Truthear Zero: Red

I have so many earphones and IEMs it's really hard to be excited by yet another one. But that's exactly what has happened to me. I truly wasn't expecting anything but a cheap backup backpack IEM. My ears over the years have been blessed with the likes of the $2000 U12T, MONARCHS MK2, VARIATIONS , ORACLES, BLESSINGS 2,DUSK,3, KATOS, DUNU Sa6 MK2, AND MANY OTHER BRANDS. And the only thing that keeps playing out is the law of diminishing returns. IEM's never live up to the cost in the sound difference over cheaper ones that I have experienced. It took a lot to finally accept that my $1000- $2000 IEM's never really made enough difference in sound to justify their price over my $500 products. And now we have $130 IEM competing with $500 IEMs.

Everything comes down to tuning, fit, and your targeted frequency response preferences in my experience and price doesn't promise this. This is the wisest understanding of earphones and IEMs that will save you time and headaches that I've learned. And this IEM tuning, fit, and frequency response seems to have absolutely nailed everythjng that has ever played a role in sound quality for me. I love realism and tones of voices and items. Listening to Asmr, audio books, and music are my three sources of addiction and I was blowed away with the realism of things in this IEM with its cost. I love how it fits and is so lightweight in its way it sits in my ear along with the wire not having weight or microphonics. I literally pass over all my so called "top" IEM to use this because vocal realism, tuning, and lightweight fit. They disappear in my ears and don't have wrestle with the how they feel, the noise of the cable, the weight of the cable or fit of the earphone. It just works. So much power and joy is found in products that just make things effortless and don't get in it's own way.

I know some people will find hate against my experiences, get mad at something I have said that works for me, or just flat out claim I don't know what I'm talking about. It's the way of this hobby. Very few people can accept that this whole hobby's judgement can't be factual to all because it's too many variables and nobody has the same ear shapes or same hearing ability, let alone same preferences in tuning. So that's why I say "for me" and what "I've learned". I don't believe all people will feel like I do. All I can tell you is that this IEM and it's tuning has become one of my most important IEM's in my life. Crinncle did his thing on this one!

The TRUTHEAR x Crinacle ZERO:RED

Disclaimer

I borrowed these from a friend, so I gain nothing from this review.

---

In the box

The TRUTHEAR x Crinacle ZERO:RED has two dynamic drivers, 10mm and 7.8mm.
In the packaging you get

• 3 sets of thick silicone tips
• 3 sets of thin tips, one set of foam tips
• a thin 3.5mm cable and
• most interestingly a 10 ohm resistor adapter.

---

The Sound

On the whole they sound neutral-warm, with quite a similar overall tonal response to the Simgot Supermix4, but without the extended and more present treble.
Resolution, especially in the bass is slightly mushy, which is easily forgiven at this price and even more easily ignored with such a crowd-pleasing tuning.

miniDSP EARS graphs cannot be trusted in the treble region - the ZERO RED has a much more muted treble than shown

---

Soundstage/Imaging

While the tuning is great, the imaging and staging are almost non-existent.

Positional cues in 3D games are more like suggestions or hints than anything resembling depth of space.
This translates directly to the imaging and soundstage in music, which is either completely stuck inside your head, or is limited to the suggestions of left and right as decreed by the stereo recording.

---

The 10Ω Resistor Adapter

The 10 ohm resistor does a good job of boosting bass by just over 2dB making these more versatile and attractive at their price.

---

Conclusions

Build quality & accessories gets a 5/5
There's little to complain about at this price, where you often still play the 'does this fit my ears properly' lottery.

Tuning gets a strong 4.5/5
If only treble extension was a bit better.

Staging and musical performance gets a 1/5
There's not much to say here, because the ZERO:RED doesn't give much here to talk about.

DISCLAIMER
The review I'm about to share reflects my personal experience and provides an honest evaluation regarding this set. I am completely unaffiliated from the brands I review. I did not receive (or will receive) any financial or monetary incentives in exchange for writing this review, I wrote this review of my own free will and all of the opinions you'll read are my own.



