7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 IEM Review

[LIΟN]

I couldn't resist and ordered another Zero2 (because I gave it to my brother as a gift).
It's very pretty and clear~

 

[BeeKay]

On your photo you have red tips - they are not the largest. Try yellow ones.

I did. The yellow ones are of more spherical shape. In my case they fit even worse.

Edit: Stripped tips from a retired set of TinHiFi T4. Got bass now. Happy camper

 

[Jim_VN]

It seems better than truthear zero red?

 

[Sebby]

It seems better than truthear zero red?

They arrived 6 hours ago and I have to admit I was impressed. I prefer them to the OSHIDA E20 which in turn preferred them to the Zero Red which I found boring and at times mediocre.
I'd like to start by saying that it's a great "all-rounder" IEM but I'm not crazy about the Harman curve (I prefer less gain in the 3000Hz area and more treble up to at least 15,000 Hz), which is why, for example, I still prefer my IE200s, but leaving aside that's if Harman tuning is your favorite, once you have the Zero 2 in your hand you can very well stop looking for something else in the future.
After the experience with Zero Red I approached Zero 2 with some reservations and instead I was pleasantly surprised: it doesn't get congested with complex tracks (hey Zero Red!) and the entire 20Hz-1000Hz area is much more coherent than Zero Red which has an anemic midrange and then has this subwoofer that works badly and disconnected from the rest (it's the main reason why I prefer the Aoshida E20, besides the lack of air) and therefore you don't have that annoying hole around 150Hz.
With Zero Red I felt that everything was coming from the center of the head and with Zero 2 this doesn't happen, fortunately. The construction is fantastic and aesthetically I find them beautiful (they look better in person).
They are very comfortable and you can forget about the fit issues of Zero Red. Ok, it's plastic and doesn't look premium, but who cares!
If they had a little more air, were made of steel, had a more premium looking cable (like the big heavy ones that I personally hate) and were priced at €300, they could be sold with little difficulty.
I apologize if I sound mean towards Zero Red, but in my opinion it arrived on the market at least 4 years late to be a novelty and, to my ears, it didn't even hold a candle to my €35 Cadenza and i'll probably send one to Amir to have him measured...

 

[markanini]

They arrived 6 hours ago and I have to admit I was impressed. I prefer them to the OSHIDA E20 which in turn preferred them to the Zero Red which I found boring and at times mediocre.
I'd like to start by saying that it's a great "all-rounder" IEM but I'm not crazy about the Harman curve (I prefer less gain in the 3000Hz area and more treble up to at least 15,000 Hz), which is why, for example, I still prefer my IE200s, but leaving aside that's if Harman tuning is your favorite, once you have the Zero 2 in your hand you can very well stop looking for something else in the future.
After the experience with Zero Red I approached Zero 2 with some reservations and instead I was pleasantly surprised: it doesn't get congested with complex tracks (hey Zero Red!) and the entire 20Hz-1000Hz area is much more coherent than Zero Red which has an anemic midrange and then has this subwoofer that works badly and disconnected from the rest (it's the main reason why I prefer the Aoshida E20, besides the lack of air) and therefore you don't have that annoying hole around 150Hz.
With Zero Red I felt that everything was coming from the center of the head and with Zero 2 this doesn't happen, fortunately. The construction is fantastic and aesthetically I find them beautiful (they look better in person).
They are very comfortable and you can forget about the fit issues of Zero Red. Ok, it's plastic and doesn't look premium, but who cares!
If they had a little more air, were made of steel, had a more premium looking cable (like the big heavy ones that I personally hate) and were priced at €300, they could be sold with little difficulty.
I apologize if I sound mean towards Zero Red, but in my opinion it arrived on the market at least 4 years late to be a novelty and, to my ears, it didn't even hold a candle to my €35 Cadenza and i'll probably send one to Amir to have him measured...

