. You can apply a tiny dot on either side of the hole with the tip of a toothpick dipped in a puddle of glue.

Glad I’m not the only one who had this issue. I have had my Liberty+ that I ordered through Kickstarter since December and have had no issue till today. After functioning normally this weekend I turned them on for a run when I noticed the right earbud was suddenly super quiet. I tried resetting and repairing as well as restarting my phone with no success. I tried a couple swipes with a q-tip with rubbing alcohol just in case there was earwax build up but didn’t get anything. Still it was disheartening to hear how muffled the right earbud was. I figured I’d just do my run and try to ignore the off balance sound but with the suggestions earlier in this thread I decided to try cleaning it again a few more times. After applying rubbing alcohol with a q-tip, and a little more pressure than the first time, I used the dry end to remove any excess and that’s when I noticed some black gunk appearing on the q-tip. I assumed this had to do with the black filters others have mentioned. Slowly, but surely, I noticed immediately that the sound had improved. I redid this process a few more times until the black gunk stopped appearing on the dry end of the q-tip and now my right channel is pretty much back to normal. Instruments that had been muffled on the right stage now sound loud and clear. Voices and other details are now centered. It will be interesting to see if this is an issue of the glue or filter mixed with sweat and heat that will appear again over time but we shall see.

1 Like

Just bought my Zolo Liberty + less than 24 hours ago.

Same problem happened just after 20 minutes of use. Right ear bud side lower volume. I"ve tried disconnecting, charging, putting into the charger and removing… Nothing works.

Im definitely disappointed with the product. It seems to be Firmware issue, because my unit was right out of the box.

After trying to clean it 3 times with no success, I had to remove to golden mesh and now It is at full volume again. I can’t reattach the mesh.

What are the risk of using the ear pugs without it?

I have never out mine back after the second cleaning.no harm no faul. Just make sure to keep them clean as any build up will be harder to remove

Hi hope you’ve solved your problem!
If not your at the throw them out the window, don’t
I took the gold filter out and also took out the black baffle
Hey presto they worked great only problem this will effect the water proofing ! So beware but only use this as a last resort fix!!

Had the same issue here. Cleaning the bud with alcohol was working very well - if that doesn’ t help take a tooth brush. Had it sitting in the box for 2 hours for drying and now it sounds like a new bud :slight_smile:

1 Like