7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 IEM Review

[phoenixsong]

Whenever I read descriptions like detail, imaging, resolution and separation I wonder how these things could be measured. My pet hypothesis is that the frequency response could be an answer, where descriptions such as detail and resolution probably can be found more often for IEMs with more power in the treble, compared to IEMs that do not get that description. Personally I find IEMs with more treble than the Zero:2 to have a charming effect at first, but listening to such IEMs at length is fatiguing and eventually annoying.

For what it is worth I too find the Zero:2 a bit messy out of the box, but bringing down the upper bass with a gentle peaking filter helps to clear things out. With that filter (175hz, -1db, 0.71q) the Zero:2 still have that impressive sub bass, but songs like Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God sound clearer to me (and very close to what my stereo sounds like).

--

My primary pair just had a channel go very quiet on me. I figured it might have been something with the filter but that looked clean after prying it apart. I don't recall when I got mine but it was shortly after launch. Read of others' dying in the same fashion, seems like ****** build quality. Perhaps you do get what you pay for? I am now listening to my backup pair and have another pair on the way as a new backup. Apparent QC issues aside, these are still my favorite set that I own. Sounds great, in my opinion.

I recently encountered the same issue and washing the affected filter with mild hand foam solved the problem. It cannot be detected by any visual means

 

[phoenixsong]

Oh definitely, Zero 2's are shockingly good, they just lack that "clinical" edge and cleanness the Hexa has, the first thing I thought when I first put them on was "HD600 in my ears"

The zero 2s are their own thing, so much so I also didn't feel like I needed to bring them closer to anything. I'll put them on once I'm "done" working to check if things are musically working. Btw I sent the Zero Reds back exactly for the same reason, the 7Hz offering just sounded altogether better to my ears...

"they just lack that 'clinical' edge and cleanness the Hexa has"
I guess a measurement review of the Hexa here would reveal the whole story

 

[staticV3]

"they just lack that 'clinical' edge and cleanness the Hexa has"
I guess a measurement review of the Hexa here would reveal the whole story

Hexa has less bass and slightly more treble extension:


Naturally, it'll sound more clear.

 

[Jimbob54]

"they just lack that 'clinical' edge and cleanness the Hexa has"
I guess a measurement review of the Hexa here would reveal the whole story

Some clues (EDIT- Ninjad by Static)

 

[scolfaro]

It's not all FR, although that is certainly a factor. Same as using coaxial, 2-way or 3-way speakers, or a 2.1 system. Heck, the same speakers, once I hooked a sub to them (DSP controlled with excellent linearization, but still) just improved in clarity an insane amount even though I was extending the bottom 40Hz down from where it was before.

Once the two drivers in the boxes didn't have to deal with anything under 80Hz anymore, they just opened up and showed their true potential. Then the question left is system Integration and crossover quality, which is a given since it was a proprietary system.

Comparing the Hexa to a 1-DD iem is certainly similar. The crossovers are excellent and unnoticeable, and every driver quite definitely simply needs to work less to output its part, every single BA unencumbered from low frequency content.

 

[frix]

whenever I cycle through my IEM collection with much much more expensive IEMs I'm angry at how good the zero:2 are.
Ruining the hobby for me, lol

I can recommend spinfit w1 tips for a good fit.

 

[Tell]

whenever I cycle through my IEM collection with much much more expensive IEMs I'm angry at how good the zero:2 are.
Ruining the hobby for me, lol

I can recommend spinfit w1 tips for a good fit.

Isn't the hobby to enjoy music with the best possible sound possible? That's at least why I have a pair of Zero2 and nothing else.

(not entirely true, I also have a pair of Sony WF1000xm4 for when I need wireless and/or ANC)

 

[frix]

Isn't the hobby to enjoy music with the best possible sound possible? That's at least why I have a pair of Zero2 and nothing else.

(not entirely true, I also have a pair of Sony WF1000xm4 for when I need wireless and/or ANC)

thats true, I still enjoy that side of the hobby.

 

[Berwhale]

It's not all FR, although that is certainly a factor. Same as using coaxial, 2-way or 3-way speakers, or a 2.1 system. Heck, the same speakers, once I hooked a sub to them (DSP controlled with excellent linearization, but still) just improved in clarity an insane amount even though I was extending the bottom 40Hz down from where it was before.

It's not the same. Have you noticed that Amir uses his GRAS 45CA to measure headphones and IEMS and not his $140k Klippel?

 

[oldmankensey]

New member here and just trying to contribute: I own these and maybe a dozen other IEMs - I'd suggest that these are very close to perfect for me, and the Crinnacle/Truthear Red might be even slightly better but I think that's because they fit me personally a bit better. These Zero 2s are amazingly light and comfortable, I just prefer the slightly larger and more rounded size of the Truthear Reds, but both are absolutely excellent.

 

[misterdog]

These are my first trial of IEM's.
The zero 2's can sound as good as my Benchmark AHB2 into Quad 989 ESL's.
The IEM's are superb, but resting my fingers on them provides better low mids/upper bass.
So it must be down to ear fit. I have tried some Comply foam tips, which were no better than stock tips. Yesterday I recieved a mixed size selection of the DUNU SS tips which seat better, though I feel there is still room for improvement.

So I have just looked at the Spinfit W1 tips..

The DUNU SS have outside diameter of 8.98/10.16/11.5 for S/M/L and length of 8.97.

