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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

RandomEar

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Feb 14, 2022
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Yeah, I suppose I need to learn how to read FR graphs better. I didn't really think ~2db would make for an audibly objectionable difference but I'm still looking for an IEM I find pleasant to listen to without EQ.

Anyone know of something broadly similar but with maybe about 3-4db less energy centered roughly around 5Khz for less than $100? Some of the Moondrop options look promising.
7 Hz Salnotes Zero or Tin Hifi T3 Plus, I would say. They are both farther from the target below 500 Hz, though.
 

GaryH

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Doesn't sound like it:
I'm really enjoying the fact that we can discuss the pros and cons of both the IEM and the curve
This is the first time that I've ever actually heard it

For a change, show us how the Standard Model and Quantum Mechanics can play nice together. Spoiler: Nobel pending.
If a new user mistakingly conflates the Truthear's response with the Harman target, I think it's right to correct this. Otherwise their view of Harman's science could be distorted. A bit like correcting someone who conflates the Standard Model with (presumably) General Relativity, the former of course already incorporating quantum mechanics, which is the non-relativistic limit of quantum field theory, of which the Standard Model is a paradigm. Now where's my Nobel? ;)
 

GaryH

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2dB is pretty small. I'm thinking my own preference curve for orchestral and choral music at the 3khz peak would need to be adjusted rather more than that.

ETA: we all very well understand that this is an example of "very near adherence" and not "precise adherence" for these IEMs to the Harmon Curve. But I doubt very much a closer adherence to the curve would substantially alter my impression.
There's only one way to find out...I think you might be surprised at the difference a small amplitude but low-Q deviation can make, especially right around where our ears are most sensitive as determined by the equal loudness contours.
 

GaryH

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As forks go though it's pretty darn good given it's accessible price, it's not totally bang on perfect, but it's so so close! It's the best fork that a lot of us can all have so far, and to eek out the last percentiles we've got Maiky's EQ to really shape that into a perfect fork re IEM frequency Harman response.
Oh sure it's good. But the thing is, if anyone wants to know what (an almost-match of) the Harman in-ear target likely sounds like, they can just use any old cheapo IEMs Oratory has measured with his EQ applied. This is subjectively evidenced by such EQed IEMs comparing very similarly to my AKG N400, which are as far as I'm aware the highest-scoring IEMs (indicative of Harman target adherence) thus far with a predicted preference rating as calculated by Sean Olive of 90 (compare that with the Truthear's 81, not a tiny difference).
 
Last edited:
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carlcamper

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Cavite, Philippines
This or the Moondrop Aria Snow, hmm.
I have both, and compared them using a modified CCA BTX with an AptX Adaptive USB Dongle. For more bass emphasized tracks, I prefer the Aria Snow, as the Truthear Crinacle's bass can overwhelm. Otherwise, the Truthears are great! As seen below, they graph pretty similarly after 300hz
1664243330388.png
 

Chromatischism

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as the Truthear Crinacle's bass can overwhelm.
It just looks like they have a midbass emphasis which causes that range to stand out. Flattening and extending it should help. It looks like I'll get to hear these this weekend to find out for myself. Coming from a dual sub setup with lots of power and IEM's that measure greater in the bass, I expect to not find these overwhelming in the bass, but possibly in the treble. We will see if my experience matches that.
 

carlcamper

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It just looks like they have a midbass emphasis which causes that range to stand out. Flattening and extending it should help. It looks like I'll get to hear these this weekend to find out for myself. Coming from a dual sub setup with lots of power and IEM's that measure greater in the bass, I expect to not find these overwhelming in the bass, but possibly in the treble. We will see if my experience matches that.
It depends on the track, actually. In genres like lofi and Afrobeats where bass is already emphasized, for example. Otherwise, not overwhelming at all!
 

cbracer

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Just received my pair and tried them out. Fit great. Clarity great. Tone great. Bass.... well just a tad too much. Others feel that way too. But for $50 there is not much to complain about. These will be my new airplane earphones which I take for travel. It's sometimes nice to hear different speakers when they are still good but different because I enjoy small changes in the music I listen to. Kind of as one would go to a live show the sound is not what was released on the cd But when the bass is too great, it just keeps reminding you when you listen to your songs. What's out there which is just as good but with less bass?
 
