TRUTHEAR x Crinacle Zero IEM Review

[delta76]

The $9 Apple A2049 will drive it to 113dB SPL before clipping. Should be enough.

can one assume that the lighting dongle performs the same as the usb c one?

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

High volume level distortion aside, at £50 this is pretty much a game over IEM.

Given that the AKG K371 shows you can make an over-ear model for c.£100 which is close to Harman, how much longer until we're getting Stealth performance for a lot, lot less.

I just thought I'd throw this out there...

For me, I like to approach these things with some humility, and acceptance of my own limitations. Golden ears? I'm bronze at best.

Subsequently, I think I'll get these. And if they fit, and are loud enough without distortion, then that'll be it on the IEM front

 

[Astoneroad]

You guys are like the Home Shopping Network... crushing what little, if any, will power that I have. I caved and ordered one... 2 day free delivery, with points and rewards, $35. Now I'm buying stuff that a year ago, I had no idea existed... lol. Do you guys know the meaning of the word "Enablers"????

 

[_thelaughingman]

You guys are like the Home Shopping Network... crushing what little, if any, will power that I have. I caved and ordered one... 2 day free delivery, with points and rewards, $35. Now I'm buying stuff that a year ago, I had no idea existed... lol. Do you guys know the meaning of the word "Enablers"????

View attachment 230913

Sir, we only enabled sound decision making for the task that you carried out upon ordering these.

 

[someguyontheinternet]

If only IEMs didn't cause irritation for my inner ears...
The zero looks like an awesome deal. I feel like IEMs have a much better price/performance ratio compared to over-ears.

 

[crinacle]

@crinacle so when do we get a Harman compliant Kato killer?

Do you mean a single-DD? It's really hard (but not impossible) to get that separated 200Hz bass shelf on a single driver, hence why we've opted for a dual-DD solution at least for a more budget option.

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?

Regular royalties, same with my other collaborations. I've been pretty open about this over the years.

This is nuts performance (good thing).

Question is - is it representative of random sample

This one was sent in by Crinacle or company

Is every IEM measured for frequency response compliance during QA/QC @crinacle ?

Truthear claims that they do, unfortunately due to COVID restrictions I cannot be physically present at the factory to confirm.

However they had sent over quite a few random (according to them, at least) samples for me to check and confirm. The results are all here, so take it how you will.

 

[jae]

can one assume that the lighting dongle performs the same as the usb c one?

They perform differently, to my recollection the lightning one may be marginally better. There are also regional differences (dongles sold in USA vs EU and other places have different specs, you have to identify the model number). Any model will be adequate for this and most IEMs though, so if that's your only concern you can happily just order any model from Apple and not fuss. Not worth the time to try and get a specific one unless you absolutely have a reason to require a specific one. Personally, I'd buy the USB-C for ubiquity over lighting if either would do.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

Do you mean a single-DD? It's really hard (but not impossible) to get that separated 200Hz bass shelf on a single driver, hence why we've opted for a dual-DD solution at least for a more budget option.


Regular royalties, same with my other collaborations. I've been pretty open about this over the years.


Truthear claims that they do, unfortunately due to COVID restrictions I cannot be physically present at the factory to confirm.

However they had sent over quite a few random (according to them, at least) samples for me to check and confirm. The results are all here, so take it how you will.

Thanks. Highly appreciate your transparency and clarification.

 

[delta76]

They perform differently, to my recollection the lightning one may be marginally better. There are also regional differences (dongles sold in USA vs EU and other places have different specs, you have to identify the model number). Any model will be adequate for this and most IEMs though, so if that's your only concern you can happily just order any model from Apple and not fuss. Not worth the time to try and get a specific one unless you absolutely have a reason to requite a specific one. Personally, I'd buy the USB-C for ubiquity over lighting if either would do.

thanks, looks like the lightning one is measured very well as well (albeit not here). ordered one. I have both iphone and android so I will just buy both

 

[Robbo99999]

Has this been linked yet, there doesn't seem to be much deviation between samples, Crinacle measured 10 units, and the last one pictured is the one that varies the most and that was the preproduction sample, so really not much variance at all:

Truthear x crinacle Zero – In-Ear Fidelity

Sample 3 Sample 4 Sample 5 Sample 6 Sample 7 Sample 8 Sample 9 Sample 10 Sample 1 (Pre-production)

crinacle.com

 

[Astoneroad]

Sir, we only enabled sound decision making for the task that you carried out upon ordering these.

Sure... I'll buy that... lol. BTW... is "theLaughingman" a reference to the Salinger character/story? (My dog is named "Phoebe" after Holden's little sister.)

 

[dananski]

Not an earphone guy, but these have piqued my curiosity and I've ordered a pair.

I really hope manufacturers take good note of this flood of orders generated by 3rd-party measurements of a quality product.

