Blon BL-03

source for the review - Sabaj DA3 (balanced out)

Songs used for the review

Jim Keltner - Improvisation
Eric Clapton - My father's Eyes
Nah Youn Sun - My Favorite Things
Inception - Dream Collapsing
Steve Strauss - Youngstown
Stimulus Timbre - Expression
Diana Krall – Let's Fall in Love
Trevor Jones - Clear The Tracks!
The DALI CD - Zhao Cong , Moonlight on Spring River
Baba-Yaga, for orchestra, Op. 56
Rebecca Pidgeon - Grandmother
Sara K - Maritime
Trevor Jones - Promentory
Patricia Barber - Regular Pleasures
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
Dire Straits - Your Latest Trick
Dave Brubeck - Take Five
Marcin Przybylowicz - Go Back Whence You Came
James Horner - Going After Newt
Hans Zimmer - Dream Is Collapsing
Hans Zimmer - Molossus
Harry Gregson - Emergency Launch
Shpongle - Shpongle Spores
Dizzy Gillespie - Could it Be You
Dominik Eulberg - Bjorn Borkenkafer
Trentemoller - The Forest
Kryptic Minds And Leon Switch - Ocean Blue
Nirvana - MTV Unplugged In New York (Album)
Xiomara Laugart - Tears and Rumba (2015) [192-24](Album)
Xiomara Laugart (2006) Xiomara (24-96)(Album)
Xiomara Laugart (2010) La Voz (24-88)(Album)
Jed Palmer - Upgrade (2018)(Album)
Plug_-_Drum_'N'_Bass_For_Papa-2CD-1997-FLAC(Album)
Jon Hopkins - Insides (2009)(Album)
Eric Serra - Lucy (2014) [flac](Album)

Specs
Earphone type: In-ear
Impedance: 32Ω
Earphone sensitivity: 102dB/mW
Frequency range: 20-20000Hz
Interface: 3.5mm
Plug Type: L-shaped
Cable Length: 1.2m±3cm
Colors: Silver, Gunmetal
Cable type: 2-Pin 0.78MM connector
Driver unit: 10mm Carbon Diaphragm Dynamic Driver

Packaging

3 pairs of tips, caring bag, cable



Here's what I think happened.
Bunch of people gathered in a room and one of them told the others - "What if we take a high quality dynamic drivers similar to those in Moondrop Kanas Pro and Tanchjim Oxygen , put them in high quality metal body and sell the earphones for 30$?"
Silence in the room, deep breath, after that the boss said - " sure, why not, let's see what will happen"
That is how the Blon BL03 came out.
I bought two pairs after a saw some measurements and reviews, i was sure that i am gonna like them. Was right, after i heard the first pair made a purchase for one more, it was hard to believe at first, was expecting good sound for the price of 30$, not a similar sound quality compared to Moondrop Kanas Pro.
To get the best performance from them you need aftermarket eartips (longer than the stock, nothing fancy) and i use soft aftermarket balanced cable.

Build, fit and comfort
The build is great, fit and comfort great with aftermarket tips


Isolation
The isolation is average at best, the fit is not very deep and they are vented

Overall sound signature.
Blon BL03 is L shaped, sub bass focus with neutral mids and treble.

Bass
High quality bass, not only for the price but in general.
The shape, as it should be - rise in the sub bass, mid and upper bass with small boost lower in level compared to the sub bass. I find that type of tuning the most natural, you get impact without bleeding into the mids, no boominess. The bass impact is visceral but not very big, it is over the neutral DF target but is not a bass head in ear. Detail retrieval is very high for the price, excellent bass texture, it moves between the notes in a effortless way. Control of the bass is also very good, never bloated, without loosing control no matter the volume level, it is always tight and clean bass, amazing with high quality recordings with real instruments.
I am trying all my in ears with sub bass boost every time, to see if they can be fun sounding for electronic music and doom metal (i like a lot of bass for those types of music), BL03 does not disappoint, with about 5db boost under 60hz the bass is significantly more, retaining the texture and control, carbon drivers respond very well to bass EQ.
Overall great bass response, very well controlled, deep and textured.

