TRUTHEAR x Crinacle Zero IEM Review

[Somafunk]

I don't think anyone need fear missing out. These are mass produced and truthear's marketing people and shenzhenaudio are not about to decide to stop making them just when they got a very nice, highly search friendly 5 star review

All my iem’s graph near enough within 5db of each and the zero is not that different but may offer something else to pique my interest around my preferred listening curve.

 

[PeteL]

I posted this already many times on ASR, there is an excellent distortion test, https://www.klippel.de/listeningtest/. I once managed -53dB on test tones, but one can safely assume that -40dB = 1% is inaudible on music material. This is also the threshold Amir is considering. So once again, the claim is (backed up by a lot of research and personal listening tests) granted one has low distortion in the whole frequency band (<1%) for all listening levels, a proper seal and no resonances that hinder proper EQ, any two IEMs being EQed successfully to the same target curve will sound the same, independent of price or driver configuration.

Could be, And don't get me wrong, FR is definitely the most obvious. Everybody agree on that. I tried this test too, and Yes I arrived about these levels too. I'll be controversial, but my opinion is that it's more complex than that, my opinion. If it was a firm treshold and quantifiable by one single number, not knowing what type of distortion, not knowing how it intermodulate, etc... I'll admit it i am a bit reserved about those quick test. On those basis, we should all listen to mp3s. It distort the signal less than that. I'll be fully transparent, me ABing a CD quality flac to a 256 kbps AAC... I'll fail that test more often than not. But strangely, and I know that it's anecdotal and not scientific, but my Tidal subscription have it set for normal on 5G data and Hifi on wifi. I have had for the last few weeks had it on 5g. I was at the gym the other day, without knowing, honestly, finding myself enjoying music more than usual. feeling less listening fatigue, being able to turn down the volume more than usual and still get the full experience, and just thinking "Why does everything sounds better". Only then realizing that i was connected automatically to wifi and my tidal setting was changed. Again. I fail those tests... I know it goes against research that short clips are the proper way to detect small difference, but what can I say, It's what I heard and felt. No bias, I had no idea and if I did have a bias, if would have been the other way because I don't ear this in A-B. But hey, it sounded better, what can I do.

 

[GaryH]

Still not tracking one down on the first couple pages of Google and Amazon results.

Try searching for SBH20, SBH24 or SBH54.

I'd say just buy a Moondrop Chu instead.

Lacking in bass, and has the same excess around 1-3 kHz as the Truthear:

In fact their response is suspiciously very similar at a few points...

 

[julian_hughes]

Could be, And don't get me wrong, FR is definitely the most obvious. Everybody agree on that. I tried this test too, and Yes I arrived about these levels too. I'll be controversial, but my opinion is that it's more complex than that, my opinion. If it was a firm treshold and quantifiable by one single number, not knowing what type of distortion, not knowing how it intermodulate, etc... I'll admit it i am a bit reserved about those quick test. On those basis, we should all listen to mp3s. It distort the signal less than that. I'll be fully transparent, me ABing a CD quality flac to a 256 kbps AAC... I'll fail that test more often than not. But strangely, and I know that it's anecdotal and not scientific, but my Tidal subscription have it set for normal on 5G data and Hifi on wifi. I have had for the last few weeks had it on 5g. I was at the gym the other day, without knowing, honestly, finding myself enjoying music more than usual. feeling less listening fatigue, being able to turn down the volume more than usual and still get the full experience, and just thinking "Why does everything sounds better". Only then realizing that i was connected automatically to wifi and my tidal setting was changed. Again. I fail those tests... I know it goes against research that short clips are the proper way to detect small difference, but what can I say, It's what I heard and felt. No bias, I had no idea and if I did have a bias, if would have been the other way because I don't ear this in A-B. But hey, it sounded better, what can I do.

Hey PeteL, this guy already established himself as MR SELF APPOINTED INFALLIBLE AUDIO DICTATOR and did so TOTALLY OBJECTIVELY. His opinion is IDENTICAL TO FACT. Educate yourself already. Oh god, these people really exist don't they? ONE GRAPH TO RULE THEM ALL! (apologies to Sauron). Did you not read his very first sentence: HE POSTED THIS ALREADY MANY TIMES. This is Moses in the desert. It's pretty much the exact same thing as Copernicus and Galileo telling those popes to educate themselves. C'mon man, stop being a reactionary philistine. You have BEEN TOLD.

 

[Garrincha]

Hey PeteL, this guy already established himself as MR SELF APPOINTED INFALLIBLE AUDIO DICTATOR and did so TOTALLY OBJECTIVELY. His opinion is IDENTICAL TO FACT. Educate yourself already. Oh god, these people really exist don't they? ONE GRAPH TO RULE THEM ALL! (apologies to Sauron). Did you not read his very first sentence: HE POSTED THIS ALREADY MANY TIMES. This is Moses in the desert. It's pretty much the exact same thing as Copernicus and Galileo telling those popes to educate themselves. C'mon man, stop being a reactionary philistine. You have BEEN TOLD.

Go on and buy the most expensive IEMs and brag about them and their resolution, air, layering, imaging, texture and detail in head-fi.org, please.

 

[Sean Olive]

Please please please enable comments in your page. It will be so entertaining to watch the commentary shit storm unfold
And thanks for the work!!

How do I enable comments?

 

[whazzup]

How do I enable comments?

I did a bit of poking around and indeed the site is wordpress based. So there should be relevant settings to enable comments. There are a number of tutorials on youtube.

Now, I was joking in my earlier post, but if you intend to allow commenting, be prepared to allocate a fair amount of time policing and moderating them (or whoever is dealing with the website maintenance). Will probably get worse as traffic grows. Just ask the moderators on ASR...

