Truthear Gate

[markanini]

I'll happily try your preset, but I already predict I'll prefer it since I like Hola very much and always thought it would be nearly perfect with a tiny bit less bass.


Intriguing idea, I really should get some mesh filters to play with sooner or later.



You tried also just applying a shelf reduction to bass? Same result?

An assortment of mesh is good to have. Might be useful for 7Hz Zero 1 too. Here's where I ordered mine: https://aliexpress.com/item/1005006129765889.html

Yes, my Hola EQ used shallow shelf filters:

Spoiler

Preamp: -0.5 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 250 Hz Gain -1.0 dB Q 0.470
Filter 2: ON HSC Fc 4400 Hz Gain 0.5 dB Q 0.490

 

[mc.god]

If you're feeling experimental, try applying the PEQ preset attached below and toggling it on/off as you listen to music.

Maybe give my sample track above a try

The preset brings the Gate's mids back down to Hola levels, would love to know which one you prefer!

I'm trying your preset, very good hearing, it clearly balance and smooth out the response.
Surely better for long sessions or high listening volume, maybe for my taste the reduction has to be a little less to maintain some "snappiness" in kick drum, snares and bass lines that is a bit lost and i don't listen loud, I'll keep the preset and play with it a bit.
I tested with this 2 tracks very familiar to me where global presentation becomes more pleasant with eq but I miss a bit of that snappiness

I hope I made clear what i'm trying to say, it's not easy to express this kind of sensations in a foreign language.

 

[markanini]

One channel of Crinacles Gate measurement is "wacked" according to something of an expert Listener of HPs.com. Some measurement error or an outlier I assume. Letting you all know if this was something that caused a concern.
The more realistic comparison vs Hola would look like this:

 

[markanini]

I've been taking my time mesh rolling, I settled 300 value to put on top the nozzles, try this if slight "Harman glare" should bother you https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004046291728.html (option 17)

Listening to Gate when not using Truthear Red for over a week now, approximately 50% of the time. Using large narrowbore tips included in the box. The upper mids are more substantial and I'm hearing some texture that gets smoothed other on Red, the upper bass is also more present giving a muscle to voices and drums. Red has more spatial/holographic qualities but I'm splitting hairs. Neither have hyper detail but both can played loud without tiring the ears. Gate has a small edge to retrieving texture which Red sometimes smooths over, not bad for the cheapie Gate.

Gate marks the release of a balanced tuned budget IEM and I'm all here for it. Too many sets have cheesy low and high end emphasis that tires in the long run. Gate still extends the upper and lower ends nicely as you expect from a 2024 set.

Versus Truthear Hola the upper mids have better coverage which was were recessed on Hola. Many say Hola has a pillowy characteristic and I would agree. One area where Hola does better is imaging width/staging. EQ-ing Holas extra warmth to something lighter reveals some graininess which Gate has improved upon. Overall an improvement for Gate.

If you need a versatile tuning, milktoast but not bad, look no further for a budget IEM or 1DD in general.

 

[mc.god]

I've been taking my time mesh rolling, I settled 300 value to put on top the nozzles, try this if slight "Harman glare" should bother you https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004046291728.html (option 17)

Listening to Gate when not using Truthear Red for over a week now, approximately 50% of the time. Using large narrowbore tips included in the box. The upper mids are more substantial and I'm hearing some texture that gets smoothed other on Red, the upper bass is also more present giving a muscle to voices and drums. Red has more spatial/holographic qualities but I'm splitting hairs. Neither have hyper detail but both can played loud without tiring the ears. Gate has a small edge to retrieving texture which Red sometimes smooths over, not bad for the cheapie Gate.

Gate marks the release of a balanced tuned budget IEM and I'm all here for it. Too many sets have cheesy low and high end emphasis that tires in the long run. Gate still extends the upper and lower ends nicely as you expect from a 2024 set.

Looking at some squig I was thinking that Gate with mesh filters could be something very close to Tangzu Wan'er as this seems to be something in between Hola and Gate

What i find strange is that under 1K all three appears almost identical, while Crinacle measured Wan'er even bassier than Hola and both bassier than Gate

All graphs are crossed at 500 Hz

We know that 711 coupler are usually less reliable in high region, but i didn't think to find this variability in bass region, so I don't know if here other factors must be considered, like unit varation.
Anyway now i'm curious how Wan'er compares with Gate, if someone owns both I'll appreciate his impressions.

