Fearless x Crinacle Dawn - just released

It’s instructive to compare these two normalized at 1 KHz. That said, I find the ZS10 Pro to be a very competent performer, just not tuned entirely to my liking (I need about 5dB more between 500 and 1250 Hz. With EQ, it’s one of my favorites.

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They’re here!

They look fantastic with a nice shape and beautiful artwork. The fit is pretty good for me. My ears are still hurting a bit from the Blessing 2 fit, but I am liking this fit a bit more.

I made an unbox video :slight_smile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ET-ralS4jA

Dont expect much more YT content from me though. :slight_smile:

and here’s some colored squiggles:

Tonality wise, they quickly reminded me of Galaxy Buds and/or Galaxy Buds+ but tamer lower treble presentation, and they do measure that way. The pinna boost is about 2-4dB less than the Galaxy Buds which is good and pretty ideal for me. My bass preference is a tad less than the amount of bass shelf rise from 200Hz downward here, but to my ears, these sound good, clean and fast. These would be more ideal with a natural sounding dynamic driver perhaps, but the BA driver does a fine job here as well – though a tad too quick.

I haven’t listened to these enough to give much further commentary in terms of technical performance as of now. They do sound pleasant for most music I’ve listened to, from blues, jazz, rock, electropop, new wave, etc as I expected from this more balanced sound signature.

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Those shells are beautiful, interesting they remind you of the buds iirc crinnacle rated them pretty highly on his sq to performance list

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Awesome! Great to see it. Also, in your graph that 12.5K scoop doesn’t look as bad as crinacle wrote about in his “behind the scenes” writeup. I’m very curious about treble air and timbre of it. Have a great time man!

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Yea, the Galaxy Buds remain one of my favorite iems in the lower priced category, and I would glady choose them over many other in-ears just because their tonality and portability is a wonderful combination.

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Them seem very well regarded I’ll have to try them, my only true wireless experience was the original jabra 65t which i felt sounded pretty poor even before I had experience with higher end audio but people seem to have a lot of good things to say about the buds and buds+. Looking forward to seeing what you have to say about the crinnacle IEMs once you’ve spent some time with them.

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I posted my initial impressions here: https://www.antdroid.net/2020/03/first-impressions-fearless-x-crinacle.html

Along with a lot of impressions of other IEMs and the Focal Utopia I am borrowing from this forum.

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Nice! In fact, I just followed your graph’s link from FB to the site and read the impressions along with a bunch of other great reviews. Awesome site. Wish I had visited it earlier. Also, in addition to the great writing, the production value, presentation and photography are stellar. Looking forward to more. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the feedback and compliments! The blogging idea gives me an outlet for my interests in photography, audio, and forcing my opinion upon others into one single medium, which is fun. :slight_smile:

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Ha, of all the reviewers I follow, you’re one of the most open to the fact that others’ opinions may differ and that’s fine.

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Thanks @toranku for the great review on @antdroid 's website. It was an excellent read. Kudos!

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Tork’s (not to be confused with our other Torq, here) got a lot of background on a lot of these IEMs that I’ll never get a chance to audition unless i spend months in Asia. It’s pretty nice to have someone who shares somewhat similar preference curves that can be my ears to new products when I can’t get my hands on it. Also a bad thing. :slight_smile:

I switched to the Azla Sedna tips yesterday that was recommended by Crinacle, as well as Tork and others, and they pair extremely well with the Dawn IEM and my ears. Seems to fit much better and the stiffness of the silicone tips gives better emphasis on the low end and a bit more control across the board.

Tonality on this IEM is excellent in my opinion, perhaps better than the U12t that I recently reviewed in that sense. There’s still a few technical items I prefer the U12t more such as a more natural bass and decay and/or transient response. I’m going to listen to a lot more of Dawn before I put out a full review.

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Random comment, before I “set fire” to some meat …

I’d have been a lot more interested in these if they’d gone with a dynamic driver for the low-end. Ever since the AAW W900 … I’ve not been able to deal with “BA-bass” well enough to actually buy an IEM without a dynamic bass driver.

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Yea, I think with a dynamic driver, this is a no-brainer for sure. As you can probably surmise from my comments, I find the BA driven bass region is lacking some of that goodness that you would find typically in a well-tuned and well-designed dynamic driver. BA’s can get your partially there, but with limitations.

