7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 IEM Review

[olieb]

Can anyone do the same tests and let me know if the same thing happens to them?

I did this only on a Mac with Tanchjim One and REW.
Same perception. My guess is that it is something that is produced by the ear. (Eustachian tube?) It can be modified by holding the nose shut and breathing against it among other things.
Interesting though.

 

[Emlin]

I refuse to believe that these £25 IEMs can perform as well as they undoubtedly do, so I'm going to bin them and go back to relying on expectation bias (AKA my ears) only.

 

[gcompari]

Have you tried this?

The problem is in the range 12Hz-30Hz. The compressed audio of YouTube is of low quality.

 

[gcompari]

I did this only on a Mac with Tanchjim One and REW.
Same perception. My guess is that it is something that is produced by the ear. (Eustachian tube?) It can be modified by holding the nose shut and breathing against it among other things.
Interesting though.

I also thought something similar, but the Sennheiser IEMs (CX 1.00 and CX 2.00g) do not give problems... Is it the fact that they enter deeper into the ear canal? So all the earphones of this type cause artifacts?

 

[Robbo99999]

I also thought something similar, but the Sennheiser IEMs (CX 1.00 and CX 2.00g) do not give problems... Is it the fact that they enter deeper into the ear canal? So all the earphones of this type cause artifacts?

You'd think it wouldn't be a distortion problem associated with Zero 2 because Amir measured effectively 0 distortion down to 20Hz even at 114dB. Maybe it's some kind of resonance happening that is non-harmonic in nature and therefore not being captured by Harmonic Distortion measurements. In a practical sense though, does it matter, have you tried listening to some very heavy bass music that doesn't have much going on elsewhere, because as you know we don't listen to sine tones as the main reason for having an IEM/headphone/speaker, etc?

 

[gcompari]

I refuse to believe that these £25 IEMs can perform as well as they undoubtedly do, so I'm going to bin them and go back to relying on expectation bias (AKA my ears) only.

I like the ASR approach: only objective measures can give useful information about the quality of a device.
Subjective impressions often lead to coarse errors of evaluation.
Here the problem is to understand if the measures take into account all the factors at stake.
Perhaps the artificial ear is rigid and not flexible so the measures do not take into account the contractions/deformations of the auditory duct?
From my tests, there are clearly noises/distortions in the 12Hz <-> 30Hz range which are perfectly audible by everyone.
This does not happen with all IEMS (but only with some) and does not happen with headphones.
We must understand how to measure these artifacts because they are audible differences from to the original sound.

 

[raif71]

I like the ASR approach: only objective measures can give useful information about the quality of a device.
Subjective impressions often lead to coarse errors of evaluation.
Here the problem is to understand if the measures take into account all the factors at stake.
Perhaps the artificial ear is rigid and not flexible so the measures do not take into account the contractions/deformations of the auditory duct?
From my tests, there are clearly noises/distortions in the 12Hz <-> 30Hz range which are perfectly audible by everyone.
This does not happen with all IEMS (but only with some) and does not happen with headphones.
We must understand how to measure these artifacts because they are audible differences from to the original sound.

artificial ears are also artificially clean and sterilized unlike human ears containing wax that could affect sound

 

[gcompari]

You'd think it wouldn't be a distortion problem associated with Zero 2 because Amir measured effectively 0 distortion down to 20Hz even at 114dB. Maybe it's some kind of resonance happening that is non-harmonic in nature and therefore not being captured by Harmonic Distortion measurements. In a practical sense though, does it matter, have you tried listening to some very heavy bass music that doesn't have much going on elsewhere, because as you know we don't listen to sine tones as the main reason for having an IEM/headphone/speaker, etc?

Big pipe organs generate low notes up to 16Hz and in some rare cases up to 8 Hz. In HiFi, any sound must be reproduced as it is: it doesn't matter if it is a single note or a set of notes. The fact that the context makes it more difficult to identify the defect does not eliminate it. Masking with other sound the distortion makes it difficult to understand its origin, but it makes the result unpleasant for the ear. If any sound comes and reproduced impeccablely, the result will be impeccable. If even a single sound is not reproduced properly the result will be different from the original. This I believe is the sense of tests in the domain of the frequencies of linear systems.

