7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 IEM Review

[Laserjock]

Have you noticed that a lot of the IEMs from China don't mark left and right very well?

Yes, this one in particular is phone magnifying hard to see.
Thinking about putting a red dot on the right one to make it easier

 

[jools]

Yes, this one in particular is phone magnifying hard to see.
Thinking about putting a red dot on the right one to make it easier

I've got no chance reading tiny writing so I pick mine up with the cable coming out forwards. Then the side the nozzle is on tells me which way to go.

 

[jeffbook]

Yes, this one in particular is phone magnifying hard to see.
Thinking about putting a red dot on the right one to make it easier

Excellent idea!

 

[tacoearth]

Might be a funny question but, can the driver handle 125dB? That is, doesn't get deformed after playing 125dB for a few minutes.

 

[Jimbob54]

Have you noticed that a lot of the IEMs from China don't mark left and right very well?

Im less bothered about marking the earpiece on this style of earphone given it can only go correctly on one side. But not marking the l/r cable is a hanging offence. Can't remember how well the stock cable on these is marked though

 

[threni]

Excellent idea!

Or a tactile identifier like the little dots on the left headphone as on some Sennheisers.

 

[SteveL]

Or a tactile identifier like the little dots on the left headphone as on some Sennheisers.

I long ago put one on my Ety HF5 with a dab of superglue. The faintly printed L and R on the shells have worn off long since.

 

[Jagamov]

I just blind ordered these based on the review. For $25, not much risk. This will be my first pair of real IEM's if you don't count Airpods or some small Beats headphones my son gave me.

 

[LIΟN]

So I highly recommend this IEM and I'm happy with it, but there's one thing to note. It uses quite an output. I don't believe in stories like amp-matching. It's a kind of demand output.
I use DX3PRO+ and E50+L70, G5 for headphones. (Everyone, high gain mode). And when I used them, I had to use about L70 to turn up the volume as crazy as I wanted. Dx3pro+ was kind of hard. What I'm saying is that it's a 3.5mm direct line, so it'll be hard to drive if you just use it. I recommend using at least one headphone amp kidnda.

 

[mc.god]

So I highly recommend this IEM and I'm happy with it, but there's one thing to note. It uses quite an output. I don't believe in stories like emp-matching. It's a kind of demand output.
I use DX3PRO+ and E50+L70, G5 for headphones. (Everyone, high gain mode). And when I used them, I had to use about L70 to turn up the volume as crazy as I wanted. Dx3pro+ was kind of hard. What I'm saying is that it's a 3.5mm direct line, so it'll be hard to drive if you just use it. I recommend using at least one headphone amp kidnda.

This seems odd... I don't own Zero:2 but original Zero, they are pretty similar in impedance and sensitivity, and although not my most senstive iems, for me they are pretty loud at 30% on my Ugreen Hifi Pro dongle (running in low gain mode at 30 ohm). Ok, I normally listen at moderatley low volume, but all the gear you mentioned should be tremendously overpowerd for this iems already in low gain mode, in high gain should blow them away...

 

[LIΟN]

This seems odd... I don't own Zero:2 but original Zero, they are pretty similar in impedance and sensitivity, and although not my most senstive iems, for me they are pretty loud at 30% on my Ugreen Hifi Pro dongle (running in low gain mode at 30 ohm). Ok, I normally listen at moderatley low volume, but all the gear you mentioned should be tremendously overpowerd for this iems already in low gain mode, in high gain should blow them away...

Believe it or not, most of the Zero:2 users I know by seizing them should use headphone amplifiers. (Of course, I tend to listen very loudly.)
In my experience, it was similar to the Jenheiser hd600 (when trying to match the Amp Gain nov similarly)
It's more like a headphone than an IEM...

