TRUTHEAR x Crinacle Zero IEM Review

[Somafunk]

Even Sean Olive has fomo regarding the zero

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1597619919314878464

 

[Jimbob54]

Even Sean Olive has fomo regarding the zero

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1597619919314878464

Prepare for "son of shouty-gate"

(I predict he won't say that, but you never know)

 

[Robbo99999]

Prepare for "son of shouty-gate"

(I predict he won't say that, but you never know)

Ha, well it wouldn't really be invalid! Be interesting to see what he says, I'm expecting he'll just say he likes them along with a few descriptors.

EDIT: if he gives them a verdict can someone message the result back up on here, I don't have twitter, lol!

 

[isostasy]

Ha, well it wouldn't really be invalid! Be interesting to see what he says, I'm expecting he'll just say he likes them along with a few descriptors.

EDIT: if he gives them a verdict can someone message the result back up on here, I don't have twitter, lol!

£1000 he doesn't complain about the impedance of the cable

 

[Robbo99999]

£1000 he doesn't complain about the impedance of the cable

Ha, it's unlikely that it'll be the first thing on his mind!

 

[MrBrainwash]

I bought a pair of these iems
I waited week and I got them today to my suprise. Damn fast delivery as for shipping to Poland.

Now these are...

The sound is up to my taste. Not neutral though.

 

[Karmacoma]

Got those cos i bought some great stuff on Amid's (and others) recommandations on this site.
I was a bit disapointed, scooped mids, sibilant voices, far from neutral to my ears, instruments don't sound natural.
However, thanks to these EQ, they sound almost great ! Thanx a lot for the input brother.
Only problem remaining is with the LDAC codec now, don't know if its my phone doing the encoding badly, yet some songs (HD songs - Spotify is allright) are just totally f***ed up by it, even if rare, even if still an improvement of the definition from the Aptx codecs overall.
Good test track for LDAC : Woodkid - Iron. Which is a nice test track overall cos of the multiple tones involved. The highs get messy with LDAC.

Edit: Now i've learned to deal with my phone and wavelet gain, and also with LDAC issues (which as i suspected came from my phone), with those EQ music is just sex to my ears, they're now by far my favorite earphones/headphones to use and 50€ seems really cheap for those.

 

[vitalii427]

The sound is up to my taste. Not neutral though.

What’s your reference of neutral?

 

[MrBrainwash]

What’s your reference of neutral?

They are not neutral even for the HTC standards.

I don't think there is strict line that we can point to perfect neutrality when we talk about headphone's sound. All of this "science" is aproximation imo. I am make my judgement base on subjective impression and how I feel about it after comparing to some simple points of reference as their own equalized (to harman) sound and sound of other headphones for example: HD560s (EQ'd to harman and non-EQ'd).

 

[vitalii427]

They are not neutral even for the HTC standards.

View attachment 247001

I don't think there is strict line that we can point to perfect neutrality when we talk about headphone's sound. All of this "science" is aproximation imo. I am make my judgement base on subjective impression and how I feel about it after comparing to some simple points of reference as their own equalized (to harman) sound and sound of other headphones for example: HD560s (EQ'd to harman and non-EQ'd).

Why you've quoted word "science"? Harman target isn't scientific enough?

 

[Fregly]

Why you've quoted word "science"? Harman target isn't scientific enough?sociological studies as problematic then the ironic quotations are merited.

Just about any sociological type study should have the ironic quotation marks.

 

[MrBrainwash]

Why you've quoted word "science"? Harman target isn't scientific enough?

Not that. It just isn't hard science and there are more targets claiming neutrality, created with no less rigour. Tyll Hertsens had before great article on innerfidelity about why we don't have clear picture how the neutral headphones should sound like (I don't think I am able to replicate his arguments but if you know it or find it then you will have clearer picture). I use quote becouse we still don't have scientific answer to neutrality in headphones. There is nothing wrong with science made by Harman team - it's just I don't think we should treat it as last word.

Zero has too much bass to be neutral in my subjective opinion and we see it don't follow harman target guide line on some measuments.

BUT I found this bass tastefully done and I am happy with it. I can always use EQ to make it more neutral if I will want to.