Mids
Midrange sound very even and open, tonally correct. No recession, no big narrow spikes or wide overemphasis anywhere. It is not completely free of coloration, it has a bit of warmth from the mid and upper bass, but is not a lot, also in the upper mids it sound very open and lively, no depression there to my ears.
Male vocals sound realistic and clean, female vocals sound a touch more open and dynamic compared to male vocals. Instruments in that area are clean with good amount of body, never thin or overly thick, just the right tonality with full and clear at the same time performance. Overall impressive midrange performing great with every type of music.

Treble
The treble have a neutral tone. The extension is slightly better than average, they go up to about 12-13khz. The best thing for me is that the treble is not overly forward and sibilant. It is a very rare thing those days to have neutral sounding treble coming from China. The timber is realistic and clean, they have some sparkle but it is just there without drawing too much attention. Good amount of air and micro details. Detail retrieval is very high for the price avoiding harshness and sibilance even with high volume. Overall not the most extended treble but with natural clean tone.

Soundstage and imaging.
Soundstage size is above average, there is no dominating side, it sound like it is similar size in all directions.
Imaging is very good, it has good positioning, even on fast complex tracks is keeping the instruments well separated with easy to hear positions. The background is dark but not the blackest, some of my BA earphones have blacker background and the imaging is better, but for single DD with that price the imaging is very good.

Comparisons
Bl03 vs CNT1


At first when i started to listen i was not very happy with the CNT1, i changed the black filter with the gold one and decided to give them time, after a couple of hours they sounded better to me, probably i was adjusting to the sound. Keep in mind that the CNT1 is at around 25 hours of playing.

Bass
BL03 has more sub bass, CNT1 more mid bass.
Blon have better texture and details, CNT1 is very punchy and tight but the texture is not as good.
CNT1 has sort of a rough, tight impactful punch, BL03 is more clean and effortless.

Mids
Blon have more open sounding mids, it is dynamic and very clean.
CNT1 has more laid back mids and they are not as open sounding

Treble
Blon have more realistic timber to the treble, CNT1 have sparkle but with a bit of a grain to it.

BL03 vs Kanas


Bass
Kanas have a little bit more bass overall, the tonality is very similar, sub bass focus with some mid bass emphasis but lower in level compared to the sub bass.
Blon have better speed and texture, Kanas is more dramatic sounding with longer decay.
The other thing is that Kanas with bass EQ can rattle your skull , it is very wide and huge bass when you EQ them, the Blon can have big impact with a boost but not at the same level as Kanas.

Mids
Blon have more open sounding mids, Kanas have warmer, lusher tone to them.
I like both types of tonality, Blon cleaner and more open with more upper mids, Kanas calmer and more euphoric.

Treble
Kanas have a sparkle in the upper treble, it sounds like it is high, over 12-13khz, that gives them more air and the treble to me sound very sweet and gentle. Before that peak it has depression somewhere, that makes the treble not very transparent but very enjoyable to me nevertheless.
Blon sound more tonally correct in the treble, the dipped area in Kanas is present on Blon, that makes the tone of the treble more realistic.


Conclusion
One of my all time favorites, i like them better than the CNT1, equal with Kanas.
For the price they are unbelievable.
Everything below 5 out of 5 rating is a crime against humanity.

Have a good one.

*Disclaimer, I was sent this one for a review. I promised an honest one as I don't have any affiliation with the company and don't host a channel or a website that would make this review profitable.

4* assuming the driver variation is a one-off

Testing with Audioquest Dragonfly v1.2 that tends to present detail forward. Spotify at max quality, auto-gain turned off.
Used frequency sweep to match seals/resonances, checked for phase and whatnot using playlist below.
Some test tracks: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4vhv7XQ8UeAgCS6R6mZL18?si=Ri0dAQ0wQYmYmdsAFn9_UQ

In sum
Warm with detailed mids, defined by elevated lower textures with good sub-bass reproduction, albeit a touch slow seeming. Relatively controlled with an early rolloff around 12khz. Should appease most bass lovers that want well defined bass while avoiding fatiguing V signatures. Not the best resolving earphone for those looking for something on the brighter side of things. Still very good for the price and easy to recommend to most people.

Build
Once you get past the ridiculous box, you get well made metal two piece shells, a short/medium nozzle with a mesh cover. It is advertised as a zinc alloy. One vent on the middle of the inner shell. Their small size and smooth shape make for an easy fit once you find a good tip. The cable is too tightly coiled over the ears with a heatshrink that is on the thick side that gets uncomfortable for me (with glasses). Others reported the ear hook rotating the earphones out of their seal. I think its a .78mm 2-pin connector.

