Linsoul 7Hz Salnotes Zero HiFi 10mm Dynamic Driver in-Ear Earphone IEM with Metal Composite Diaphragm Stainless Steel Faceplate Detachable 2Pin OFC Cable (Rose, with Mic, 3.5mm)

The 7Hz Salnotes Zero directly competes with the similarly priced Moondrop Chu. Overall, the Zero and the Chu are neck-and-neck in terms of sound quality. They each have certain strengths and weaknesses compared to the other, but both put other options at the price point to shame. The two IEMs also make different trade-offs in terms of build and accessories. While buyers will need to weigh which characteristics they value more in choosing between the two, both are solid buys for $20. SOURCES: I have used the 7Hz Salnotes Zero with the following sources: Qudelix 5K Hidizs S9 E1DA 9038D PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES: The 7Hz Salnotes Zero comes in a small white cardboard box. The packaging features pictures of the Zero on the front and back covers. In addition to the IEMs and detachable 2-pin cable, the Zero includes six pairs of silicone eartips in several varieties. These appear to be the same varieties described in my Dioko review: The red, blue, and orange pairs are squatter and more conical in shape and feature wider nozzles. The light blue and yellow eartips are more round with narrower nozzles. The pink pair is also round but with wider nozzles than the other round eartips. The pair of eartips resembling AZLA SednaEarfit Crystal eartips included with the Dioko is not included with the Zero. The Zero includes a product information card and a user manual written in English and Chinese, as well as a small velcro tie. The Zero does not include a carry pouch or case. BUILD QUALITY AND DESIGN: The 7Hz Salnotes Zero has a two-part plastic chassis with a stainless steel faceplate. The faceplates have a jagged, angular outline. “SAL♪NOTES ZERO” is laser-etched at the base of each faceplate. There is a small circular rivet at the top of each faceplate. The faceplates have developed minor scratches over the course of my review. There is a small circular recession on the inside of each chassis with an embossed “L” or “R” indicator. There is also a pinprick vent at the base of the nozzle. The nozzles have the same metal and paper nozzle covers as the Dioko, and have extruded lips to secure eartips. The 2-pin connectors are very snug and quite difficult to remove. The 2-pin connectors fit flush with the surface of the IEM housing body. Each 2-pin entry site is marked with a small red dot to indicate polarity. The included 2-pin cable has two strands that are joined in parallel below the Y-split. The cable uses a mix of metal and dark plastic hardware. The cable jack has a straight form factor. “SAL♪NOTES” is printed in white along the length of the jack housing. There is strain relief above the jack housing but none at the Y-split. The cable has pre-formed earguides without memory wire and a rubber chin-adjustment choker. The curved 2-pin housings have faintly raised “L” and “R” markings. The cable is mildly microphonic. COMFORT, FIT, AND ISOLATION: The 7Hz Salnotes Zero is intended to be worn cable-up. The earpieces have a shallow insertion depth. I found the Zero to be very comfortable. However, secureness of fit is below average and the housings required occasional readjustment with most eartips I tried the Zero with. Isolation is fairly poor. There is mild driver flex. SOUND AND COMPARISON TO THE MOONDROP CHU: The 7Hz Salnotes Zero is tuned very similarly to the Moondrop Chu. Like the Chu, the Zero has a Harman-ish sound that emphasizes sub-bass over mid-bass, features a robust pinna gain region, and slopes downward from the pinna gain region through the upper treble. The biggest tonal difference between the Chu and the Zero is that the Zero’s pinna gain region peaks later than the Chu. The Chu’s pinna gain region is centered around 3 kHz, while the Zero’s peaks later at around 3.5 kHz. This is a subtle difference, but depending on your ear physiology, may impact which of the two IEMs vocals sound more natural with. The Zero has a twinge more measured sub-bass than the Chu, although the difference between my samples is so small that this may be a question of unit variation rather than intended tuning. Subjectively, I feel that percussion actually has a greater impact on the Chu than the Zero. The Chu also has a hair more upper treble extension than the Zero. The Zero’s sub-bass shelf is mild in its amplitude, and sub-bass extension is average. Bass articulation and resolution are both very good. The Zero’s bass is well-textured for the price but is lacking in impact. The result is a clean but underwhelming bass tuning. After hearing the Chu and now the Zero, I have come to believe that if an IEM opts for a pure sub-bass shelf, the amplitude of that shelf needs to be greater than what either of these IEMs displays. The bass does not bleed into the lower mids. The Zero’s midrange is on the cooler side. Male vocals have grit but are slightly lacking in warmth. The amount of body to male vocals is somewhere in between these two other qualities. Female vocals are slightly more forward than male vocals, though both are very intelligible. Female vocals do sound more natural on the Chu than the Zero. On the Zero, there is a hint of strain and sibilance. On the Chu, female vocals are just slightly more grounded. With that said, the Zero’s midrange clarity is astonishing for an IEM of this price. The level of presence is essentially perfect for heavy rock genres. Timbre is slightly dry but natural sounding overall. The Zero has slightly less lower treble energy than the Chu, which I prefer. Like the Chu, the Zero has a noticeable drop-off in the mid-treble which deprives cymbal hits of sparkle. While the Chu has better upper treble extension than the Zero, the Zero has slightly crisper treble transient delivery. The Chu has a larger soundstage and slightly better detail retrieval. Imaging between the two is comparable. The Zero has the best instrument separation I have heard on an IEM at this price. AMPLIFICATION REQUIREMENTS AND SOURCE PAIRING: The 7Hz Salnotes Zero does not need a powerful source to reach a usable listening volume. I did not notice hiss with any of my devices.

