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7Hz Salnotes Zero IEM Review

Rate this IEM:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 1 0.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 9 3.7%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 34 13.8%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 202 82.1%

  • Total voters
    246
Well said. Since you have The Tanchjim One on hand, if you use EQ, have you tried the official EQ presets posted here? https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/tanchjim-one-iem-review.50793/post-1843230

Either way the original 7Hz Zero is very good indeed.
Sorry for the late response, I had tried the One with the EQ and it was great for some genres like electronic music where the bass drop all time like techno, they were like a subwoofer in your ears and also it made me feel the music more when I was trying the music, maybe for the bass experience. And for some vocal genres I prefered the stock curve. However I only tried them with EQ on the stock eartips. If you like Tanchjim One I highly recommend buying Spinfit W1, in my case MS size. The thing is, with stock eartips no eq they're great just low end can sound strange in some songs, with the EQ mentioned they get subbass roll where you enjoy some songs af but is not intented for all genres, but with the W1 no EQ in my opinion they get an underated lowend, it sound great, just as great as make you forget you are listening through equipment and only make you listen the actual song, I highly recommend them, but as you know sound is subjective. Now what I need is to try the EQ set with this eartips but neutron trial finished and I'm by far happy with foobar and aimp. The thing is I've got an endgame that isn't uncomfortable to put on (no over ear cable), that also have detachable cable and that build quality and looks is awesome. In my case I'm running with 3.5mm version, I think dsp and 3.5mm sound different so be careful if you pretend to buy W1.

I'm having that nostalgic experience I had when I was more younger and for me my in ear were in sound perfect.
 
Well I only got them this morning, but these are really nice. Even more so for 10 eur. They are a lot less bulky than the truthear zero so sit better in my wee lassie ears.

Let the ear tip journey commence!! :facepalm:
 
IMG-20240607-WA0024.jpg


Super good with wide bore cheapo eartips, also look cooler. Bass is more old man style, but I like it.
 
Arrived today, my repurchase of 7Hz Zero 1. It's still competitive I think, even better with mods. Truthear Gate has better bass, but this has better details.
View attachment 378384

What are your mods? I don't find much difference changing the eartips, so EQ is the best mod for me!
 
Arrived today, my repurchase of 7Hz Zero 1. It's still competitive I think, even better with mods. Truthear Gate has better bass, but this has better details.
View attachment 378384
The tuning out of the box is nearly perfect- that is, realistic- for classical and other acoustic music. To me that should be the gold standard. People are then free to apply EQ as needed to make for more comfortable listening with other, heavily processed, genres.
 
I find getting a smooth and enjoyable treble response pretty difficult on the original 7Hz Zero:
graph (50).png

Out of the box, the Zero:2 does a much better job there (EQed Zero:2 overlaid for reference).
 
I find getting a smooth and enjoyable treble response much more difficult on the original 7Hz Zero:
View attachment 378391

Out of the box, the Zero:2 does a much better job there (EQed Zero:2 overlaid for reference).
Versus my subjective impression the graph is exaggerated, the stock treble is only mildly spicy. Nothing crazy like I've heard in some IEMs using QDC connectors...But I'm just one data point. If BK5128 is truly more accurate than 711 it will reflect the high variability of treble frequencies, independent of the IEM, but caused by anatomic variability. Thus, the BK5128 graph you shared says less about 7Hz Zero than we can assume by casually interpreting the data.

1719855288674.png
 
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I find getting a smooth and enjoyable treble response pretty difficult on the original 7Hz Zero:
View attachment 378391

Out of the box, the Zero:2 does a much better job there (EQed Zero:2 overlaid for reference).
Violins heard live are quite a bit brighter than the "smooth" sound many people seem to like.
 
I find getting a smooth and enjoyable treble response pretty difficult on the original 7Hz Zero:
View attachment 378391

Out of the box, the Zero:2 does a much better job there (EQed Zero:2 overlaid for reference).
The lower 3-4k area represents a loss of detail when the bass over powers it. For me the ideal response would be in-between the two.... can I get a 1.5 ? lol
 
I always use the same tracks in my listening tests to allow good familiarity with their tonality. It took all of 2 seconds to realize this is the same accurate, neutral response I like to hear.

A neutral response would be a flat line across the frequency spectrum. The curve we have to work with is not neutral at all. It's a common scooped listening curve (aka the smiley face).

(This is the curve I aim for when mixing live, more or less, so I'm not knocking it at all)

Here's a test to try. Listen to Bob Katz's mastering job of Future of Forestry's "Life Begins Today" on a pair of Beyerdynamic DT990 Pros, and see if it sounds as terrible as the review suggests it might. My hypothesis is that it will sound pretty darn good. Even if you don't have corrective EQ and a pair of these, try it out. Does it sound horrendous?
 
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Violins heard live are quite a bit brighter than the "smooth" sound many people seem to like.
I can't confirm that.
I once had the opportunity to hear a well-known violinist with his famous violin, which was over 250 years old, in a dealer's showroom. There was no difference to his recording, which was played on a good system.
He had also played another, current concert violin in the mid-five-figure range, different, but also good. But a normal violin, around €1500, sounded broken and squeaky in direct comparison. But the violinist confirmed that it wasn't a bad instrument for this price range.
 
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