TRUTHEAR x Crinacle Zero IEM Review

[RHO]

Seems like they have unfortunate QC problems, with driver mismatch- channel imbalance- especially in the bass. This isn't displayed in the measurements here, but buyers should be aware. You might not get this bass, not one both sides. look here:

Did he swap 1 side from one set to the other? (L from set1 became L from set2 and vise versa) Looks like the channel matching would be much better if he did that.

 

[Atratusnex]

Did he swap 1 side from one set to the other? (L from set1 became L from set2 and vise versa) Looks like the channel matching would be much better if he did that.

He said in the end, that he will try to get at least one somewhat normal working pair out of them, so I assume he will do this later to fix them. But it's worrying that he has two pairs that show the same imbalance.

 

[RHO]

He said in the end, that he will try to get at least one somewhat normal working pair out of them, so I assume he will do this later to fix them. But it's worrying that he has two pairs that show the same imbalance.

Did he (accidentally?) swap them before the measurements?

Edit: I've been looking at measurements from different reviewers and none show these channel imbalances. (Crin measured 9 sets)

 

[Atratusnex]

Did he (accidentally?) swap them before the measurements?

Doubt that, he does that a long time, as far as he tells, he opened and measured one set ( opened, heard. Measured) before he even used the second one. don't see what he would get from lying in this case. If this would be the case, he would still have two sets with nearly 5-7 db unit variation in the bass between the units.

 

[sweetsounds]

Oh dear, oh dear - who to believe?

@amirm, or the guy who wrote the three-star review on Amazon reviewer with these comments:
or the guy who gave them two stars and said this:

The Harman target curve is loved and hated.
In general, it creates a punchy, bassy sound.

Recommended reviews at https://crinacle.com/rankings/iems

What I like about the site: he is categorizing the sound into neutral, V, Harman like.

 

[Multicore]

Is this the right thing. It says Brand: Fanmusic and Amazon does sometimes lead us astray. Or can I buy from a less odious vendor?

Amazon.com

And is there a way to get longer cables? I need about 2 m or 6 feet. I can use an extension cable if not.

 

[maverickronin]

Think I'll stick with my $5 Sony MH755 (with or without EQ).

Incredible value for sure, but can you even get those anymore? Seems lik you have to play roulette on eBay now.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Nice to see all the cheapskates like me come out of the woodwork for a great cheap item…

 

[brandall10]

Yeah, I mostly use EQ though so that cancels that advantage. Also, it matters where the response is more accurate. For example, the Truthear is a bit over target bettween 1 and ~3 kHz, which can make for a somewhat 'shouty' sound, and can be particularly bothersome compared to inaccuracies in other parts of the frequency response. And this shoutiness is just what @Resolve heard with them, likely also exacerbated by the slight lack of energy between 125 and ~225 Hz ('warmth'), and possibly the lacking sub-bass too:

My attitude about things that are 'mostly' right is that I can use them more often without eq... picking up one of these, it will only be used without (ie. iPhone). My daily drivers, KSE-1200s, are only used on a laptop w/ Roon and PEQ - it's an absolute must to EQ these.

AFA what Resolve hears, it's pretty evident his preferences are more toward IEF neutral than Harman (not only based on this but what he's said about other things), so you have to process his findings through that filter.

He keeps mentioning ear anatomy, but in general I imagine younger people will find Harman a bit strident as 1) it averages in an older demographic with a tinge of reduction in the higher end of the frequency spectrum and 2) they probably listen at higher volume, and fletcher-munson dictates that bass and treble are apparently louder (ie. why he sees bass as being too much as well).

I'm 46 and tend to listen at no more than 80 db or so... I've been to a couple Canjams and couldn't believe how loud most of the rigs were. Harman sounds pretty on-point to me, fwiw, but I have a feeling 25 yo me wouldn't feel the same. And disagree about the warmth region needing a boost, I've played with that and ultimately find I want a bit more relative low-bass otherwise it seems clarity takes a back seat.

 

[RHO]

Doubt that, he does that a long time, as far as he tells, he opened and measured one set ( opened, heard. Measured) before he even used the second one. don't see what he would get from lying in this case. If this would be the case, he would still have two sets with nearly 5-7 db unit variation in the bass between the units.

I have no idea what he would have to gain by doing that. But looking at measurements from other reviewers this looks a bit suspicious. Although we can see some channel imbalances in Amir's measurements too. Not nearly as big as what he shows.

 

[RHO]

And is there a way to get longer cables? I need about 2 m or 6 feet. I can use an extension cable if not.

