Hi everyone!

I've bought the KZ CRN and the 7hz Salnotes Zero a couple of weeks ago and since then I've been using both intermittently.

I'm by no means an audiophile (until like a month ago I had no idea about the entire bass/mids/treble, response graphs, EQ and so on) so I can't properly review them but I'll try to leave some of my impressions here.

As a background I've been using IEMs for quite a long while, but low quality ones ( my daily drivers were one of the JBL Tune 110, Skullcandy Jib and Sony MDR-XB50AP + a pair of Nillkin Go TW004 as TWS buds). The JBLs and Jibs are tiny so great for sleeping with them.

Both the Zeros and CRNs blew my mind when trying them - they sound so much better than the Jibs for example, the Jibs and JBLs sound muddy now that I think about it.

I use Spotify Premium for my music and I've been driving the IEMs using a Redmi Note 8 Pro and an assortment of Lenovo ThinkPads. The Salnotes seem to be a bit harder to drive - I listen to the CRNs at 2-3 volume levels on the phone and to the Salnotes at 3-4 volume levels to hear them as loud, so one level increase. The same for the laptop, 2-4 for the CRNs vs 4-6 for the Salnotes.

I mainly listen to Kpop/K-hip-hop/ K-indie(both more energetic songs and ballads, my favourite artists would be Epik High, IU, Jaurim, Dreamcatcher and Loona)

For the physical part, I like the cable of the Salnotes more, but everything else feels better about the CRNs: the weight, the fit (Salnotes have a shallower fit in the ear I'd say, I like the deeper one on the CRNs) and the seal achieved with their tips.

For sound I'm really torn and here it shows that I have no idea what I'm talking about. I've tried comparing them with many songs and sometimes I can feel the difference, sometimes I can barely distinguish it. Anyways, for me it's not a huge difference between them, more of a flavour difference than a quality one let's say.

The bass on CRNs seems to be more present and makes songs by Epik High like Excuses or Kill This Love more fun, I also feel like they provide a more "rounded" and "full" sound, like the voices fit in more with the instruments. The bass on Salnotes has good quality in my opinion but is not as loud as the one on the CRN.

The Salnotes provide even more clarity on the vocals (for slow songs like IU's Next Stop and Autumn Morning they are amazing - you can feel her voice incredibly well) but at the same time they feel more airy and somehow more distanced from the instruments on busier songs, the sound feels emptier somehow to me. Also on some ballads the vocals can get a bit shouty for me compared to the ones on the CRN. It's a bit more fatiguing for me to listen to the Salnotes compared to CRNs I think.

I read a lot that the CRNs have a harsh 8khz peak and 'weird' treble but I can't really say I noticed anything like that, I don't even know what to look for really. I also have no idea in what frequency range the vocals qualify and what are the instruments that would constitute the treble.

The Salnotes are also great for meetings or watching series/anime, the voices are really clear, but the CRNs are not far behind on this.

For the details, I think they are very very similar but I can hear a bit more separation in instruments on the CRN on a song like Jaurim - Itzy.

I like them both and feel they both have their own advantages.

If anyone else has both of these I'm waiting for your opinions in the comments.

Also, based on the info I provided, what other IEMs do you think I would enjoy?