TRUTHEAR x Crinacle Zero IEM Review

[SHENZHENAUDIO]

Hi! What about Spain? I've started the purchase funnel on your website, and it says there is one carrier (International shipping) with no cost. Is this reliable? No shiping cost? Thanks!

Yep, the shipping cost and duties are included shipping to EU countries.

 

[xaviescacs]

OK, fine... fair enough... I've ordered one directly at shenzhenaudio without telling my wife... it's nice to have good products on this no-need-to-tell-your-wife-about-it price range.

 

[SHENZHENAUDIO]

OK, fine... fair enough... I've ordered one directly at shenzhenaudio without telling my wife... it's nice to have good products on this no-need-to-tell-your-wife-about-it price range.

good for you.

 

[Jimbob54]

I am with you on this, find it hard to get any Iems to stay firmly put and with a great seal. Other don't have issues. weird thing for me it's only the right ear the problem. absolutely don't have any fit issues with the left. Try many tips and yes tried different tips on left and right. One day maybe I'll find the perfect tip for me but so far it's an issue. I still use Iems but keep refitting, every few minutes and it does get on my nerves and is detrimental to my enjoyment of music in the end.

I have the same l/r issue. Annoyingly this isn't just about finding the right tip(s) for your ears . It's finding the right tips for each iem and your ears. I'm not talking about the ability to affix the tip to the iem either.

I have a few pairs and I've noticed that a tip that is perfect for me (comfort /seal /ability to stay put) on iem A has failings in at least one of those areas on iem B.

Its something of a pain, as like you, nothing disturbs the listening experience more than having to wiggle an earpiece every few minutes or have the nagging feeling something isn't quite right.

 

[antcollinet]

Dam I was meant to be spending less money on headphones just woke up to this review and ordered a pair on Amazon. Will take a few weeks to arrive in UK.
At £50 I can’t resist trying them, I’ve never heard of the brand before though, so will interesting to learn more about them as they only seem to make this headphone.
Will run these off my Hidizs s8.
Kev

Do we know if there will be duty and or VAT to pay on these? (Plus shippers processing fee)?

£50 is an impulse buy £70 not so much.

 

[McLenin]

OK, fine... fair enough... I've ordered one directly at shenzhenaudio without telling my wife... it's nice to have good products on this no-need-to-tell-your-wife-about-it price range.

Hahaha you made me laugh out loud. I too ordered directly through ShenzenAudio, looking forward to it. Fingers crossed for swift delivery

P.S. Loved Barcelona when I visited during a preceptoship at prof. Navaro`s clinic.

 

[oscar_dziki]

OK, fine... fair enough... I've ordered one directly at shenzhenaudio without telling my wife... it's nice to have good products on this no-need-to-tell-your-wife-about-it price range.

Yeah, but even after such a purchase I felt a little bad, and I wrote her on teams something nice. I haven't told her about the purchase though.

 

[Kevbaz]

Do we know if there will be duty and or VAT to pay on these? (Plus shippers processing fee)?

£50 is an impulse buy £70 not so much.

I dont think so, I get the impression from what I have bought on Amazon before that its handled by the seller/Amazon. I hope so as like you say an increase of up to £20 makes it not an impulse buy but still good value.
Kev

 

[xaviescacs]

Yeah, but even after such a purchase I felt a little bad, and I wrote her on teams something nice. I haven't told her about the purchase though.

I'm exactly on the same situation, but I hope that bad feeling will stop I give them to her when they arrive. I just want to try them really to decide whether IEMs are for me or not. She's the one that really uses IEMs intensively.

 

[Koeitje]

You could extend this question and ask why buy expensive Genelec/Revel/Neumann etc.?
Seems like you only miss out on tactile bass.

You will miss the soundstage.

 

[Kevbaz]

Yeah, but even after such a purchase I felt a little bad, and I wrote her on teams something nice. I haven't told her about the purchase though.

I have an agreement with my wife any purchases below £100 doesn't need to be discussed together. Anything above £100 needs to be discussed with the SWMBO (She who must be obeyed)

 

[Garrincha]

Not sure what is with all the comments/questions about asking about or comparing the frequency response of IEMs to OE headphones like the Stealth/Expanse. Regardless of similar measured response they are not directly comparable as they are interacting with your physiology differently and the two offer appreciably different psychoacoustic experiences, regardless of adherence to Harman.

While it's great that these conform well to the target and perform well for a good price, as far as modern IEM responses go there are probably a dozen or more similar ones out there coming out of China that are quite close to Harman or very easily tuned to it with one or two simple low-q/low amplitude PEQ filters, also with similarly low distortion. Many of these IEMs are all using the same well-performing drivers and should all have similarly low distortion, unless there is something seriously wrong with the product. Most of the flaws/distortion measurements of all of these IEMs align closely with the driver specsheets. So I would not say this product in particular is any sort of marvel.

