7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 IEM Review

[misterdog]

Just bought a pair, they are awesome - Thanks @amirm.

I have tricked out Quad 989 ESL's fed from Benchmark AHB2, with 2x 12" subs fed from MiniDSP plate amp, the sound from these IEM's is in some respects better. There must be some 5% THD on the sub drivers (though strangely the manufacturers neglect to mention this) so the bass is more detailed.

Could these be driven direct from my Topping E70 DAC if I make an adaptor cable ?

Or Pre90 preamp.

Interestingly the 'instructions' say to run with 'soft' music at low volume for 10-30 hours for best results.

As others have noted the fit makes a huge difference, the supplied silicone tips I found less comfortable and worse sound quality than the memory foam Comply ones I had to hand.

No mention of the tiny 'L' and 'R' for wiring up though - luckily I read this entire thread

 

[staticV3]

Could these be driven direct from my Topping E70 DAC if I make an adaptor cable ?

Or Pre90 preamp.

Please don't. Use a proper headphone Amp.

 

[mikehoopes]

Balanced output only gives you more power, which you may need to drive inefficient headphones to satisfying loudness.

For IEMs, there's no advantage.
All you'd get is slightly more hiss, and worse battery life.

Depends. I‘m compensating for some hearing loss, and my EQ is hitting a peak of +5.3 dB at 6156 Hz. Balanced yields me some extra headroom to help keep the distortion down, and I’m not perceiving any hiss with the 5K.

 

[Oso Polar]

EQ is hitting a peak of +5.3 dB

And? Some of the ones I use are even more. Still plenty of power left with IEMs. Regular full size headphones is another story...

 

[Jean-Paul Petrosyan]

Sure, there's a measurable advantage in crosstalk. It's far from audible though.

On the flip side you get worse battery life, more hiss, and you need a special cable. For IEMs, it's just not worth it.

I see. Could you by any chance direct me towards some sources on the crosstalk audibility thresholds?

 

[mikehoopes]

And? Some of the ones I use are even more. Still plenty of power left with IEMs. Regular full size headphones is another story...

I don’t have measurements or even valid qualitative data to support this. That said, I bought a custom cable primarily for ergonomics, and not incremental electrical performance, and the 2.5 balanced did not cost appreciably more.

I’m also running relatively high volumes (note I normally wear hearing aids) so I have the 5K running at -23 dB volume level with the source at 0 dB. The 5K app estimates 142 mV rms for that, which is about .63 mW driven.

Looking at Amir’s 33 Ohm unbalanced high test data, that lands around -85 dB THD + N, so likely not audible, and a couple of orders of magnitude below power at clipping. The 50 Ohm balanced test lands at below -90 dB at that power level, so yeah, a technical but not audible difference, and both not indicative of audible hiss. But also not an uncommon theme on this website.

 

[Emlin]

Let me start by saying that I love the sound of these, even without EQ.

But my first pair failed with either an internal or external connection. I can troubleshoot. There's no doubt about it. One channel had problems, then the other joined in, then they became unusable.

Now the second pair are failing in the same way.

They're not so cheap if you have to keep replacing them every month or go through the inordinate hassle of getting them replaced.

So, can anyone suggest the best nearest sounding ones, that must still be relatively cheap, but have considerably better life expectancy, please?

 

[Matias]

Let me start by saying that I love the sound of these, even without EQ.

But my first pair failed with either an internal or external connection. I can troubleshoot. There's no doubt about it. One channel had problems, then the other joined in, then they became unusable.

Now the second pair are failing in the same way.

They're not so cheap if you have to keep replacing them every month or go through the inordinate hassle of getting them replaced.

So, can anyone suggest the best nearest sounding ones, that must still be relatively cheap, but have considerably better life expectancy, please?

Try Truthear Zero Red for double the price. Not as comfortable though.

I have many 7Hz Zeros 1 and 2, none failed me yet.

 

[Emlin]

Try Truthear Zero Red for double the price. Not as comfortable though.

I have many 7Hz Zeros 1 and 2, none failed me yet.

I thought that that might be the answer. I suppose comfort might be in the ear of the beholder, but I had no problems with that with the 7Hz, so...

 

[Somafunk]

Let me start by saying that I love the sound of these, even without EQ.

But my first pair failed with either an internal or external connection. I can troubleshoot. There's no doubt about it. One channel had problems, then the other joined in, then they became unusable.

Now the second pair are failing in the same way.

They're not so cheap if you have to keep replacing them every month or go through the inordinate hassle of getting them replaced.

So, can anyone suggest the best nearest sounding ones, that must still be relatively cheap, but have considerably better life expectancy, please?