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carlcamper

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Just received my pair and tried them out. Fit great. Clarity great. Tone great. Bass.... well just a tad too much. Others feel that way too. But for $50 there is not much to complain about. These will be my new airplane earphones which I take for travel. It's sometimes nice to hear different speakers when they are still good but different because I enjoy small changes in the music I listen to. Kind of as one would go to a live show the sound is not what was released on the cd But when the bass is too great, it just keeps reminding you when you listen to your songs. What's out there which is just as good but with less bass?
From my collection , I would recommend the Salnotes Zero or the Moondrop Aria Snow / Chu
 

Stoutblock

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I’m not a big IEM user but my last pair gave up on me recently after 15 years of occasional use so I picked up a pair of these. At $50 not a big risk for me. I must say I like everything about them. The sound is great, best IEMs I have heard but its not like I’ve heard a lot of them. The cables are very solid with a reinforced section to hook them to your ear effectively. The finish is a little too much glitter for me but nothing that a well trimmed piece of tape won’t fix. Almost makes me want to mow the lawn more often :)
 
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Chromatischism

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Just received my pair and tried them out. Fit great. Clarity great. Tone great. Bass.... well just a tad too much. Others feel that way too. But for $50 there is not much to complain about. These will be my new airplane earphones which I take for travel. It's sometimes nice to hear different speakers when they are still good but different because I enjoy small changes in the music I listen to. Kind of as one would go to a live show the sound is not what was released on the cd But when the bass is too great, it just keeps reminding you when you listen to your songs. What's out there which is just as good but with less bass?
Adjust the bass with EQ and you won't have to spend any money. :)
 

Rja4000

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Received mines on Friday.
My first IEM attempt.

I have a hard time keeping them in ear, especially while walking.
Cable makes knots too easily also.

First reaction is:
Good bass, overall good balance, medium a bit too much (I'd say around 1kHz). It looks like a narrow frequency range issue. Might miss some upper trebble (but I'm not getting younger).

Looking at the proposed EQ after that, it makes perfect sense to cut 1 or 2dBs around 1-2kHz.
I'll give it a try.

I've been listening directly with my Samsung Note 9, until now. And it gets out of steam if you push too high. Level is (just) enough for normal use, though, so not an issue.
I hear some hiss in the background.
Will try with Apple or Samsung dongle.

50€ well spent, anyway.


EDIT: Just tried with Apple USB-C dongle (european version) and Samsung USB-C dongle.
None of them are getting close to the level I'm getting with the direct 3.5mm output of my Samsung Note 9.
The Apple is the worst : level is really too low to be usable for me.
I plugged them in a RME ADI-2 Pro fs I'm using for headphones listening.

Woaw. Now we are speaking !

Nice, really.
Not perfect, but damn' good.
 

kencreten

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My subjective experience: based on bore size of the tips. The larger bore seemed to shift the frequency response to the right (more highs and less lows) while the narrow bore ones seemed to shift the curve to the left. i.e., increase in bass frequencies decreased highs. Would need corroboration with measurements. Cheers!
Thanks for the pointer.
 

Robbo99999

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Oh sure it's good. But the thing is, if anyone wants to know what (an almost-match of) the Harman in-ear target likely sounds like, they can just use any old cheapo IEMs Oratory has measured with his EQ applied. This is subjectively evidenced by such EQed IEMs comparing very similarly to my AKG N400, which are as far as I'm aware the highest-scoring IEMs (indicative of Harman target adherence) thus far with a predicted preference rating as calculated by Sean Olive of 90 (compare that with the Truthear's 81, not a tiny difference).
As a tuning fork though I'd be inclined to recommend an IEM that was already very close to target without EQ - and then you've got EQ on top of that to bring it totally onto target. The good thing about this IEM is that it's been measured here on ASR for other things apart from frequency response, so we know the distortion is low & good too. We also suspect it has very good channel matching and low unit to unit variation as evidenced by Crinacle's measurement of 10 samples (albeit they were sent by the company). That and sensible low price of these IEM's does make them a good "tuning fork" for folks here on ASR.
 

sifi36

Active Member
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Aug 7, 2021
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Got mine yesterday, has anyone else found they need to use different tips for each ear? I’m getting the best seal with medium in the right ear and small in the left.