SPECIFICATIONS
Driver configuration: 10mm and 7.8mm Dynamic Driver
Impedance: 17.5Ω±15%@1kHz
Sensitivity: 117.5dB/Vrm

INTRODUCTION
I am using the Zero Reds for a long time now, I think more than 5 months? And up until now, after trying a lot of IEMs on the budget field under $100, the Zero Red still stands as one of my top 3 sets under $100. Below are the gears I usually use along with this IEM:

DAC Dongle: Jcally JM7l
Portable Amplifier: Topping NX1s
Phone/Device: Either my iPhone XR or my laptop
Music player: Spotify and Tidal

I replaced the cable for this one. The cable I use for my Zero Red is the NiceHCK RedAg Upgrade Cable.



BUILD QUALITY, DESIGN, AND COMFORT
The fit, shell size, shell design, and build quality is the same as the original Zero(blue). I think they changed nothing besides the design and color of the faceplate as well as the size of the vents, the vents on the Zero Red is bigger compared to the original. The faceplate is one of the most beautiful faceplates I have seen. I would describe the design of the faceplate as woven cloth maybe? The faceplate design combined with a popping shade of red makes this IEM an eyecatcher.

When it comes to comfort? This is the only drawback of this IEM, at least based on my experience. I have a relatively small ears, the body of the shell fits just fine but the nozzles, after hours of using the Zero Reds, hurts the entrance of my ear canals a bit. The nozzle size is bigger than usual.

SOUND IMPRESSIONS
So the tuning of the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red is tilted Harman 2019, adjusting the bass and the treble region to avoid the shoutiness and muddiness of the Harman target. Though this set sounds a little boring to some, tilting the Harman target this way makes this set a lot more cleaner and detailed. This IEM is for the people who wants better detail retrieval, instruments separation, and clarity, rather than a much more fun and energetic tuning.



Bass
This IEM is definitely not for bassheads. If you like a boomy and loud bass, I would not recommend this set for you. As I have said above, the Zero Red leans more on neutral and clean tuning, so the amount of bass of the Zero Red makes sense. There's is a rise in the sub-bass region producing enough and a good amount of rumble and punch, and this for me is enough. I can say that the bass on the Zero Red is still satisfying. Bass texture and quality is pretty well-done, the difference of the sub-woofer dedicated dynamic driver to the normal driver configuration can be heard and it makes the bass region clear and concise compared to others. Bass does not bleed through the mid regions.

If the bass is not enough for you, there is a 10Ω impedance adapter included inside the package. This makes the bass region significantly louder and more punchy while maintaining the clarity. You might need to add some volume or power if you are going to use the adapter though.

Mids
Mid region is clean sounding, it sounds so good and natural. Again, the bass does not bleed through this region. Vocals are a little forward even if it is slightly warm sounding, but far from shouty. There are no complaints when it comes to the mid-range, pretty safe and beautifully tuned.

Treble
For me, the treble on this set is nicely done too. Nothing worth mentioning, but I like the treble very much. Not too sparkly, not fatiguing, and has enough energy to satisfy my ears.

Details and Soundstage
Soundstage and imaging? Two words: SURPRISINGLY AMAZING. Coming from a person that plays a lot of FPS games and watch a lot of live bands, the soundstage and imaging of the Zero Red surprised me considering its price. Soundstage feels wide. Imaging feels accurate and you can easily pinpoint the location or position of each instruments.

On the other hand, due to the clean sound of the Zero Red, the details from this set is slightly above average. I can hear enough details even if the tracks I listen to are quite busy.



AGAINST THE PREDECESSOR: ORIGINAL ZERO (BLUE)
There's nothing much to say, there aren't a lot of significant differences between the Original Zero and the Zero Red. The Original Zero sounds more fun and engaging, while the Zero Red sounds more clean and neutral. The Zero Red is more of a sidegrade rather than an upgrade from the Original Truthear Zero.

CONCLUSION
I really love this set, all I can give are compliments, no complaints. Easy recommendation even after more than a year since the release. The Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red still competes to other great sets and new releases within the price range. Still the best price-performance set under $100? Sound-wise, an easy yes from me.