The reason it doesn’t is because it was designed and tuned using Fearless Audio’s Y2K system, which is limited to changing cross-over functions within an existing multi-BA IEM design. You can read more about it on Crinacle’s blog post here: https://crinacle.com/2020/03/23/behind-the-scenes-tuning-the-fearless-x-crinacle-dawn/

Otherwise, it’s a really neat concept. I hope in the future they can figure out how to do something similar with a DD-BA hybrid.

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This might ostracize me in the IEM community but I always say that if I am given the Andromeda (all BA) and the Solaris, with the kind of “busy” music I usually listen to, I would pick the former and would rarely feel the DD bass difference. Hence I even sold off my Solaris pair. The difference I get in a good way is from the W2 woofers used by Empire Ears. That stuff really shows its woofer like presence. The slow decay on the two DDs in the IER-Z1R is also excellent but some very well made BA IEMs often catch up (or even surpass) some DD IEMs imo. In a general sense absolutely, DD does bass better but there are several BA IEMs out there that have impressed me in the shelf region in my limited time with upper tier IEMs.

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Thank you! I always have things to write home about great iems.

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Given how crinacle loves DDs and isn’t a fan of EST drivers in general, keep a look out! Knowing him he’s probably looking into a hybrid (DD & BA) model.

I’ve this theory that many multi-BAs have pretty meh bass response mostly due to FR issues. The u12t and dawn is such a great example here - they keep the 300hz to 1000hz region rather flat and clean which decreases possible bass bloat to a great extent. They then see a bass shelf starting below 300hz and extends into high SPL at 20-40hz. A large majority of multi-BA sets have humps centered around the 250-400hz region which to my own ears, adds too much unnatural warmth and bloat to the bass. Vocals tend to be more forward and unnaturally bodied as a result of the hump as well. Whenever I EQ a multi-BA’s 300hz hump away, the sound is instantly clearer and more natural to my own ears. But of course everything above 1000hz has to be readjusted since the 300-1000hz region is now flat.

FR isn’t everything, but I do have to admit that it does shape the general sound signature. I want more manufacturers to start using dedicated woofers (20hz-300hz) crossed low for the bass!

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Review: https://www.antdroid.net/2020/04/fearless-x-crinacle-dawn-review.html

The Dawn in-ear monitor (IEM) from Fearless Audio is a collaboration effort between the Chinese audio company and famous IEM reviewer, Crinacle. Some may know Crinacle from his extensive measurement database that originally was started on head-fi.org and later became In-Ear Fidelity at http://www.crinacle.com. He has a large enthusiast following, and the measurement database is well-used and well-liked by the community, including myself.

A few months back, he was offered a chance to work on the tuning of a new IEM project with Fearless Audio, which use their own tuning system called Y2K. This system is explained in more detail on Crinacle’s blog post at https://crinacle.com/2020/03/23/behind-the-scenes-tuning-the-fearless-x-crinacle-dawn. The gist of it is that the tuner turns a set of dials on this system which changes cross-over positions of known driver setups. The final tuning configuration can then be used to create a customized in-ear monitor for that user. In this case, the personal tuning configuration that Crinacle chose is going to be produced and sold on Linsoul.com at $1399 USD starting now.

Disclaimer: This is a North American tour unit, which I was lucky enough to be the 1st on the tour. Thanks to Crinacle and Lillian of Linsoul for giving me the opportunity to be the first reviewer of this IEM.

Design

Dawn comes in a black shell with gold flakes and a simple text logo, “Crinacle,” on one side. The design is flashy, yet elegant and stunning at the same time. The design fits my ears pretty well, with only minor discomfort after a long period of use. It’s not as comfortable as the qdc Anole VX, but comfortable enough to wear for long periods of time for most people, I’d imagine.

The shell uses recessed 2-pin connectors, which is common in-case you want to change out the cables. I mention this, because the cable is extremely heavy. It’s a great looking cable, however. The cable is made with an appealing gray-colored braided design, with beautiful connectors and splitter. The only bad part is that these connectors and the splitter are made of a chunk of metal, which weighs the cable down significantly, and that can cause some issues wearing it over a period of time. After a couple days of using the packaged cable, I opted to switch out to a different cable that was lighter-weight and also of the 4.4mm pentaconn balanced variety to use with my Sony Digital Audio Player.

