BASN BMaster 5

General/Comfort/Build/Packaging
This is my first time trying BASN’s product, for those who are not aware, BASN is founded by Louis Lee back in year 2009, the company name stands for “Be a Sincere Newcomer”, the term was coined so that the founder could remind himself to always be a sincere headphone manufacturer. Master 5 is very comfortable, the shell is made out of resin and very comfortable and doesn’t feel heavy. The size is also just nice for my ears. The face place’s design consists of many miniature skulls with BASN wording on it, very nice.

In terms of packaging, I personally think that BASN is doing a great job there. The storage case that came with it offers a very solid protection in my opinion, two sets of cables, one with microphone and another without, very considerate of them, not to mention they also offer several types of eartips which allows the listener to pick up that seals and fits the best for them.



Gears used for this review

• Earmen Angel Dac/Amp
• Earmen ST-Amp
• Hiby FC6
• Sony WM1A
• BMaster stock tips and cable

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
BMaster 5’s sound is overall smooth and easy to listen to, tonality is fairly neutral and the timbre is quite natural and accurate to my ears, it doesn’t have the BA timbre based on my listening experience. Let’s take a look at the breakdown below:

Bass

• Bass sounds lacking due to the lack of punch from the mid bass, sub bass however does rumble when its called for, it MGK’s Taurus, the sub bass can be heard rumbling
• Mid bass as i mentioned earlier, lacks punch and slams, but it sort of blend in quite well with the tuning without much distractions
• Bass has good texture and good speed, it doesn’t bleed into the mids
• The bass quantity is certainly not for basshead, quality is good for the asking price

Mids

• Mid range doesn’t sound lush but it’s not dry sounding as well, well done here, very good texture overall and doesn’t sound thin
• Both male and female vocal has very good texture
• Milet’s vocal sounded sweet and not shouty, a little forward, male vocal however is slightly recessed, listening to Toto’s Africa, can clearly hear the vocal is slightly pushed back, but then it doesn’t really break the whole experience either
• Upper mids are generally safe sounding with a little bit of energy, but nowhere near the shouty territory

Treble

• Treble is smooth overall with good amount of air and sparkles, never sibilant sounding nor harsh peaks
• Treble remain smooth sounding even when the volume is being cranked up
• Detail retrieval is good for the price, but certainly not an analytical set

Driveability

• Bmaster 5 is very easy to drive, but it does scale with better source of course
• Pairing the Bmaster 5 with R2R DAC such as Hiby’s FC 6 is a whole different experience, Bmaster 5 sounded slightly more musical with this pairing, very enjoyable
• Amping the Bmaster 5 makes the experience different when i paired with Earmen’s Angel on Gain+ mode, soundstage is slightly bigger, bass has got more body and slightly more punchy

Final Thoughts
All in all, based on my time spent listening to Bmaster 5, i would say it is trying to strike a balance between monitoring and musicality, and it is a successful attempt, it doesn’t sound dry like the usual monitoring IEM, it has a bit of a musicality characteristic to it. The only complaint that I have with it is, more like nitpicking, the cable is slightly too long for my taste. Other than that, BASN has done a great job with the Bmaster 5 and I'm certainly looking forward to more upcoming releases from them. Another noteworthy mention for Bmaster 5 is the use of Pentacon Ear connector, which is a high quality MMCX connector from Pentacon itself, it is really rare to see brands which use high quality connectors for their IEM. Kudos to BASN!

*Big thanks to BASN for sending over Bmaster 5 for the purpose of this review. Appreciate the opportunity.

Head over to the official store if you are interested in getting a pair

Bmaster 5 Product Page - Non affiliated
Bmaster 5 Amazon Store Link - Non affiliated