Truthear x Crinacle Zero:RED IEM Review

[Human Bass]

I have found the reds to sound great but they are too large for my ears. To get a good seal actually hurts due to the diameter, even with the smallest tips.
The chu2 fit me much better, and 7Hz timeless fit better as well.

Funny, the timeless was an impossible fit to me while the red fits super great, especially with the tri clarion tips

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I quickly gave up on the stock tips for the same reason. I'm enjoying my Reds with Sonicfoam tips at the moment, but foam tips aren't to everybody's liking.

The tips I use with them are the Devinus Velvets. Expensive, but they seal well, have a vent, and are super smooth and easy to get a deep insertion with. And once inserted, they stay put, are very comfortable, and allow the Reds to have a great sound. To me, they seem like the best tips for Truthear Reds. Also tried the AZLA Lights and they did not fit properly, though they do work perfectly with my other two IEM's.

 

[mc.god]

After brief listening with TRN T and Kbear 07 tips I made up some impressions, but please, take them as totally sighted and with high possibility of pure placebo:
with both those tips the sound seemed to me like veiled, muffled, with something not right in the high "airy" region of the spectrum. Looking at both, when mounted, i noticed that being them much shorter than the stock tips, the nozzle comes very near to the bore opening, while with stock tips there is some space betwween the nozzle mesh and the opening hole of the tip.
Then i tried some no brand and very cheap tips i bought long time ago on aliexpress in a 10 pcs pack in 13mm size, when i learned that i need large tips to fit my ears and my first iem didn't come with such large tips
Well, immediately the sound appeared to open up again, no more veil feeling, very resembling to the stock tips sound i'm accustomed to.
So, and this is my speculation, Zeros in my ears don't take well if nozzles don't have a bit of space before the tip opening, maybe they go too close to the eardrums and create some resonances that impact high frequency.
Or maybe I'm just imagining things.
Anyway for now I'll stick with these anonymous tips, they seal very well, sound correct and are not loose, fit is a bit chunky in the ears and need to confirm it they are ok for long sessions.
Unfortunately I can't find them anymore in aliexpress, there are many other similar tips but can't b sure if they are 100% the same, I'll leave a picture where you can see the gap between nozzle and opening in comparison to the TRN T pic i posted earlier.

 

[Oso Polar]

It's not you! The same thing happed to me and I barely used the tips before they no longer would stay on the IEMs!

Try the ones with the wide bore - these stay put. The narrow ones don't, they are softer and loose up fast (worked for about a month for me).

 

[mc.god]

Try the ones with the wide bore - these stay put. The narrow ones don't, they are softer and loose up fast (worked for about a month for me).

I tried both type of stock tips the first day I got the Red but the wide bore ones have a very different shape that strangely cannot seal my ears at all, no matter ho much i try to move or rotate the iem, so unfortunately for me they are not an option.

 

[KosherButcher]

I tried both type of stock tips the first day I got the Red but the wide bore ones have a very different shape that strangely cannot seal my ears at all, no matter ho much i try to move or rotate the iem, so unfortunately for me they are not an option.

I also much prefer the sound of the narrow bore. I find there to be a pretty big difference in frequency response between the two.

 

[Oso Polar]

I also much prefer the sound of the narrow bore. I find there to be a pretty big difference in frequency response between the two.

I don't notice any difference whatsoever. I guess if they don't properly seal then this can explain the difference.

 

[mc.god]

I also much prefer the sound of the narrow bore. I find there to be a pretty big difference in frequency response between the two.

My problem is with seal so I can't comment on sound of wide bore tips, since with no seal sound is obviously flawed.

Anyway i found this pretty interesting:

Taking into account the accuracy of 711 coupler at higher frequencies, it matches with my experience with Kbear 07 tips, that i defined veiled earlier... And here it seems that stock wide bore and almost any other alternative tips generate more or less a recession in 9k-13k region (you can select some others on the squig).
Stock wide bore are noticeably shorter than narrow bore, I don't know divinus and cp100+ and if they can be considered wide or narrow bore, but maybe there is actually a correlation with then lenght since stock narrow bore are pretty long.

I'm really happy with what i get from those no brand tips, just a bit fatiguing after a while, I'll try downsizing from 13mm to 12mm since i have both, but usually 12mm are too small for me.

