Reviews by Micro Audio Review
Today, we are going to review the saltnotes Zero:2,which is the second generation of the Crinacle collab with Saltnotes at the ultra affordable sector. Its UK price is £25 .
ACCESORIES
The Zero:2 comes with a great 3.5mm cable.It do not retain memory or tangle for no reason.
It also comes with a generous amount of tips which is sonically perfect and with plenty sizes to choose from.
BUILD
Zero:2 is a 1 DD iem with swappable cable.Its 2 pin socket on the iem seems very durable and solid.
The shell is transparent and is decorated with a pulled metal front plate, which makes it stylish and nice to look at.
DRIVABILITY
If you are pairing it with a phone (in my case S22 Ultra) like me, you might need a portable dac or amp to go with it. Although the sound quality is the same,the sound is just not loud enough for me.
But if you are pairing it with other source like a PC or laptop,it should be fine.
BASS
The mid-bass and sub-bass is slightly elevated than I would have expected. It is more pronounced in most of the songs than I would have expected, but would not affect my rating towards it. However,I feel the bass has a slightly loose nature to it, it is slightly blunted and slow, I think it might have to do with the drivers in the zero:2.
Fine performance in the bass for the price given.(4/10)
MID
Disclaimer:I do not listen to male vocals a lot, so take this rating with a grain of salt.
For male vocals,they sound good,but lacked the texture, body and details to make them superb.However, the male vocal's emotions and tuning is fine, so I would give it a passing grade.(5/10)
Female vocal is very good on the Zero:2. The female vocal is properly placed, not too forward nor laidback, it is clean, full-bodied, energetic and emotional. To me, the only problem that I can think of, is its details can be better on the female vocal. Do not get me wrong, the details are good enough, but not enough to support such an impressive expression of female vocal.(6.5/10)
Any other instruments that lives in the midrange like violin, flutes are slightly emphasised, they are clean, real but nothing really special to talk about.(5.5/10)
TREBLE
For me, the treble is a bit soft. I think that the treble and air frequency are not extended enough and their presence and emphasis is not enough. It makes the iem to sound less sharp and might have made the soundstage smaller as a result as well,but I am not a really big fan of the treble, makes song less enjoyable overall.(4/10)
TECHNICALITIES
I would say that the resolution of this iem is quite good for me, many details are present in this iem throughout my listen,but the problem will be they are slightly blurry and not sharp enough to make you notice them.
The imaging is actually so real to life and is so impressive as well that it sort of competes with my other much more expensivce iems, very impressive work.
The soundstage is where it falls short a bit, it is very crowded and tight. It is a bit below average, normal for this price range.
COMPARISONS
vs SE215
Zero:2 Blows the se215 out of the water in every possible aspects. The se215 has a muddy bloated bass,the missing midrange,non exsistence treble and absolute blanked out details and the much higher price tag.It is genuinely a massacre in every possible aspect and marks the Zero:2 as the easy winner.
VERDICT
Although I have noted out a lot of problems of the Zero:2, But I actually love it as an overall package, i am sure under $100, there will be no any other competitors even close to it.This slightly warm tilted, detailed iem has all the respect I can give it with its measly £25 price tag.
(SHAMELESS) SELF PROMOTION
I hope this review is good enough for you guys to enjoy,I am now working on the youtube channel as seen above, I still have my Moondrop Variations, Sony IER-Z1R, HIFIMAN Ananda and a few more reviews waiting to be dropped.Please subscribe and comment on things that I can improve on, hope that you guys liked this!
Video Review Below
Please watch and comment on places that needed improvements, subscribes is also appreciated! I have a few iem ,headphones ,dacs and dap review scheduling to be uploaded. Thank you!)
ACCESORIES
The Zero:2 comes with a great 3.5mm cable.It do not retain memory or tangle for no reason.
It also comes with a generous amount of tips which is sonically perfect and with plenty sizes to choose from.
BUILD
Zero:2 is a 1 DD iem with swappable cable.Its 2 pin socket on the iem seems very durable and solid.
The shell is transparent and is decorated with a pulled metal front plate, which makes it stylish and nice to look at.
DRIVABILITY
If you are pairing it with a phone (in my case S22 Ultra) like me, you might need a portable dac or amp to go with it. Although the sound quality is the same,the sound is just not loud enough for me.
But if you are pairing it with other source like a PC or laptop,it should be fine.
BASS
The mid-bass and sub-bass is slightly elevated than I would have expected. It is more pronounced in most of the songs than I would have expected, but would not affect my rating towards it. However,I feel the bass has a slightly loose nature to it, it is slightly blunted and slow, I think it might have to do with the drivers in the zero:2.
Fine performance in the bass for the price given.(4/10)
MID
Disclaimer:I do not listen to male vocals a lot, so take this rating with a grain of salt.
For male vocals,they sound good,but lacked the texture, body and details to make them superb.However, the male vocal's emotions and tuning is fine, so I would give it a passing grade.(5/10)
Female vocal is very good on the Zero:2. The female vocal is properly placed, not too forward nor laidback, it is clean, full-bodied, energetic and emotional. To me, the only problem that I can think of, is its details can be better on the female vocal. Do not get me wrong, the details are good enough, but not enough to support such an impressive expression of female vocal.(6.5/10)
Any other instruments that lives in the midrange like violin, flutes are slightly emphasised, they are clean, real but nothing really special to talk about.(5.5/10)
TREBLE
For me, the treble is a bit soft. I think that the treble and air frequency are not extended enough and their presence and emphasis is not enough. It makes the iem to sound less sharp and might have made the soundstage smaller as a result as well,but I am not a really big fan of the treble, makes song less enjoyable overall.(4/10)
TECHNICALITIES
I would say that the resolution of this iem is quite good for me, many details are present in this iem throughout my listen,but the problem will be they are slightly blurry and not sharp enough to make you notice them.
The imaging is actually so real to life and is so impressive as well that it sort of competes with my other much more expensivce iems, very impressive work.
The soundstage is where it falls short a bit, it is very crowded and tight. It is a bit below average, normal for this price range.
COMPARISONS
vs SE215
Zero:2 Blows the se215 out of the water in every possible aspects. The se215 has a muddy bloated bass,the missing midrange,non exsistence treble and absolute blanked out details and the much higher price tag.It is genuinely a massacre in every possible aspect and marks the Zero:2 as the easy winner.
VERDICT
Although I have noted out a lot of problems of the Zero:2, But I actually love it as an overall package, i am sure under $100, there will be no any other competitors even close to it.This slightly warm tilted, detailed iem has all the respect I can give it with its measly £25 price tag.
(SHAMELESS) SELF PROMOTION
I hope this review is good enough for you guys to enjoy,I am now working on the youtube channel as seen above, I still have my Moondrop Variations, Sony IER-Z1R, HIFIMAN Ananda and a few more reviews waiting to be dropped.Please subscribe and comment on things that I can improve on, hope that you guys liked this!
Video Review Below
Please watch and comment on places that needed improvements, subscribes is also appreciated! I have a few iem ,headphones ,dacs and dap review scheduling to be uploaded. Thank you!)