Oh and install an anti spam filter, like Akismet. You'll need to obtain an free api key from their site.

 

[julian_hughes]

How do I enable comments?

Do so while hiding behind the sofa. Then retreat.

 

[Phorize]

I must say though, they ought to reconsider the packaging. My wife is an audiologist and is often asked by her patients to recommend headphones etc. She is aware of the Harman research finds it helpful to be able to say ‘you’ll probably like this’. Can’t see that many hearing aid wearers would want an iem, but many people with good hearing see an audiologist too. Just no way she can recommend something with a waifu on the box, it’s just too weird in a professional setting.

 

[julian_hughes]

I must say though, they ought to reconsider the packaging.

I totally agree. This paedophile oriented packaging from Chinese brands is horrible. I know people will say it's a cultural thing, but erotic images of obviously young teenage girls is really not ambiguous. I bought Moondrop Kato and on receiving them found the packaging decorated like a child molester's fantasy. It's too weird. There is no way I could buy these for anyone I know, and I make sure the box is never seen! Dear Chinese companies: please stop fetishising young teen girls. It's not cool, it's sick and ugly.

 

[DanTheMan]

How do I enable comments?

I’d like to know why you can’t see a head shadow in the Harman Curve? I placed 2 different mics in the sweetspot of a stereo triangle Then placed those mics in my ear canal openings and took measurements. I get dramatically different results from the Preference curve. Harman goes from this:

To this:

I put all my lines on one graph and I think they are self explanatory:

Knowing that we listen to a stereo source, the head is roughly the same width as 1,500Hz and frequencies around that size or smaller will either reflect or diffract and larger frequencies will largely ignore me, my graph seems to make sense. The notch at 9kHz makes sense because of the 30 degree offset. Pinna gain is present, but there’s no ear canal resonance involved because it’s not included in the graph. With my fairly flat in room graph, you can see the a totally different shape than the Preference curve. You’d think that the Harman Curve would be a more exaggerated form of mine. The common criticisms I read (and personally hear) is a thin midbass and a forward pinna gain on the Harman Preference. My in-home, citizen scientist approach would suggest why, but I’d love to understand why the Harman curve looks nothing like that. Is there a reason for the lack of head shadow?

Thank you very much in advance,

DanTheMan

 

[respice finem]

Another culture, different views and aesthetics. Yes the packaging may look strange for an American or a European.
The design of the products themserves had "evolved" meanwhile.

 

[respice finem]

Yes, likely the biggest real-world test to date of the 'preferred' Harman smiley curve...

This. I'm waiting for my sample to arrive, and for me it's an experiment, because over-ears, equalized to fit the Harman curve, all sounded too dull / too "bassy" for me. IEMs are possibly different, because they go straight into the ear, so the individual variability, while still existent, is minimized. I'll report back later.

 

[restorer-john]

I'll report back later.

Please do.

 

[restorer-john]

for me it's an experiment, because over-ears, equalized to fit the Harman curve, all sounded too dull / too "bassy" for me.

Same for me. The few I have tried that get good ASR approval ratings were absolutely atrocious in the bottom end for my liking and like you said, dull sounding in general.

 

[DanielT]

I totally agree. This paedophile oriented packaging from Chinese brands is horrible. I know people will say it's a cultural thing, but erotic images of obviously young teenage girls is really not ambiguous. I bought Moondrop Kato and on receiving them found the packaging decorated like a child molester's fantasy. It's too weird. There is no way I could buy these for anyone I know, and I make sure the box is never seen! Dear Chinese companies: please stop fetishising young teen girls. It's not cool, it's sick and ugly.

That sex sells is nothing strange, even if it was perhaps more exploitative in the past? More sexism just a few decades ago, half a century ago. Nothing I'm upset about BUT if it plays on some sick child molester's fantasy then that's enough for me. I wouldn't buy any product, from any company that alluded to that.

But sex concerning adults it can even be fun to see old advertising around. Of course the sexism flows freely in these old ads, but still. In many cases they also have humor:

Vintage Audio Advertising

Must say, the internet can sometimes be wonderful. By pure chance I landed on a discussion about vintage Empire speakers and that led me to other vintage discussions, and eventually to vintage audio advertising. Some of the ads are downright comical, at least I thought so. Lots of posing...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[wwenze]

Another culture, different views and aesthetics. Yes the packaging may look strange for an American or a European.
The design of the products themserves had "evolved" meanwhile.

Westerners make Spider Man or Mickey Mouse or Hello Kitty packaging collaboration, isn't that worse.

 

[solderdude]

Westerners make Spider Man or Mickey Mouse or Hello Kitty packaging collaboration, isn't that worse.

Those kinds of packaging are intended to appeal to children (or parents to buy that for their children).
Anime is intended for adults.

 

[Feelas]

I totally agree. This paedophile oriented packaging from Chinese brands is horrible. I know people will say it's a cultural thing, but erotic images of obviously young teenage girls is really not ambiguous. I bought Moondrop Kato and on receiving them found the packaging decorated like a child molester's fantasy. It's too weird. There is no way I could buy these for anyone I know, and I make sure the box is never seen! Dear Chinese companies: please stop fetishising young teen girls. It's not cool, it's sick and ugly.

It just has to appeal to (sort-of?) the intended target groups. There is a cross between budget chi-fi buyers and lovers of this type of aesthetics. You can't avoid the marketing here, since they're also trying to catch the crowd with no interest in audio itself.

Sick and ugly? Well... I wish that they gave you a choice between plain cardboard box (w/o addons) and this, but it is what it is. And honestly - this seems a mild one.

 

[xaviescacs]

Anime is intended for adults.

Adults and fledging adults...