HZSOUND Heart Mirror Zero's Review

 

General/Build/Packaging/Comfort

HZSOUND gained its popularity with the OG Heart Mirror, literally a mirror due to its reflective metal shell. I have not had the chance to audition the OG Heart Mirror hence no comparison will be made between HM Zero and the OG Zero.

HM Zero went for the painted look which is a good choice in my opinion, I personally am not a fan of reflective surface’s shells due to it being easily scratchable and not to mention a fingerprint magnet. HM Zero is very small and fits very well in my ears, i have no problem wearing them for several hours while working and listening to music in the background. Packaging is rather straightforward, it came with a “waifu” packaging box, a storage pouch, eartips, cable and the IEM itself, pretty standard and nothing to shout out about.

Gears used for this review

• Earmen Angel Dac/Amp

• iFi Gryphon

• Macbook Air M2 3.5 Out

• iPod Touch 5th Gen

Foreword

My review is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far

Sound Impression

HM Zero to my ears is very flat and the bass response is linear, mids and trebles are good but the bass is lacking in terms of quantity. This is one of the IEM that benefits greatly from my source iFi Gryphon’s Xbass feature, it really adds that extra “ooomph” to the songs. Timbre sounds alright to my ears, a little cool in terms of tonality but pairing it with a warm source will negate it

Bass

• Bass quantity is very little, it lacks the kick nor body

• The speed however is very good and it handles complex track easily without breaking a sweat

• Mid bass lacks body and punch, sub bass rolled off very early so you literally won’t hear/feel any rumble

• This is certainly not for bassheads but more like a set for trebleheads

Mids

• Vocal presentation takes the front stage, vocal is forward and well separately from the instruments

• Female vocal especially is very pleasing to listen to, vocal lovers will love this set especially, good body for the female vocal overall

• Male vocal is as good as female vocal, good body overall 

• Upper mids are not shouty, it is energetic but never shouty based on my listening experience (your mileage might vary depending on your sensitivity)

Treble

• Treble is energetic and smooth at the same time? It is lively but not offensive at the same time

• Not sibilant at all, definitely a set for the trebleheads!

• Detail retrieval is good and you can hear the nuances without trying too hard

• Extension is good for the price

• Good amount of air and presence

Soundstage/Imaging

• Soundstage is average, not too wide nor boxy sounding

• Average height, depth and width

• Imaging is good, instruments can be pinpointed easily even during complex track

Driveability

• HM Zero is not hard to drive, out of my Macbook Air M2’s 3.5mm jack, my normal listening volume is achieve at 3/10 volume steps

• It does however scale with better source, iFi Gryphon with XbassII on for example, it gave the HM Zero a better note weight overall, also boosted the bass quantity and makes it a more “musical” sounding IEM

• Pairing it with the Earmen Angel will give it a more reference sound, slightly better control on the bass and better imaging, bass quantity is more or less similar

• HM Zero also pairs very well with the iPod Touch 5th Gen due to the nature of the DAP being colored/musical

Suggested Improvements

• Use it with Dunu’s Candy Eartips for better note weight across the frequencies

• Pair it with warm source to negate the cool sounding nature of HM Zero

• Swapping the stock cable to copper cable does slightly increase the bass quantity

Final Thoughts

So, who is the HM Zero For? Definitely not for the bassheads out there. In my opinion, HM Zero is for someone who wants to listen to vocal tracks as well as someone who likes a good dose of treble. I have no problem recommending HM Zero to those who are trebleheads as well as vocal lovers, not to mention those who like a flat response, HM Zero is the one you should get. HM Zero cost 33$ at the time of writing, which is not too expensive considering the good technicalities that it offers.

*HM Zero is sent over by HiFiGo for the purpose of this review, a big thanks for the opportunity, i received no monetary compensation nor was i influenced in any way to produce this review.

If you are interested in getting a pair of HM Zero, head over to the following link below to get one!

HZSOUND Heart Mirror Zero - Non Affiliated