BLON x HBB Z300 IN-EAR MONITOR

thaslaya's star rating system:
☆☆☆☆☆ - Fantastic!
☆☆☆☆ - Recommended
☆☆☆ - There are buyers but not for me
☆☆ - Can't see the appeal
☆ - Product is a failure

Disclaimer:
This product was purchased by me and all opinions are my own.

Gear used:
● LG v30+
● Samsung Galaxy s22 Ultra
● Hiby FC4

Source:
Listening was done through Amazon Music HD or Ultra HD.

Introduction:
Hawaiian Bad Boy (HBB) is an audiophile YouTuber and reviewer. He has done quite a few tuning collaborations with different iem manufacturers. Most of his sets are very bass heavy and oriented toward the low end. The Blon x HBB Z300 contains a single dynamic driver and is indeed very bassy. It is currently priced at $35 on Amazon. Let's break it down and see what $35 can get you.

Build, fit, ergonomics:
The shells are constructed of metal and have a nice heft to them. They feel very premium and have a great durable build for only $35. They are available in 2 color options (gold or cobalt blue) and feature an artistic dragon design on each faceplate. The stock cable has a premium look and feel and is available in 3.5 or 4.4mm termination (I opted for 4.4). It's one of the nicer stock cables I've recieved with an iem under $50. There are 6 sets of silicone tips and a small carrying bag also included. Overall the accessories are adequate and about what I'd expect for the price tag. The nozzle length is on the shorter side which might cause fit issues for some. I did have to do a fair amount of tip rolling and settled on medium Penon Liquer orange tips for the best seal.

Sound impressions:
The soundstage has good depth but the width is just average. It could benefit from more width to have better separation and allow the frequencies room to breathe. They aren't great at detail retrieval or very resolving but to be fair that's not what this specific tuning was made for.

●Lows - The bass hits right away and seems to never let up. If bass is your thing then the Z300 are probably right up your alley. Sub bass rumbles deep and mid bass has good punch and impact. There is a fair amount of bloat and bleeding into the mids on certain tracks. It's not a very fast bass and has a slower decay that seems to linger. Usually I associate a fatiguing profile with too much treble but in this case the bass wears me down over time and my ears need a break. It's not the quantity but rather the quality. I enjoy big bass but it needs to stay in it's lane and not completely dominate the other frequencies. Even with more easy listening tracks from Adele and John Mayer, the bass is constant and never let's up.

●Mid - I was afraid the big dominant bass would push the mids back too far but to my surprise they aren't actually that recessed. Vocals are clear and positioned just a bit forward on the stage. There can be a hint of shoutiness in the upper mids at times depending on listening volume. The bass bleeds and muddles up the whole lower mid range.

●Highs - To be fair if you're listening to an HBB collaboration you're probably not interested in the best treble presentation. There are a few problems here. The highs roll off too early. The lack of extension hinders the overall presentation of the treble. It makes the sound more congested. Also, there is sibilance at times. Treble sensitive folk like myself will find the S's and cymbal crashes to be harsh on certain tracks.

Summary:
At $35 the Blon x HBB Z300 lies in a crowded tier. If you're a basshead on a budget these might be a good one to try. The build quality is very nice and competes with iems double and triple the cost. They deliver a big bass experience but don't expect the best technicalities, treble extension, or overall tuning in this price bracket. In my case they worked best with rock, hip hop, and chillhop. If the budget can be pushed higher to $50, I would reccomend checking out the Juzear Clear. In my opinion, the Clear are superior across all frequencies, have better technicalities, a more premium design, and one of the best stock cables under $100.

Sound signature: v shape with extended bass and tamer treble

Overview
The z300 is a single 10mm dynamic driver iem. It has impedance of 28ohms and sensitivity of 115db.

Box and accessories
iems
Cable, average quality
Eartips 6pairs, average quality
Pouch, below avg

Build, fit and comfort
The shells are made with zinc alloy with a smooth texture on it. This has nice weight giving it a premium feel. This has the typical iem shape with normal sized nozzle. The shell size is medium, so fits comfortably. Fit is breathable and stability is ok. Score 4/5

Tested with
Source: questyle m15, fiio btr5, 7hz 71
Eartips: stock, spinfit cp100+, Final E
Cable: stock
Tested with versatile genre of music

Sound
Bass
Overall bass performance is good. It has a bit slower and boomier kind of presentation. As its a bit on the slower side, bass notes sound mushy. Sub bass rumble is solid. Sub bass has that good physicality factor. Mid bass slam is good enough to satisfy bass heads. It has good quantity of bass with ok quality. Score: 4/5