It comes with two sets of tips: one is a conical, super lightweight silicone that I could get a seal initially that would not last; the other are the typical, flanged/lipped inset bore (where the outer cap extends beyond the end of the bore) silicones. The largest were not large enough for inserting as deep as they go so I switched to another tip I had on hand that was almost identical but slightly larger. (I usually use ML, sometimes L on thre right here). Important note here not to seal that vent since it will lead to -more- driver flex.

Cable is meh, not a very tight or neat braid/twist and while not that tangly, it tends to spring about when you want to coil it nicely on a flat surface. KZ style 90 degree 3.5mm jack. I much prefer the 90 degree connectors where the strain relief start at the shaft so that you are not putting torque on the earphone connectors with daily use. It has a kz stype spread-eagle split and no chin-slider. I'm not sure what cable replacement would work best as they have a shroud. I'd be happy to hear. I have not tested the mic to see how much crosstalk there is.

Sound

Range

Very present bass from 10hz onwards.
Treble Rolloff starts at 11-12kh though it remains audible at 17.

Bass

Elevated but controlled bass that doesn't bleed into / muddle the mids too much. Some normal distortion in the 50hz region. Pretty good definition thanks to the sub extension. 40-70hz can be a little too forward with some contemporary masters, droning over other sounds at times. I actually found the bass to be a little tiring after a while when I upped the volume to compensate for the lack of detail at the higher end.

Mids

While not recessed, they are not forward either. Higher vocals lose an edge with the early high rolloff. Generally it does alright though it can feel a touch congested if there is a lot going on in the sub 100hz range. For contrast, the Final audio e2000/e3000 are also warmer earphones but they are mid-forward as they lean on lower-mids more than sub 100hzs, they do trade off some bass control in doing so.

Highs

Fast and early roll-off following elevated high mids leave them detailed feeling without being fatiguing. Resolution is so-so. I can't help but feel the veil at all times, rounding the edge of instruments and stealing the rasp of some vocals. Despite the veil, peaks in the 4750-7300-9000hz (depending on insertion depth) maintain the feeling of detail.

Soundstage/Separation

The rolloff of highs sucks some air out of the soundstage. While not congested, it lacks height and can feel dampened thanks to percussions losing an edge to the rolloff, and dominant lower frequencies that humans cannot as easily place in space. Average.

Issues
Drivers not well matched, running a sweep sways left to right several times.
Driver flex, though it is not always present and largely on one side, crinkle is never good.

ETC
You can wear them down if you can find a cable that will do so. It's a shallower fit and will likely bring up resonances in the 4-6k region which makes it more detailed sounding but possibly harshly so.

BLON BL-03 REVIEW:

SOUND: 8.5/10
CONSTRUCTION: 9/10
DESIGN: 8/10
ACCESSORIES: 7.5/10
VALUE: 9.5/10

Hi budget audiophile pals,

today this review is for you because it’s about a great affordable fancy looking earphones call the BLON BL-03. Perhaps some of you already have heard about them, or are one of lucky owner that buy it for supreme absurd price (20$) when it was sell as a Lucky Bag on Ali express, if so, I applause your braveness cause you hit the jack pot!

Because let’s say it straight up No BS way, the BL-03 are nice sounding single dynamic drivers earphones!

Is it because it use a mysterious 10mm carbon nanotube drivers that these iem sound that lush, spacious and musical? Can’t say because I do not have heard the 200$ Dunu Falcon or other TOTL iem using this audio technology wich exist since more than 15 years now.

Here a small description of how nanotubes drivers work :

‘’The tiny speaker doesn't rely on moving parts and instead produces sound through the thermoacoustic effect. When an alternating current passes through the nanotubes, the material heats and cools the air around it; as the air warms, it expands, and as it cools, it contracts. This expansion and contraction creates sound waves. The new nanotube speaker could be manufactured at low cost in the same facilities used to make computer chips, the researchers say."

Reading this, it make me wonder if this heating process explain why these will benifit from good amping, not extreme, but if I plug it directly into low output DAP or DAC-AMP the sound will be dry and restrain in soundstage. More the amping is powerfull, more the sound became rich, dynamic, spacious and thicker in timbre.