Beneath the exterior of the shell are 6 balanced armature (BA) drivers and 2 electrostatic tweeter (EST) drivers. What is interesting about this driver selection is that this wasn’t the intended driver configuration when this project started with Fearless and Crinacle. The Y2K system was designed around an all-BA setup, and so this ended up becoming a slightly custom iteration of the original driver configuration.

Sound

So – the question that’s been on a lot of people in the portable audio community’s minds. How does it sound?

Well for me, it sounds pretty good. Tonality-wise, it’s solid. Very solid. Crinacle fiddled some switches and came up with a sound signature that is similar to a treble-tamed Harman In-Ear Target curve, which gives this a very listenable and balanced presentation that should appeal to many people and will work across multiple genres of music.

The low-end has a boost that begins around 200Hz, although the mid-range is down-sloped until about 900Hz. Although this boost does bring up the measured frequency response up towards Sony IER-Z1R and 64 Audio U12t levels of bass gain, I don’t find it as impactful, sustained, or slammy (is that a word?) as the aforementioned IEMs. The Dawn has a quick and articulate bass response, more commonly found in balanced armature drivers (because that’s what it uses), and has less of a natural decay level than that of the other two. The U12t, for example, has more rumble and a deeper perceived sub-bass extension, despite also being a multi-BA setup.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the Dawn is bad though. I find that it still has good resolution in the bass region, and hits when needed. I think I came in expecting it to hit harder, like how the IER-Z1R was, but it doesn’t and that’s not necessarily a bad thing for my personal tastes.

My initial impressions of the lower mid-range mentioned that it was a little thin. I don’t know if I totally agree with those initial thoughts anymore, especially after changing the ear tips out to the Crinacle-recommended Azla Sedna tips, and in my case, the Sedna-Light tips. These do run slightly larger than expected, so you may want to consider getting them a half-size smaller than you normally would. I think the thick walls and stiffness play a role in how they fit and conform.

That aside, the lower-midrange seems to have been improved in terms of having a richer and warmer sound to it, which I didn’t feel before. Some of the complaints centered around male vocals, and maybe it was due to getting good seal or the wall thickness of the tips, but now I find that male vocals, particular some country-type songs I enjoy from say, Chris Stapleton and Jason Isbell or Orville Peck, have a bit more power behind them. The same can be said about the instrumentation that feels more engaging.

The upper-midrange does start to rise early and some may find it a little shouty. In my listening, I never found that to be a problem – I am also used to listening to IEMs that have similar early rises like the Anole VX, which begins even earlier, and other IEMs like the Viento, I recently reviewed, Etymotic, and even the aforementioned U12t. Female vocals are well-in-line with male vocals in terms of forwardness, though higher ranged voices may sound a bit more prominent due to the lower treble gain and extension.

Going back to the beginning again, I found the tonality of the Dawn to be nearly spot-on and should cast a wide net of users. I do think that some of the technical abilities of the set are lacking slightly compared to some other flagship-level IEMs – whether that be the lack of natural decay occasionally, or somewhat flatter dynamics. It’s not going to be widely noticeable if you are coming from lower-end gear, but when you go and compare these side-by-side with other IEMs, it does become a little more apparent.

Soundstage is wider than what I’d call intimate with just above average width, but not necessarily large depth. I found transient response to be fast and agile, which gives these a good amount of resolution and it’s comparable to many other others I’ve listened to before.

Music

Tool – Fear Inoculum

The initial ringing in this sound has a lot of zing to it and can be a considered a little sharp, although exciting. The panning cello-like bass guitar produces a good amount of rumble and the slam of each kick drum has some weight to it. Imaging is laid across more up front than scattered within deep layers as I may hear on the Anole VX, but there is a good amount of resolution that comes across at the end of each panning motion – with the barely audible noises off the sides quickly entering the scene and leaving. Drums are hit with decent authority and sound crisp and fast. Maynard Keenan’s voice sounds accurate and smooth. The entire song sounds very well structured with this IEM.

