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TRUTHEAR x Crinacle Zero IEM Review

Rate this IEM

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 13 2.2%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 21 3.5%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 73 12.2%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 493 82.2%

  • Total voters
    600

welsh

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Wow…the best frequency response from mid bass to > 15 KHz so far…at a great price. Good thing the Topping L50 II HPA is stable to at least 12 ohm, as shown in your review, and it has the power to drive the TCZ. Thank you Amir for this great find and measurements.
I have many over-ear ‘phones, and yet my most expensive product is an IEM - the InEar Prophile 8 I’d like it to be tested here -
Brilliant!
I bought iems for almost $1k a few years ago and even with eq wont match this.

@amirm one of the criticisms of this iem is that although tonally correct, it misses out on "detail retrieval/resolution" compated to more expensive iems. Is there any truth to this?
 

Chromatischism

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Well, the bass measurements are good:
index.php

I think you could get away with a +5dB peak filter at 20Hz as long as you're not listening at extreme levels. From measuring my listening levels of my own headphones on my miniDSP EARS then I know the red line is the only one I need to consider at worse case even when adding a +5dB boost to the bass.
Well at least lots of people are about to try these, and they'd better come back and share their impressions. I'll be waiting for that before making a decision.
 

Robbo99999

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Yeah, as I said before though because unlike headphones IEMs completely lack tactile bass, I find good sub-bass response can somewhat compensate for that, but EQing up the Truthear's sub-bass to Harman levels will increase distortion where it's at its highest (still might not be audible though).
Yeah, I looked at the subbass & measurements, I worked out I'd only be below the red line with a +5dB peak filter at 20Hz if I wanted to EQ that up to Harman, so distortion levels would be fine, but have been expecting it to not need that.....but I'll have to see.

Well at least lots of people are about to try these, and they'd better come back and share their impressions. I'll be waiting for that before making a decision.
That is a good thing, the number of people buying these.....the amount of user feedback that could come back into this thread could be pretty pretty large! Some of us can even measure them (for things like channel balance at least).
 
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restorer-john

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Well at least lots of people are about to try these, and they'd better come back and share their impressions. I'll be waiting for that before making a decision.

Yes, likely the biggest real-world test to date of the 'preferred' Harman smiley curve...
 

GaryH

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Incredible value for sure, but can you even get those anymore? Seems lik you have to play roulette on eBay now.
Yeah either that or the MH755 come bundled with some Sony Bluetooth receivers which can be had new for as low as ~$15-20, although I've heard rumors that the new ones of those actually now use the MH750 driver, which is a bit too bassy for my taste (still good with EQ though):

graph (4).png


The MH750 also come bundled with Xperia phones.
 
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julian_hughes

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Do you even read what you are writing? So you acknowledge the fact that all driver types (mabe excluding true electrostatics) have similar impulse responses. Combined with assuming two IEMs having identical FR, there is no possible origin of different sound for e.g. BA or DD. If e.g. one IEM has 6BAs and one a single DD and both have the same frequency response, they will sound the same.
Yes, I did read what I was writing. That would be an intrinsic part of the process. Your every response to me has been condescending and rude. Have a day off. People don't have to agree with. You are not always right, especially when you choose not to fully consider what others are saying. Anyway, I'll reply to your latest wisdom and then I'm going to put you on ignore. Because I can.

"If ..... both have the same frequency response, they will sound the same."

No, not necessarily. If that was the case then we wouldn't be interested in measurements other than FR would we? We could all just spend $15 on a pair of Moondrop Quarks or Sony MH5 or whatever and apply EQ to match the curve of Harman, or some super excellent IEM we all agree is great, and everything will magically (sorry, scientifically!) sound the same. But they don't. So clearly there are factors other than FR that make real differences.
 

Beershaun

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$50 just ordered them on Amazon. Add one more item to the list of "Things you bought because of ASR." :) Great point to use these as a "tuning fork" to understand what good tonality sounds like.
 