I can't really relate. Cadenzas tuning makes everything sound dry and closed in, everything sounds like Steely Dan vinyls om my parents hifi system.

While I could name a few sets that are a little more spacious and immersive than Truthear Red, they're all night and day better than Cadenza.

 

[Sebby]

I can't really relate. Cadenzas tuning makes everything sound dry and closed in, everything sounds like Steely Dan vinyls om my parents hifi system.

I could name a few sets that have a more immersive, less closed-in playback than Truthear Red. But it's not a multi-tier difference to me.

I find Zero Red much drier (if I understand what you mean). Cadenza doesn't have the mid frequencies tuned counterclockwise, it doesn't have that hole at 150Hz (the point where the subwoofer activates on Zero Red) and it has more air and the FR measurements seem to confirm this.
Then, different ears and variation in production... anything could be. On both IEMs I use Eartips FinalAudio.

 

[markanini]

I find Zero Red much drier (if I understand what you mean). Cadenza doesn't have the mid frequencies tuned counterclockwise, it doesn't have that hole at 150Hz (the point where the subwoofer activates on Zero Red) and it has more air and the FR measurements seem to confirm this.
Then, different ears and variation in production... anything could be. On both IEMs I use Eartips FinalAudio.

Check again. Firstly Cadenza has less energy around 6kHz. Secondly it has more bass below 250Hz which will mask higher frequencies. Normalizing the graphs to the bass frequencies corresponds better with what I hear.

 

[Art of sound]

I’m not buying another $20 IEM after OG ZERO and Hola and a bunch of the hit models like zex pro i eventually donated. There is a clear difference in timbre, detail retrieval, seperation on the expensive ones. Why not get aria or a planar that is $100-150 and EQ them if need be. There are so many now that are worthy unless you misplace a lot.

 

[Sebby]

Check again. Firstly Cadenza has less energy around 6kHz. Secondly it has more bass below 250Hz which will mask higher frequencies. Normalizing the graphs to the bass frequencies corresponds better with what I hear.
View attachment 338019

No offense, but crossing the graphs like this makes me smile.

 

[muza_1]

I’m not buying another $20 IEM after OG ZERO and Hola and a bunch of the hit models like zex pro i eventually donated. There is a clear difference in timbre, detail retrieval, seperation on the expensive ones. Why not get aria or a planar that is $100-150 and EQ them if need be. There are so many now that are worthy unless you misplace a lot.

Not my experience at all after owning some $500.00+ sets over the years and lately trying the Thieaudio Monarch MKIII (I really like them but not worth the price difference compared to other low cost ones), 64Audio U12t (not for me at all) and other revered and expensive ones, I decided that I have never going to spend more than +/-$70.00 on IEMs ever again. I really don't care about looks or build quality even the cheapest Sony MH755 are still working and in good condition after years of use.

Also there is no such thing as "detail retrieval" as for sound-stage all IEMs sound similar to me the rest (separation, clarity and such) is up tu frequency response and low distortion. I just choose the ones closer to my preference (with low distortion) and EQ them.

 

[jools]

Mine arrived today and I'm comparing with Truthear Zero Blues. Visual and tactile impression is cheap compared to the Truthears - so the difference in price seems totally reasonable. Then again, being lighter and narrower than the Truthears, they fit me a little better. Comparing sound is tricky because the 7Hz are louder (so that's always better, right?) but swapping back and forth basically goes (7Hz)... ooh that bass is nice... (Truthear)... hello cymbals... and then round and round. I was supposed to be just doing a quick listen because I had stuff to do... That was a couple of hours ago. What a time to be alive.

 

[Metrallaroja]

Just got a pair, love them

 

[AudioJester]

@Pearljam5000
You should buy IEMs. These circa $50 comparisons is like you comparing SOTA Genelec/Neuman etc., but at a ridiculously affordable price. Then it comes down to which kind of perfection do you prefer

 

[markanini]

No offense, but crossing the graphs like this makes me smile.

