TRUTHEAR x Crinacle Zero IEM Review

[jsvaldez]

My pair arrived today from ShenzhenAudio, and as my first IEMs, I'm loving them! They even motivated me to clean up my desk to take a picture!

I figured I follow suit with others' recommendation to use the memory foam tips, and they were a bit difficult to get on. They're such a snug fit onto the IEMs that I was afraid I would tear them while attempting to put them on. I'm even more afraid that I'll tear them if I remove them to try the silicon tips, so I think they'll be staying as is. Also on the note of the grills for the IEM, mine weren't in a bag, they were on a plastic sheet in the white box containing the owner's manual and warrant card. I would have easily missed them had it not been mentioned that they were included.

Personally, I find the frequency response is phenomenal straight out of the box. I EQ my over-ear headphones to the Harmen target ever since finding ASR (with a bit of a bass boost, as I love listening to contemporary rock, hip hop, pop, and experimental music the most), and these immediately felt like a fit and I had no impulse to quickly search up an EQ setting. I tried out the EQ @Maiky76 posted and I barely noticed any difference. I also tried out an AutoEQ from the @crinacle IEM graph, and I found it to add a lot of sibilance in the higher treble area. I'm in my mid-20s and my upper limit to hearing is around 18 kHz, and I don't feel these are sibilant in any way that I felt planar headphones are out of the box. Maybe I lucked out? But either way, I feel no need to EQ these as I don't notice any meaningful improvements from it. I was worried at first about the channel balance, but after a while of listening I think it was just a temporary consequences of having cleaned by ears out thoroughly before I put them on.

Imaging is definitely not as good as over-ears (particularly for sounds between the center channel and the left and right extremities, they feel more clumped to the center), but the panning is still good and I'm impressed beyond my admittedly low expectations knowing that IEMs are limited in that regard.

As far as power, cranking these to max streaming Qobuz off my phone with an Apple USB-C dongle reaches a comfortable level of loudness for me, and I don't feel the need to use my Hidizs S9 Pro dongle for more volume as I do for my over-ears. I'm surprised that others are finding them hard to drive to comfortably loud settings, but that may be since I'm on the younger end of audiophiles demographically. This will be a much better alternative to carrying my Drop X DCA Aeon Closed X over-ears for portable listening without bleed. If I really want some more punch, I can happily wait until I'm home and plug them into my Monoprice Monolith.

On that note, however, I noticed that they are not as good for playing video games as my over-ear headphones, as the clumped imaging is not ideal for games in which imaging is crucial for audio cues. I was playing some Warhammer: Vermintide 2, and I had a harder time pinpointing where enemies were (they make a sound when they're about to attack you, for those who aren't familiar) than I usually do with either my Closed X or my Sennheiser 660 S. That being said, I'll likely end up keeping them as my portable/on-the-go headphones for stellar sound in a small package. Speaking of which, I love the small leather carrying bag that comes with it! It definitely makes up for the anime waifu art on the box sleeve, which unequivocally isn't my bag, baby.

As my first IEMs, I'm noticing they're not the most comfortable fit. I've never been a big fan of IEMs/earbuds in general (growing up when Apple was putting out those ****** earbuds with their iPods scared me off from them, as they cut the inside of my ears multiple times), so perhaps I have a bit of an adjustment to make. The around-the-ear loops also are a bit large for my ears, so they don't help that much, especially given the fact I wear glasses. I'm curious if anyone else identifies more comfortable memory foam tips that fit these. I'd definitely buy them out of interest. I might post an update in a couple of weeks to report on how the comfort factor is holding up for me, as I definitely feel some soreness after a while of having them in today.

Some tracks I listened to for testing:

• "Miss Modular" by Stereolab
• "Some Kind of Game" by Against All Logic
• Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, Op. 100: IV. Allegro giocoso
• "Secrets (Your Fire)" by Magdalena Bay

 

[GaryH]

I don't feel these are sibilant in any way that I felt planar headphones are out of the box. Maybe I lucked out? But either way, I feel no need to EQ these as I don't notice any meaningful improvements from it.

Probably because you're using the foam tips which muffle the treble. The EQs you mentioned were developed based on the response with the silicone tips.

 

[Chromatischism]

Personally, I find the frequency response is phenomenal straight out of the box. I EQ my over-ear headphones to the Harmen target ever since finding ASR (with a bit of a bass boost, as I love listening to contemporary rock, hip hop, pop, and experimental music the most), and these immediately felt like a fit and I had no impulse to quickly search up an EQ setting.