 

[mc.god]

I'm really happy with what i get from those no brand tips, just a bit fatiguing after a while, I'll try downsizing from 13mm to 12mm since i have both, but usually 12mm are too small for me.

12mm are a no go, they have a narrower stem and can't be mounted, anyway other than narrower they are also shorter than the 13mm ones, so I think I would fall in the same situation of other tips.

And then i remembered something laying in my box of tips... and created this monstrosity

I was frightened to try them on but ended up fitting better than i would ever think, seal was not bad but sound overall was meh, too much free silicone probably bending into and obtruding my ears.
But it was fun.

 

[mc.god]

Summarizing my experience, given that stock narrow bore tips are 10.6 mm tall, that my no brand wide tips are 10.7 mm and that with shorter tips like TRN T (9.5 mm) and Kbear 07 (9.1 mm) I get that impact on high frequencies, I'd say that, at least for my ears, Spinfit CP155 would be probably the ones to try f I were in need:

Since they are not properly cheap, I'm even more glad to be ok with the no brand ones.

 

[Chromatischism]

Summarizing my experience, given that stock narrow bore tips are 10.6 mm tall, that my no brand wide tips are 10.7 mm and that with shorter tips like TRN T (9.5 mm) and Kbear 07 (9.1 mm) I get that impact on high frequencies, I'd say that, at least for my ears, Spinfit CP155 would be probably the ones to try f I were in need:

View attachment 386473

Since they are not properly cheap, I'm even more glad to be ok with the no brand ones.

The Spinfit site recommends the W1, have you considered them?

 

[mc.god]

The Spinfit site recommends the W1, have you considered them?

Yes, they recommend W1 and CP145 for TE Zero, i checked both and they are shorter than 155 (around 10 mm), while CP155 have same size than the no brand ones I'm ok with.
CP155 have also larger stem that would make them easier to insert onto big Zero nozzles.

 

[mc.god]

From that squig measurements I created an eq profile targeting the Red curve with Kbear 07 tips, applied it to my Red with stock narrow bore tips and the effect i get is very close to what I actually get with Kbear 07, so my ear canals must be very close to the coupler used

Anyway just ordered some other tips to experiment a bit more, being them so cheap:

3 pairs Tri Clarion Mid 12.6 mm X 9 mm
3 pairs Tri Clarion Large 14 mm X 9 mm
3 pairs no brand Large very close in size to ones I already have (probably the same) 13 mm X 10.7 mm)
6 pairs no brand Large shorter 13 mm X 9 mm

 

[mc.god]

From that squig measurements I created an eq profile targeting the Red curve with Kbear 07 tips, applied it to my Red with stock narrow bore tips and the effect i get is very close to what I actually get with Kbear 07, so my ear canals must be very close to the coupler used

Anyway just ordered some other tips to experiment a bit more, being them so cheap:

3 pairs Tri Clarion Mid 12.6 mm X 9 mm
3 pairs Tri Clarion Large 14 mm X 9 mm
3 pairs no brand Large very close in size to ones I already have (probably the same) 13 mm X 10.7 mm)
6 pairs no brand Large shorter 13 mm X 9 mm

All new tips arrived, quick impressions:

• these ones, despite being visually identical to the no brand ones I'm using now, ended up being a complete fail these are much more pliable to te touch, probably as much that the silicone dome doesn't retain any shape and I cannot manage to get ANY seal, no matter how i keep rotating the iem back and forth. I can sense it even without playing music, just the sensation that my ears are not filled, but only the feeling of the hard border of the nozzle giving discomfort. Sound is obviously total crap with just mids and highs. Too bad since they were the ones i would have bet on the most.
• these one on the other hands, fully confirmed my expectations. They resemble very close the Kbear 07 in sizes and shape and so they do in practice: great seal and fit but the very same highs recession, at the point that bass appears even more deep than ever.
• Tri Clarion feel very good and I would rate them high quality tips for the price, they remind me the TRN T as for stickiness and feeling and have a peculiar shape around the output bore, they are the most comfortable of the bunch, both L and M fit and seal me perfectly and with their large stem they mount on the Red very easily, anyway they also have very large bore that in the end result giving the same veiled sound I experienced with shorter or larger bore tips.

At the end of the day I could not accomplish the original task of finding an alternative to the no brand tips I'm using, not a problem since I have other 3 pairs of them, but this confirms that, at least with my ear canals, the Reds are extremely tips dependent, something I didn't experience with all my other iems.