These were replacement for some budget AKG over ear headphones and the persons first IEM's, they certainly obliterate those. For under 20 dollars they're night and day compared to skull candy garbage you would find in most local stores for a similar price. Fairly comfortable and clear sounding, almost as good as my Moondrop Starfield's are, like 80-90% of the sound quality, maybe a bit less comfortable? Probably fixable with some after market ear tips from china for $5. There's less pronounced bass, more so at the lowest tones. Things are a bit less "detailed?" overall than my Starfields, hard to put my finger on it exactly, but I still enjoyed listening to them. Cable's fairly short at around 3-3.5 feet long, but you can buy an extension cable for like $5 with the money saved. Includes 3-4 sets of different color of tips for them, may be slightly to big for small ear canals. The cable's good, it fits snugly in the IEM's and wraps around the ears fairly nicely. The cable and the IEM's are pretty good looking on top of that. Definitely a fantastic value proposition. If you need something for kids, teenagers, tight budgets or people without the best hearing this is a good option. If you're an audiophile you probably will want something better. Are my Starfields better? Yes. Are they 5x as good? No. Really comes down to how much money you have and how picky you are about your listening experience.

to preface, i’m no audiophile. i just really like listening to music. but i think these are some of the best in this price range. for reference i’ve had these since july and it is currently october. the audio is beyond clear. the sound is so much better than some $150/$200 headphones i’ve tried. the noise cancelling is amazing for non-anc earbuds. you can still hear some sounds, but it’s really good for just passive noise cancellation. these can also get EXTREMELY loud, i hardly ever listen above half volume. these are seriously amazing. these perform amazing on acoustic songs (hozier’s unreal unearth was absolutely heavenly sounding) as well as electronic songs (an example from what i’ve listened to on these would be taylor swift’s lavander haze or another one of her pop songs). i don’t prefer bass heavy songs at all, so i can’t really give you a well opinion on that. if you want more audiophile-terminology then i’m sure someone else has said it like that. i’m just here for the common people. it definitely seems like they should weigh more than normal earbuds, but i don’t think the difference is that much. and i think it helps them not fall out nearly as much as normal earbuds do. i personally think they’re so much more comfortable for long term wear than earbuds i’ve tried are. it definitely takes a moment to figure out how exactly to put them together, but you’ll for sure know if you did it wrong. and they come with different size tips so that’s a bonus. it may take some getting used to wear, especially if you aren’t used to having a wire sit on your ear. but i like that. they don’t slip out of my ears either. (note: even though the cord does go over your ear, it doesn’t have to sit right close to it, sometimes it’ll be more comfortable that way.) i did take a star off for the cord’s lifespan, which is pretty much my only con. UPDATE: IT WAS THE ADAPTER I WAS USING THAT GAVE ME THE ISSUE OF PAUSING RANDOMLY/NOT PLAYING november 28 update: i think i blew the speakers on these… bc all of a sudden i’m having to play these super loudly to hear at a comfortable level. i’ve streamed 22.2k minutes of music with these, courtesy of stats.fm, so i think that’s a pretty good lifespan for $20 earbuds. tldr: these are amazing for the $20/$25 dollar price range, good passive noise control, absolutely incredibly sound, much better than your normal earbuds.