PeteL

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Do you even read what you are writing? So you acknowledge the fact that all driver types (mabe excluding true electrostatics) have similar impulse responses. Combined with assuming two IEMs having identical FR, there is no possible origin of different sound for e.g. BA or DD. If e.g. one IEM has 6BAs and one a single DD and both have the same frequency response, they will sound the same.
You say that if driver types have similar impulse response (...), combined with having identical FR "there is no possible origin of different sound (...) they will sound the same". Is there a particular reason you completely discard any distortion metrics? On this exemple we have here, at 40 Hz and 94 dB SPL (reasonable level) we have THD+N 100 times more than what any electronics here would be considered a headless panther and in the red part of the chart. If you look at the many IEMs reviewd here, the bump in distortion can litterally be just anywhere. For example the 2K last multi BA reviewed here as big bumps at 400Hz and 2K. On top of that, it's only Total harmonic distortion, we don't have any measurments of the distortion profile what are the actual harmonic content. We don't have intermodulation distortion neither or the exact relation between group delay and actual phase response. To put forward such a strong statement, is to dismiss all that as inaudible. Why then should we even care about the performance of dacs and amps we purchase, why then all the measurements here of electronics would even be relevant?



1663290221900.png
 

Garrincha

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Yes, I did read what I was writing. That would be an intrinsic part of the process. Your every response to me has been condescending and rude. Have a day off. People don't have to agree with. You are not always right, especially when you choose not to fully consider what others are saying. Anyway, I'll reply to your latest wisdom and then I'm going to put you on ignore. Because I can.

"If ..... both have the same frequency response, they will sound the same."

No, not necessarily. If that was the case then we wouldn't be interested in measurements other than FR would we? We could all just spend $15 on a pair of Moondrop Quarks or Sony MH5 or whatever and apply EQ to match the curve of Harman, or some super excellent IEM we all agree is great, and everything will magically (sorry, scientifically!) sound the same. But they don't. So clearly there are factors other than FR that make real differences.
The funny thing is, you gave yourself the correct answer, but do not seem to be able to fully grasp or accept it. The problem in practice is often that EQ does not work perfectly, because of strong resonances or higher level of distortion, but if it is possible to EQ two IEMs to the Harman curve (or any other), then most likely they will sound the same. This is also what @Sean Olive is claiming and over the last months I became convinced that is true, after initially being highly sceptical. I started with some nice and highly acclaimed IEMs around $200, the 7Hz Timeless, Moondrop Kato and the Fiio FD5. In the process I discovered all the research and especially how to use EQ on my Macbook. To give it a try, I bought some very cheap ones, which nevertheless have all low distortion, like the Tripowin Leá, Blon BL-03 and 7Hz Salnotes Zero. And after EQ in various test I cannot tell any significant difference. Try to get your head around it and do not believe all the "reviewers" who talk some invented BS.
 

Garrincha

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You say that if driver types have similar impulse response (...), combined with having identical FR "there is no possible origin of different sound (...) they will sound the same". Is there a particular reason you completely discard any distortion metrics? On this exemple we have here, at 40 Hz and 94 dB SPL (reasonable level) we have THD+N 100 times more than what any electronics here would be considered a headless panther and in the red part of the chart. If you look at the many IEMs reviewd here, the bump in distortion can litterally be just anywhere. For example the 2K last multi BA reviewed here as big bumps at 400Hz and 2K. On top of that, it's only Total harmonic distortion, we don't have any measurments of the distortion profile what are the actual harmonic content. We don't have intermodulation distortion neither or the exact relation between group delay and actual phase response. To put forward such a strong statement, is to dismiss all that as inaudible. Why then should we even care about the performance of dacs and amps we purchase, why then all the measurements here of electronics would even be relevant?



View attachment 231181
Sorry that I did not state it, but low distortion was implicitely assumed. But you may be surprised by the fact the several very cheap IEMs have still very low distortion.
 