 

[isostasy]

Not that. It just isn't hard science and there are more targets claiming neutrality, created with no less rigour. Tyll Hertsens had before great article on innerfidelity about why we don't have clear picture how the neutral headphones should sound like (I don't think I am able to replicate his arguments but if you know it or find it then you will have clearer picture). I use quote becouse we still don't have scientific answer to neutrality in headphones. There is nothing wrong with science made by Harman team - it's just I don't think we should treat it as last word.

Zero has too much bass to be neutral in my subjective opinion and we see it don't follow harman target guide line on some measuments.

BUT I found this bass tastefully done and I am happy with it. I can always use EQ to make it more neutral if I will want to.

'Hard science' is a purely colloquial term and just because you think the Harman research isn't 'hard science' doesn't make it any less 'scientific'.

 

[MrBrainwash]

'Hard science' is a purely colloquial term and just because you think the Harman research isn't 'hard science' doesn't make it any less 'scientific'.

I never claimed that it's less scientific I only use quote, to emphasis something that you didn't get yet.

 

[julian_hughes]

I bought a pair of these iems
I waited week and I got them today to my suprise. Damn fast delivery as for shipping to Poland.

Now these are...
View attachment 246893

The sound is up to my taste. Not neutral though.

There is no claim of neutrality. They're not designed to be neutral. They're designed to match a preference curve.

 

[MrBrainwash]

There is no claim of neutrality. They're not designed to be neutral. They're designed to match a preference curve.

Yes.

 

[Robbo99999]

'Hard science' is a purely colloquial term and just because you think the Harman research isn't 'hard science' doesn't make it any less 'scientific'.

Don't come down on him hard, I sometimes use "science" in quotation marks when I'm just trying to allow it to have a more general meaning.

 

[vitalii427]

Not that. It just isn't hard science and there are more targets claiming neutrality, created with no less rigour. Tyll Hertsens had before great article on innerfidelity about why we don't have clear picture how the neutral headphones should sound like (I don't think I am able to replicate his arguments but if you know it or find it then you will have clearer picture). I use quote becouse we still don't have scientific answer to neutrality in headphones. There is nothing wrong with science made by Harman team - it's just I don't think we should treat it as last word.

Zero has too much bass to be neutral in my subjective opinion and we see it don't follow harman target guide line on some measuments.

BUT I found this bass tastefully done and I am happy with it. I can always use EQ to make it more neutral if I will want to.

Our knowledge of black holes physics isn't the last word either but that science is as hard as it gets. (However I'm not a physicist)

I think we have quite 'clear picture how the neutral headphones should sound like' but this picture isn't one size fits all. Nonetheless I hugely agree Harman starting point that headphones should sound like a pair of speakers anechoicly flat on-axis & smooth off-axis put in a properly treated room. Which we know should have sloping FR. Also as Dr. Olive mentioned 3dB boost in bass for compensating tactile feel a bit. Although we know from Dr. Toole research that amount of bass is a matter of preference even between trained listeners. And this preference is also researched for OE headphones by Dr. Olive and it turns out that 64% of tested listeners prefere amount of bass that Harman target has. So it's ok if you prefer more or less bass.

And yes this results it's not the last word. Especially with IEMs that skips pinna which differs between different persons in addition to different HRTFs. And there's still limited ability to precisely measure headphones FR above 10k. But that's what we have. So I can say that Harman target is actually the most neutral average we have today.

And I still can't say for sure how exactly close Zero and Harman target itself to my personal perception of neutral based on 4367 in my living room and HD800 EQ'd to Harman OE target. And I'm having fun experimenting with different EQ settings for Zero.

 

[Chromatischism]

Why you've quoted word "science"? Harman target isn't scientific enough?

Just about any sociological type study should have the ironic quotation marks.

I'm a science guy through and through, but the Harman IEM target sounds really bad. It's not even close to neutral speakers in a room for me. Objective analysis shows a bright tilt, even, so it needs more work to get it closer to a neutral average.

 

[vitalii427]

I'm a science guy through and through, but the Harman IEM target sounds really bad. It's not even close to neutral speakers in a room for me. Objective analysis shows a bright tilt, even, so it needs more work to get it closer to a neutral average.

What objective analysis do you mean? I see only your subjective opinion and I'm ok with that. For me personally without EQ Zero is the best sounding IEM from what I have. With a bit of EQ it's even better. So it's far from really bad.