Crinacle himself also has at least half a dozen or more collab IEMs (some of which have come out recently are controversial because they have barely any meaningful difference over the non-collab versions/other products from the companies he collabs with, some of them even had "dummy" drivers), so why is this the first one Amir has got his hands on to be reviewed? Was Crinacle worried about the others not getting a positive review due to deviation from response or other issues? I can only assume it is because Crinacle is aware of the metrics used for positive review (target compliance), and although there is nothing wrong with a bit of targeted self-marketing I suppose, it's very cherrypicked. So I hope anyone reading this review treats this product as if it were in a vacuum, and not associate it with anything else Crinacle has been involved with.



What would "kill" the Kato for you? Is this already not Harman compliant enough..?

Arguably, from all the collaborations of crinacle, this one is by far the most Harmanish of them. So it doesn't need EQ (at least not above 50Hz, which for most music is ok), being practial just with a dongle. So what is there to complain ? Overall, there are hundreds and thousands IEMs out there, mostly from China. Clearly Amir can only test a few, so what is the problem?

 

[Eetu]

IEMs are the wallet friendliest way to good sound. This is the Zero compared to the $20€ Moondrop Chu

 

[HarmonicTHD]

Some

Not sure what is with all the comments/questions about asking about or comparing the frequency response of IEMs to OE headphones like the Stealth/Expanse. Regardless of similar measured response they are not directly comparable as they are interacting with your physiology differently and the two offer appreciably different psychoacoustic experiences, regardless of adherence to Harman.

While it's great that these conform well to the target and perform well for a good price, as far as modern IEM responses go there are probably a dozen or more similar ones out there coming out of China that are quite close to Harman or very easily tuned to it with one or two simple low-q/low amplitude PEQ filters, also with similarly low distortion. Many of these IEMs are all using the same well-performing drivers and should all have similarly low distortion, unless there is something seriously wrong with the product. Most of the flaws/distortion measurements of all of these IEMs align closely with the driver specsheets. So I would not say this product in particular is any sort of marvel.

Crinacle himself also has at least half a dozen or more collab IEMs (some of which have come out recently are controversial because they have barely any meaningful difference over the non-collab versions/other products from the companies he collabs with, some of them even had "dummy" drivers), so why is this the first one Amir has got his hands on to be reviewed? Was Crinacle worried about the others not getting a positive review due to deviation from response or other issues? I can only assume it is because Crinacle is aware of the metrics used for positive review (target compliance), and although there is nothing wrong with a bit of targeted self-marketing I suppose, it's very cherrypicked. So I hope anyone reading this review treats this product as if it were in a vacuum, and not associate it with anything else Crinacle has been involved with.



What would "kill" the Kato for you? Is this already not Harman compliant enough..?

You raise a good question regarding crinnacle independence of possible conflicts of interest.

I only followed him loosely and I recall that he makes a point of not being sponsored by any headphone manufacturer etc.

Is this still the case?
How does it apply here where his name is used in the product?
Did he only receive a one time consulting fee or will he receive regular royalties based on sales?

Please I am not implying anything. Genuinely curious.

Can someone or even crinnacle clarify?Please, given the sensitivity of the question - no speculation or unproven allegations.

 

[xaviescacs]

Hey, I've got a question. Why the target curves for these and the Fiio FD5 are different?

 

[Vacceo]

OK, fine... fair enough... I've ordered one directly at shenzhenaudio without telling my wife... it's nice to have good products on this no-need-to-tell-your-wife-about-it price range.

Did just the same. If it can drive the hammers and anvils from Wagner, it can also drive Morbid Angel's blast beats.

 

[Robbo99999]

I don't really like sticking stuff in my ear as I think it pushes wax back in lol, but I did buy these just now, as that is basically a perfect review/measurement and for £49 I thought I had to have these even for just an occasional reference experience!

 

[Garrincha]

As far as I'm concerned it doesn't get any much better the HD650/6XX or Drop Aeon Open X (both with EQ) for open OEs. There are some open contenders that seem to use the Peerless 50mm driver that do decently as well but the prices ($800+) does not justify an upgrade over the other two options for $200-400. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, since you have more or less owned, heard and measured a whole lot yourself. But from hearing loads of cans myself, it's hard to suggest anything other than 600-series at ~$200-250 unless someone needs a closed headphone. I think Expanse will have to be my next purchase if I can convince myself to part with the money in the coming months.

I don't use IEMs much so I went with Buds2 pro since it complies to harman but will allow me to at least enjoy them in the few situations I would use an iem (like gym, plane, train etc).

So it doesn't get much better than the HD650? How do you know, did you try all other headphones? Or just a wild guess ? Or maybe just because you will/can not spend more the other headphones just should't be better?

 

[Garrincha]

Hey, I've got a question. Why the target curves for these and the Fiio FD5 are different?

View attachment 230873View attachment 230874

Seems Amir updated to the 2019v2 curve, but the difference is only in the upper treble, where measuring results are dubious anyway.

 

[sharock]

IEMs are the wallet friendliest way to good sound. This is the Zero compared to the $20€ Moondrop Chu
View attachment 230871

Tempted by these for £50, but I've been using the £20 Moondrop Chu with Oratory's EQ preset which sounds great. I'm not sure if I'd be gaining much.