7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 IEM Review

[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.

 

[mc.god]

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

Then analog output on a smartphone, when present, should have very low output impedance granting low current drain and volume loss when paired to iems that generally have low impedance.
At least it was in the days when analog output was a standard presence and not an exception like nowadays.
I roughly measured output impedance of my old smartphones (ZTE grand S2 and Asus Zenfone 2 from around 2014-2015) and on both it was extremely low:

ZTE Grand S2: max no load output: 0.21 V - output at 10 ohm load: 0,18 V --> output impedance: 1,4 Ohms
Asus Zenfone 2: max no load output: 0.28 V - output at 10 ohm load: 0,27 V --> output impedance: 0.4 Ohms

My present smartphone (Realme 7 5G from 2021) has worse measurements though, with higher no load voltage but much higher output impedance:

Realme 7 5G: max no load output: 0.4 V - output at 10 ohm load: 0,13 V --> output impedance: 22 Ohms

So a low impedance iem connected to the analog output of the Realme will draw much current than on Asus or ZTE (but I don't know how much the difference would be measurable or noticeable) and surely play quieter.

These are too few examples to say if it is a trend of nowadays because the analog output is seen as a lower important feature or if it just depends from models and manufacturers, but should your Poco X3 have relatively high output impedance maybe the difference in battery drain between using analog out and apple dongle could be imperceptible while clearly noticeable in max volume.

 

[Emlin]

As an aside, is the analog output on a laptop likely to be any good?

 

[mc.god]

As an aside, is the analog output on a laptop likely to be any good?

I measured the 3.5 out of a very old cheap acer laptop and it was junk, 1 volt max and 75 ohms impedance.
Measured also a 2020 hp probook laptop but i lost the data, I only remember that it was not much better then the acer.
Now using another older probook but not yet measured, I don't expect anything better.
My desktop motherboard integrated audio measures 1,2 V max output with 55 ohms impedance.
They also are all prone to internal interference and hissing with sensitive iems.

So, for my experience, the answer is no.

 

[Emlin]

I measured the 3.5 out of a very old cheap acer laptop and it was junk, 1 volt max and 75 ohms impedance.
Measured also a 2020 hp probook laptop but i lost the data, I only remember that it was not much better then the acer.
Now using another older probook but not yet measured, I don't expect anything better.
My desktop motherboard integrated audio measures 1,2 V max output with 55 ohms impedance.

So, for my experience, the answer is no.

I suspected as much, but thanks for the confirmation!

 

[Matias]

A decent dongle is cheap, an excellent one not expensive either. No reason to use junk 3.5mm out of a laptop or cell phone IMO.

 

[Da Capo]

I measured the 3.5 out of a very old cheap acer laptop and it was junk, 1 volt max and 75 ohms impedance.
Measured also a 2020 hp probook laptop but i lost the data, I only remember that it was not much better then the acer.
Now using another older probook but not yet measured, I don't expect anything better.
My desktop motherboard integrated audio measures 1,2 V max output with 55 ohms impedance.
They also are all prone to internal interference and hissing with sensitive iems.

So, for my experience, the answer is no.

The headphone outputs on Mac laptops are quite good. Maybe not up to driving the most power hungry planar magnetics, but for most cans, and most listeners, a dongle may be superfluous.