BLON audio company aren’t new into audio market, I thinkthey’ve been active since 2014 but they still are rather mysterious like lot of other chinese audio company mostly active in well...China. Anyway, they create multiple iem and headphones in the past and none of them got suspectfull bad reviews. In fact, they get lot of praise on headfi for their BLON BOSSFI B3 hybrid iem as well as BLON B8 closed wooden headphones. This is sure a No BS good sign.

Priced around 30-40$, the BL-03 are utterlly impressive value, now let’s see if they should stand appart in this over crownded sub-50$ iem market.


ACCESSORIES, CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN :



UNBOXING is well presented and proove that BLON give some thinking about presentation of their product. Anyway, when you open it, you get the minimal, wich is still more than most Chifi products like KZ. Your Spoiled with a portative eco-friendly iem BAG, hourray! And a quite nice standard 2-pin 4cores braided cable and 6 pairs of silicones eartips (2 type of model). For thsi price I do not complaint, but some will find the iem ‘’protective’’ bag quite underwhelming.



CONSTRUCTION is quite impressive and extremely similar to the cheaper BLON BL-01 (or NiceHCK EP10). This is similar all metal heavy housing with the exception having mmcx connection and over the ear design, wich is a game changer in term of secure fit and comfort, as well, the nozzle being a little longer it solve the fitting issue of EP10. Cable that come with it is of basic quality, and as always, will thrown in my pile of unused cable that take dust and include 60% of cheap KZ cables.

DESIGN isn’t the more organicaly shaped and is on the heavy side. Still, due to the weight that push the housing into the ears, the fit is natural and steady. Sure the housing is rather big and bulbous, but if you use other eartips than the one included, it will fit nicely. You need longer-bigger eartips, I use L size KZ starline and the fit is wonderfull. For people that do not have lot of extra eartips collection like me, the BL-03 can be frustrating in term of fit as well, it can negatively affect the sound.



DRIVEABILITY is quite hungry type. My very first impressions was mitiged because I use included tips and not enough powerfull DAP, wich make them sound foward, brightish and congested. Amping do make night and day difference!

ISOLATION is above average and have good passive noise canceling, as well, their near 0db sound leakage.


SOUND :




GEAR USED : Xduoo X3, Ibasso DX90, Xduoo X20, Xduoo XD-05 (as DAC-AMP and AMP for other DAP)

Overall sound presentation is a U shape with fowarded upper mids that give a slow bassy and mid centric kinda sound. Timbre is thick but not too opaque, its well polish but lack in attack, should it be in mid bass, mid range or highs. First impression wasn’t that positive due to bad fit and bad pairing, strangely they sound brightish and too foward, wich isn’t normal as they are warm iem in fact, with some upper mids brightness and treble spike.




SOUNDSTAGE is quite gigantic, airy and out of your head, this is to me the big PLUS of BL-03. It’s way above average for its price range.

IMAGING is a little ackward, as if it some part of audio spectrum was veiled, you have a ‘’summarize’’ imaging that tend to separate specific range like lower bass, mid mids and upper treble, this give lot of space between instruments when their not lot of them but do the opposite when its complex music because lot of them will mix togheter or stay shadowed by overemphasis of particular tonalities.

BASS is very emphased in lower region, wich give slow rumble and sometime artificial resonance, but not in a particurly bad way, the problem with this type of bass its that it drown mid bass so you will struggle to hear correctly the kick. Its not a punchy bass at all, but it got slam to share. This do good for cello or acoustic bass that we find in jazz or classic, even if tonaly not super accurate it give extra body and excitment. For electronic, its hit or miss, fast IDM will struggle with slow bass but Rap and Drum&bass and sub centric music will sound very fun.

MID RANGE is slightly warmer in lower range, wich give extra body but stole imaging details. It have thick timbre that give sens of fullness and naturalness to vocal but can have some breathiness to it due to upper mids push, in fact, the problem with mid range is that it tend to be mixed up and lack transparency for other instrument to shine, when its not too crowded music it can sound marvellous, as well, string quartet, solo cello or violin, folk and some singersongwriter can really offer grand musical moment, never in a particularly textured or detailed way tough. Mid range is softened in attack and this is perhaps why instrument tend to mix with eachother, I do not suggest the BL-03 for symphony or jazz big band.