Midrange
Mids in short is relaxed and warm. Mid bass does bleed into the lower mids as it has well extended bass. Male vocals sound warm and has good body. But female vocals seem dull and thin due to the over all subdued nature. Instruments sounds passable for the most part but seem to get lost like female vocals in some tracks. A bit more shimmer would have gone well in my opinion. Score: 3/5

Treble
Treble performance is decent. It is smooth. There are some peaks in the treble but it is tuned well, it does not come off as harsh. Although in very few tracks details might seem sharp. In general Z300 has good enough detail and air to go well with the overall laid back tuning. Score 3.5/5

Technical performance (score:3/5)
Soundstage: good enough
Imaging:average
Sound separation: average
Dynamics: good enough
Resolution: average

Conclusion
This is a solid choice for a good warm and bass heavy set. I personally really like HBB’s tuning thus I liked it quite a bit, must say he did a great job tuning this. This can be the true successor of blon 03.

Presentation


Hello, friends. The one I bring you is the BLON Z300, a phone that was kindly sent to me by Linsoul for review, without any commitment or obligation to speak highly of the phone, just providing my opinions about it. Xiè xiè, Linsoul.

Note: This review was originally posted at avaliasom.com, my website.

Belief, Let Music Burn, Oppoty PT2, Never Give UP. Oppoty & Driams Pt 2. The errors in the BL03 box , which would have had everything to become a laughing stock, ended up becoming the hallmark of BLON's return to the market. By the way, BLON is the acronym formed by the phrase at the beginning of this paragraph.


The BLON Z300 was tuned by HBB , and as is inherent to Hawaiian tuning , this is a headphone with a lot of bass weight, but we'll talk about that later. First let's focus on the unboxing, which although it comes in a discreet cigarette box, it features a very interesting dragon on the front, and details about the phone on the back.


On the inside, a discreet cradle for the headphones, and just below BLON managed to store a fabric bag (the brand's good old corn bag), which contains two silicone tip kits, a black tips and another in white, with no difference in the mouthpiece. Furthermore, there is a beautifully constructed cable, with four cores, metal connector and splitter, and a metal chin slider. The only point that clashes is the 0.78 mm QDC connection for the headphones. As for the source, the pin is 3.5 mm. Optionally, it can be purchased with a microphone on the cable, or with a 4.4 mm termination cable.


The phone can come in gold, 18K gold plated, or in the beautiful matte blue color of this test model. Its entire body is made of zinc alloy, with the dragon on the case printed on the faceplates with gold paint. Its nozzle seems to be made of resin, and it has a very restrictive metal filter at the tip.

And its sound is generated by a 10 mm dynamic driver, with a silicone diaphragm.

Comfort


I used the BLON Z300 without any discomfort. Its body is smooth, with no sharp corners, and although the short nozzle forced me to use L-tips with a shallow insertion, I don't consider this a problem. Its seal is very good, and there is no pressure on the ear canal.

Musical Sound

I tried the phone on different sources, which are: iPhone SE (my “DAP”), Dell Laptop, Apple Dongle, Truthear Shio, Cayin RU6 , Topping G5 and Topping DX3 Pro+.

By the way, I invite you to check out my headphone test playlist on Spotify . This is a dynamic playlist, and the songs can change at any time, but they will always follow the purpose of presenting all the points I mention in my musical evaluation of the headphones.

Regarding sources, the BLON Z300 plays smoothly on any source, scaling well with better sources. It pairs better with colder sources, such as the Topping mentioned above.

• Bass: Level 5/5, Extension 3/5, Speed 2/5, Texture 4/5

In terms of bass, it is very intense! But there's more weight in the mid-bass than in the sub-bass, and it delivers the beats of a “Gangsta's Paradise” with a lot of vigor, while at the same time leaving me missing more vibrancy on a “What it Is” .

There is a lot of vigor in the drums of a “Drum Solo” , at the same time that it is sublime in presenting Champignon's fantastic bass line on CBJR tracks . Cellos and double basses also sound with a lot of weight and intensity, a delight for bassheads.

However, the driver with a silicone diaphragm proved to be very slow for the kick drums of Blind Guardian's “Valhalla” , while at the same time it makes any complex track quite messy. It reminded me exactly of the BL03 in this aspect, and I recommend that fans of Capiroto's music stay away from this headphone.

• Midrange: Level 3/5, Presence 3/5, Clarity 1/5, Voices 4/5

And to talk about the midrange, I must say that the slow, meaty bass invades the midrange without mercy. In other words, to hear Geoff Castelucci it goes very well, and it also works great in the voices of Mariana Aydar and Lecy Brandão in this version of “Zé do Caroço” , making everything very velvety and smooth.

However, there is a bit of mud on tracks like “La Bohéme” , where everything sounds very dragged and doesn't seem to progress. Intense voices like Amy Lee 's , while not attacking, also sound lifeless, less than expected. They're not mids that are too far back in the spectrum, they're just mids that are kind of muzzled.

