Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red vs Moondrop Aria 2: low-mass heavyweights

If you’re in the market for wired earphones, your cup runneth over. There are so many out there with great sound quality that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Today we’re looking at some of the better-attested models on the market. Who wins in the title fight of Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red vs Moondrop Aria 2? That’s up for you to decide.

Editor’s note: this article was published on October 30, 2024, and is the first version of the article. Updates will follow as the market changes.

What’s it like to use the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red compared to the Moondrop Aria 2?

Both the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red and Moondrop Aria 2 are performance-oriented in-ear monitors (IEMs). Each product offers its company’s idea of “best” features to put forward for the end user, with Moondrop’s IEMs granting premium build and connection options, while Truthear’s collab with audiophile community mainstay Crinacle gives its users customization options and a platform with which to tinker. Each set of IEMs is aimed at different users, but it’s worth exploring how.

Though they both are of the same category, the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red and Moondrop Aria 2 are quite different in their main physical characteristics. Where the Moondrop Aria 2 is quite heavy and metal, the lighter plastic build of the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red is a welcome kindness by comparison. Neither product has an ingress protection rating, but I don’t believe sweat or typical use would fry these earphones.

Both offer solid cases, but the hard shell of the Moondrop Aria 2 is damned-near impossible to shove into a pocket. The Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red, on the other hand, is malleable enough where you can reliably stuff it into your front pants pocket when necessary.

Do the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red or Moondrop Aria 2 have more features?

Both the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red and Moondrop Aria 2 have some rather notable features that are uncommon to the category. For example, the Moondrop Aria 2 has a convertible termination that allows users to choose whether they want to use an unbalanced connection, or a balanced one. Though that mainly will appeal to users of digital audio players (DAPs) with a focus on meeting more power-hungry gear, the Moondrop Aria 2 probably doesn’t give you much more audible benefit from using that connection type.

What does tickle me is the variety of ear tip types offered by the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red, as being able to swap these on a whim will allow you to slightly tinker with the sound and isolation performance of the earphones — should you want to do that. I like the foam tips because they essentially guarantee a good fit every time, but your experience might vary.

Though to the layperson these features may not seem like much, they’re quite useful to the enthusiast and tinkerer. If you fit that description, then you have two awesome choices to pick from here.

How do the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red and Moondrop Aria 2 connect?

Both the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red and Moondrop Aria 2 connect to their source devices via a wired connection. However, the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red can only do so with 3.5mm connections, while the Moondrop Aria 2 can connect to 3.5mm or 4.4mm balanced connections. Additionally, the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red has a 10Ω resistor accessory that primarily bumps up the bass a little bit.

Neither the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red nor Moondrop Aria 2 requires an amp to reach a usable level, as both are sensitive enough to reach a usable level with common dongles and headphone jacks.

Do the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red or Moondrop Aria 2 block noise better?

If you’re terribly concerned about isolation, there’s a clear winner here, and that’s the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red with the foam ear tips. Isolating up to 10dB more than the Moondrop Aria 2 in the highs, the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red offers some of the best passive isolation among IEMs I’ve personally tested. However, that comes back down to earth if you use the silicon tips. At that point, the earphones are more comparable to the Moondrop Aria 2.

That’s not to say that the Moondrop Aria 2 is any slouch. In fact, it’s quite good at blocking out junk noise from outside. However, there’s only so much you can expect from passive isolators.

Neither the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red nor Moondrop Aria 2 offer great noise attenuation in the lows, but considering how spoiled many have become by ANC, it’s worth pointing out that the above results are still very good for the product type.

Do the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red sound better than the Moondrop Aria 2?

Both IEMs sound fantastic, but they’re for different kinds of listeners. Neither is clearly “better,” but one may suit your tastes more than the other.

Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores (MDAQS)

The chart below shows how the sound of the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red and Moondrop Aria 2 was assessed by the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Score (MDAQS) algorithm from HEAD acoustics.

When pit head-to-head, the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red and Moondrop Aria 2 both post very impressive scores. With a separation of only 0.1 in score, both earphones project to be well-liked by the general public. Both earphones have inoffensive levels of distortion, both earphones have excellent timbre, but are mainly differentiated by immersiveness. As these scores are Mean Opinion Scores, keep in mind that it’s possible that what you would rate either might not be perfectly aligned with what we’ve shown here. However, a simulated panel of about 200 listeners would return these ratings if given both earphones.

Objective Measurements

As both IEMs are similar in many respects, the main point to talk about is the difference in the bass. The Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red doesn’t target our preference curve, but a more bassy one — so it’s no surprise that you can expect far more low-end with that particular product than with the Moondrop Aria 2. If you’ve tried other IEMs in the past without much low end, I have a feeling that the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red will be more your speed, as you can even up the bass even more with the Bass+ resistor accessory.

Both IEMs have fairly even mids and pretty sane responses between 2 and 10kHz, though the Moondrop Aria 2 has some overemphasis from 4 to 6kHz that could make sibilant sounds and room effects sound a little louder than you may want them to — but it’s not a crazy overemphasis. Both IEMs drop off a little after 8kHz, but the extension into the highs isn’t anything to sniff at. Each offers a solid strategy for tuning that is ultimately up to the listener to choose between.

As these products have very little issues with fit, you can expect your results to be fairly similar to the ones we’ve recorded here. Consequently, the above is a good representation of what might reach your eardrums.

Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red vs Moondrop Aria 2: Price and availability

You should have no trouble locating either product online, as these are primarily sold through first and third-party vendors on the internet. You are extremely unlikely to see these IEMs in brick and mortar stores with a few exceptions.

The Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red is far more affordable than the Moondrop Aria 2, as it comes in at $54.99 instead of $89.99. Though inexpensive, you may need to add a dongle to your cost, as wired earbuds cannot be used with devices that lack a headphone jack. Those, too, are easy to find online, and should only run you $8-10.

Should you get the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red or Moondrop Aria 2?

Though the Moondrop Aria 2 is plenty great, I feel that more people will like the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red. Not only does it offer more ear tips and customization options, but it’s also less than half as expensive. Additionally, a lighter plastic housing means less force is applied on your ears when you move around. Though neither of these options is a slouch, the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red is just very good at what it does. I would not be surprised if some IEM enthusiasts out there have both of these on their shortlist for their next earphones.

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