Truthear x Crinacle Zero:RED IEM Review

[Jimbob54]

It will have to be named Zero: Green

One rather suspects it will be the B3D ;-)

 

[Robbo99999]

It will have to be named Zero: Green

RGB, only one way to go! But it does run out, he'll have to yellow and cyan after that! Ever decreasing circles of perfection, lol!

 

[ngs428]

In the US I see they are for sale at Amazon.com via shenzhenaudio. Or directly from shenzhenaudio. Are these the places everyone is buying them at? I see delivery is out a couple weeks (shipping from China to the US).

 

[khensu]

I ordered directly from Shenzhen. In fact, mine just arrived and I’m just starting to listen (without any EQ). I’ll need to expose them to various genres and what not, but my first impression is… Damn! The OG Zero is incredible, but there are times when I feel they can be a little shouty and/or a little bass-shy. I truly mean a little. If I do apply EQ, it is very minor. The second I put the Reds in, it’s like @crinacle himself appeared, nodded, said “you’re welcome“ and disappeared.

Time will tell, as it always does, but I think my IEM search is over. These are amazing. The 10 ohm in-line resistor is nice, but I don’t see it being necessary. These are so well balanced. It’s gonna be hard to get them outta my ears!

 

[LTig]

In the US I see they are for sale at Amazon.com via shenzhenaudio. Or directly from shenzhenaudio. Are these the places everyone is buying them at? I see delivery is out a couple weeks (shipping from China to the US).

I bought them from amazon.de (shop of shenzenaudio.de).

 

[Dazerdoreal]

I bought them from amazon.de (shop of shenzenaudio.de).

Have you ever had any trouble with customs doing so?

 

[julian_hughes]

In the US I see they are for sale at Amazon.com via shenzhenaudio. Or directly from shenzhenaudio. Are these the places everyone is buying them at? I see delivery is out a couple weeks (shipping from China to the US).

I'm in UK, not USA, and have bought from shenzhenaudio both via amazon UK and direct from their own website. Several times each. They are really reliable and the products from China have all arrived sooner than the estimated time. If you have worries about needing returns then use Amazon as there is some extra facility there with refund and returns, but for the lower cost items I would not worry at all. Btw I am not endorsing the Truthear X Crinacle Red - I haven't heard it. But I bought my original Truthear X Crinacle from these guys, also other IEMs and amps and more and have no complaints. They are an extremely efficient vendor whose portal is easy to use.

 

[Matias]

Got mine today. First impression is of quite stronger bass than what I was expecting (narrow bore, without adapter), perfect mids and gain, and somewhat dark sounding treble in the air region. But overall I already like it a lot.

Today was a long and tiring day, so let's see if my initial impression changes on the next few days.

 

[lazarian]

The Dusk is significantly closer to Harman:

View attachment 291367

In fact, it has the second highest (behind the AKG N400) Harman predicted preference rating (a measure of adherence to the target) of 87% (as measured on Oratory's GRAS rather than Crinacle's clone coupler) of all IEMs on AutoEQ's ranking table, so it's no surprise they preferred it. It has broadband (higher audibility) more bass, more mid-treble, and far better treble extension than the Red, all of which matters.

I realise the drama involved in mentioning it around here... But crinacles 5128 measurements definitely show them being very close, bass included. The major difference in those measurement sets is in over 15khz, and I hear basically nothing up there. So likely take away is if you're under 35 sure the dusk might sound sparklier.
Of course then we go into how bad and just about pointless it is judging high frequency performance straight from FR measurements, which oratory will be the first to mention I'm sure.

I can only go back to my own experience, both sounded super similar. The 5x cost difference didn't make sense for me.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

My Reds arrived today. Listening with the supplied adapter, they sound very nice except for the honky upper midrange, which can probably be blamed on the fashionable 3kHz peak, but it doesn't seem to be as prominent and objectionable as what I get from my "blue" ones. (Count me among those who have zero appreciation for that hump.) The bass is especially nice on the Reds. The gummy closed cell foam earpiece attachments are a game changer for fit and comfort. (Closed-cell foam is my preferred attachment with my Etymotics.) The Reds are more comfortable than the Etymotics because they're don't fit as tightly, the Etymotics getting much better isolation. A trade off, then.

