TRUTHEAR x Crinacle Zero IEM Review

[SalutaryGraveness]

Best to look at AutoEQ's rankings (scroll down for IEMs) for this, as they use Sean Olive's predicted preference rating, which is not only a metric that signifies adherence to the Harman target, but actually has scientifically demonstrated correlation (91%) with actual preference ratings given to frequency responses by listeners in blind tests (what is it with people using metrics that don't have demonstrated correlation with audibility/preference?). Unlike the above link, it includes Oratory's measurements which use the same coupler as Harman used when developing their IEM target, and so will result in a more accurate estimation of the preference rating (and so adherence to the target) then Crinacle's, who uses a knock-off coupler.

Interesting to note the breakdown of the variables as calculated by AutoEQ contributing to the Truthear Zero's predicted preference rating of a very good, but not excellent 81%, in particular the slope of the logarithimc regression fit of the error (i.e. overall spectral tilt) of 0.31, which indicates a brightish tilt (0 being neutral, <0 warmer, >0 brighter), which chimes (ouch!) with many people finding them somewhat 'shouty'.

Oh that's more interesting. I will have to take a look
. Has anybody applied that model to Amir's measurements

 

[GaryH]

Oh that's more interesting. I will have to take a look
. Has anybody applied that model to Amir's measurements

@Maiky76 calculates the overall predicted preference rating before and after applying his EQ profiles (the Truthear Zero getting the same 81% for the former as AutoEQ calculated based on Crinacle's measurements). Maiky maybe you could also display the individual algorithm parameter values as AutoEQ does if possible? Especially the slope value, as that's fairly intuitive and gives a good indication of the overall spectral tilt of the headphone/IEM (neutral/bright/warm etc), although I do see you display the slope of the regression fit to the error on one of your graphs which is very helpful visually, and for the Truthear this clearly shows an upwards tilt with increasing frequency, demonstrating it's a bit of a bright/shouty IEM overall, again as many are hearing (less likely for those with age- and/or noise-induced hearing loss).

 

[pkane]

I do indeed. Keywords: innumerable, unpredictable. Anyway, unless you got someone else to read and enter in the EQ profiles, you're not blinding yourself to the relative frequency response between the profiles, which is what actually would matter when comparing EQs.

Hilarious. Tell me again how it was all a cognitive bias.

Unlike you, I know how to use mitigation strategies to avoid major biases, having done at least a few hundred blind tests and having studied audibility of various distortions and frequency response errors for years. I don’t need a blind test to detect an obvious difference, and in this case, there was.

I was exactly right, there was a problem with high frequencies, but it was caused by Neutron player automatically making the first and the last filter into a shelf. I caught the first one, but missed changing the last one.

 

[Jimbob54]

View attachment 241765

Ah yes- thanks. Think I must have glossed over that thinking it only relevant to their own IEM units but obviously applies to any.

 

[AdamG]

Enough with this EQ bickering. Pages and pages of it. Let individuals try what they want. This is the purely subjective experience that we all will walk when adjusting EQ to taste and many times compensating for individual hearing capabilities/loss. Continuing to bicker this point over and over is derailing this Review thread. As mentioned over a dozen times we have other dedicated threads to discuss this topic.

Please and thank you for your support and understanding.

 

[whazzup]

Have you tried it? Do these IEMs sound better to you without EQ than with Chromatischism's EQ?

P. S. Is there a quick way to toggle everything - all the changes - on and off in Equalizer APO?

If you're using the latest version of Peace, the dev has kindly added the option to toggle on/off each channel's EQ by right-clicking on the channel name (shown in the image below).
You can toggle multiple channels at once as well, by first holding down the left mouse button and dragging over the channel names to select them, or by holding down Shift (select adjacent channels) or Ctrl (select non-adjacent channels).

 

[SalutaryGraveness]

@Maiky76 calculates the overall predicted preference rating before and after applying his EQ profiles (the Truthear Zero getting the same 81% for the former as AutoEQ calculated based on Crinacle's measurements). Maiky maybe you could also display the individual algorithm parameter values as AutoEQ does if possible? Especially the slope value, as that's fairly intuitive and gives a good indication of the overall spectral tilt of the headphone/IEM (neutral/bright/warm etc), although I do see you display the slope of the regression fit to the error on one of your graphs which is very helpful visually, and for the Truthear this clearly shows an upwards tilt with increasing frequency, demonstrating it's a bit of a bright/shouty IEM overall, again as many are hearing (less likely for those with age- and/or noise-induced hearing loss).

This forum is in another level. Yeah the tilt seems like a nice metric for people who prefer brighter or warmer deviations from Harman as a reference.
I wonder why @amirm seems uninterested with presenting these metrics too for headphones and iems.