TREBLE is quite spiky and coloured, wich have the benifit to give some air at the top and extra sparkle with highs. But it stole timbre accuracy and texture, as well as other details in lower treble region from 8khz to 12khz. This dip darken the sound a little and do not help for proper resolution. I prefer more linear and balanced treble response. In other hand, it give extra sparkle and decay to high range instrument like harp or classical guitar, wich sound very lively to my ears.

SUB BASS : 8/10
MID BASS : 7/10
MID RANGE : 8/10
TREBLE : 7.5/10
SOUNDSTAGE : 9/10
IMAGING : 7.5/10
TIMBRE : 7.5/10
ATTACK-DECAY : 7/10

COMPARAISONS :

VS AUDIOSENSE T180 (40$) :


With its single balanced armature the T180 cannot offer a sound as spacious and airy than the BLON but its detailed imaging, even if a little congested, compensate its intimate soundstage.

BASS dig notably deeper with the BL-03, offering some rumble the T180 crualy lack, but its slower too, and show how capable is the T180 in term of fast mid bass, as well, we got some well textured sub bass line that is as well tigher but way drier and thin than muscular BL-03. In term of mid bass, its the BL-03 that crualy lack some punch and resolution.

MID RANGE is where the T180 show its bravado, its very balanced, with rich transparent slightly bright timbre, it can deal with impressively complex track and do not have unwanted peak like the more coloured BL-03 that give at it got for vocal forgetting to cover the rest with attack and grip that T180 hae in plentiness. Level of clarity, resolution and details is superior with T180. Here, the BL-03 is more about body and weight, wich give naturalness instead of hyper realism a la T180.

TREBLE is more balanced and linear with T180, but a little rougher too, wich can make percussion a little splashy. BL-03 have less micro details but more sparkling highs.

All in all, we have 2 very different iem here, T180 being a neutralish Mid centric and analytical iem while the warm, bassy BL-03 is more airy and natural with notably bigger soundstage.




VS KZ ZS10PRO (35$):



With its single dynamic driver, the BL-03 can’t compte in term of detailed imaging against the ZS10 but strangely offer a wider, taller and airier soundstage making ZS10PRO sound foward and intimate with richer layering.

BL-03 have a more U shape approach to lower end and ZS10PRO is the V kind with a fast foward punchy bass, more textured but less weighty and bodied sub bass. BL-03 warm gently lower mid range in a positive way that give extra body, warthm and naturalness to vocal wich make the mid range sound fuller but less detailed and accurate than brighter ZS10PRO.

The PRO sure dig more details and offer a more revealing mid range, its vivid and energic compared to more relaxed and transparent BL-03 that have an organic way of presenting multiple insturment. I tend to prefer the warm, thick and polished BLON vocal until lot of instrumentation go on and make it sound messy. Yes, multi BA’s of ZS10PRO sure help to offer a more agile sound.

TREBLE is more emphased in lower and mid treble with the PRO, while the BL-03 have extra presence in upper highs that permit a longer decay and more sparkle but this stole some details in lower highs wich affect overall instrument textures and make some like violin or piano sound to softened. Yep, the BL-03 are warm until they end, but offer impressive clarity nonetheless.

All in all, ZS10PRO is a more balanced sounding iem, with brighter more detailed timbre, less sub bass and a great amount of extra details compared to more U shape warm, airy and natural sounding BL-03.



CONCLUSION :



In an overcrowded Chi-Fi market where the use of balanced armature became extremely popular, creating a single dynamic drivers can question budget audiophile in term of sound limitation in term of dynamic and details. To some extend, the BL-03 show dynamic drivers can outclass badly tuned multi balanced armature, especially in term of bass, soundstage and naturalness. Still, I feel the BL-03 need more tuning work to be considered as a great single dynamic drivers earphones, because it lack proper balanced sound to reach audio nirvana that sometime he brush.

The BL-03 is very good for its price, the immense soundstage by himself worth the buy, but it got some of the same flaws we find with Hybrid or multi balanced chinese iem it try to outclass, like unbalanced mids and highs. Anyway, I applause BLON company to go back to single dynamic drivers and hope their next model will push even farther the tuning possibilites it have.

For more reviews, please give a look at my No BS Reviews BLOG

Intro
So far I only had the opportunity to review the S1 from BLON, which I liked very much due to its three-dimensionality and richness of detail, even if it sounds a bit too bright.
Now I hold the BL-03 in my hands, which in contrast to the S1 (1*DD & 1*BA) has a single dynamic driver in the housing, which I also prefer, because especially in the price category many hybrids are not well tuned and so the potential of the multi drivers is lost. With a single dynamic driver you know what you're getting and the tuning seems easier.