 

[xaviescacs]

Has this been linked yet, there doesn't seem to be much deviation between samples, Crinacle measured 10 units, and the last one pictured is the one that varies the most and that was the preproduction sample, so really not much variance at all:

Truthear x crinacle Zero – In-Ear Fidelity

Sample 3 Sample 4 Sample 5 Sample 6 Sample 7 Sample 8 Sample 9 Sample 10 Sample 1 (Pre-production)

crinacle.com

Fine, but a plot (distribution, histogram or density) of the score (some score) would be more reliable and straightforward. Comparing plots in this way it's kind of pointless. Who can tell if the 5th is similar to the 1st? I'm not questioning the final product, just the method to verify how much similar the samples are. I mean, this is about ensuring with a good degree of certainty that all samples belong to the same population, speaking in statistical terms. To achieve this, one needs to apply some statistics over the data, not just look at the plots.

 

[crinacle]

Fine, but a plot (distribution, histogram or density) of the score (some score) would be more reliable and straightforward. Comparing plots in this way it's kind of pointless. Who can tell if the 5th is similar to the 1st? I'm not questioning the final product, just the method to verify how much similar the samples are.

9 sample overlay (excluding pre-production sample), channel-averaged

Same overlay, L-R channel separated (18 effective samples)

You can also use my Graph Comparison Tool to individually compare any sample to each other, if required.​

 

[staticV3]

can one assume that the lighting dongle performs the same as the usb c one?

Yeah pretty sure they're the same.

One caveat with the Lightning version is that both the 0.5Vrms EU version and the 1Vrms US version have the same A1749 model number.
If you're outside the US, but want the full 1Vrms version, then it's not enough to search for "Apple A1749" on eBay. You need to search for "MMX62AM/A" instead.
More details here

 

[Robbo99999]

Fine, but a plot (distribution, histogram or density) of the score (some score) would be more reliable and straightforward. Comparing plots in this way it's kind of pointless. Who can tell if the 5th is similar to the 1st? I'm not questioning the final product, just the method to verify how much similar the samples are.

Yes, it's not straightforward to compare them, but I eyeballed key frequency areas and they were basically the same between them, I also went onto Crinacle's grapher tool and compared each sample to Sample#2 and the variation for each sample was tiny, virtually overlapped:

In-Ear Fidelity – IEM Graph Comparison Tool

Easily compare industry-standard frequency response measurements of hundreds and hundreds of IEMs.

crinacle.com

You're basically looking at differences similar to the following for each sample, which is nothing:

 

[xaviescacs]

View attachment 230930
9 sample overlay (excluding pre-production sample), channel-averaged

View attachment 230931
Same overlay, L-R channel separated (18 effective samples)

You can also use my Graph Comparison Tool to individually compare any sample to each other, if required.​

Yes, it's not straightforward to compare them, but I eyeballed key frequency areas and they were basically the same between them, I also went onto Crinacle's grapher tool and compared each sample to Sample#2 and the variation for each sample was tiny, virtually overlapped:

In-Ear Fidelity – IEM Graph Comparison Tool

Easily compare industry-standard frequency response measurements of hundreds and hundreds of IEMs.

crinacle.com

You're basically looking at differences similar to the following for each sample, which is nothing:
View attachment 230933

Yes, that's visually better and convincing for the purposes here, I understand.

 

[SavageSam1234]

So why would one get the expensive Moondrop Variations etc (also very Harman) over this? I am genuinely asking, with all the cheap iems coming out now that have coherent graphs and low distortion. Why spend 500 - 700 on Thieaudio, Yanyin and all the rest of them. Will the Moondrop S8 sound better?

The Variations specifically is slightly more refined than the Zero in sub-bass extension, the 3khz-7khz region, and in high frequency extension. Is it worth 10x the price? Probably not. Is it better? Yes.

 

[anmpr1]

This is a WAF debate I absolutely do NOT need in my life.

When it comes to ride or die, a hardcore audiophile will always get a new wife before letting waifu interfere with his hobby. But being a 'glass half full' guy, it's possible to adapt. The work around is to buy a Sailor Moon outfit for your wife, and then let her hold the earbuds for you when you are not using them.

 

[jae]

The Variations specifically is slightly more refined than the Zero in sub-bass extension, the 3khz-7khz region, and in high frequency extension. Is it worth 10x the price? Probably not. Is it better? Yes.

I like to use a benchmark of -3dB at 34hz, in this case its only down -2.5 dB so, I would say that is a superficial difference for 99% of music. For ear gain region, well that is subjective as a whole but there is a compelling argument for a recession at 3-7khz actually being closer to an average objective "truth" depending on what methodology used to determine "objective" and how smoothed the approach is, especially in the occluded ear. For the HF extension, I can agree: most independent hearing aid research and even Sean Olive acknowledges the shortcomings of high frequency in his research and I believe his future research will address it with the B&K fixture. It doesn't help that is it so physiology/age dependent, and that hearing loss is not a linear phenomenon across individuals. Not to mention it is quite difficult to accurately test hearing over 10k and there are no real standards/hearing tests for these frequencies. The best we can really do at this stage is estimate.