 

[bunkbail]

I've been spending quite sometime playing around with these IEMs alongside FreeDSP cable and I think I've found the best sounding EQ for me. Target EQ is based on Harman 2019 IEM curve but adapted to FreeDSP cable since the PEQ adjustments of the cable is limited 1dB increments with max gain of 3 dB each filters with no preamping ability. I used AutoEQ to generate the EQ profile. Here's what I ended up with:

Preamp: 0 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 40.0 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 0.60
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 40.0 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 1.00
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 180.0 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 1.50
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 320.0 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 3.70
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 840.0 Hz Gain 2.0 dB Q 1.70
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 1200.0 Hz Gain -4.0 dB Q 0.50
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 2140.0 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 2.80
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 10000.0 Hz Gain -3.0 dB Q 0.50

 

[muza_1]

I've been spending quite sometime playing around with these IEMs alongside FreeDSP cable and I think I've found the best sounding EQ for me. Target EQ is based on Harman 2019 IEM curve but adapted to FreeDSP cable since the PEQ adjustments of the cable is limited 1dB increments with max gain of 3 dB each filters with no preamping ability. I used AutoEQ to generate the EQ profile. Here's what I ended up with:

Preamp: 0 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 40.0 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 0.60
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 40.0 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 1.00
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 180.0 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 1.50
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 320.0 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 3.70
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 840.0 Hz Gain 2.0 dB Q 1.70
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 1200.0 Hz Gain -4.0 dB Q 0.50
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 2140.0 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 2.80
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 10000.0 Hz Gain -3.0 dB Q 0.50

Hello.
You can try this one see if you like it, no pre-amp and all filters 3dB or less.

Edit. If the DSP doesn't accept 1Hz increments the first filter should be 20Hz/-3dB/Q 0.5.

 

[LIΟN]

It's been a while since I've been listening to songs all day today, and I think Zero:2 need L70 with 4.4cable is the right choice to turn up the volume whenever I want. lol

 

[Sebby]

View attachment 341362

It's been a while since I've been listening to songs all day today, and I think Zero:2 need L70 with 4.4cable is the right choice to turn up the volume whenever I want. lol

With me it becomes deafening even when piloting it from my smartphone...

 

[ooheadsoo]

Believe it or not, most of the Zero:2 users I know by seizing them should use headphone amplifiers. (Of course, I tend to listen very loudly.)
In my experience, it was similar to the Jenheiser hd600 (when trying to match the Amp Gain nov similarly)
It's more like a headphone than an IEM...

I use the lowest or next to lowest possible volume level on my ipad, and I sometimes wish I could go lower.

 

[LIΟN]

With me it becomes deafening even when piloting it from my smartphone...

I use Topping G5 when I connect to my smartphone. Other than Zero:2 iem, Apple's Earpods also have a low sound without an headphoneAMP...

I use the lowest or next to lowest possible volume level on my ipad, and I sometimes wish I could go lower.

In fact, I respect you because the volume you listen to can vary depending on your preference!
But I originally enjoy listening to it loudly. The right response is that it doesn't matter if you turn up the volume as much as you want...
And while users don't have to intentionally adjust to fit the loudspeaker curve, our ears feel differently by volume.
I don't want to care about it by applying EQ every time, so I listen to it by increasing the volume as much as I can.

 

[threni]

I use the lowest or next to lowest possible volume level on my ipad, and I sometimes wish I could go lower.

I'm using an Apple dongle on a battery powered pi zero and I'm using a negative pre gain just so I'm not restricted to using the first quarter of the available volume on the UI.

 

[half_dog]

I'm surprised how this IEMs is holding so much power. I did something that until today I regret: accidentally played a 1kHz tone into a Moondrop Kato by a L30 II with everything maxed out (the own file with -0.05dBFS, Winblows volume, Foobar2000, potentiometer and high gain. Less than sec was enough to hear it distorts and soon after the volume decreasing - at the moment I didn't know if was my ear either the IEM failing. Luckily was the Kato. Surprisingly it stills plays and kept its impedance closer to its specs. But now there's a valley around 1kHz in this frequency response.

 

[Robbo99999]

With me it becomes deafening even when piloting it from my smartphone...

Yeah, I wouldn't pay much attention to what that guy is saying (maybe even overall), it's completely nonsensical to think you need any kind of special headphone amp to drive IEM's and particularly not this IEM.