It's weird how we perceive these so differently. Stock, these sound nothing like my neutral speakers in the room. They're bright, but in a tinny sort of way rather than a Klipsch sort of way. And the bass contour is all wrong - they lack low bass and the overall bass boost extends past 150 Hz, creating a dirty sound on tracks that should sound clean.

As far as power, cranking these to max streaming Qobuz off my phone with an Apple USB-C dongle reaches a comfortable level of loudness for me

Really? I'm using about 30-40% of the volume from my Pixel 4a 5G's stereo mini jack. If I get to 50%, it's too loud. I would have thought that dongle should be more powerful?

As my first IEMs, I'm noticing they're not the most comfortable fit. I've never been a big fan of IEMs/earbuds in general (growing up when Apple was putting out those ****** earbuds with their iPods scared me off from them, as they cut the inside of my ears multiple times), so perhaps I have a bit of an adjustment to make. The around-the-ear loops also are a bit large for my ears, so they don't help that much, especially given the fact I wear glasses.

I'm in the same boat on the loops, they are too large. I also wear glasses but I don't feel they get in the way. However I do find the IEM comfortable. Here's a tip: the silicone is a lot more comfortable than the foam and is much less likely to irritate on repeated insertion and removal. They stay cleaner, too.

Some tracks I listened to for testing:

• "Miss Modular" by Stereolab
• "Some Kind of Game" by Against All Logic
• Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, Op. 100: IV. Allegro giocoso
• "Secrets (Your Fire)" by Magdalena Bay

I will listen to these later.

Meanwhile, the ones most revealing for me:

Tool - Jambi (the bass guitar, being full of harmonics, is very sensitive to tonal balance). It's also easy to tell if you have too much or too little bass, once you get the curve right. If everything isn't dialed in right, this song will sound a bit disjointed.

Starset - Telekinetic (for drum impact and that bass in the last 1 minute). That low bass should sound clean, not dirty, as the stock tuning adds too much 80-150 Hz into the mix. The stock tuning also lacks the low bass that normally adds weight to the kick drum.

John Williams - Jedi Steps and Finale (for all of the higher-frequency instruments, and the occasional low bass accompaniment)

Sigrid - Everybody Knows (her voice should sound natural and not skewed towards the higher frequencies as the stock tuning does. There should also be plenty of weight added by the low notes)

Because of the upper mid-range and mid-and-upper bass emphasis, I also feel that these lack midrange. The drums are so much more impactful with my EQ and a lot of other details come through better as well. It sounds more like the speakers in my room. This is especially noticeable on rock and metal music like Amon Amarth - Victory Or Death.

I'll be interested to see what your thoughts are as time goes by. And just so we can compare notes on perception, I'd be especially curious if you would try my EQ.

 

[bunkbail]

It's weird how we perceive these so differently. Stock, these sound nothing like my neutral speakers in the room. They're bright, but in a tinny sort of way rather than a Klipsch sort of way. And the bass contour is all wrong - they lack low bass and the overall bass boost extends past 150 Hz, creating a dirty sound on tracks that should sound clean.

Echoed my thoughts to the dot. By the way, I've tried your EQ for a couple hours, I still get an ear rape and a half in most tracks where those tracks sounded blissfully wonderful on my HD660S. I just think IEMs are not for me.

 

[Chromatischism]

Echoed my thoughts to the dot. By the way, I've tried your EQ for a couple hours, I still get an ear rape and a half in most tracks where those tracks sounded blissfully wonderful on my HD660S. I just think IEMs are not for me.

We either have different ears or sample variation. Or both! Very frustrating. I hope the EQ at least puts the compass in the right direction? Are you getting a solid seal? Does it give you an earplug-like effect?

Maybe take another 0.5 to 1.0 off the highs.

 

[trl]

Anyone having KZ ZSX bought these ? Curious to have them as point of comparison. For what's worth, tried several cheap KZ which were not great : too much V shaped, and the 1more triple (recommended on many sites) which was bass muddy and lacking airiness. Settled for the ZSX which ticked everything even the low bass. However, the bass are a bit strong but always punchy.​

Just got my Zero IEMs yesterday and gave'em a good listen. I do like their sound, although treble energy might need to be a bit boosted through an EQ to match my personal prefferance.

I also have AS10 and ZSX as well. AS10 is that different in sounding that I don't even know how to comment...lower energy in trebke, bass not quite perfect in size and wuality etc. I only purchased AS10 for their huge sensitivity, so I use them just to test background noise of headamps.

