CrinEar Project Meta

I have listened META for several days. Common impression it is steal at 250$ but it have some one unacceptable minus for me

Accessories: 10/10
I am very happy with approach at accessories great cable that will cost you 50$ separate, and 2 sets of really good tips( better than 10 sets of shitty ones).

Comfort of placing: 10/10
It placing in my ear perfectly, like it was made for me.

Sound:

Lower
Bass - it is 500$+ level it really tight fast and punchy i believe it used same driver with MEGA5 but acoustical implementation different
Drums - fast punchy little bit lack of acoustic fulness but it is still very good

Mids:
Male vocals: tones are reach and full about 400$ level iems
Female vocals: lower one are good ones but higher voices is to compressed there is no obertones
there no any air in sound it is little bit fatigue 300$- level woman subtones is weak point there is no air, to compressed
Guitars: tones are good little bit compressed but it is ok 300$+
Electric guitars: This is fail for META they couldn't handle distortion they are to compressed i like even Nova more 150$+

Hight:
Violins main body(lower region) is full technical nice 400$+ HIgher regions there is no air, no obertones
it need separate driver to play that frequencies 200$ level

Scene:
Frequency separation(layerness): because overall sound is pretty compressed without distortion i would say that separation at realy nice level same with dusk

Acoustic performance: I not feel that there were performed some work to make instruments sound like there real acoustic positioning but for 250$ it is ok usual price for iems with acoustic positioning over 500$

So: My music collection include lot of female and rock compositions. And i understand that speed performance and tone quality are at level of 400$ but compression of guitars and female vocals make me tired from that sound after 1-2 hours of listening, that not allow me to enjoy that iems fully, need to add some BA that work at woman voices high frequency and also need to add some hormonic distortions to sound.

If Meta costs 350$ but there were no problems with that region it would be must have iems for now. I understand that for 250$ it is steal. Correct price for them about 350-400$ it will be good against concurrent at sound comparisons but that cable and shells will be selling point.

I will be waiting for some IEMS at 359 - 799$ price range with performed work on crossover, acoustic placing and no weak sound regions ))

These sound very good and pretty detailed, using JBL 305p MKII as point of reference.
The included foam ear tips result in a more natural presentation.
The silicone ear tips allow some more treble detail to be heard.

The bass/sub-bass quantity is adequate but not overwhelming, especially compared to headphones or speakers. Perhaps the seal was never good enough to appreciate the more bass-forward curve. These are certainly not bass-head iems. When kick drums hit, I am expecting the attack to be a bit faster.

I think the mid-bass amount could be a bit higher.

Midrange is nice, if sounding a little bit less in the front.

treble sections are a little bit forward, still pleasant. I don't like excessive lower treble in an iem, and these are good.

Comfort is not that great for me. Even with the smallest ear tips, I find a lot of pressure in my ear canals, resulting in some discomfort the following day. The way the Meta's are shaped, I think it is meant for a deeper insertion, which I am not used to. Perhaps I need to swap to 3rd party ear tips or work with a shallower fit.

The cable is decent as far as I can tell. There isn't a lot of vibration transmitted to the ears when moving around or walking, which is great. The ear hooks tend to sit towards the outside of my ear, so it feels less secure. The weight of the cable helps keep things in place though.

The included case is nice, but seems to have sub-par assembly quality. When I first opened the case, two things stuck out: The zipper pouch was attached very close to the edge, resulting in significantly less usable space and pressed down on the iems a bit when closed. Secondly, the bottom foam appeared to have a large indent, as if someone accidentally pressed their fingernail when applying the foam. After a few days of use, and storage, more marks appeared in the foam, so I think the foam is very susceptible to damage/impression.

The pouch position was simple enough to fix, by pulling off the velcro tape and reapplying it.

Sound-wise, I think this IEM is a great value and deserves 5 stars. Overall, I rate this as a 3.5/5.
1 star is deducted because I am still having trouble getting a comfortable fit. A half star is deducted because of the combination of poor pouch placement and the easily damaged foam liner.

its a great overall set. not the most detailed like the epz p50, but its definitely a jack of all trade and does it very well. Very holographic - I would even say better than the Z1R. It is IMO an upgrade to the Z1R despite the Z1R being older technology. Only complaint is the length of the interchangeable termination jack. It's a bit too long. I would've preferred the cable from the xenns mangird Tea Pro or the newer moondrop.

Good for listening to the average pop song but lacks that high-end sparkle making a lot of the music I like sound a bit dull. On the bright side especially the sub-bass really hits without sounding too muddy and makes a lot of songs fun to listen to. Overall a great deal for the price if the sound profile fits the kind of music you listen to.

I got into audiophilia quite recently (less than a year) and found Crinacle's reviews quite useful. Initially, I got convinced that I don’t enjoy bass all that much, but upon Crinacle's recommendation I bought ER2XR and learnt that I do enjoy it in moderation. I then learnt that Crinacle wants to redefine neutral to have more bass. I had also bought IE 600 and found its bass rather neutral, even though in quantity (in graph) it is similar to Meta. This, I suppose, is due to excess treble in its signature. Anyway, when I learnt about Crinear Meta, I decided to buy it mostly because I thought I owed him for all that I had learnt from his reviews. I find them very entertaining too! Regarding Meta, I think it is a solid IEM. It especially suits rock and pop. For jazz and classical music I think a bright neutral signature works much better. Technicalities etc are alright. Crinacle himself advises that we should not buy IEMs for their tuning, which can be EQed. My own experience has been that small deviations from neutral matter only when we switch from one IEM to another for less than a few minutes. Our brain is quite happy with music in a certain acceptable range and tuning more or less disappears. Technicalities, however, don’t appear or disappear. So I hope that in the future Crinacle will produce an IEM that would focus more on that and less on tuning.