 

[KosherButcher]

All new tips arrived, quick impressions:

• these ones, despite being visually identical to the no brand ones I'm using now, ended up being a complete fail these are much more pliable to te touch, probably as much that the silicone dome doesn't retain any shape and I cannot manage to get ANY seal, no matter how i keep rotating the iem back and forth. I can sense it even without playing music, just the sensation that my ears are not filled, but only the feeling of the hard border of the nozzle giving discomfort. Sound is obviously total crap with just mids and highs. Too bad since they were the ones i would have bet on the most.
• these one on the other hands, fully confirmed my expectations. They resemble very close the Kbear 07 in sizes and shape and so they do in practice: great seal and fit but the very same highs recession, at the point that bass appears even more deep than ever.
• Tri Clarion feel very good and I would rate them high quality tips for the price, they remind me the TRN T as for stickiness and feeling and have a peculiar shape around ouput bore, they are the most comfortable of the bunch, both L and M fit and seal me perfectly and with their large stem they mount on the Red very easily, anyway they also have very large bore that in the end result giving the same veiled sound I experienced with shorter or larger bore tips.

At the end of the day I could not accomplish the original task of finding an alternative to the no brand tips I'm using, not a problem since I have other 3 pairs of them, but this confirms that, at least with my ear canals, the Reds are extremely tips dependent, something I didn't experience with all my other iems.

I have very difficult-to-fit ears, so take this with a grain of salt, but these are my favorite tips (since the narrow bore originals no longer stay on the IEMs). The bore size is relatively similar to the original narrow bores, and these sit slightly deeper:

https://www.amazon.com/SpinFit-CP240-M-Patented-Silicone-Replacement/dp/B06VVRXHG1?th=1&psc=1

 

[mc.god]

I have very difficult-to-fit ears, so take this with a grain of salt, but these are my favorite tips (since the narrow bore originals no longer stay on the IEMs). The bore size is relatively similar to the original narrow bores, and these sit slightly deeper:

https://www.amazon.com/SpinFit-CP240-M-Patented-Silicone-Replacement/dp/B06VVRXHG1?th=1&psc=1

Pretty interesting tips, large and long, but not so much as the monster I tried some posts early, I bet they would be good to me too, but since now I'm good with those no brand i already had and that Reds, although very good, are not my most used iems, I'll end the search here.

 

[Zim]

Yes, they recommend W1 and CP145 for TE Zero, i checked both and they are shorter than 155 (around 10 mm), while CP155 have same size than the no brand ones I'm ok with.
CP155 have also larger stem that would make them easier to insert onto big Zero nozzles.

View attachment 386480 View attachment 386481

I use the CP145 and have used CP155 with my Zeros after the stock tips became loose. Can confirm that the CP145 work best; the CP155 occasionally slid off the nozzle when taking the Zeros out of my ears. In terms of sound, I don't notice and changes in the sound signature when switching over to the Spinfits.

 

[Ambar]

How is the sweat/water resistance on Zero Red? Was planning to use them for my gym workouts... can it take that?

 

[TurtlePaul]

How is the sweat/water resistance on Zero Red? Was planning to use them for my gym workouts... can it take that?

Sweat will be fine. However, I don’t wear Zero:red for workout because of comfort and safety. On the comfort front, the wide bore Zero:red and uncomfortable enough when not moving. Jiggling something that big hanging out of my ear canal on a run doesn’t sound like a good time. On the safety front, if the cable gets snagged I would prefer something with shallower insertion get yanked out of my ears. Also, I use the Zero 2 which provide less isolation (and low/moderate volumes) as lower isolation is safer if running outside.

 

[Ambar]

Sweat will be fine. However, I don’t wear Zero:red for workout because of comfort and safety. On the comfort front, the wide bore Zero:red and uncomfortable enough when not moving. Jiggling something that big hanging out of my ear canal on a run doesn’t sound like a good time. On the safety front, if the cable gets snagged I would prefer something with shallower insertion get yanked out of my ears. Also, I use the Zero 2 which provide less isolation (and low/moderate volumes) as lower isolation is safer if running outside.

Yes, I agree, I am looking at it in a more static workout scenario like in a gym... but good to know that it can manage some sweat...