 

[Rja4000]

dark sounding treble in the air region

I have the same feeling.
Missing "air" somehow.
The only thing I'd like a bit changed.

 

[Rja4000]

there's zero chance that distortion differences would differentiate these two IEM's when it comes to listening.

Well, I'm not sure of that. (Nor am I sure of the opposite.)
I'm listening loud. Not 114dB loud, but loud, still.

 

[MacClintock]

The Dusk is significantly closer to Harman:

View attachment 291367

In fact, it has the second highest (behind the AKG N400) Harman predicted preference rating (a measure of adherence to the target) of 87% (as measured on Oratory's GRAS rather than Crinacle's clone coupler) of all IEMs on AutoEQ's ranking table, so it's no surprise they preferred it. It has broadband (higher audibility) more bass, more mid-treble, and far better treble extension than the Red, all of which matters.

Remember, the score calculation is done only from 40Hz to 10 kHz. With the 10 Ohm adapter the Red is closer to Harman bass. And the fact that the ear gain region from 2kHz to about 6kHz is below Harman (and a bit below the Dusk), is deliberate and a choice very welcomed by many (including me), avoiding shoutiness. The only real weakness worth mentioning is the treble (a bit unsmooth and dark), but as already mentioned by others as well, for anybody above 50 years that should not be very relevant.

 

[GaryH]

I realise the drama involved in mentioning it around here... But crinacles 5128 measurements definitely show them being very close, bass included. The major difference in those measurement sets is in over 15khz, and I hear basically nothing up there. So likely take away is if you're under 35 sure the dusk might sound sparklier.
Of course then we go into how bad and just about pointless it is judging high frequency performance straight from FR measurements, which oratory will be the first to mention I'm sure.

I can only go back to my own experience, both sounded super similar. The 5x cost difference didn't make sense for me.

Remember, the score calculation is done only from 40Hz to 10 kHz.

You're misremembering. The range of frequencies the IEM algorithm uses is 20 Hz to 10 kHz, with only one of three variables (limited weighting) restricted to > 40 Hz.

With the 10 Ohm adapter the Red is closer to Harman bass.

I (and the reviewer who's impressions we're referring to, and as I understand @lazarian ) are talking about the Red sans adapter.

And the fact that the ear gain region from 2kHz to about 6kHz is below Harman (and a bit below the Dusk), is deliberate and a choice very welcomed by many (including me), avoiding shoutiness.

Whether it's a deliberate choice is irrelevant. Grados are deliberately tuned with huge treble peaks and many people claim to love them in uncontrolled sighted listening.

View attachment 291467

Crinacle's clone coupler measurements cannot be used to accurately judge Harman target adherence; they trend towards underestimating the ear gain, as evidenced by comparing his Dusk measurements to Oratory's professional measurements linked above using the exact same (genuine GRAS RA0045) coupler Harman used when devising their target (yes there are other variables such as unit variation, but the trend is there). This error in the clone coupler is likely down to acoustic impedance differences from the GRAS RA0045, which means there wouldn't be an exactly constant error transfer function between them for all IEMs, so the former cannot even be used to accurately judge differences between IEMs.

View attachment 291470

Again, we're talking about the response without the adapter, and you need to normalize at 500 Hz as per the industry standard. Also, Crinacle's graph tool has ridiculously squashed vertical image scaling relative to horizontal that makes every IEM look closer to (whatever his default du jour) target, and to each other. Even with all this, this graph you posted clearly shows significant broadband (medium to low-Q) differences between them. I talk about why this is important for audibility here. As per that, you can see below (with zoomed vertical scaling from the default for clarity to counteract the squashed vertical image scaling), the Dusk has a very broadband deviation from the Red all across the entire sub-bass to lower midrange region, peaking up to 4 dB in the upper bass ('thump'), as well as a fairly broadband deviation over a 3000 Hz range in the mid-treble where our hearing is more sensitive, peaking at a large 6 dB difference, and then of course the huge difference in the upper treble (which the B&K 5128 purportedly is a more accurate representation of, note I'm talking about a general level difference up here, not specific peaks which may differ among individuals). All of this will result in significant audible differences, the latter applicable in particular to younger listeners, who I believe the reviewer in question is.