On the net you often read a comparison of the BL-03 with the NICEHCK EP10. Externally and from the technical point of view this may be true, but there are some differences in sound, so a comparison of the two makes less sense for me, because they are also slightly different in price (18 € -> 35 €). Basically, the BL-03 adds a scoop in all areas!

Handling
The BLON BL-03 has a metal housing, which makes it slightly heavier than the average IEM. It also has a 2-pin connector, which makes the cable interchangeable. It can be worn both over the ear and straight down if you swap the two sides. With the included cable, however, you can only wear it above the ear, as the earhooks are already provided. Otherwise we get a cloth bag for storage and 3 different sizes of silicone tips. Not earth-shattering on assessors, but of course sufficient.

The surface of the BL-03 is mirror polished (similar to the EP10) and looks good. The nozzles have a notch which makes the tips hold well and they are long enough to get deep enough into the ear canal. However, you'll have to experiment a bit with the tips to get a proper fit that strongly affects the sound and isolation of the BL-03.

If you have achieved a perfect fit, the insulation is very good and also the wearing comfort is pleasant.

Sound
The BL-03 has a good bass lift, which makes it very fun. The bass doesn't cover the complete signature, but knows how to make its mark on bass-hungry tracks, but it doesn't cheat on less bass-intensive music with unnecessary output.
It has a good texture and also scores in detail reproduction. It could be a bit faster and a bit harder in the response, but all in all it is very well tuned and knows how to please bass lovers, especially in the sub range.

The bass slightly pushes into the mid-range, which makes them appear fuller and warmer especially in the lower range, but doesn't overshadow them. It gives male voices a full body, as well as strings or guitars. This gives them a quite natural appearance and not as bright and sharp as worse BA drivers. Female voices move more into the foreground than their male counterparts due to the raised upper midrange, but generally voices are pleasantly positioned in the room with a slight push forward, which I personally prefer. The separation is quite decent, but with more complex music, the BL-03 can get a bit muddled which leads to overlay. In general it is suitable for every kind of genre, which makes it a very good all-rounder.

The highs are very relaxed and reproduce details well. They do not show excessive hardness and are not too brightly tuned. This makes them very pleasant even for longer periods of time. However, I sometimes have the impression that I feel a little tickling and cymbals can sound a bit clattering in some cases. I like the tuning of the highs in relation to the midrange and bass very much, as they manage to counteract the warmth adequately and give the BL-03 a certain airiness. Also, the frequency response feels quite homogeneous, without strong breakdowns in the transitions, which is often noticed with many cheaper multi driver IEMs. I would describe the sound as harmonic, musical and natural, with sympathetic bass emphasis and good three-dimensionality.

Outro
With the BL-03, BLON has produced a worthy representative in the field of dynamic drivers who knows how to convince in his price class and can appeal to a broad mass with his all-round capabilities

ALIEXPRESS
___________________________________________________________
More reviews: https://david-hahn.wixsite.com/chi-fiear
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The Blon BL-03 is an in-ear monitor using a single 10mm carbon nanotube dynamic driver per side. The BL-03 has a list price of about $40 at the time of this review. I purchased the BL-03 from the MissAudio Store on AliExpress and received a $10 discount on my order in exchange for a fair and objective review.

This review is also available on my blog: Bedrock Reviews

SOURCES:

I have used the Blon BL-03 with the following sources:

Windows 10 PC > JDS Labs The Element > Blon BL-03

Pixel 3 > Fiio BTR1K (Bluetooth Apt-X) > Blon BL-03

Windows 10 PC > Fiio BTR1K (USB-DAC) > Blon BL-03

Pixel 3 > Apple USB-C to 3.5mm dongle > Blon BL-03

I have tested these headphones with local FLAC and Spotify Premium. Visit my last.fm page to get an idea of what I listen to.

PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES:


The Blon BL-03 comes in a long rectangular white box with a clear plastic front panel, which displays the BL-03 earpieces in a plastic tray. Blon’s contact information is listed on the back in Chinese and English, and a sticker displaying technical specifications for the BL-03 in Chinese is attached to the bottom of the back panel. The BL-03 comes with a detachable .78mm 2-pin cable, three pairs of short-and-wide black silicone eartips (S, M, L), three pairs of conventional grey silicone eartips (S, M, L), and a Blon-branded drawstring bag.