Can you do a simple continuity test on the cable?

 

[Emlin]

Can you do a simple continuity test on the cable?

Not the cable. I can troubleshoot, as I said.

 

[Oso Polar]

They're not so cheap

You are joking, right?

Anyway, do you use them during exercises (e.g. in gym)? Many IEMs can die prematurely if sweat gets inside.

 

[Emlin]

You are joking, right?

Anyway, do you use them during exercises (e.g. in gym)? Many IEMs can die prematurely if sweat gets inside.

Selective quoting there!

But no, no sweat or other fluids.

 

[mikehoopes]

Selective quoting there!

But no, no sweat or other fluids.

Do you guys have excessively moist ear canals? Sweaty ears? I’ve been using IEMs for strenuous activity for a couple of decades at this point. They’ve really only recently started to have IP ratings, but I only need that for rain. 2-hour midday mountain bike ride today with APP2; never felt a need to wipe an ear.

I don’t consider canal-proximal, or really any, parts of my ears to be a sweat risk (sweat glands in the ear canals are non-eccrine and contribute mostly to cerumen production), which has been borne out in practice for me.

 

[Oso Polar]

2-hour midday mountain bike ride today with APP2; never felt a need to wipe an ear.

For me bike rides are the least problematic in this regard because moving air at speed helps to maintain things relatively dry and helmet together with glasses separate wet hair from ears. Plus only an idiot will ride with IEMs, sane cyclists usually don't use any headphones or use bone conduction headphones, something like Shokz OpenRun Pro. But cardio at gym or bike rides on a trainer at home are extremely sweaty affairs if you push it hard. I'm not sure if ears are sweating much inside but head as a whole and hair in particular for sure become extremely wet and drip sweat. I think part of it drips inside ears as well. I guess this also heavily depends on the hair style (i.e. if your hair covers your ears). Headband can probably help to some extent. For sure I killed a few IEMs in gym .

 

[herr.jemine]

I also got the Zero 2, they sound "nice", in a direct comparison with better IEMs you notice that the resolution and stage are not that great, it just doesn't stand out positively or negatively, the IEM works - nothing more and nothing less - value for money is very good!
Sounds bit like a HD650..

 

[mikehoopes]

For me bike rides are the least problematic in this regard because moving air at speed helps to maintain things relatively dry and helmet together with glasses separate wet hair from ears. Plus only an idiot will ride with IEMs, sane cyclists usually don't use any headphones or use bone conduction headphones, something like Shokz OpenRun Pro. But cardio at gym or bike rides on a trainer at home are extremely sweaty affairs if you push it hard. I'm not sure if ears are sweating much inside but head as a whole and hair in particular for sure become extremely wet and drip sweat. I think part of it drips inside ears as well. I guess this also heavily depends on the hair style (i.e. if your hair covers your ears). Headband can probably help to some extent. For sure I killed a few IEMs in gym .

I resemble that remark. ;-) At any rate, I take it as a compliment that I’d execute the most strenuous parts of a mountain bike ride *at speed*.

 

[bladerunner6]

I got these recently and I was astounded by the clarity and definition! I have a hearing loss with a greater loss in my right ear. If it weren’t for that these would be my preferred method for listening over my Monitor Audio Silver S6 Speakers in our media room.

The isolation and comfort are also very good.

These are an amazing product and I even got them for $22.49 through Linsoul eBay store.

I am actually glad my previous earphones got trashed on vacation.

 

[misterdog]

£ 14 from the Linsoul store on AliExpress. I bought the Apple DAC dongle and the USB Audio Player App, for my Poco X3 phone.
The USB App has a great user interface and stops Android from up sampling to 48Khz and whatever other nonsense it does.
The IEM's have plenty of output, even though as the EU version, it probably has the EU limited output.
All in all it provides near perfect audio for less than £ 25 !!!!!. As good as my Quad 989 ELS and Benchmark amp.

It does drain the battery though, I need to test that as against native phone output.

 

[staticV3]

It does drain the battery though, I need to test that as against native phone output.

The Apple dongle draws around 0.09W while playing music on IEMs.

A modern smartphone battery with around 17Wh capacity could theoretically power the dongle alone for eight days straight.

In practice, the SoC will consume a significant part of the battery's capacity.

Let's say that the phone alone can run UAPP music playback for around 20 hours (->0.85W average power draw).

Adding the Apple dongle on top will reduce playback by two hours (-10%).

That is only if you keep the display off, run no other apps in the background, no WiFi/Bluetooth/Cellular, etc.

In a more realistic scenario with mixed usage, I'd be shocked if you could notice the added battery drain of the dongle.