 

[IAtaman]

You're misremembering. The range of frequencies the IEM algorithm uses is 20 Hz to 10 kHz, with only one of three variables (limited weighting) restricted to > 40 Hz.

I (and the reviewer who's impressions we're referring to, and as I understand @lazarian ) are talking about the Red sans adapter.

Whether it's a deliberate choice is irrelevant. Grados are deliberately tuned with huge treble peaks and many people claim to love them in uncontrolled sighted listening.

Crinacle's clone coupler measurements cannot be used to accurately judge Harman target adherence; they trend towards underestimating the ear gain, as evidenced by comparing his Dusk measurements to Oratory's professional measurements linked above using the exact same (genuine GRAS RA0045) coupler Harman used when devising their target (yes there are other variables such as unit variation, but the trend is there). This error in the clone coupler is likely down to acoustic impedance differences from the GRAS RA0045, which means there wouldn't be a constant error transfer function between them for all IEMs, so the former cannot even be used to accurately judge differences between IEMs.

Again, we're talking about the response without the adapter, and you need to normalize at 500 Hz as per the industry standard. Also, Crinacle's graph tool has ridiculously squashed vertical image scaling relative to horizontal that makes every IEM look closer to (whatever his default du jour) target, and to each other. Even with all this, this graph you posted clearly shows significant broadband (medium to low-Q) differences between them. I talk about why this is important for audibility here. As per that, you can see below (with zoomed vertical scaling for clarity to counteract the squashed vertical image scaling), the Dusk has a very broadband deviation from the Red all across the entire sub-bass to lower midrange region, peaking up to 4 dB in the upper bass ('thump'), as well as a fairly broadband deviation over a 3000 Hz range in the mid-treble where our hearing is more sensitive, peaking at a large 6 dB difference, and then of course the huge difference in the upper treble (which the B&K 5128 purportedly is a more accurate representation of, note I'm talking about a general level difference up here, not specific peaks which may differ among individuals). All of this will result in significant audible differences, the latter applicable in particular to younger listeners, who I believe the reviewer in question is.

So you are strongly recommending we get 2 pairs each?

 

[lazarian]

You're misremembering. The range of frequencies the IEM algorithm uses is 20 Hz to 10 kHz, with only one of three variables (limited weighting) restricted to > 40 Hz.

I (and the reviewer who's impressions we're referring to, and as I understand @lazarian ) are talking about the Red sans adapter.

Whether it's a deliberate choice is irrelevant. Grados are deliberately tuned with huge treble peaks and many people claim to love them in uncontrolled sighted listening.

Crinacle's clone coupler measurements cannot be used to accurately judge Harman target adherence; they trend towards underestimating the ear gain, as evidenced by comparing his Dusk measurements to Oratory's professional measurements linked above using the exact same (genuine GRAS RA0045) coupler Harman used when devising their target (yes there are other variables such as unit variation, but the trend is there). This error in the clone coupler is likely down to acoustic impedance differences from the GRAS RA0045, which means there wouldn't be an exactly constant error transfer function between them for all IEMs, so the former cannot even be used to accurately judge differences between IEMs.

