7Hz Salnotes Zero IEM Review

[Somafunk]

A question for @oratory1990 now he's turned up, what is your personal choice of iems in daily use and why?

 

[capslock]

I think that there are two mindsets in the audio industry: big markup and sell one a week or slim margins and sell to the masses.

The Amazon listing suggests that Salnotes is selling a thousand Zeros and Zero:2s per week. The manufacturers selling thousand dollar IEMs are just hoping their top pf the range has sales, as in plural/more than one, every week.

If you are making tens of thousands of units per quarter in China, the cost can get pretty low and still be profitable. If you are making a hundred things per year it is the opposite effect.

Of course, great to be Sennheiser who is selling thousands of units for hundreds of dollars.

What amazes me even more is that they should be able to maintain consistency at these low prices. I imagine with these super tiny drivers, minute differences in glue stiffness, membrane thickness, coil centering etc. can ruin both FR and distortion.

And unlike some DACs that were especially prepared and sent to Amir by the manufacturer, these were just ordered online.

 

[oratory1990]

What amazes me even more is that they should be able to maintain consistency at these low prices. I imagine with these super tiny drivers, minute differences in glue stiffness, membrane thickness, coil centering etc. can ruin both FR and distortion.

And unlike some DACs that were especially prepared and sent to Amir by the manufacturer, these were just ordered online.

At some point it's cheaper to simply measure all produced units and throw out all those that fall outside of your limits, than to spend a decent chunk of your ops budget on determining the most consistent parameter sets on each process step.
I can imagine that this is what happens here.

 

[jools]

At some point it's cheaper to simply measure all produced units and throw out all those that fall outside of your limits, than to spend a decent chunk of your ops budget on determining the most consistent parameter sets on each process step.
I can imagine that this is what happens here.

You can throw out the drivers that don't make the spec... or you can put them in some earbuds where no-one cares how they sound.

 

[capslock]

Either way, it takes quite some expenditure for quality control.

 

[MacClintock]

I measure earphones with an ITU T.Rec P57 Type 2 ear simulator (the Gras 43AC).
Amir measures all headphones and earphones with a Type 3.3 ear simulator (the Gras 45CA).

The difference is that a Type 2 ear simulator consists of a coupler with a metal ear canal extension, whereas the Type 3.3 ear simulator has a rubber pinna attached to the coupler.

The "kink" as you call it is a mass-spring resonance (mass of the total earphone, stiffness of the eartip/fleshy part of the ear canal). On a Type 3.3 ear simulator like the Gras 45CA this resonance is slightly more exaggerated than what we typically see on actual humans (by e.g. measuring an earphone with a microphone inserted into the front volume into the earphone).

You can mostly ignore it.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[alumnicesar]

At some point it's cheaper to simply measure all produced units and throw out all those that fall outside of your limits, than to spend a decent chunk of your ops budget on determining the most consistent parameter sets on each process step.
I can imagine that this is what happens here.

just want to say, nice seeing you here

 

[olieb]

You can mostly ignore it

Sure, but how so?
What is the FR after ignoring the kink?
Red, green or pink?

 

[alumnicesar]

Sure, but how so?
What is the FR after ignoring the kink?
Red, green or pink?

i would guess pink

 

[MayaTlab]

Sure, but how so?
What is the FR after ignoring the kink?
Red, green or pink?

7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 IEM Review

Given the excellence of these inexpensive IEMs I wonder how much longer companies manufacturing IEMS costing thousands of dollars can afford to do so? Especially when the performance of their mega dollar IEMS can often fall short of IEMS like the Crinacle Zero. I can't even imagine burning...

audiosciencereview.com

When the resonance is shaped like a "Z", when I controlled for it with putty, for the few IEMs I've measured so far, the "correct" trace went through it.
This is a bit different for more complex "shapes" like the Truthear Zeros in a pinna.

 

[olieb]

i would guess pink

Your guess is as good as mine. My guess is blue.

 

[alumnicesar]

we have the same guess haha

 

[mc.god]

i would guess pink

My guess is blue.

For the Zero it will depend from the color of the tips you use

 

[Chyżwar]

The Zero Red has more bass only below 30Hz.
Above 30Hz, the Zero Blue has more bass:
View attachment 336251

Since most music nowadays has barely any content below 30Hz, the Zero Blue will sound like the bassier IEM.

You can't compare the amount of bass in isolation from the rest of the frequency! The Zero Blue will not be perceived as bassier IEMs, because they have much more upper midrange and treble.

 

[markanini]

You can't compare the amount of bass in isolation from the rest of the frequency! The Zero Blue will not be perceived as bassier IEMs, because they have much more upper midrange and treble.

This doesn't match my subjective impression of Zero Blue. While the upper mids appeared "gritty" due to some elevated range, the elevated bass is still the main feature to my ears. My source is a Samsung dongle with 2 Ohm output impedance, likely not enough to change the stock response.

 

[alumnicesar]

You can't compare the amount of bass in isolation from the rest of the frequency! The Zero Blue will not be perceived as bassier IEMs, because they have much more upper midrange and treble.

This doesn't match my subjective impression of Zero Blue. While the upper mids appeared "gritty" due to some elevated range, the elevated bass is still the main feature to my ears. My source is a Samsung dongle with 2 Ohm output impedance, likely not enough to change the stock response.

according to https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq/blob/master/results/RANKING.md

the 7hz Zero has a slope of -0.02
and
the Truthear Zero has a slope of 0.31

so the 7hz does technically have a bassier profile

 

[mc.god]

according to https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq/blob/master/results/RANKING.md

the 7hz Zero has a slope of -0.02
and
the Truthear Zero has a slope of 0.31

so the 7hz does technically have a bassier profile

He says that that "slope tells if the headphone is warm (< 0) or bright (> 0)" that for me is not the same as being bassier. I never listened to TE Zero so just speculating, but from the graph I can imagine it being at the same time bassier and brighter than 7Hz Zero, due to clearly more bass under 100 Hz + less midbass between 130-250 Hz + more low highs in the 7.5k-10k region that for me is more crucial on the brigthness than the 7

Hz peak at 12k

 

[dorirod]

How is the perceived quality of material (housing, cable, etc) of these compared to Truthear Crinacle Zero Red (or Blue)?

A few members already answered, but I'd like to hear more personal opinions.

I find the cable of TZR to be much better in feel. I also had to really force the connection on the 7Hz, they were very tight to the point I feared I would bend the pins.

 

[oratory1990]

Sure, but how so?
What is the FR after ignoring the kink?
Red, green or pink?

pink.
This can be tested by increasing the stiffness to a sufficiently high value, e.g. by filling the eartip with resin or UV-hardening adhesive, without changing its position in the ear simulator.
We did test this during a reference design development a few years ago.

You can throw out the drivers that don't make the spec... or you can put them in some earbuds where no-one cares how they sound.

The industry jargon for this is "sorting"

 

[migo77]

Hello, what is the best replacement cable for this IEMs? I hear every movement of that cable. It is very annoying. Thank you.