Versus Truthear Hola the upper mids have better coverage which was were recessed on Hola. Many say Hola has a pillowy characteristic and I would agree. One area where Hola does better is imaging width/staging. EQ-ing Holas extra warmth to something lighter reveals some graininess which Gate has improved upon. Overall an improvement for Gate.

Hola gives me the same sense of greater staging than other iem like Gate and 7Hz Zero but I think that it's related to that same upper mids recession that makes Hola sound less "in your face".

 

[half_dog]

I've been taking my time mesh rolling, I settled 300 value to put on top the nozzles

Interesting! I have a Moondrop Lan which seems to have a close frequency response to Gate. I have already made a simple mod, by putting a mesh filter (from Starfield) on the driver's front hole. This increased its bass about 2dB giving more body to it, but it still sounds a little harsh for me in some songs - snares drums mainly. I've tried to replace or put another filter at the top of the original one.

Anyway, may I ask how did you implement yours? Was it glued on the top of the original or this was replaced?

 

[markanini]

Interesting! I have a Moondrop Lan which seems to have a close frequency response to Gate. I have already made a simple mod, by putting a mesh filter (from Starfield) on the driver's front hole. This increased its bass about 2dB giving more body to it, but it still sounds a little harsh for me in some songs - snares drums mainly. I've tried to replace or put another filter at the top of the original one.

Anyway, may I ask how did you implement yours? Was it glued on the top of the original or this was replaced?

I added one mesh disc on the top of each nozzle, leaving the stock filters as they are. That's why it's a reversible mod, so you can change your mind or experiment with different values.

The exact same steps as in this video between 6:30-8:30

 

[half_dog]

I added one mesh disc on the top of each nozzle, leaving the stock filters as they are. That's why it's a reversible mod, so you can change your mind or experiment with different values.

The exact same steps as in this video between 6:30-8:30

Nice! Thank you for your help! I'll buy a few to try it out...

 

[Matias]

Finally got my Gate, and +1 vote for nice cable and cheap feeling chassis. But I am listening to it for the first 30 minutes and to me it is quite balanced sounding. Nothing really rubs the wrong way or is lacking. Just a comfortable tuning. Seems just like a very good IEM.

The next few days I will compare it to my Zero 1, Zero 2 and Red for more context. But right now I just want to listen to music, and that is a very good start in my book.

 

[1337wafflezz]

Finally got my Gate, and +1 vote for nice cable and cheap feeling chassis. But I am listening to it for the first 30 minutes and to me it is quite balanced sounding. Nothing really rubs the wrong way or is lacking. Just a comfortable tuning. Seems just like a very good IEM.

The next few days I will compare it to my Zero 1, Zero 2 and Red for more context. But right now I just want to listen to music, and that is a very good start in my book.

First post!
Finally got my gate in after a frickload of shipping time. Tl;dr? these are excellent and unless you have some severe ear canal differences from me or widely different tastes? it is hard to criticize in any real aspect

Build/comfort

I can’t comment on these too much except in a vacuum because I don’t have its predecessor the Hola. I’ll take everyone’s word that the Hola was built better. These are built just fine, plastic feels maybe a *little* cheaper than the zero:reds but they don’t seem bad at all especially for the price. Build seems slightly better than my wan’ers…the included cable is 100x better than wan’ers, fantastic. The carrying pouch is nice too.
I have a small nitpick for comfort in the sense where the shell shape is great but I wish in general that IEMs have a longer shape to allow for deeper insertion. It’s hard to stick them in just right and then it bothers my right ear a bit. Zero:red had a long enough shell and the chonky nozzle doesn’t bother me.

