Fanmusic TRUTHEAR x Crinacle Zero Earphone Dual Dynamic Drivers in-Ear Earphone with 0.78 2Pin Cable Earbuds (Zero)

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It’s a bit of a philosophical question: Do you want an accurate listen, or one that is perhaps more colored but more personally enjoyable? Though I started this hobby seeking the former, I’ve grown inclined towards the latter (within reason of course). Maybe if I had the RED as my first IEM I would never have become a reviewer. Munich, Germany. Head-Fier since 2019. Mostly lurking around r/headphones as u/kmmbd and a very active member in local head-fi community since 2015. Got into head-fi in mid-2019 under the username kmmbd, and has been reviewing audio gears sporadically on his personal Medium blog since 2018. His introduction to portable audio was through a Walkman cassette-player in his pre-teens, and music has been his getaway ever since.He harbors a minor OCD regarding the tagging and organization of his music library (which is all digital on a local NAS). Also, spends too much time custom-theming his desktop Music Player for no apparent reason.In real life, he’s a Bangladeshi living in Munich and currently doing his MS in Computer Science, majoring in Computational Biology. He’s a penchant for the academia and research, though life is strange so he’s still unsure how things will turn out in the long run. Mids: The midrange on both IEMs are a bit recessed but the RED has better tuning and synergy and slightly more textured. After the Sub-Bass region, we get into the region known as the Bass or Mid-Bass. This region consists of This is the frequency response graph of the RED using my standard clone 711 coupler. This is NOT the B&K 5128 system Resolve has and is less accurate throughout. I show this instead of the B&K 5128 as it is representative of my personal RED unit. As usual, the ~8 kHz peak is an artifact of the measurement rig and measurements past that point are not accurate.

But I don’t love it. I appreciate it. Though it’s a great listen and there’s little to find fault in its sound, the RED doesn’t enamour me the way Crinacle’s previous collabs like the Moondrop Blessing 2: Dusk and Fearless Dawn did. To use a horrible cliche, the tuning of the RED is like a pair of studio monitors. Not that it sounds like one, but rather that the RED is accurate and timbrally correct in a way that is hard to argue against. But like studio speakers, there’s a reason why the stereo hi-fi industry exists: not everyone wants that.

Some of the discourse around the RED is whether or not it makes other IEMs obsolete. That everyone should go out and buy a RED now. The answer is no, of course not. My philosophy is that if you already own something you enjoy and are satisfied with, there’s no need to go out and buy another just to upgrade to the “latest and greatest”.

This is a double dynamic driver iem made by truthear and tuned by Crinacle. This is the sequel to the previous zero. Bass: This is where teh actual differences come out. Despite same architecture of both, the RED has more synergized sound specially in the sub-bass & mid-bass while the sub-bass on the original one may be a bit overwhelming at times. Truthear Zero has a near- Harman 2019-esque frequency response. This essentially means a “clean boost” of sub-bass from 200Hz downwards, and an aggressive rise to the upper-mids from the low-mid region. Depending on where you live, the time it may take for your exchanged product to reach you, may vary. Please allow 3-5 business days for mail-in exchanges to be processed.

I used the Qudelix 5K Bluetooth DAC for my testing. My playlist was my usual suite of music from many genres and sources, both lossless and lossy. I also used the ZERO: RED for a week as my primary boom microphone monitor on a film set. Mids performance is really good, infant I would as far to say zrro red has the best mid range performance in this price range in my opinion. Transition is smooth from mid bass to lower mids with very slight bass bleed, but it does add a hint warmth which I like. Both male and female vocals sound full bodied with good detail. Specially female vocals have a bit more sparkle. Interments sound clean and have good decay. As a whole mid range is done right. Score 4.75/5 The shape of the RED’s shell is the same as the Zero with the biggest difference being the faceplate. Instead of a blue galaxy design, the RED has what I call a red “shoelace” look to it. I asked Crinacle about this in a Q&A stream at The Headphone Show and it turns out that there was actually a red mother-of-pearl design as well but people were split 50/50 on which they preferred. The “shoelace” was chosen in the end because it was easier to manufacture as it was 3D printed with a resin fill on tip. The only other difference is the shape of the driver vent. If you want to see Resolve’s measurements of the RED, you can find them here along with all of my other measurements. And for a sneak peek at some of the upcoming work we’re doing at the blog, try out this interactive graph tool of Resolve’s measurements with the RED. The Truthear x Crinacle ZERO: RED is the latest collab between IEM measurement internet celebrity Crinacle and Truthear. Their previous work was the Truthear ZERO which, like the RED, used a duo of dynamic drivers and was tuned to the Harman IEM target.

Newcomer’s Note: This article is written towards those who have been in the hobby for a while and will feature discussions of frequency response graphs and measurements. If you’re unfamiliar with them, here is a great primer from Resolve on what those graphs are and how to interpret them. Feel free to join the Headphones.com Discord server where there’ll be plenty of hobbyists to answer any questions you might have. Build in general is good price considered. Its made of good quality plastic, feels ok in the hands. Faceplate is a change from previous zero, this time its red like the name. Shells are average to small size. They are light weight. Fit is good, quite comfortable even for long listening sessions. Fit stability is good as well. Fit breathability is average. This has a fat nozzle so proper fit might be a bit subjective to ear size. Score 3.75/5 To return your product, you should mail your product to: 4F 405, Building F, No.2 Shangxue Science and Technology North, Bantian Street, Longgang Dist, ShenZhen, 518129 Guangdong, China Eventhough I just got the Moondrop Chu II last week (and also enjoying it). I'm now looking for my Endgame IEM. Currently looking at the Truthear Hexa or the Project Red (Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red).Now, do these shortcomings make the ZERO: RED bad? Of course, not. I had to whip out my trusty Theiaudio Monarch MK1 to zero in on any objections I’m describing here. Oh, and the Monarch MK1 still needs EQ to be as neutral as the ZERO: RED. Bass Human hearing focuses inherently on this frequency range. So it’s crucial to get this range right. This region for reference, I prefer the tuning of the Tangzu Wan'er and the Moondrop Chu II (since I mostly daily drive the two) because of the detail, Imaging, and sound separation. I'm not much of the bass head, I'm more for the clarity and detail but Bass is still welcome. At the end of the frequency spectrum, we get to the Air region or the Top End. This region consists of everything Hi guys, I'm new to iems and I want to switch to them from headphones because earbuds are more comfortable to me than headphones for longer periods of time. I was wondering which of the two would be better for me, since they both fit into my budget and I've seen both be recommended for gaming. I mainly play fps games like Valorant, CSGO, and sometimes R6 and Apex, so things like footsteps and clear directional sound or a "wide area"/"field"? type of audio where I can clearly tell where enemies are, are pretty important for my decision.