For IEMs, I doubt it. I use an extension cable for IEMs. (for OE headphones I just build my own cables)

 

[Robbo99999]

Seems like they have unfortunate QC problems, with driver mismatch- channel imbalance- especially in the bass. This isn't displayed in the measurements here, but buyers should be aware. You might not get this bass, not one both sides. look here:

Well I'll be measuring mine when they arrive, so that'll be another datapoint. (Ha, I think this guy is finger puppeteer on the side.....but it did kinda work!)
Is it generally accepted that IEM's have better channel balancing & unit to unit variation than over ears? (question for all who follow both IEM's & headphones).

 

[RHO]

Is it generally accepted that IEM's have better channel balancing & unit to unit variation than over ears?

That's a good question.
I think Crinacle's database could give a fairly reliable picture. He measures both channels and for some products even on multiple samples.

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I would be all over these but I just bought a pair of Shue SE425’s. which are great save a little light on the bottom end. Unless somebody had both and told me these are better.

 

[Robbo99999]

That's a good question.
I think Crinacle's database could give a fairly reliable picture. He measures both channels and for some products even on multiple samples.

True, a person could go through each one (lol) and look at the spread of L/R imbalance for IEM's vs Over Ears. No, but that's a good point, but laborious, but real information. You'd have to decide how or if you're gonna statistically analyse it, or just flick through them to gain an overall subjective impression - either way it's quite a lot of "work".

 

[RHO]

or just flick through them to gain an overall subjective impression

I did that (not for all, but many) and my impression is that it depends. Some brands have quite good channel balance and some don't. But In general I think it's a bit better on IEMs. (that's a non-scientific conclusion on an incomplete analysis ... kinda worthless maybe... )

 

[Robbo99999]

I did that (not for all, but many) and my impression is that it depends. Some brands have quite good channel balance and some don't. But In general I think it's a bit better on IEMs. (that's a non-scientific conclusion on an incomplete analysis ... kinda worthless maybe... )

lol, it'll do for now!

 

[Tovarich007]

About the "technical performance"? As if there is any objective way to define what they are actually talking about.

Headfi and Headphone measure the phones they test, too, even if they don't publish complete set of measurments.
My questions and reserves are on the presentation of the Harman curve as an objective measure of intrinsec quality, which is untrue : it's a measure of statistic preference. In his paper published above in this thread, Sean Olive himself, who is one of the promoter of the Harman curve, doesn't rule out this protocol could present some cultural and generational biases.

I'm not the only one who questions the universality of the Harman curve as a supposed benchmark for tonal quality of headphones. Many testers, sound professionals and music lovers have the same questions. As a sum up ( a liitle too general as everysum up) , I would say Harman curve is quite OK for people who listen primalerly to rock/pop/hip hop and "artificially" recorded music (no prejudice or dismissing towards these musical genres, I like them and I was even involved in an mateur rock band in my teenage), but for people who listen mainly to classical or acoustical musics (which is my case now), I'm not sure Harman curve is the right and only way to follow.

Maybe the effect of a bias between Old Europe one side and America and young people in general on the other side ?
We listen with our brain, our culture, our inherated tastes and preferences, not thru unquestionnable tonality curves. This is an objective and scientific fact too.

As for the other objective and unquestionnable measurements, the Truthear is definitely superb for low distorsion and average but fine enough for sensibility.
It's without a doubt a good cheap IEM, but not so universal nor so neutral. Amir has gone a little too far in his enthusiam for this model.

What else can I say ?

 

[someguyontheinternet]

To quote myself:

It seems that there is some confusion about what the Harman target represents.

It is not necessarily the best curve for any given individual. However the chance of having a personal preference close to the Harman target is very high. There will be naturally occurring deviations based on the individual HRTF, but they are likely not very significant. Of course this does not deny that such cases can exist. It is simply a matter of probability which is normal when using statistic evaluation.

[paragraph omitted for lack of relevance]

The reason why the Harman target should be used as an evaluation baseline for headphones is that the likelihood of any given individual having a preference close to the target is statistically higher than having a preference far away from the target.
If a headphone is close to the Harman target and has low distortion, it is capable of conforming to most individual preferences.

I only mentioned HRTF as an individual factor, but there may be more relevant individual factors.

 

[Garrincha]

Also worth considering: if you use both dynamic and BA driver IEMs then you'll know that they have their own qualities which are not shown in a FR graph. It would be interesting to see a BA and a dynamic compared, eq'd to supposedly be the same, and people asked to blindly identify which is which. Has bass made by a BA ever sounded exactly like bass from a loudspeaker or dynamic IEM? And do dynamic IEMs ever achieve that incredible sense of precision and clarity of something like acoustic guitar heard on BA IEMs?

If you go to the site https://www.hypethesonics.com/iemdbc/, choose an IEM and click on "J" below the graph, it shows the impulse response measurements. They seem to be more or less the same for all IEMs, independent of driver type or configuration. I think different "speed" and "thump" is just a myth.