 

[staticV3]

I wonder why amirm seems uninterested with presenting these metrics too for headphones and iems.

because they're not included in the Audio Precision software suite

 

[Chromatischism]

If you're using the latest version of Peace, the dev has kindly added the option to toggle on/off each channel's EQ by right-clicking on the channel name (shown in the image below).
You can toggle multiple channels at once as well, by first holding down the left mouse button and dragging over the channel names to select them, or by holding down Shift (select adjacent channels) or Ctrl (select non-adjacent channels).

With PEACE, there is a large, ON/OFF toggle in the top right corner of the window.

 

[whazzup]

With PEACE, there is a large, ON/OFF toggle in the top right corner of the window.

Yes, for stereo devices that's a perfectly fine option.
Just sharing the recently added functions of per channel EQ disabling, needed when I don't want to disable EQ for my sub channel for example.

 

[Chromatischism]

Yes, for stereo devices that's a perfectly fine option.
Just sharing the recently added functions of per channel EQ disabling, needed when I don't want to disable EQ for my sub channel for example.

Interesting...you're using a sub with your IEM's?

 

[Rottmannash]

Interesting...you're using a sub with your IEM's?

...if u wanna feel the bass then u gotta get subs

 

[whazzup]

Interesting...you're using a sub with your IEM's?

Nope, I use a multi channel dac that sends 1 channel to my sub and 2 channels to my amp that in turn drives my headphones/iems and speakers.
I use Peace/APO to rout the stereo channels into the sub for stereo speaker listening. My comment about the per channel disabling option in Peace was something I asked the dev if he could add, because it helps with quick A/B testing when testing eq settings (without affecting my eq-ed sub). And he kindly obliged.

That said, yes, I have tried it with headphones plus the sub, feels good, when I know I'm not bothering anyone.

 

[nstzya]

So this correlates in an odd way to what I have seen this behavior with US dongle on iPhone 14pro and an iPhone 8 that I use (Same dongle on both device) . Some odd reason the volume has to be cranked up to almost 90% on the iPhone 8 compared to about 40% on the iPhone 14 Pro. There's absolutely no reason for the voltage being put through the two lightning connector ports to be significantly different. Would love to see someone else correlate that with two iPhones on ASR.

Interesting. There was a power management issue in the 7's (and 8's?) with regard to battery duration, etc. Related to this? I'm just relieved to know it's not hearing loss!

 

[redhermes]

For anyone interested, The Truthear Zeros are %15 percent off at Amazon (US).

 

[MCH]

Hi guys, after the Chu fiasco (well, was a small 20eur fiasco, and not really a fiasco but meh...) I was hesitant to follow the hype again but I need to say that I like this one much better.

The one thing I notice is that the surface of the included tips is not very smooth to my ears and because of this it is not being very comfortable. Do you think it is going to get smoother with usage? If not, what other tips do you recommend?
Thanks a lot.

 

[Chromatischism]

The one thing I notice is that the surface of the included tips is not very smooth to my ears and because of this it is not being very comfortable. Do you think it is going to get smoother with usage?

Which ones? A bunch are provided. The silicone is very smooth.

 

[MCH]

Which ones? A bunch are provided. The silicone is very smooth.

I tested the two white variants, both medium size. My ears don't feel them very smooth. I mean, it is not sand paper but compared to all the others I use, I do notice a difference to the point of discomfort, specially when plugging in and out...

 

[Honken]

So out of curiosity I ordered a pair as well, and so far I quite like them. I was a bit worried about comfort, but I find that the medium, narrow bore tips to fit my ears well. @MarcosCh, if I were to describe the surface of the silicone tips I'd say that they feel a bit like velvet, quite different from my AirPods Pro but not in an unpleasant way.

Another worry was the sound profile, and I found that to be good out of the box well. In my opinion though, the EQ by @Maiky76 improves things by extending the low end and making voices a bit less nasal sounding - I ignored the last two filters though as I can't hear any difference using them. But with that EQ applied I still find the sound a bit prone to sibilance, so I will try to put in a shelf filter or something going forward. I don't really mind the level of bass myself, even stock, it's just that some music simply has too much of it in the recording. Using Maikys EQ I find the overall sound levels to be similiar to my main stereo rig, and songs with bloated bass come across as bloated using the IEMs as they do on my stereo.