 

[Gio]

I own both 7Hz Salnotes and Truthear Zero and I definitely prefer the Truthear.

 

[gcompari]

artificial ears are also artificially clean and sterilized unlike human ears containing wax that could affect sound

All my friends hear the same noises. The problem does not happen with other IEMs. So if some IEMS create listening problems with the human ear we have to know.

 

[gcompari]

I own both 7Hz Salnotes and Truthear Zero and I definitely prefer the Truthear.

The problem also happens with the Truthear...

 

[TurtlePaul]

These IEMs are vented to achieve the bass tuning. Vents on all sorts of audio devices behave poorly below their tuning frequency. I suspect you may be hearing that.

 

[gcompari]

These IEMs are vented to achieve the bass tuning. Vents on all sorts of audio devices behave poorly below their tuning frequency. I suspect you may be hearing that.

This type of problem should generate measurable distortions in the Amirm tests... A distortion of 0.02% measured at 20Hz is not compatible with an effect of this type.
Perhaps, to exclude audible non harmonic noises, it could be interesting if Amirm could publish the SINAD vs. frequency graph of the 7Hz x Crinacle Zero: 2...

 

[Robbo99999]

Big pipe organs generate low notes up to 16Hz and in some rare cases up to 8 Hz. In HiFi, any sound must be reproduced as it is: it doesn't matter if it is a single note or a set of notes. The fact that the context makes it more difficult to identify the defect does not eliminate it. Masking with other sound the distortion makes it difficult to understand its origin, but it makes the result unpleasant for the ear. If any sound comes and reproduced impeccablely, the result will be impeccable. If even a single sound is not reproduced properly the result will be different from the original. This I believe is the sense of tests in the domain of the frequencies of linear systems.

Hmm, I'd be surprised if it's a widespread problem with this IEM as it measures well and people are enjoying it including Amir. It could be something to do with your unit, maybe faulty in some way, or as another poster said something happening with your own physiology. Don't use it or send it back for a replacement if you're not happy with it.

 

[TurtlePaul]

This type of problem should generate measurable distortions in the Amirm tests... A distortion of 0.02% measured at 20Hz is not compatible with an effect of this type.
Perhaps, to exclude audible non harmonic noises, it could be interesting if Amirm could publish the SINAD vs. frequency graph of the 7Hz x Crinacle Zero: 2...

I thought you said you were testing below 20 hz…

 

[gcompari]

Hmm, I'd be surprised if it's a widespread problem with this IEM as it measures well and people are enjoying it including Amir. It could be something to do with your unit, maybe faulty in some way, or as another poster said something happening with your own physiology. Don't use it or send it back for a replacement if you're not happy with it.

I have personally tried two different examples of the 7Hz x Crinacle Zero: 2 and two different examples of the Truthear x Crinacle Zero:RED and they all show the same problem.
My ear with the Sennheiser CX 1.00 and CX 2.00g IEMs do not hears the same problem.
Several of my friends, who bought the same earphones, hear the same problem.
olieb who responded to my post before, hears the same problem.

 

[gcompari]

I thought you said you were testing below 20 hz…

The problem starts (very evident) from 24Hz to lower frequencies.

 

[Robbo99999]

I have personally tried two different examples of the 7Hz x Crinacle Zero: 2 and two different examples of the Truthear x Crinacle Zero:RED and they all show the same problem.
My ear with the Sennheiser CX 1.00 and CX 2.00g IEMs do not hears the same problem.
Several of my friends, who bought the same earphones, hear the same problem.
olieb who responded to my post before, hears the same problem.

Do the Sennheiser's have the same Harman bass level extension as the Zero's? As if they don't then it might be something related to a physiological effect, because if the Senn's are deficient in bass in comparison then they're not loading your ear in the same way.

 

[gcompari]

Do the Sennheiser's have the same Harman bass level extension as the Zero's? As if they don't then it might be something related to a physiological effect, because if the Senn's are deficient in bass in comparison then they're not loading your ear in the same way.

I tried different levels of volume to compensate the sensibility of the IEMs: the problem doesn't happen.

 

[hege]

The problem starts (very evident) from 24Hz to lower frequencies.

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