7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 IEM Review

[gcompari]

Not hearing anything funny on mine. REW for generator, all clean from 50hz down to ~8hz which is barely perceptible.

The problem is that under 20Hz (at normal / not dangerous levels) you can't hear (near) anything: if you hear something there is a problem. Please concentrate only to the range 30Hz/25Hz to below, so you don't schok your ears with more audible frequencies. Stepping down, please analyze what you hear: it is more lower in frequency respect to what you hear at previous steps or you hear noises/components at higher frequencies. If you concentrate, you'll discover that you hear some noises at interval equals to the period of the subfrequencies, but these noise are composed by higher frequencies than the fundamentals. In fact is impossible to hear 8Hz but you found this frequency "barely perceptible".

 

[gcompari]

Hmm, don't know what to tell you. Not everyone is experiencing your problem. Don't use them if they're no good for music listening!

The problem is not of secondary importance: if there is an intrinsic problem with the type of these earphones, we must forget that they exist because they are unusable.
But if they're unusable, where do we find something (at any price) that has these levels of distortion and is easily equalized?
I would like to understand what the problem is because I find their (Zero:2 & Zero:RED) performance almost unattainable with any other device...

 

[Emlin]

The problem is not of secondary importance: if there is an intrinsic problem with the type of these earphones, we must forget that they exist because they are unusable.
But if they're unusable, where do we find something (at any price) that has these levels of distortion and is easily equalized?
I would like to understand what the problem is because I find their (Zero:2 & Zero:RED) performance almost unattainable with any other device...

In one post you have called them unusable, and then found their performance unattainable elsewhere.

Which is it to be?

 

[TurtlePaul]

I would like to understand what the problem is because I find their (Zero:2 & Zero:RED) performance almost unattainable with any other device...

Some in-ears, including the Zero:2, have a port in the inner chamber of the earphone. This port exits just a few millimeters behind the nozzle. I wonder if this port gets blocked for some people either completely or intermittently when they insert the earphones.

 

[gcompari]

In one post you have called them unusable, and then found their performance unattainable elsewhere.

Which is it to be?

THD measurements are superb, but some of us hear something else that seems incompatible (or extraneous) with these mesaurements: we need to understand the nature of problem... If the noises are not related to the harmonics of the fundamental, the THD plot doesn't detect them, so we need a SINAD vs. freq. graph.
I found what TurtelPaul just said about the "port in the inner chamber" very interesting: I need to investigate if this is the source of the problem...

 

[gcompari]

Some in-ears, including the Zero:2, have a port in the inner chamber of the earphone. This port exits just a few millimeters behind the nozzle. I wonder if this port gets blocked for some people either completely or intermittently when they insert the earphones.

Really interesting hypothesis...

 

[olieb]

olieb who responded to my post before, hears the same problem.

I did not say there was a problem. Just some faint flow noise when playing infrasonic loudly. I could not care less.

 

[hege]

The problem is that under 20Hz (at normal / not dangerous levels) you can't hear (near) anything: if you hear something there is a problem. Please concentrate only to the range 30Hz/25Hz to below, so you don't schok your ears with more audible frequencies. Stepping down, please analyze what you hear: it is more lower in frequency respect to what you hear at previous steps or you hear noises/components at higher frequencies. If you concentrate, you'll discover that you hear some noises at interval equals to the period of the subfrequencies, but these noise are composed by higher frequencies than the fundamentals. In fact is impossible to hear 8Hz but you found this frequency "barely perceptible".

If you want to nitpick between hearing and feeling, yes you can barely _feel_ the 8hz pulses with somewhat normal levels. I've been dabbling with lots of headphones and measurements and sinewaves in my past. Also I'm a bass fan with my 18" subs. I'd hope I know what clean bass sounds (and feels) by now.

 

[Chromatischism]

It is smaller, lighter and the nozzle thinner. If the Truthear fits you alright, chances are that the 7Hz night be too loose. But diversity is as I have described, ime, without EQ. Who knows how it will suit you after EQ? Still cheap enough to try and if you regret just gift it to someone else and he/she will probably be floored by it as still it is soooo good.

They fit, but they aren't a long-term wear like the Fiio FH3's are for me. That's a design that tucks right into your ear instead of hanging from the canal.

 

[Robbo99999]

THD measurements are superb, but some of us hear something else that seems incompatible (or extraneous) with these mesaurements: we need to understand the nature of problem... If the noises are not related to the harmonics of the fundamental, the THD plot doesn't detect them, so we need a SINAD vs. freq. graph.
I found what TurtelPaul just said about the "port in the inner chamber" very interesting: I need to investigate if this is the source of the problem...

@amirm , any thoughts on this?

 

[olieb]

I did not say there was a problem. Just some faint flow noise when playing infrasonic loudly. I could not care less.

But it is still interesting of course.
I just checked with Audeze LCD2closed. The very same happens to me. Faint flow noise when playing 10-16 Hz VERY loud.
So it is not only with IEMs.
My guess is still that this is produced by the ear (and throat) as there is a pressure difference between ear canal and oral cavity (which would not be there with speakers or in a church with organ).
When I hold my nose shut and breathe against it the noise disappears for me. The feeling of pressure (infrasonic) remains. So it does not seem to come from the headphone.