I do have a gripe, but I guess it isn't really the fault of these IEMs themselves, but rather that it is just how passive IEMs are. It has to do with the sensation of using them, the soundstage with music is literally between your ears and since they dig so far down low it feels like your head is pressurized when you listen to bass heavy music (try listening to some of the songs from this thread for example). My AirPods Pro (both v1 and v2) seem to work differently with bass heavy music, and don't give the same pressurising sensation. I don't know if this is because they don't dig as far down as the TCZ or if it has to do with the ANC, but I feel that the soundstage phenomenon is more or less the same between the two.

I don't mind though - I don't listen to music with synthetic bass that often, and the soundstage isn't really a problem for my use case which is gaming. A lot of games use HRTF so the soundstage doesn't feel closed in at all, in fact, playing games using these worked very well, the deep bass and crisp highs made me hear some things I haven't heard before in the games that I tried. For example, simply walking down a street in Cyberpunk 2077 was very immersive experience with a lot of ambient noise that simply sounded very real to me. I think that the TCZ are going to replace my HD600 cans that I've been using for this up until now.

Lastly, the packaging ("artwork" aside) and the IEMs themselves feel rather premium. If you had shown me the packaging without the prize I would have guessed the price to be a lot higher. Let's just hope that they don't break.

Definitely happy with the ~40 bucks I spent on these, just gotta buy a longer cable as I am not using these on the go.

 

[FrantzM]

So out of curiosity I ordered a pair as well, and so far I quite like them. I was a bit worried about comfort, but I find that the medium, narrow bore tips to fit my ears well. @MarcosCh, if I were to describe the surface of the silicone tips I'd say that they feel a bit like velvet, quite different from my AirPods Pro but not in an unpleasant way.

Another worry was the sound profile, and I found that to be good out of the box well. In my opinion though, the EQ by @Maiky76 improves things by extending the low end and making voices a bit less nasal sounding - I ignored the last two filters though as I can't hear any difference using them. But with that EQ applied I still find the sound a bit prone to sibilance, so I will try to put in a shelf filter or something going forward. I don't really mind the level of bass myself, even stock, it's just that some music simply has too much of it in the recording. Using Maikys EQ I find the overall sound levels to be similiar to my main stereo rig, and songs with bloated bass come across as bloated using the IEMs as they do on my stereo.

I do have a gripe, but I guess it isn't really the fault of these IEMs themselves, but rather that it is just how passive IEMs are. It has to do with the sensation of using them, the soundstage with music is literally between your ears and since they dig so far down low it feels like your head is pressurized when you listen to bass heavy music (try listening to some of the songs from this thread for example). My AirPods Pro (both v1 and v2) seem to work differently with bass heavy music, and don't give the same pressurising sensation. I don't know if this is because they don't dig as far down as the TCZ or if it has to do with the ANC, but I feel that the soundstage phenomenon is more or less the same between the two.

I don't mind though - I don't listen to music with synthetic bass that often, and the soundstage isn't really a problem for my use case which is gaming. A lot of games use HRTF so the soundstage doesn't feel closed in at all, in fact, playing games using these worked very well, the deep bass and crisp highs made me hear some things I haven't heard before in the games that I tried. For example, simply walking down a street in Cyberpunk 2077 was very immersive experience with a lot of ambient noise that simply sounded very real to me. I think that the TCZ are going to replace my HD600 cans that I've been using for this up until now.

Lastly, the packaging ("artwork" aside) and the IEMs themselves feel rather premium. If you had shown me the packaging without the prize I would have guessed the price to be a lot higher. Let's just hope that they don't break.

Definitely happy with the ~40 bucks I spent on these, just gotta buy a longer cable as I am not using these on the go.

Hi

I am satisfied with this IEM and am seemingly on a quest to gift it to as many people as possible; so far: Son, nephews, cousins, employees, business associates. At the price those Chinese companies are churning them out, they represent a gateway to the wonderful world of Hi-Fi.
I found from recommendations in this thread some tips that work well and are comfortable. I still don't like IEM though. I find them invasive, yet convenient. Life is about balance and I am trying to balance convenience with health... The potential of health issue with IEM in my opinion shouldn't be sidestepped: The insertion/cleanliness issue.. not a fan of it. and in the case of the TCZ specifically the SPL these things can produce cleanly. I wanted to try some equalizations profiles... EQ makes them better but not enough for me to bother, so ..but I was trying them with THX 789 Headphones amp on low gain setting .........

They can play loud.... I mean LOUD and clean. Some people will indulge since they don't seem to distort or whatever distortion the produce, is not perceived due to masking; there are consequences when listening to elevated SPL.

This is a new era in Hi-Fi. Or perhaps it's been there for a while and is just being revealed.

I have found the perfect ear/headphone for travel. noise cancellation is good enough. I will ditch the Sony ANC WMX-1000 v3 for travel, I may gift it to someone.

Peace