Maybe, but you talked about measurements and I looked. Normalizing to the mids is no better to the Cadenza. The 6kHz deficit is probably responsible for what I hear as dry drums. The trend stands when comparing with more wet sets like Tin C2 or Moondrop Lan. Do you browse AHS server by any chance?

 

[Sebby]

Maybe, but you talked about measurements and I looked. Normalizing to the mids is no better to the Cadenza. The 6kHz deficit is probably responsible for what I hear as dry drums. The trend stands when comparing with more wet sets like Tin C2 or Moondrop Lan. Do you browse AHS server by any chance?
View attachment 338057View attachment 338060

I accept these graphs.
Yes, you might be right about some things, but wait until I explain: as you see in the low-mid frequency region, Cadenza is fuller and Zero Red on the other hand has a dip before rising back towards the bass.
That deficit for me makes the midrange too anemic and in one track I realized that a percussion had almost literally disappeared from the stage; with Cadenza he was present again.
As for treble and air and as you can see from the graph, Cadenza has a little dip between 4kHz and 8kHz and then comes back up and is louder than Zero Red around 10kHz. Playing with parametric EQ over the years, I realized that it is the contrast between levels that makes the difference and not the absolute levels, or at least my brain noticed this and masking probably comes into play... not I want to take a chance.
Zero Red felt like the sound was more tiring and emptier.
Cadenza seemed drier in some places, you're right about that but it made up for it with the rest. The perfect IEM doesn't exist, but if I put everything on the scale the pot falls towards Cadenza for me...

 

[Palladium]

Not my experience at all after owning some $500.00+ sets over the years and lately trying the Thieaudio Monarch MKIII (I really like them but not worth the price difference compared to other low cost ones), 64Audio U12t (not for me at all) and other revered and expensive ones, I decided that I have never going to spend more than +/-$70.00 on IEMs ever again. I really don't care about looks or build quality even the cheapest Sony MH755 are still working and in good condition after years of use.

Also there is no such thing as "detail retrieval" as for sound-stage all IEMs sound similar to me the rest (separation, clarity and such) is up tu frequency response and low distortion. I just choose the ones closer to my preference (with low distortion) and EQ them.

I never tried any megabuck IEMs, but I did try the Blessing 3 Dusk and came out utterly unimpressed. Not because its bad per se but I'm not gonna pay 20-30x over Zeros etc just for a bit more treble.

Anybody who tries to argue price isn't the most important factor of all is deep into some serious cope.

 

[muza_1]

I never tried any megabuck IEMs, but I did try the Blessing 3 Dusk and came out utterly unimpressed. Not because its bad per se but I'm not gonna pay 20-30x over Zeros etc just for a bit more treble.

Anybody who tries to argue price isn't the most important factor of all is deep into some serious cope.

And a bit more treble that can be had with equalization anyway.

With the performance of IEMs today there is no reason to spend a lot if you main priority is audio quality.

 

[Yevhen]

Did someone try their open back IEMs with the planar driver? I have a problem walking with the closed back - they are making the noise after every step, like when touching the hoodie or when the wire swings back and forth...

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

Did someone try their open back IEMs with the planar driver? I have a problem walking with the closed back - they are making the noise after every step, like when touching the hoodie or when the wire swings back and forth...

Audeze did I believe

 

[nawfal07]

This is crazy good for the crazy price, I couldn’t find any fault with the sound except the bass in Yuna/Usher’s Crush a little bit unrefined but the bass is heavy in that song though. My first ever IEM and it fits comfortably with the default tips. I don’t feel like taking them off after an hour so that means they could be something I could get into seriously.

Anyway, like I said I’ve never used IEM before, should the pins on the connector go all the way in? I already feel like I have forced a little to get that far, I’m worried that I will break it.

PS: I’m posting on the phone so I couldn’t see if the image is too big, I hope it’s not.