The peoples choice for gaming IEM - Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2 review

The original Truthear Zero: Blue was the people’s choice for gaming, at least to the competitive shooter crowd. But can the Zero: Blue 2 compete against its predecessor, or is it just a new slap of paint on an existing product?

What’s it like to use the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2?

The earbuds themselves have a glossy shell, with a beautiful blue pattern that looks like it’s somewhere between scales and feathers. This makes it prone to fingerprint oils. It doesn’t distract from the aesthetics of the earbuds. If you stream, the bright blue shells will definitely stand out more than some pieces of jewelry. Wearing it for hours on stream, on the other hand, is a different story.

The wire is supple enough for daily use, but isn’t as soft as I would like. The problem I had with the fit is mostly the cable, where the ear hooks on the cable are much too long and stiff. Testing with another cable to make sure it wasn’t the Zero: Blue 2 itself, I didn’t have many issues with the earbud in my ears. Using the cable that was included in the box, I was only able to wear the Zero: Blue 2 for about 2 hours before I started noticing the cable hooks rubbing the back of my earlobes, and by the 3-hour mark, it was annoying enough to want to take off. This is exacerbated if you’re moving around, dropping it to 1 hour. I did try twisting the cable to fit my ears more, but to no avail. If you have ears shaped like mine, you might want to get 3rd party cables.

Truthear does include both a standard wire without a microphone and a wire without one, assuming you purchase the version with a microphone. The extra cable with the inline microphone is omitted in the regular version. They include both silicone and foam eartips from large to small. The included case is nice with a soft inner lining. Unlike most other earbuds, there is a bass boost adapter, a 5Ω inline TRS connector, which means you’ll have to increase your volume a little to get the same output volume.

How does the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2 connect?

The Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2 connects with a regular 3.5mm TRRS jack. There’s no need for a separate amp, as I found all my devices could power the earphones adequately.

How well do the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2 block out noise?

They’re mostly on par with the typical isolation of IEMs. Low rumbles and whooshes of vehicles passing by still push through, but are a little muffled. High-pitched noises like the wailing of a baby are still terribly noticeable, but not as painfully shrill.

How do the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2 sound?

The high emphasis on the bass stands out in stark contrast to the rest of the sound. I would consider the Zero: Blue 2 having a heavily dark sound that some people like me find increasingly annoying over time, despite the enjoyable novelty at first listen.

Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores (MDAQS)

The chart below shows how the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Score (MDAQS) algorithm from HEAD acoustics assesses the sound of the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2. The sound quality is rated on a scale from 1.0 (very bad) to 5.0 (very good).

With an overall score of 4.8, not many people would complain about how the Zero: Blue 2 sounds. The high Timbre score means most people are going to enjoy how they sound straight out of the box. The Distortion score is above the average of 3.3, and isn’t near what most people would be able to discern. There’s an impressive Immersiveness score of 4.8, which means that competitive gamers are likely able to locate the positions of sound sources with precision. The Overall sound quality score is the same with the foam ear tips as with the silicone ear tips.

Reviewer’s notes

Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.

Objective Measurements

Compared to our SoundGuys Preference Curve, there is a huge bass lift of nearly 15dB, which stays emphasized up to 200Hz. The mids follow our preference pretty closely, other than a slight dip at 500Hz. The treble also follows our preference curve pretty closely, until around the 4 KHz mark, where there is an under-emphasis in the upper reaches of the audible hearing range.

Is the Zero: Blue 2 good for gaming?

Most people would think of the original Zero: Blue as a gaming champion. But how well does it stack up when playing games of all genres?

In story or dialogue-driven games, the dialogue stands out without getting lost in the mix. For cozy games like Don’t Starve, they can be fatiguing to listen to for long periods, including wearing them for more than 2 hours.

In action games like DOOM: The Dark Ages, the bass is immersive but retains brilliant treble. Excellent spatial width and depth allow for proper sound location.

For competitive shooters, there’s a good amount of spatial depth where I can tell the distance of various gunfights. There is excellent spatial width, as I was easily able to tell how far left or right the source of a sound was. The only real issue is the dip in vocals where team call-outs are hard to listen to when it gets chaotic, especially in a battle royale third party, but if you only play games like CSGO2 or Valorant, this isn’t much of an issue.

Where the underemphasis in the mid can be detrimental is in MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) like DOTA 2. While audio cues from ability activations don’t get lost, and it’s not terribly difficult to separate the game audio from the team call-outs, you’ll have to be paying close attention as they don’t stand out.

Can you use the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2 for phone calls?

You can opt out of buying the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2 with a microphone, but if you do, the included inline mic doesn’t do a bad job of recording. The cable with the inline microphone comes as a second cable in the box, a nice bonus as you can use the regular cable as a spare.

Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2 microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Should you buy the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2?

I would highly recommend the Zero: Blue 2 for the competitive gamers out there, given the great separation and ability to locate the source of sound easily. For those who are more into gaming but aren’t into the competitive scene, the Zero: Blue 2 is a great experience. While it might not be the most ideal for all competitive shooters, they aren’t entirely horrible, as they do well in pinpointing spatial depth and width. On the other hand, for those who just want to listen to music, this isn’t the best choice, as the bass sound can feel fatiguing over time.

What should you get instead of the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2?

For the bass performance that I prefer, I would go with the Meze Audio Alba, although it isn’t great in competitive gaming at all, it does well in making you feel you’re in the middle of the action or music. If you want to go the safe route with something likely to be enjoyable to most people, try out the Truthear Hexa instead; they’re a great all-around pair that doesn’t disappoint in most use cases without the overemphasized bass of the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2.

Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Blue 2 review: FAQs