Now for the sound? …like I said. Unless you’re some corksniffer who complains about the color of your rolex not aligning with your winter Armani suit collection? wtf is there to complain about, REALLY? as an overall impression compared to my zero:red, they are slightly more v-shape overall(which I like). Still maintain a good sense of neutrality overall. There’s probably an upper treble peak somewhere but it’s like at 12 or 13khzish so it doesn’t bug me too much. Other than that extremely good timbre, almost on par with the reds. Dare I say due to the “baby Harman” more 2khz-6khz emphasis, they sound more resolute than the reds overall. These two exchange blows in ways that shouldn’t really happen

Bass

Please let me geek out here because this goes into a bit of theory surrounding bass and lower mids curves and i love talking about that shizz…711 couplers in general *say* one thing, however the perception of it is completely different. IEMs have a bass bleed compared to real life humans(most of them anyways…sharur doesn’t count)
the good news? This bleed also extends into the lower mids”mud” region. So IEMs naturally bleed mud and a muddy looking bassline may actually sound perfectly normal.
This leads me to my grand point: *The gate sounds like it has a proper subwoofer bass shelf without being muddy*
Compared to the esteemed, dare I say legendary hd650? The gate has less warmth in the midbass but more subbass impact. To say this bass is good is an understatement. It is *excellent*. No bleed, but also no sterility and coldness. bravo truthear

Mids

because of the controlled bass and the extended upper mids/presence, the midrange has a lot of room to play here. Overall the mids sound about as separated as the zero:red and moreso than the hd650. zero wonkiness whatsoever. In some ways these sound more open than those cans. very impressive for the price. Seriously from 20hz-1khz is a masterclass on how to tune an iem.

Highs

It’s hard to do treble well…the gate does treble well.
there was another ultra cheapie set I bought called the tin c0 elf. I really liked the treble on that set, it was bright, reasonably extended, detailed, etc. but without ever becoming too grating or fatiguing. The gate basically takes all the good attributes from the elf and adds proper bass extension and a better shell/shape. Doing a sine sweep curve 2khz bumps up a little from 1khz and stays relatively constant and consistent to 5khz. at sround 7-8khz there is a bump and then it dips at around 9khz and rises after 10khz. Then finally somewhere in that upper treble is another bump before my hearing cuts off(30 yo boomer memes are real).
in practice? this treble is relatively smooth, no real complaints.

conclusion

Ya I mean we’re basically splitting hairs at this point. Audio has basically been solved, bye everyone…time to go home.
I’m kidding I’m kidding…mostly. But for real this is dumb. Not just the gate but there wan’er, zero red, c0 elf, etc. have NO BUSINESS sounding like this for what they cost, it defies all logic. The gate is just one of many that defy reality. Sorry if this review got a little out of hand, I meant to keep it shorter.
here have a graph for your trouble
(PS. did they seriously tune similar to a KXXS with better bass for $20?)

 

[markanini]

@1337wafflezz Nice review, Red fits me better too. Hola/Gate fit improved to me over time so fingers crossed. I'm actually reaching for Gate more han Red now purely for sound. I think people make a too big deal out of difference vs Hola. It's more wise to look at how Gate compares to other things on the market instead. Personally the weight loss of Gate vs. Hola makes the shallow-ish fit work better for me.

 

[Matias]

I just had a quick comparison of the Gate to Zero 2 and Red. The Gate comes as the shoutier from all 3, possibly with the less bass quantity as well but close to Red, which I am calling the reference tuning here. The Zero 2 is by far the more bass heavy of them, and the treble also a little hotter.

I am using the Gate's stock tips but I feel they are too shallow, so next I need to try rolling some pointier tips for better comfort as I have this annoying feeling they may fall out using the stock tips lol.

 

[1337wafflezz]

I just had a quick comparison of the Gate to Zero 2 and Red. The Gate comes as the shoutier from all 3, possibly with the less bass quantity as well but close to Red, which I am calling the reference tuning here. The Zero 2 is by far the more bass heavy of them, and the treble also a little hotter.

I am using the Gate's stock tips but I feel they are too shallow, so next I need to try rolling some pointier tips for better comfort as I have this annoying feeling they may fall out using the stock tips lol.

Ya I definitely hear more bass on the gate than the zero: red(with no adapter). The graphs seem to support this more or less. The fit really is deceptively shallow, I have to basically pull my ear and open my mouth to get them to sit right and deep enough as opposed to the reds which just pop in no problem. I don’t even have humongous ears either I use medium tips probably close to population average, so if it’s a problem for me, it could be for anyone. I plan on maybe trying those tang sancai narrow tips when they come out, should have a deeper insertion like etymotic but not horrible comfort like you just violated your ear canals lol.
Ya the gate is definitely shoutier although I find red to be quite laid back so I don’t mind it. The bass and warmth round it out nicely though.

 

[Matias]

Truthear GATe - New Ultra-Budget King?