Again, we're talking about the response without the adapter, and you need to normalize at 500 Hz as per the industry standard. Also, Crinacle's graph tool has ridiculously squashed vertical image scaling relative to horizontal that makes every IEM look closer to (whatever his default du jour) target, and to each other. Even with all this, this graph you posted clearly shows significant broadband (medium to low-Q) differences between them. I talk about why this is important for audibility here. As per that, you can see below (with zoomed vertical scaling for clarity to counteract the squashed vertical image scaling), the Dusk has a very broadband deviation from the Red all across the entire sub-bass to lower midrange region, peaking up to 4 dB in the upper bass ('thump'), as well as a fairly broadband deviation over a 3000 Hz range in the mid-treble where our hearing is more sensitive, peaking at a large 6 dB difference, and then of course the huge difference in the upper treble (which the B&K 5128 purportedly is a more accurate representation of, note I'm talking about a general level difference up here, not specific peaks which may differ among individuals). All of this will result in significant audible differences, the latter applicable in particular to younger listeners, who I believe the reviewer in question is.
View attachment 291475

Interestingly you went all the way to sample 5 to find the least matching lol. Broadband differences of at most ~1db up to 5khz apart from the 200hz and 6khz sections I'd suggest are going to sound quite similar for many genre's.
Here's them compared on Red Sample 1, much closer than the one you picked:

This sample of Red didn't measure all that differently in the upper treble regions either. I've seen Dusk measurements with fairly pulled back upper treble, along with fairly well extended...
So now we're into discussing unit variance, and back to the discussion of just how much can we rely on measurements in general of treble on any rigs. An interesting discussion would be how different are the average Dusk units vs the average Red units. It would be nice to see less variation on the set that costs so much more, that would at least warrant some level of increased cost.
I'd assume I had a set of Red's closer to S1 or my Dusk happened to be closer to my Red..
But there's also no doubt they have similar tonality at least on some rigs, and clearly my set of ears.

 

[Robbo99999]

The beauty of buying one of these Crinacle Truthear IEM: Red or Blue, is that we have lots of measurements for them, both from Amir & Crinacle & Resolve, so plenty of information to use for EQ purposes, and because they're both low distortion IEM's with a smooth frequency response, then you can tailor them easily to your needs. I don't think it matters much that neither of them are bang on Harman 2019 IEM Target Curve with the Blue Zero really being quite close to it, (because they're easily EQ'd), but for me the Blue Zero is very good without EQ & even better once EQ'd to Harman 2019 IEM. It's probably a good thing that there are solid tonal differences between Blue Zero & Red Zero, because it allows more people to find an IEM that they can use at stock (without EQ) - some people don't like Harman 2019 IEM Target, and really both of these IEM's are really just a tonal shift on that target, so they don't contain any obvious flaws (ie no horrible dips or peaks), just tonality differences.

 

[Matias]

Got mine today. First impression is of quite stronger bass than what I was expecting (narrow bore, without adapter), perfect mids and gain, and somewhat dark sounding treble in the air region. But overall I already like it a lot.

Today was a long and tiring day, so let's see if my initial impression changes on the next few days.

Today I am comparing the Red to my Dusk, and they are very very similar in bass and mids tonality, with the Dusk being hotter in the treble. Red sounds like a rounder Dusk, easy going, and still very high resolution. Sure the plastic chassis looks and feels cheaper, and the brownish red faceplate is not as noble looking as the brushed steel, but when we factor the price difference... The Red is a Dusk killer, there, I said it.

 

[lazarian]

Today I am comparing the Red to my Dusk, and they are very very similar in bass and mids tonality, with the Dusk being hotter on the treble. Red sounds like a rounder Dusk, easy going, and still very high resolution. Sure the plastic chasis looks and feels cheaper, as the brownish red faceplate is not as noble looking as the brushed steel, when we factor the price difference... The Red is a Dusk killer, there, I said it.

At least I'm not going mad when I thought much the same lol.
Budget B2D was my main take away when I compared them.

 

[asrUser]

Anyone here willing to share a Harman 2019 IEM EQ for Zero:Red without impedance adapter? AutoEQ only provides a diffusion(?) target for them and I don't know how to further eq it to Harman. https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/Au...jaer 4620 in-ear/Truthear x Crinacle Zero RED