Fantastic sound for the price. The best thing of all is you can replace the cord when they inevitably crap out (which, for some reason, is the bane of my existence, and I can never get earbuds to last longer than a few months). The cord ends plug into the actual ear phones, and so it can be replaced! Then you can buy replacement wires for six bucks on Alibaba or whatever. Excellent sound image and great sound for the price. Can't recommend it enough. Best earphones I've ever bought for this price or any price. If you're an audiophile on a serious budget, this is for you.

I've been into hifi stuff since the 80s. I've largely focused on speakers, because I really don't love wearing phones of any kind for more than 30-60 minutes. But I still have dozens of phones and a handful of favorites (like the the KSC75 or SR850) that I immediately recommend if anyone asks me what headphones I like. We've also got it pretty great now with so many choices in the budget sector, and things like the Zero are literally cheaper than a new LP (don't buy new LPs, by the way - the horrible value proposition of modern pressings is a whole other thing I could talk about for a few hours). So sometimes I do like to play around in this almost-zero-stakes (no pun intended) market segment. But I laugh at how seriously people are taking this stuff nowadays. The Zeros are interesting, and I've spent a good ten hours this week listening to them with a huge variety of source material and trying to like them. I know everyone wants to call these "neutral bright." I agree that they are neutral, but while they *are* brighter than the average $20-40 IEM, I don't know that they are really all that bright. The thing that is peculiar about them is that they really feel like they have purposely limited bass from about 200Hz on down, and then it swings back up around 45-50Hz all of a sudden. That's... *really weird* to listen to, and can be very unsatisfying or hard to adjust to, in a lot of ways, with the majority of source material. The best analogy I could make, maybe, as an old-school speaker enthusiast, is a good "starter" full-range driver like the Fostex FE208s. Except that the 208s have *no* bass past their early rolloff, a much more ragged and nasty midrange, and they aren't nearly as bright as the Zeros. The other important difference, though, is that in a listening room you have the option of supplementing a full-ranger with benefits and strengths everywhere except the lowest 3-4 octaves with a *separate* system (subwoofer, pair of subwoofers, whatever) that can cover those octaves. That, to me, is the main way a small-full-range-based speaker system can be made livable as a primary system. If you stick the Zeros in your ears, you have no such recourse. Sure, EQ, I suppose - but I use phones with so many different types of devices and setups that I personally really need the basic flat sonic profile of the headphone to be livable as is. I also find you get into horrible second-guessing and diminishing returns, quick, if you open that "I can just EQ everything to my liking" Pandora's box. So for these reasons, I'm not convinced you can, or really should, live with the Zeros fulltime or have them as your primary listening source. What they offer at the top end is, honestly, *not* that special on its own - it does not have any unusual "magic" or secret spice. It's simply the same basic top end that I've heard in a number of other IEMs and earbuds at a similar price point - it's good, it's clear, it's reasonable, it does sound nice and enjoyable, but it's nothing special, nothing game-changing. ...Meanwhile, though, I suspect the weird, scooped bass will cause most listeners - no matter how much they doth protest that they're "not a basshead" (horror of horrors!!!! who would ever want to be labeled with such an epithet!!!!!) - to turn these up louder than they ought over time. You can get to the bass in the Zeros, but you need to get over natural psychoacoustic limitations / biases such as the well-known Fletcher-Munson curve to get it there. That means some users will have a propensity to crank these a few dB higher than they ought. I personally find that, because they are bass-shy in even the mid-bass, they are really not very satisfying to listen to with any genre until they're turned up a little. And listen, I'm not a basshead either. But I know you need to have *some* bass information to comprehend harmonic structures in the music you're listening to. And speaking of music-geek talk, the main use cases I can think for the Zeros would be a) for monitoring reference - though they are not nearly so bassless or horrific-sounding, these would give you at least some idea of what your mix sounds like on a phone or laptop speaker as you're making it - and b) for serious notation / transcription work. Clearing all that stuff out from 200 on down does have the interesting side effect of making it easier to hear certain details above that point. I think that's where people are getting confused on these. They suddenly hear all this stuff they never heard before! Well, guess what - for roughly the same cash, I can slap on a set of ZSTs or my Final E1000s and hear all the same stuff, plus a bit more of the bassline. I will say that the Zeros are very pretty, though! (I have them in the robin's-egg blue. They look great with the orange eartips!) I'm honestly going to keep them just for the looks and for the occasional "well this is gonna be different" reference in my own mixes.

