Truthear GATE $17 IEM Review

[Cadillacofminds]

If these black tips above can be purchased, I def recommend
I also recommend checking out Listener's graph and pulling down a bit from 800-2000Hz

 

[Grobbelboy]

I’ve been listening to these for two days and they’re stonking great. The out-of-the-box tuning is some of the best there is and with the second largest of the broad, shallow tips applied, I don’t experience any harshness in the upper frequencies at all. In fact, the slightly better representation up to around 5KHz, makes the stock tuning better than the 7Hz Zero 1 and 2 imo. Mid bass is perfectly measured as well, giving off Senny HD600 vibes.

With Amir’s filters installed though, these things catapult to the highest stratosphere of audio reproduction and stand shoulder to shoulder with the absolute best, whatever the price range. The sparkly stuff heard in the 5-10KHz region gets the exact volume it needs and the sub bass gets so good that my wife actually asked me what I involuntarily was smiling about.

I still can’t fathom how such a well packaged set of outstanding iems (with a great little pouch as well) is somehow sold for less than 20 bucks. It’s just absolutely insane pricing.

 

[iGmole]

I’ve been listening to these for two days and they’re stonking great. The out-of-the-box tuning is some of the best there is and with the second largest of the broad, shallow tips applied, I don’t experience any harshness in the upper frequencies at all. In fact, the slightly better representation up to around 5KHz, makes the stock tuning better than the 7Hz Zero 1 and 2 imo. Mid bass is perfectly measured as well, giving off Senny HD600 vibes.

With Amir’s filters installed though, these things catapult to the highest stratosphere of audio reproduction and stand shoulder to shoulder with the absolute best, whatever the price range. The sparkly stuff heard in the 5-10KHz region gets the exact volume it needs and the sub bass gets so good that my wife actually asked me what I involuntarily was smiling about.

I still can’t fathom how such a well packaged set of outstanding iems (with a great little pouch as well) is somehow sold for less than 20 bucks. It’s just absolutely insane pricing.

Sounds pretty good. Mine was released from the Finnish customs today and might arrive today, or more likely tomorrow.

The absolutely flawless and limitless subbass is what I love in the IEM world*, some units can make my eardrums stretch so much on an infrasonic sine wave that all outside sounds become choppy. I think it's the eardrum excursion limit. It is an interesting feeling, not hearing the sound but feeling like you are on an airplane that is landing and taking off ten times every second.

Movie soundtracks.. ahh

*Also the prices are very good

 

[Matias]

The absolutely flawless and limitless subbass is what I love in the IEM world*

Good point. After IEMs it is hard to go back to dynamic full sized headphones, and even speakers they better extend deep (or have a sub) so that it is not missing. IEMs reach the depths of subbass area while using a tiny 10mm driver... It is almost offensive, ridiculously good!

 

[Amperage]

Thanks @Amir for the review - these look great!

I'm now finding it hard to decide between these, the 7hz Zero:2, and even the Zero:RED. As an open question to the forum, which would you recommend as the better of them regarding value and performance?

 

[gvl]

Can’t beat the value at $20 which limits us to the Zero2 and the Gate. I like out of the box tuning of Zero2 better but ymmv. With EQ can’t go wrong with ether. I have the “blues” which are same as reds shape wise, add find them more comfortable than the other 2, don’t know why.

 

[F1308]

Received this evening and tested by enjoying a song of mine that lasts 2 minutes and 10 seconds and features a complex arrangement of 16 tracks, including tubas, french horns, two sets of timpani, a 40-inch Ludwig drum, double basses, three sopranos, tubular bells, shakers, harps, pipe organ and a deep bass synthesizer. The frequency range spans from D-1 to E5 (A4 at 440 Hz, Equal Temperament), that is 9.18 Hz to 659.26 Hz plus harmonics.
Initially, when compared to the Zero 2, I preferred the Zero 2 after the first listen.
However, after readjusting the fitting, the second time I played the song, I found them indistinguishable.
For the third attempt, I decided it would be best to try again tomorrow...
Voted great.