Instead, ZSX opens up the scene vs. the ZERO IEMs, voices are more clear and upfront staging; I somehow feel the subbass a bit better, although bass seems lower in size/loudness than the ZERO.

The voices on ZERO IEMs vs. the ZSX are somehow more "nasal", sounding a bit like it's from behind the scene. Bass is emphasized due to the above.

I think both ZERO and ZSX could be matched to sound preety much the same with a bit of EQ-ing. Even the AS10 could be EQ-ed to sound similar, although I can't quite recommend AS10 to anyone given how better the other two IEMs sound by default. See few graphs from Crinacle below, for comparing:

​

 

[Hare Hare]

Yes you can add some bass in the EQ and get it to sound better for sure. Acceptable, but then I swapped back to the Truthear with reduced bass and that was still better. More full sounding. $50 is better than $80 so my choice would be Truthear, although the Aria fit my smaller ear canals better. The sound you hear does not always match the frequency graphs when comparing these IEMs. Like on the Chu for example. And you have to try different songs because some IEMs always sound better on some songs than others that's for sure. I will try my Starfield tonight and let you know. Unfortunately I already sent my Aria Snow back, but I can still compare to Truthear.

Hello,
I use Moondrop Starfield on a daily basis. Could someone briefly compare it to the Zero please? I do find Moondrop to be too harsh on the top. Strings can sound a bit grating and tiring - especially on "dry" recordings. I would also prefer a bit more bass and midbass.
I listen to lots of classical music and use EQ for Moondrop.

Thanks for reading, cheers!

 

[staticV3]

@Hare Hare the Zero is even more harsh on the top and has less bass and midbass than your Starfield:

 

[bYOndo]

hello!
is anyone using these IEM with E1DA 9038D dongle? I am, and it's a BLAST, super loud and clean sound. Any suggestion (if it would make any sense) about THD custom settings? @staticV3 ?
I use them with Android USB audio Player pro, with full parametric EQ; tried @Chromatischism last settings, tamed the highs down a bit and to my ears they sound "correct" and non fatiguing (and I'm very sensitive about mid highs "shoutness"), thanks!
Anyway, best entry level IEM I ever knew and most discussed for sure, eheheh... Bravo @crinacle !

 

[Jhify]

With the new round foam tips they hold in my ears on their own perfectly and I don't need the cable to go around my ears. Does anyone know if a cable without the curve at the end exists so I can wear them the around way around ?

 

[staticV3]

@Jhify you can simply cut the heat shrink tubing off to make the cable straight

 

[SalutaryGraveness]

I also tried out an AutoEQ from the @crinacle IEM graph, and I found it to add a lot of sibilance in the higher treble area

Crinacle's data base is not the best for the equalization of the treble and beyond against the Harman target reference. Not useless, but manual tuning is often necessary. ASR's measurements are more accurate and it's pinna gain seems more correct.

 

[GaryH]

Crinacle's data base is not the best for the equalization of the treble and beyond against the Harman target reference. Not useless, but manual tuning is often necessary. ASR's measurements are more accurate and it's pinna gain seems more correct.

In terms of judging the likely deviation from the Harman target, Crinacle's measurements are probably a better bet. The reason why they found that EQ to be sibilant isn't because of Crinacle's measurements, it's because AutoEQ's algorithm erroneously increases the peak at 8 kHz, to ~5 dB above the Harman target:

 

[Berwhale]

Hello,
I use Moondrop Starfield on a daily basis. Could someone briefly compare it to the Zero please? I do find Moondrop to be too harsh on the top. Strings can sound a bit grating and tiring - especially on "dry" recordings. I would also prefer a bit more bass and midbass.
I listen to lots of classical music and use EQ for Moondrop.

Thanks for reading, cheers!

To me, the Zero has less bass than the Starfield. This is borne out by the measured frequency response, but some of the difference could also be attributed to differences in the ear tips i'm using (stock foam on the Zero and Comply Tx-200's on the Starfields). I think the Zero more likely to sound harsh than then Starfield, but overall, I don't think there is a huge difference between them. I like the sound of both IEMs, but if I had to pick one i'd go for the Zeros as they are physically lighter and don't have the terrible paint finish that chips off the Starfields so easily.

 

[staticV3]

@GaryH just making sure we're on the same page:
For IEM measurements, Crinacle is using a cheap RA0045 clone from AliExpress/Taobao, not his RA0402 that he uses for headphone measurements.