I was surprised by these, these are my entry into IEM's. The sound is very neutral and a bit on the bright side, there's a decent amount of details in songs I've listened to for years where I could now hear some stuff more clearly that I didn't know was originally there or was possibly masked by generic off the shelf bass heavy tunings on wireless or JLab/skullcandy earphones. These took a little getting used to since I normally leaned towards warm sounding headphones ..but these made food analytical listening IEM's, the soundstage does sit slightly in back rather in center. The cable was ehh, but I can't really complain, be careful splitting the wire because there's a possibility of cracking the cable sheath, I also got the Zero 2 and use that cable instead since it's thinner and doesn't mess with my glasses. Unfortunately I have some sort of allergic reaction to generic silicone tips so I used 2 different pair of Spinfit W1 tips which are an anti allergenic medical grade silicone, occasionally switching from Medium-small to the small tips ...yes they do make a difference, the small sit deeper in my ear, while the medium-small sit more securely against my canal entrance, I noticed the difference in the fit changed the soundstage a bit, the outer fit expanding the stage a bit.. and they also helped boost the bass a small bit for those that feel the bass is a little too underemphasized, it's nothing drastic though, it's more like a subtle boost. Overall these are great, I'd use these for FPS games since the response time is tighter than the zero 2, zero 2 is more or less the same but a bit bassier, if you have the money I'd say test them both out, I like both for different use cases. I wish the cable was a little longer, but I can't complain too much at this price point. If the sound is too sibilant for you, I recommend using foam tips to absorb some of the sharper frequencies while also bumping the bass a bit. They fit pretty well in my ear, I can't complain about build quality but I do like the design, they don't come with a case so I recommend getting a travel case or something, I got a linsoul tin HiFi case which holds both sets the thinner zero 2 cable and my FiiO KA11 dongle. Wired has become my go to again, I can't speak for the mic quality cause I got the no-mic cable version.

The 7Hz Salnotes Zero HiFi IEM is a budget-friendly option that has impressive value for their performance. - Sound Quality: It features a neutral-bright tuning, offering fast and tight bass, balanced mids, and clear treble. However, they may not satisfy people who love bass or those that are sensitive to treble. - Build and Design: The IEMs are made with a plastic body and a stainless steel faceplate, that should give durability and comfort for most. They also come with a detachable high-purity OFC cable that has good quality at this price point. - Performance: The 10mm dynamic driver with a metal composite diaphragm delivers accurate and smooth audio. It has a wide soundstage and natural timbre, making it suitable for vocals and instruments. - Price: At around $20, it offers an excellent price-to-performance ratio. - Accessories: No case. S/M/L tips with both small and large bore. - Drawbacks: Some may feel that they have a lack of bass impact.

EDIT: I reached out about the mic and they shipped me a new cord. The mic quality is great. 10/10 customer service. Leaving this a 4/5 because it took an extra step of reaching out. —————————————————— I really wanted to love these IEMs. For a budget pair, these punch way above their weight. Giving this a 2-star because I purchased for the mic to use for meetings and cant use them for it. Fit: Super comfortable right out of the box. I wore them for a few hours at a time without any discomfort. They also stayed in place without needing constant adjustment. The orange tips sealed out noise remarkably well. I even found myself tapping on the desk a few times just to check how soundproof they were. Volume & Sound: Volume range is solid and more than enough for any situation I threw at them. Sound-wise, I was impressed. Everything sounded as it should, and I wasn’t expecting that from a budget pair of headphones. Cord Length: Just right. Long enough to reach a desktop or laptop comfortably, but not so long that it tangles constantly. The build feels sturdy enough for daily use, too. Mic Quality: Unfortunately, this is where things fall apart. The mic was the one feature I really needed for video calls, and it just didn’t hold up. Multiple coworkers told me I was cutting in and out or sounded like i was whispering. I tried adjusting settings on my computer and inside conferencing apps (Zoom, Google Meet, etc.), but nothing made a real difference. It's basically unusable for calls. I had to swap off them anytime I needed to jump into a meeting. It’s frustrating, because if the mic had matched the quality of the rest of the product, this would’ve been a 5-star purchase and an everyday go-to. If you don’t need the mic, this is a steal.....but if you do, it’s probably worth looking elsewhere.