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 the RED on the industry-leading B&K 5128 with a DF + 10 dB slope graph. See here for an explanation of what that means. The red faceplate looks really striking and gives the IEMs a premium look rarely found at this price point. It’s nice that the faceplates don’t catch fingerprints, so the ZERO: RED will probably look fresh for a long time. The faceplate art makes the ZERO: RED striking in person. Upper mids are elevated, female vocals are really forward and energetic, to the point of slightly shouty to me. Human hearing focuses inherently on this frequency range. So it’s crucial to get this range right. This region A passive electronic crossover ensures each driver gets only what it needs to perform at its best. The included pouch holds the IEMs comfortably but not much else will fit.In a QA stream, Crinacle claimed that the crossover had been overhauled to improve THD performance across the audible range. I don’t think it has much to do with better electronic components rather than changing the frequency where the drivers cross over to each other. Also, this leads to a strange hollowness in the mid-bass region, something “mid-bass bad” crowd will probably try to pass off as a positive, but it is not often the case. When these qualities are combined with its monitor-like tuning, the RED’s overall presentation is unique among the IEM market. The RED’s textured bass and tightly controlled treble response elevates its sound beyond seemingly similar IEMs. While its smaller staging could be improved, I don’t think it detracts too much from the sound and its coherency and articulation more than makes up the difference. I’ve heard a lot of budget IEMs. Most are me-too products in the race to the bottom with the usual trade-offs in tuning against its peers. The RED is not one of them. Truthear probably does not need any introduction. Starting off with a bang with the Zero, then the Hexa and then the Hola, neither of these IEMs can be outright called bad or a poor start, as all three sold quite well and with the advent of the Red, it seems that so far, Truthear is on a winning streak. But how does the old Zero now fare in the current market? If you've seen the star rating, in my opinion, it's lost a bit of that luster it needed to last. Two sets of white S/M/L silicon tips for 6 pairs in total. Each set has a different bore size which will give a slightly different treble response. I used the medium size tips with narrow bores for this review.

E3000 also has better treble definition and extension, wider staging and far superior imaging. The areas where the Truthear Zero trounce the E3000 are: build, vocal clarity, and far simpler amplification needs. E3000 need a good source to shine, which adds to the cost. I have no qualms about wearing the ZERO: RED for an entire 12h shift on a film set. There aren’t odd angles or edges that disagree with the shape of my pinna. Some of my more expensive IEMs sit better due to a better resin mold, but none are as light as the ZERO: RED. The nozzles on the ZERO: RED are on the large side compared to Moondrop Aria. The included cable is fine. It has four separate conductors, so a retermination to balanced is doable. It is a bit prone to tangling but doesn’t hold kinks and bends for a long time. The cable works fine and keeps out of the way of the listening experience. Comfort Please keep in mind that these are rough estimates and shipments can be delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, like postal strikes or severe weather.

While the ZERO: RED have a fairly wide headstage, the imaging could be more pronounced and precise. Even without the impedance adaptor, the low end can seem a tad hazy. The highs, while extended, don’t have the ethereal nature that a well-implemented electret or balanced armature driver can pull off. 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.

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. Mid-bass is utterly devoid of body and slam. The bass is thus solely defined by the sub-bass emphasis near 50Hz. As a result of mid-bass hollowness and a near 12dB rise in the upper-mids, midrange is dominated by the upper-registers. What I don’t like is that lid to the actual cardboard container is held firm by air suction, and there’s nowhere to grab it. You just have to let it slowly slide down and catch it once it comes loose. After opening it a few times, it gets easier. Inside the box one finds a nice set of eartips.Like the original Truthear ZERO, the ZERO: RED uses a 10mm dynamic driver for low frequencies and a smaller 7.8mm dynamic driver for the rest. The Zeros still have potential, but the Reds just blow them out the water in many aspects nowadays. There is one vent near the 2-pin connector, which are recessed thankfully. Crossover circuit can also be seen near the connectors. While the build is generally good, the shells are smudge prone and slippery. So keep a cleaning cloth handy. The Truthear ZERO: RED are tuned to match Crinacle’s developed IEM preference target. Initially, I was skeptical because the Moondrop Blessing 3 were also very measurement based designed to match Crinacle’s tonal target, and in my opinion, tonality was their main weakness. The crossover circuit acts almost as a low-pass filter with the low-frequencies being solely handled by the woofer, and the tweeter having no response in sub-bass frequencies.