 

[gcompari]

If you want to nitpick between hearing and feeling, yes you can barely _feel_ the 8hz pulses with somewhat normal levels. I've been dabbling with lots of headphones and measurements and sinewaves in my past. Also I'm a bass fan with my 18" subs. I'd hope I know what clean bass sounds (and feels) by now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_range -> "... Under ideal laboratory conditions, humans can hear sound as low as 12 Hz ..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boardwalk_Hall_Auditorium_Organ -> "... The Diaphone-Dulzian's low-C pipe is 59 feet (18 m) in length, weighs 3,350 pounds (1,520 kg), and produces a frequency of 8 Hz, a tone that is more felt than heard; the sound of the vibrating pallet is described as "a helicopter hovering over the building ..."

 

[gcompari]

I did not say there was a problem. Just some faint flow noise when playing infrasonic loudly. I could not care less.

This "Just some faint flow noise when playing infrasonic loudly" is the problem...

 

[gcompari]

But it is still interesting of course.
I just checked with Audeze LCD2closed. The very same happens to me. Faint flow noise when playing 10-16 Hz VERY loud.
So it is not only with IEMs.
My guess is still that this is produced by the ear (and throat) as there is a pressure difference between ear canal and oral cavity (which would not be there with speakers or in a church with organ).
When I hold my nose shut and breathe against it the noise disappears for me. The feeling of pressure (infrasonic) remains. So it does not seem to come from the headphone.

 

[tacoearth]

Hey, could anyone tell me about the distortion measurements at normal music volumes? ~65dB for example. I'm able to differentiate 0.01% and 0.05% on this test, after blasting my zeroes to 130dB for like a minute on accident, could anyone confirm how far they are able to go through in the test?

 

[gcompari]

But it is still interesting of course.
I just checked with Audeze LCD2closed. The very same happens to me. Faint flow noise when playing 10-16 Hz VERY loud.
So it is not only with IEMs.
My guess is still that this is produced by the ear (and throat) as there is a pressure difference between ear canal and oral cavity (which would not be there with speakers or in a church with organ).
When I hold my nose shut and breathe against it the noise disappears for me. The feeling of pressure (infrasonic) remains. So it does not seem to come from the headphone.

"I just checked with Audeze LCD2closed. The very same happens to me. Faint flow noise when playing 10-16 Hz VERY loud."
"Venting" problems of the pads around the ears?

"When I hold my nose shut and breathe against it the noise disappears for me."
Perhaps are you reducing the ear sesitivity, so you can't hear low noises?

If the problem was "anatomical", all headphones and all IEMs should cause noise: unfortunately it is now difficult to get a pair of Sennheiser CX 1.00 or CX 2.00g, but they were cheap and with these you don't hear noises below 25Hz unless you turn up the volume to crazy levels (in this case you get the "standard" harmonic distortion).

 

[staticV3]

Hey, could anyone tell me about the distortion measurements at normal music volumes? ~65dB for example. I'm able to differentiate 0.01% and 0.05% on this test, after blasting my zeroes to 130dB for like a minute on accident, could anyone confirm how far they are able to go through in the test?

It is very difficult to accurately measure THD of a low distortion IEM like the Zero:2, at such low volumes.

It would require an extremely low noise measurement microphone, plus some signal analysis tricks like coherent averaging.

I'm not aware of anyone doing such measurements.

 

[tacoearth]

It is very difficult to accurately measure THD of a low distortion IEM like the Zero:2, at such low volumes.

It would require an extremely low noise measurement microphone, plus some signal analysis tricks like coherent averaging.

I'm not aware of anyone doing such measurements.

Thank you for your response, could you help me getting an estimated prediction on how much it could be?

 

[Robbo99999]

Hey, could anyone tell me about the distortion measurements at normal music volumes? ~65dB for example. I'm able to differentiate 0.01% and 0.05% on this test, after blasting my zeroes to 130dB for like a minute on accident, could anyone confirm how far they are able to go through in the test?

(I can hear the distortion in the 0.5% sample but not the ones below it, that's with headphone amp at normal listening levels).
EDIT: and for the following one that is at 125Hz I could detect it at 0.1% (but that was only after listening to the 0.5% tone and knowing what it sounded like).

THD - The Extended Set (125Hz)

Testing Total Harmonic Distortion below the 1000Hz standard.

www.audiocheck.net

31Hz -> 0.5%
62Hz -> 0.5%
125Hz -> 0.1%
250Hz -> 0.5%
500Hz -> 0.5%
1kHz -> 0.5%
So they were all the same, except for the 125Hz one where I could hear the 0.1%.

That's with Sennheiser HD560s headphone.

But I understand it's easier to detect distortion in sine tones than it is to detect it in actual music samples, so not really sure the value of this exercise.

 

[salmo]

To me these tips work very well with the Zero 2, if anyone is interested: KBEAR 08.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mMkRAPS

View attachment 342041

They hold inside ears better than original ones? In my case stock ones pops out after some time and I have to correct them from time to time.