Regarding the instruments, there is little clarity and a warmer tone than expected in everything. Not even the solo of “This I Love” escapes this curtain of heat, sounding less vivid and intense than we might expect. This headphone here is, without a doubt, a nightmare for midheads and the like.

• Treble: Level 3/5, Brightness 3/5, Airiness 2/5, Extension 2/5

I must say that the Z300 surprised me in the treble, after all, given the way the midrange is presented, I imagined that I would have a phone without airiness and extension here. I'm mistaken.

Of course, he doesn't deliver infinite dishes in a “September in Montreal” , but there's an extension that I really didn't expect. By the way, he also takes care of the splash and timbre of these cymbals. Another highlight of the phone is the timbre and the presence of triangles in a forró, and when it comes to violins , once again the BLON enchants in timbre, and also delivers a good dose of airiness.

Something to keep in mind is that the Z300 is a headphone with safe, comfortable, non-fatiguing highs. However, there is a slight peak at 8 kHz that can hurt ears sensitive to this frequency region, especially at higher volumes.

• Technicalities: Sound Stage 2/5, Image 2/5, Layering 1/5, Separation 2/5, Details 3/5, Resolution 3/5

Here in terms of technicalities, I found it very similar to the BL03 , and below the BL07 , if we consider other BLON models that I know. In other words, it is a phone that has an interesting stage, but is restricted only to the sides, with minimal or perhaps non-existent three-dimensionality.

The image formed on this stage is very confusing, with a noticeable overlap of instruments, which affects the performance on complex tracks. Its layering is weak, and the separation of instruments also leaves something to be desired. In terms of details, it delivers macro details and even some micro details well, while the phone's resolution is good, but nothing more.

The verdict on the technicalities is that the Z300 works best as a headphone to listen to music passively, without worrying about technical details, and ends up working better as a headphone to play music in the background, perhaps a headphone to use when driving or at the gym.

Sound in Games

For battle royale games like PUBG, the Z300's lack of three-dimensionality is evident. The perception we have is that sound emitters teleport from left to right, and vice versa, there is no gradual transition.

In FPS games, such as CS2 ( without changing the sound settings ), the Z300's bass causes problems in understanding the communication of its companions, as well as tending to mask steps in more intense exchange situations. It's possible to play well with it, but it's not the best option.

In casual games, like the Brazilian 171 , the Z300's tuning is very interesting for explosions and other chaotic situations, and is very pleasant for nature sounds in Genshin Impact. However, a more adequate sense of a three-dimensional world is missing.

In simulation games, the redemption of the Z300 occurs. From Project Cars to Forza, this headphone proved to be fascinating for bringing the sound of engines, and at around 35 USD there is no headphone that makes Mercedes AMGs sound like trumpets of the apocalypse as well as this BLON is capable of doing.

Sound in Films, Series and Podcasts

“These bass match a Suckerpunch ”, I thought, but I ended up opting for “The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift” , and I confess that this headphone was able to drive me crazy with the sound of engines. A “Ford vs Ferrari” was also very interesting to watch with the Z300, as long as you don't mind the somewhat muddy sound in some dialogues.

With this in mind, I do not recommend the Z300 to anyone looking for a headset to listen to podcasts or to study/work, as the heavy bass of the headset can be a problem in understanding voices well, especially when the recording/transmission is poor.

Conclusion

Music and driams, again. I have a special affection for BLON, after all the BL01 was the first hype that I got into audiophilia, spread by my friends Pombo and Caito. I believe it was my third or fourth headphone in my life, and that soft and cozy sound immediately enchanted me, so much so that I keep my BL01 with affection to this day. It is, perhaps, one of the best background headphones I have ever heard.

When I had the opportunity to listen to the BL03 and BL07, I was able to better understand the brand's idea, even though the BL07 is slightly more technical than any other BLON that has ever passed through my ears. By the way, the Z300 reminded me a lot of the BL03, although it is more comfortable and more beautiful (although this criterion is more subjective than the subjectivity already inherent to the hobby).

However, it is impressive how the chi-fi market has changed since BL03. Cheap headphones are getting better and better, and even comfortable-sounding headphones can be technical enough to please you all the time, like a Tripowin Piccolo for example . And I even understand that the Z300 wasn't created to be an exponent in the category, but compared to a Kiwi Ears Cadenza , the poor BLON is light years behind in every aspect except one: the ability to play background music on your day-to-day.

By the way, as repetitive as I'm being in saying this, this seems to have been BLON's goal with the Z300: to make a beautiful background phone. And maybe that's enough of a selling point for BLON, but it wouldn't make me buy it.

Big hug!