 

[iGmole]

Received this evening and tested by enjoying a song of mine that lasts 2 minutes and 10 seconds and features a complex arrangement of 16 tracks, including tubas, french horns, two sets of timpani, a 40-inch Ludwig drum, double basses, three sopranos, tubular bells, shakers, harps, pipe organ and a deep bass synthesizer. The frequency range spans from D-1 to E5 (A4 at 440 Hz, Equal Temperament), that is 9.18 Hz to 659.26 Hz plus harmonics.
Initially, when compared to the Zero 2, I preferred the Zero 2 after the first listen.
However, after readjusting the fitting, the second time I played the song, I found them indistinguishable.
For the third attempt, I decided it would be best to try again tomorrow...
Voted great.

My first sub bass song for checking new gear is usually Worm Army by the Zimmer. I think the C-part scale goes to a reasonably low A0, and that part is supposed to be LOUD. This is obviously completely unscientific and thus not relevant here, but the louder and cleaner the lowest fundamental is played, the more intensely I want to just shout "*profanity* yeah!", and that is basically the bass approval scale.

Edit: could be A1, my cognitive capabilities including memory have gone downhill after procreating.

 

[Oso Polar]

I'm now finding it hard to decide between these, the 7hz Zero:2, and even the Zero:RED. As an open question to the forum, which would you recommend as the better of them regarding value and performance?

Well, out of these recent "Harmonish" IEMs I have four: Truthear Zero (Blue), 7Hz Zero:2, Moondrop Chu II and these Truthear Gate.
Without EQ I'd rate them like this: Zero:2 > Zero Blue >>>> Chu II >>>> Gate. Chu II has ugly bloated bass. Gate has unlistenable mids.
With EQ it is more difficult, both Zero:2 and Zero Blue sound great and very similar to each other, Zero Blue sounds somewhat more open, with a wider sound stage. Both Chu II and Gate sound worse (with Amir's and Maiky76 EQ).

Now, Zero:2 has MUCH better ergonomics compared to Zero Blue. And costs less than a half. IMHO Zero:2 is the winner by a mile.

 

[Amperage]

Thanks for the replies. I'll test them soon, then!

 

[Gitfiddle]

Decided to give these a try since I wanted to replace some old Sennheiser earbuds from a decade ago that have a very microphonic cable.

First impression I have to say was horrible. Then I realized I was just an idiot and left one of my headphone EQ on. After adding a proper EQ they started to do the measurements justice. They definitely make bad recordings and imperfections stand out, as expected.

 

[Tell]

Got my pair now, and out of the box they did sound a bit tinny or maybe shouty yeah.
Did a very precise EQ to flatten them out according to Amirs measurement and then also added a +3dB low shelf at 50Hz with a Q 0.5 and also dialled down at around 8Khz with 2dB and with that it sounds great! Will probably tweak a bit more when listening to them some more, but from the few songs I've listened to so far I think it stacks up with the Zero2 just fine while looking a lot better (ie more discrete) and feeling slightly better in my ears.

My only complaint is the 3.5mm connector being angled, it looks bad and doesn't do what it's supposed to do when using a USB-C-dongle.
Now I just gotta get a dongle that supports a microphone. Preferably something that's at least on par with the JM20 while also having a PEQ

 

[SuicideSquid]

Can’t beat the value at $20 which limits us to the Zero2 and the Gate. I like out of the box tuning of Zero2 better but ymmv. With EQ can’t go wrong with ether. I have the “blues” which are same as reds shape wise, add find them more comfortable than the other 2, don’t know why.

Moondrop Chu II is also fantastic and also under $20. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/moondrop-chu-ii-iem-review.55179/

I haven't used the Gate, I slightly prefer the sound of the 7Hz Zero 2 (a little more bass) than the Chu II, but the Chu II are the most comfortable IEM I own and feel a little higher-quality overall. I also have Truthear Zero Blue and they're the highest build quality of the bunch, but sound quality is not as good as the Chu II or Zero 2, a little less bass and a little too bright for my ears.