PeteL

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Sorry that I did not state it, but low distortion was implicitely assumed. But you may be surprised by the fact the several very cheap IEMs have still very low distortion.
Ok, but how to assert where « low« distortion is inaudible. The exemple we have here, the subject of this review, is it demonstrated 100% that it’s inaudible from these very limited measurments? I’m sure you also already know that « hearing » distortion, does not necessarily mean that typical saturated grungy sound. What we have is extra harmonic content, we don’t know from this suite of test what they are, they differ from one Iem to the next. Implicitely assumed, but seem to me it is difficult to quantify where we can safely make that assumption.
 

maverickronin

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Yeah either that or the MH755 come bundled with some Sony Bluetooth receivers which can be had new for as low as ~$15-20, although I've heard rumors that the new ones of those actually now use the MH750 driver, which is a bit too bassy for my taste (still good with EQ though):
Still not tracking one down on the first couple pages of Google and Amazon results.

I'd say just buy a Moondrop Chu instead. ;)
 
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Garrincha

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Ok, but how to assert where « low« distortion is inaudible. The exemple we have here, the subject of this review, is it demonstrated 100% that it’s inaudible from these very limited measurments? I’m sure you also already know that « hearing » distortion, does not necessarily mean that typical saturated grungy sound. What we have is extra harmonic content, we don’t know from this suite of test what they are, they differ from one Iem to the next. Implicitely assumed, but seem to me it is difficult to quantify where we can safely make that assumption.
I posted this already many times on ASR, there is an excellent distortion test, https://www.klippel.de/listeningtest/. I once managed -53dB on test tones, but one can safely assume that -40dB = 1% is inaudible on music material. This is also the threshold Amir is considering. So once again, the claim is (backed up by a lot of research and personal listening tests) granted one has low distortion in the whole frequency band (<1%) for all listening levels, a proper seal and no resonances that hinder proper EQ, any two IEMs being EQed successfully to the same target curve will sound the same, independent of price or driver configuration.
 

Somafunk

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Unfortunately succumbed to fear of missing out and ordered, looked at them on Amazon a couple of days ago but they were showing as 2 week delivery so I didn’t bother ordering. Browsing Amazon now and I noticed they were on with next day delivery so bought them. Don’t need another set of iem’s as I have 7Hz Timeless, Dunu Vulkan and Moondrop Chu but they’re only £50 so they’ll be a good Harman comparison standard to compare against my other choices.
 

julian_hughes

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Unfortunately succumbed to fear of missing out and ordered, looked at them on Amazon a couple of days ago but they were showing as 2 week delivery so I didn’t bother ordering. Browsing Amazon now and I noticed they were on with next day delivery so bought them. Don’t need another set of iem’s as I have 7Hz Timeless, Dunu Vulkan and Moondrop Chu but they’re only £50 so they’ll be a good Harman comparison standard to compare against my other choices.
I don't think anyone need fear missing out. These are mass produced and truthear's marketing people and shenzhenaudio are not about to decide to stop making them just when they got a very nice, highly search friendly 5 star review. If the stock goes low it will only be temporary. I ordered mine a couple of days ago :) from shenzhenaudio as they are still a little cheaper than buying in UK and I'm happy to wait 2 weeks. My main hope is that they will be a little less bulky and offer a bit more isolation than Moondrop Kato, while sounding very good. I also have Moondrop Chu. I like Moondrop products but their design is not brilliant in terms of anatomy. They give me pressure discomfort on my outer ear, whereas my now defunct Massdrop Plus felt like custom fit, and even old Shure SE series are more comfy over many hours. I've read a few reviews where people mention that the Truthears are a very snug fit so I took the big risk and used paypal's pay in 3 option. This means that if I don't like them I will only cry briefly and lightly and there will be no need for dark introspection, terrible tempers, and I might not even stomp them into dust.
 
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