 

[SalutaryGraveness]

In terms of judging the likely deviation from the Harman target, Crinacle's measurements are probably a better bet. The reason why they found that EQ to be sibilant isn't because of Crinacle's measurements, it's because AutoEQ's algorithm erroneously increases the peak at 8 kHz, to ~5 dB above the Harman target:

Since Crinacle himself demonstrated that his old 711 clone coupler while still good likely has a less accurate pinna gain representation, let alone beyond the 10k hz mark, I would surprised to learn that the his older rig is more compatible to Harman's research than his new rig which is also more compatible with ASR's rig.
In-Ear Fidelity Acquires GRAS Setup for Headphone Measurements – In-Ear Fidelity (crinacle.com)

As far the AutoEQ algorithm is concerned, well it does the best it can to account for the inaccuracies beyond the 8-10K Hz mark. Which is where most people complain about how sibilant or harsh the result can be.

I don't know. At the end people can just tune the equalization manually to account for personal preferences anyway.

 

[Hare Hare]

To me, the Zero has less bass than the Starfield. This is borne out by the measured frequency response, but some of the difference could also be attributed to differences in the ear tips i'm using (stock foam on the Zero and Comply Tx-200's on the Starfields). I think the Zero more likely to sound harsh than then Starfield, but overall, I don't think there is a huge difference between them. I like the sound of both IEMs, but if I had to pick one i'd go for the Zeros as they are physically lighter and don't have the terrible paint finish that chips off the Starfields so easily.

Thanks for reply. It could be that I am sensitive to the lifted upper mids and treble. I prefer iBasso 00, but that one has a bit blurry bottom. It is better for longer sessions though. I guess zero is not for me.

 

[GaryH]

Since Crinacle himself demonstrated that his old 711 clone coupler while still good likely has a less accurate pinna gain representation, let alone beyond the 10k hz mark, I would surprised to learn that the his older rig is more compatible to Harman's research than his new rig which is also more compatible with ASR's rig.
In-Ear Fidelity Acquires GRAS Setup for Headphone Measurements – In-Ear Fidelity (crinacle.com)

@GaryH just making sure we're on the same page:
For IEM measurements, Crinacle is using a cheap RA0045 clone from AliExpress/Taobao, not his RA0402 that he uses for headphone measurements.

Ah ok, I thought he switched to the RA0402 for IEMs too when he made the upgrade to the GRAS for headphones, but you're right he decided to stick with the old one for IEMs. Depending how good a clone it is, it still might produce measurements that are a closer approximation of the RA0045, which Harman used to develop their target, than a RA0402, for a particular IEM. Here are the response errors (including unit variance though) for various IEMs of his clone relative to Oratory's measurements using a genuine RA0045 as calculated by AutoEQ's Jaakko Pasanen:

Compare this with the difference between (response 'error' of) the 'hi-res' RA0402 compared to the 'standard' RA0045 as measured by GRAS (only for one, unnamed IEM mind):

That's a significant difference above around 6 kHz. We'll just have to wait for Oratory to measure the Truthears with his RA0045 to get a more accurate approximation of their deviation from the Harman target.

 

[Berwhale]

Ah ok, I thought he switched to the RA0402 for IEMs too when he made the upgrade to the GRAS for headphones, but you're right he decided to stick with the old one for IEMs. Depending how good a clone it is, it still might produce measurements that are a closer approximation of the RA0045, which Harman used to develop their target, than a RA0402, for a particular IEM. Here are the response errors (including unit variance though) for various IEMs of his clone relative to Oratory's measurements using a genuine RA0045 as calculated by AutoEQ's Jaakko Pasanen:

Compare this with the difference between (response 'error' of) the 'hi-res' RA0402 compared to the 'standard' RA0045 as measured by GRAS (only for one, unnamed IEM mind):
View attachment 235607
That's a significant difference above around 6 kHz. We'll just have to wait for Oratory to measure the Truthears with his RA0045 to get a more accurate approximation of their deviation from the Harman target.

None of us have a RA0045 in our heads, which is why people like Oratory1990 always state that their suggested PEQ (based on their measurements from 'standardised' GRAS xxx or whatever) should be tuned to listener preference.

 

[GaryH]

None of us have a RA0045 in our heads, which is why people like Oratory1990 always state that their suggested PEQ (based on their measurements from 'standardised' GRAS xxx or whatever) should be tuned to listener preference.

Of course there's nothing wrong with then adjusting to taste