The Spinfit W1 have outside diameter ranging from 11 to 13.5 and length from 9.5 to10.1 ??????????

So the smalest W1 is roughly the same O/D as the largest Dunu.

Which size would you choose, seems to be no standards at all.
Seems that without spending £ hundreds on trial and error you have no option.

 

[herr.jemine]

These are my first trial of IEM's....
Which size would you choose, seems to be no standards at all.
Seems that without spending £ hundreds on trial and error you have no option.

take a look at the KBEAR07 Eartips (in the set S.M.L) they fit me best on almost all IEMs and seal perfectly

 

[mc.god]

These are my first trial of IEM's.
The zero 2's can sound as good as my Benchmark AHB2 into Quad 989 ESL's.
The IEM's are superb, but resting my fingers on them provides better low mids/upper bass.
So it must be down to ear fit. I have tried some Comply foam tips, which were no better than stock tips. Yesterday I recieved a mixed size selection of the DUNU SS tips which seat better, though I feel there is still room for improvement.

So I have just looked at the Spinfit W1 tips..

The DUNU SS have outside diameter of 8.98/10.16/11.5 for S/M/L and length of 8.97.

The Spinfit W1 have outside diameter ranging from 11 to 13.5 and length from 9.5 to10.1 ??????????

So the smalest W1 is roughly the same O/D as the largest Dunu.

Which size would you choose, seems to be no standards at all.
Seems that without spending £ hundreds on trial and error you have no option.

Here some tips you can generally find for cheap at Aliexpress, they cover a vast range of shapes\dimensions so you can start with a mixed set of each model to get an ample coverage and experiment with.

Tri Clarion

TRN T-Tips

Kbear 07

Hope it can help.

 

[Ste_S]

whenever I cycle through my IEM collection with much much more expensive IEMs I'm angry at how good the zero:2 are.
Ruining the hobby for me, lol

I can recommend spinfit w1 tips for a good fit.

Ha, was just coming on to post similar. Had rested the Zero 2 for a while and have been running through other IEMs and headphones. Came back to the Zero 2, and well, they're still better than most other things in my collection. For £20ish!

 

[scolfaro]

It's not the same. Have you noticed that Amir uses his GRAS 45CA to measure headphones and IEMS and not his $140k Klippel?

Not saying it is, but reproducing bass frequencies will nonetheless put a burden on drivers that is bigger than mids or highs, result in intermodulation distortion etc. So I cannot see a scenario in my mind in which a single driver IEM would "always" compete head to head with a properly implemented multi-driver setup.

 

[misterdog]

Not saying it is, but reproducing bass frequencies will nonetheless put a burden on drivers that is bigger than mids or highs, result in intermodulation distortion etc. So I cannot see a scenario in my mind in which a single driver IEM would "always" compete head to head with a properly implemented multi-driver setup.

Though my Quad ESL panels are all full range, no complaints there.

 

[Honken]

Not saying it is, but reproducing bass frequencies will nonetheless put a burden on drivers that is bigger than mids or highs, result in intermodulation distortion etc. So I cannot see a scenario in my mind in which a single driver IEM would "always" compete head to head with a properly implemented multi-driver setup.

Audio is not always intuitive, I too intuit that more drivers equals less IMD but I haven't seen any proof of that.

@amirm I've asked before, but would it be possible to add multitone measurements to your IEM test suite? I would assume IMD would show up on such a test, if it is possible to do. Would be nice to be able to put this question to rest.

 

[Berwhale]

Not saying it is, but reproducing bass frequencies will nonetheless put a burden on drivers that is bigger than mids or highs, result in intermodulation distortion etc. So I cannot see a scenario in my mind in which a single driver IEM would "always" compete head to head with a properly implemented multi-driver setup.

Well, 'properly implemented' is the key. Have you seen the Driver Component Near Field charts in the speaker tests? e.g.

Taking a look at a few of those will give you an idea of how hard is to properly cross over multiple drivers and ports in a speaker. Now imagine doing the same with something that fits in your ear and costs less than $100.

Lastly, if multi-driver is always better than single driver, explain the over ear headphone market to me, especially this one: https://www.sennheiser-hearing.com/en-UK/p/sennheiser-he-1/

 

[scolfaro]

Well, 'properly implemented' is the key. Have you seen the Driver Component Near Field charts in the speaker tests? e.g.

View attachment 404505

Taking a look at a few of those will give you an idea of how hard is to properly cross over multiple drivers and ports in a speaker. Now imagine doing the same with something that fits in your ear and costs less than $100.

Lastly, if multi-driver is always better than single driver, explain the over ear headphone market to me, especially this one: https://www.sennheiser-hearing.com/en-UK/p/sennheiser-he-1/

Not to say that I haven't thought of dynamic over ears as we speak, as there are a few pretty good ones with single drivers. However, I and many other professionals and audiophiles have switched their over-ears to planar magnetic or electrostatic headphones, and that's a different driver paradigm altogether.

If you're talking about an ultra thin membrane generating vibrations as fast as possible, you're not talking about a regular single driver unit. That's where you'll find the lowest distortion figures, then you'll have damping problems to solve on that membrane (which I learned about this year after using a Sundara for about 5 years and wondering why somethings were great and some a bit misleading for post-production).

 

[phoenixsong]

After doing more A/B testing with the 7Hz Aero they're just not in the same league as the Zero:2

Can you elaborate on this please?