Civil Wars – Poison & Wine

This duet has a well-controlled bass line that doesn’t necessarily sustain as long I like, but it has a good amount of “feels” to it. The vocals of Joy Williams and John Paul White are both accurate and perhaps a tad shouty at times. The details in their voices are put together very well on this IEM with distinguishing sounds made apparent. My only subtle critique of this song using this IEM is that there isn’t enough depth and everything is presented very forward.

Olafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm – 21:05

This live improv track between these two musical geniuses has a lot of background noise and clicks and clacks from being recorded in open-air live. These little details do come across well on the Dawn. The piano sounds natural, though perhaps a tad bright, and a little forward. I believe this is Nils Frahm’s specific portion of the song, sounding a bit more forward than what I’ve heard on other headphones and IEMs, but still sounds really good. Separation of all the various background sounds and the two pianos is not a problem either.

Tegan & Sara – Boyfriend

This is one of the songs that has a lot of sibilant sounds in it and is also very compressed in sound. But I still like the band despite their bad recording techniques. Despite having a slightly elevated treble response, I don’t have any issues with listening to this song, as I did on the Hidition Viento-R Universal and the qdc Anole VX. The U12t handled this song the best of the 4, but it also sounds the most muted in terms of treble response. The Dawn doesn’t have any sibilance or any strange artifacts, and does handle the overall song well. It’s not a song that displays a lot of technical areas but is one that I use to check for how it handles modern pop songs.

Comparisons

64 Audio U12t

The U12t is an IEM that I feel this will be heavily compared to since they are both multi-BA IEMs, although the Dawn does have 2 EST drivers as well. They also share very similar shapes and sound signature. The U12t is $600 USD more than the Dawn however. Both come with a variety of accessories, however the U12t does come with modules that can affect tuning which is handy to change out sound flavors.

I found the U12t to have better presence and subbass impact and texturing with a more natural decay. Both have similar mid-range qualities, however the U12t comes across much smoother and perhaps darker compared to the Dawn in the treble region. I find that this makes the Dawn have a little more air and excitement to its sound. Resolution-wise, I think they are on-par with each other, as well as soundstage and what not. I think the U12t has a more overall laid-back soft tuning.

qdc Anole VX

The Anole VX is a 10-driver, all-BA IEM from qdc and comes with 3 switches to provide 8 tuning profiles in total. This gives the VX a lot of subtle flavor changes to choose from, however its most popular and my personal favorite tuning is the original default one, which is a U-shaped signature that doesn’t differ a lot from both the U12t and the Dawn. The Dawn has, in my mind, a better even and balanced tonality, with no major peaks or valleys and a generally smooth sound. The VX does have a bit of a dip in the lower treble, and then a rise between 7-9KHz that can be a bit harsh depending on the music you’re listening to and the volume you listen at. It can also cause a bit of an artificial sound that some may dislike. While the Dawn does not have these noticeable issues, I found it does lack some of the decay and layering and depth that the VX possesses more of. The qdc Anole VX is also one of the best fitting IEMs I’ve ever tried and one of the big reasons I really like it a lot.

Hidition Viento

The Hidition Viento and Dawn are a bit further apart in sound style. The Viento is more of a Diffuse Field tuning where the bass to mid-range is generally more flat and less weighted, with general note weight being much lighter than the Dawn. I find the Viento’s soundstage to sound grander and imaging and coherency a step above, though I find it above most IEMs I’ve tried. The Dawn will have a warmer and richer presentation with a boosted lower bass region, and more extended treble. Just like the U12t and VX, I find the Dawn a better suited IEM for rock, modern pop and electronic dance music, while the more acoustical-type music like classical, jazz and folk/country-type music will perform better on Viento, for my preferences.

Overall

I do want to reiterate, that I really enjoy the sound signature a lot. It’s well-balanced and I think many people will enjoy it. The Dawn comes in a beautiful package full of goodies, and a stunning design. The cable is a bit heavy and some may want to look at alternatives.

In terms of general sound, it is on par or maybe a small step down technically-savvy-wise as some IEMs above it’s price point, but it does provide above average qualities all-around and should be an easy one to pick up and enjoy. Tuning is one of the most important parts of enjoying music, and the other stuff are important for those who really want to discern and critically listen to everything, and in practical listening, this IEM is going to get you most of the way there anyway.

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Great review Anthony. As always great detail and comparisons too.

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