BUILD QUALITY / DESIGN:


The Blon BL-03 has a simple but unique teardrop-shaped housing with a highly polished surface coating. The BL-03’s housings are advertised as being made of kirsite, a type of zinc alloy. The “BL-03” and “L” are printed on the inner face of the left earpiece. “Blon” and “R” are printed on the inner face of the right earpiece. The nozzle has a substantial lip for securing eartips. Each housing has a single circular vent on the inner face of the housing. The BL-03 has horrendous driver flex.


The 2-pin connectors use a protruding design similar to but not compatible with the KZ “Para type-C” design. The simple braided 4-strand cable has an L-shaped 3.5mm jack. The black plastic 2-pin connectors have raised markings to indicate left and right. The cable has pre-formed ear-guides without memory wire. There is no chin-adjustment choker. The cable is not tangle-prone and has little in the way of microphonics. There is strain-relief above the 3.5mm jack and above and below the Y-split.

COMFORT / FIT / ISOLATION:

The Blon BL-03 is intended to be worn cable-up only. The BL-03 has an incredibly shallow fit, and I was only able to get a good seal using double- and triple-flange eartips. Comfort is good otherwise thanks to the rounded housings. There is negligible sound leakage but isolation is average.

SOUND:

The Blon BL-03 has a neutral-ish tuning with extended, mildly elevated bass.

The BL-03 has a polite yet insistent bass presentation. Sub-bass extension is excellent. There is robust sub-bass rumble. The mid-bass is impactful without being bloated, imparting warmth to the overall tonality of the IEM without creating congestion. The bass has great texture. Bass articulation is not the fastest I’ve heard out of a carbon nanotube driver but is still capable of keeping pace with fast, complex music.

The almost-but-not-quite neutral midrange skews slightly towards emphasizing presence. Female vocals are slightly more forward and intelligible compared to male vocals. The upper midrange is vibrant without being sibilant. The overall timbre is natural.

The treble is energetic without being harsh. There is a good amount of sparkle and air. Transients are quick but natural sounding. Detail retrieval and overall resolution are excellent. Instrument separation is above average. Soundstage is average. Imaging is very good.

MEASUREMENTS:


My measurements were conducted with a Dayton iMM-6 microphone using a vinyl tubing coupler and a calibrated USB sound interface. The measurements use a compensation file derived from comparing my raw measurements with Crinacle’s published measurements. The measurements are presented with 1/24th smoothing. There is a resonant peak at 8k. Measurements above 10k are not reliable.

AMPLIFICATION REQUIREMENTS AND SOURCE PAIRING:

The Blon BL-03 can be driven to comfortable listening volumes with a smartphone or dongle. I did not notice hiss with any of my sources.

COMPARISONS:

Blon BL-03 [$40] vs CCA-C10 [$25]


The CCA-C10 is an IEM with a single dynamic driver and four balanced armatures per side. It has a slightly more V-shaped frequency response than the BL-03, with a larger mid-bass hump and a more forward upper midrange. The two IEMs trade blows in terms of bass articulation and treble transient delivery. The C10 has more presence and immediate clarity but can be more sibilant. The BL-03 has better imaging and a larger soundstage. The C10 has a tendency to migrate out of the ear canal. The BL-03 has worse driver flex. The C10 does not come with a bag or carry case.

Blon BL-03 [$40] vs Tanchjim Oxygen [$270]


I have included this comparison despite the price differential because the two IEMs both utilize a single carbon nanotube dynamic driver and have very similar tunings. I vaguely remember reading that they were tuned by the same person. The Tanchjim Oxygen has a cooler overall tonality. The Blon BL-03 has slightly better sub-bass extension than the Oxygen, but the Oxygen has faster, better-articulated bass. The Oxygen has a slightly more forward upper midrange. The Oxygen has better clarity and detail retrieval. The Oxygen has more air. The Oxygen has better imaging. The BL-03 is slightly easier to drive. The Oxygen does not have driver flex. The BL-03 is more comfortable. The Oxygen has more premium packaging and a more generous accessory selection.

CLOSING WORDS:


The Blon BL-03 is an excellent sounding IEM. I recommend them if you can tolerate longer eartips.