The Hola was Truthear’s first entry into the ultra-budget space, and it was an exceptionally-balanced offering. Now we’ve gotten its replacement with the GATe, and the question must be answered: after Truthear discontinued what was arguably their most universally-beloved IEM, is the GATe...

headphones.com

 

[mc.god]

I agree more or less on everything in that review, taking into account small detail relative to ear canals shape\size\interaction.

In regard to fitting of Gate and Hola, I'm using stock wide bore tips on both, I can use both the 2 largest size for nice seal, and while they feel super comfy and light at first i agree that after a while they rise a light discomfort that brings me to move ad re-seat them in my ears. This happens on both model but a bit more with Gate, probably due to the subtle difference in the shell.
In fact, while almost identical, they are not (measures taken with digital caliper):
- Gate is around 1.5 mm larger in the rear (under the 2 pin socket) with a bit more pronounced "flap" or whatever you want to call that shell protuberance;
- Gate's 2 pin sockets are around 1 mm more recessed than Hola's, so losing 1 mm to the max height of the cable ear-hook, making them a bit more tight where the hooks touch the ear. This makes Gate also more problematic to use with other cables with not flat connectors.

As for sound, I confirm I'm thoroughly enjoying Gate as it is

 

[D!sco]

My internet broken brain saw the title of this thread and thought "What did truthear do, and why is the internet mad?"
It's just more good cheap earbuds and everything is fine.

 

[markanini]

Some subjective evaluations between my Moondrop Lan and Truthear Gate together with acoustic mesh additions.
Moondrop Lan additions: Y7 filter to front vent.
Truthear Gate additions: 200 mesh to nozzles.
Results in a close matching sound signature between the two.

Quality differences:
Lan has smoother and more extended treble, more transparent and better defined spatial cues, comes off as a wider stage space.
Gate has a more enjoyable bass without any doubt, but Lan comes surprisingly close with the Y7 addition considering its anemic stock bass.

Sound signature differences:
Lan is lightly U shaped, Gate is more neutral with a slight upper mid emphasis

Overall, it's impressive how the 1DD performance seems to trickle down into the $20 budget range. Moondrop Lan keeps impressing more than a year after release. Consider Gate 70-80% a Lan bass+ and less refined highs.

 

[1337wafflezz]

Some subjective evaluations between my Moondrop Lan and Truthear Gate together with acoustic mesh additions.
Moondrop Lan additions: Y7 filter to front vent.
Truthear Gate additions: 200 mesh to nozzles.
Results in a close matching sound signature between the two.

Quality differences:
Lan has smoother and more extended treble, more transparent and better defined spatial cues, comes off as a wider stage space.
Gate has a more enjoyable bass without any doubt, but Lan comes surprisingly close with the Y7 addition considering its anemic stock bass.

Sound signature differences:
Lan is lightly U shaped, Gate is more neutral with a slight upper mid emphasis

Overall, it's impressive how the 1DD performance seems to trickle down into the $20 budget range. Moondrop Lan keeps impressing more than a year after release. Consider Gate 70-80% a Lan bass+ and less refined highs.

How does the 200 mesh affect sound of the gate?

 

[markanini]

How does the 200 mesh affect sound of the gate?

It reduces the upper mids and lower treble just a small bit. Gate is almost perfectly tuned for me. I wouldn't have bothered with such granular mesh additions if I wasn't impressed with Gate, more than most IEMs I've tried, and using it daily. Not that I'm idealizing Gate, mostly everything else I tried sounded significantly off, regardless of price.

 

[1337wafflezz]

Just an FYI, I bought some double flange decided to try and check it out.

HOLY HECK. I’m not going to hyperbolize and say they transform the gate but it does absolutely smooth out the treble to my ears. Now it’s basically flat no peaks or dips, I believe the deeper insertion may have pushed the resonant peak closer to 10khz where most graphs show the dip. Less 7-8khz energy but more 9-10khz it’s buttery smooth and it seals even better for more bass. It’s that last 10% I was longing for.
with these tips I feel the gate now thoroughly beats the zero:red and is officially the best sound reproduction device I have ever heard(don’t sue me I haven’t actually heard all that much)
I haven’t tried double flange with the reds but so think i’ll keep the normal ones since it’s more comfortable and slightly easier to pop in.
We as a community don’t do nearly enough talking about tip selection, can make a relatively big difference.