 

[SuicideSquid]

Chu II has ugly bloated bass. Gate has unlistenable mids.

Chu II has marginally less bass output than Zero:2, and the Gate's mids are identical, +/- 2dB, to the other three IEMs, with negligible distortion, so these are either fit issues or psychoacoustics issues.

 

[Amperage]

Well, out of these recent "Harmonish" IEMs I have four: Truthear Zero (Blue), 7Hz Zero:2, Moondrop Chu II and these Truthear Gate.
Without EQ I'd rate them like this: Zero:2 > Zero Blue >>>> Chu II >>>> Gate. Chu II has ugly bloated bass. Gate has unlistenable mids.
With EQ it is more difficult, both Zero:2 and Zero Blue sound great and very similar to each other, Zero Blue sounds somewhat more open, with a wider sound stage. Both Chu II and Gate sound worse (with Amir's and Maiky76 EQ).

Now, Zero:2 has MUCH better ergonomics compared to Zero Blue. And costs less than a half. IMHO Zero:2 is the winner by a mile.

Thanks for the comparison, I see it echoes the sentiment of the build quality being the main difference between the Zero:RED, Blue, and Zero:2, which makes the Zero:2 (and the GATe) a great value.

+

Got my pair now, and out of the box they did sound a bit tinny or maybe shouty yeah.
Did a very precise EQ to flatten them out according to Amirs measurement and then also added a +3dB low shelf at 50Hz with a Q 0.5 and also dialled down at around 8Khz with 2dB and with that it sounds great! Will probably tweak a bit more when listening to them some more, but from the few songs I've listened to so far I think it stacks up with the Zero2 just fine while looking a lot better (ie more discrete) and feeling slightly better in my ears.

My only complaint is the 3.5mm connector being angled, it looks bad and doesn't do what it's supposed to do when using a USB-C-dongle.
Now I just gotta get a dongle that supports a microphone. Preferably something that's at least on par with the JM20 while also having a PEQ

I'm waiting for mine to arrive still. But now I'm starting to wonder how these compare to the Truthear HEXA, which has a different driver architecture... Anyway, for a dongle with microphone capacity, the FIIO KA15 is a blast with 2x CS43198 + 2x SGM8262 op-amps.

 

[Oso Polar]

Chu II has marginally less bass output than Zero:2

This is definitely not what I hear and the FR graph agrees with me:

Gate's mids are identical, +/- 2dB, to the other three IEMs

I guess these 2 dB matter, especially in connection with less bass, compared to other two?

 

[Oso Polar]

build quality being the main difference between the Zero:RED, Blue, and Zero:2, which makes the Zero:2 (and the GATe) a great value.

IMHO purely from "build quality per dollar" perspective Gate wins - it is better compared to similarly priced Zero:2 and Chu II (the cable is much better) and Zero:RED and Blue are significantly more expensive, at least formally.

 

[Matias]

Now I just gotta get a dongle that supports a microphone. Preferably something that's at least on par with the JM20 while also having a PEQ

I got this.

Tanchjim Stargate II: DSP CS43131 dongle

Got my Tanchjim Stargate II dongle today. It is a CS43131 based dongle with built in DSP, and has mic support for 38 USD. I have been playing with the PEQ in the Tanchjim app and seems to be working fine. It saves the PEQ to the dongle so it works without the app later. So far so good! This...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Gitfiddle]

This is definitely not what I hear and the FR graph agrees with me:

Something seems off? The bass on these two tests seems contradictory to your data. is this the same zero2 that you are talking about? Maybe there is confusion on that. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/7hz-x-crinacle-zero-2-iem-review.50534/

 

[Steve H]

I liked the cable that came with it.

Thanks for the comment. I ordered two for upcoming road trips.