They appear to be easily driven by a European Apple dongle, though I fired up the Qudelix 5k as vocals seemed a bit forward. Like some others have mentioned in the thread I also hear the “shoutiness”. Using the EQ @Maiky76 kindly put together, I noticed a smoother sound, that sounds pretty right to me.

They’re comfortable and well made for the price. Stock tuning smokes the Shure SE535 and the Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10 that I’ve used in the past. With a bit of EQ, inaudible distortion, good comfort and build, I’m not sure what another IEM could really do better to be quite honest. Scary good what can be manufactured, shipped around the world and sold to the end user for £50 (I’m expecting this to rise soon as a result of the Truss/Kwarteng suicide pact but what can you do?)
 

Jimbob54

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Got mine yesterday, has anyone else found they need to use different tips for each ear? I’m getting the best seal with medium in the right ear and small in the left.
Yup- I use spinfit 155 but found M in my left, L in right. Depends on the headphone and the tip type for me as to whether the same size stays well in both ears. Im happy with L size in both ears with Moondrop B2 as the shell shape wedges in better whereas the Truthearisnt as well formed for my ear shape.
 

F1308

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Well, well, well, what a discovery.

They were schedule, my ZEROs, for mid October but I have received them half an hour ago.

First things first: as a music composer I always said composing on headphones meant doubling the work, since when playing back over monitor loudspeakers so many conflicting issues appeared that headphones were finally placed out of the loop when creation was in progress and only allowed for playback.

NOT ANYMORE, thanks to ZERO from Truthear.



I have tested a huge Cathedral Grand Pipe Organ on my astounding Roland Fantom 8 synthesizer by setting the master tuning out from the standard 440.0 Hz (for A4, MIDI note #69) onto 430.6 Hz so as to place 8.0 Hz on the lowest available note, MIDI 0, C-1 by name, and all is beautifully heard.

I simply played A4 (430.6 Hz) with a velocity of 97 and lasting 187 ticks (0 to 479 available) at tempo 60.
Then copied that recording several times and modified each new pasted note with the editor, so as to have a perfectly equal down scale from A4 to A-1 and then from C4 to C-1.

I cannot understand the reason all books I have thoroughly studied with utmost interest for many years dealing with music and human hearing stay that 15 Hz is the lowest note a human being can hear as a continuous, non beating tone.

???? ???? ???? ????

MIDI 0, C-1 at 8 Hz is here, in my ears, clearly heard and perceived as a continuous sound for 187 ticks and is majestic.

Great work from Truthear, congratulations.

And many thanks indeed to AudioScienceReview for the great work done and in progress.
 

hampestampe

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Jan 12, 2021
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Well, well, well, what a discovery.

They were schedule, my ZEROs, for mid October but I have received them half an hour ago.

First things first: as a music composer I always said composing on headphones meant doubling the work, since when playing back over monitor loudspeakers so many conflicting issues appeared that headphones were finally placed out of the loop when creation was in progress and only allowed for playback.

NOT ANYMORE, thanks to ZERO from Truthear.



I have tested a huge Cathedral Grand Pipe Organ on my astounding Roland Fantom 8 synthesizer by setting the master tuning out from the standard 440.0 Hz (for A4, MIDI note #69) onto 430.6 Hz so as to place 8.0 Hz on the lowest available note, MIDI 0, C-1 by name, and all is beautifully heard.

I simply played A4 (430.6 Hz) with a velocity of 97 and lasting 187 ticks (0 to 479 available) at tempo 60.
Then copied that recording several times and modified each new pasted note with the editor, so as to have a perfectly equal down scale from A4 to A-1 and then from C4 to C-1.

I cannot understand the reason all books I have thoroughly studied with utmost interest for many years dealing with music and human hearing stay that 15 Hz is the lowest note a human being can hear as a continuous, non beating tone.

???? ???? ???? ????

MIDI 0, C-1 at 8 Hz is here, in my ears, clearly heard and perceived as a continuous sound for 187 ticks and is majestic.

Great work from Truthear, congratulations.

And many thanks indeed to AudioScienceReview for the great work done and in progress.
Same situation here, they just arived. I have not opend the box though, but now it's time fore to compare them to some other gear I've got.
 

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