Absolute best budget earbuds?
May 4, 2020 at 3:26 PM Post #2,836 of 2,999
I'm excited to receive my Blon BL-03's to see if they live up to the hype. Right now I'm listening my 3-year old KZ ED9's and I still love them. Incredible deal for about $10.
 
May 4, 2020 at 8:48 PM Post #2,837 of 2,999
I'm excited to receive my Blon BL-03's to see if they live up to the hype. Right now I'm listening my 3-year old KZ ED9's and I still love them. Incredible deal for about $10.

Yes BLON BL-03 is a real eye opener in tonality and timbre. But, only if u get a good fit (BLON's nozzle is too short for most average sized westerners). So do invest in longer nozzle eartips eg spinfit CP145 if u want less bass on BLON or CP100 if u want more bass.

A few headfiers also reported a successful fit on the BLON BL-03 with a spacer mod or some variant of the sort (pics included):
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chinese-asian-brand-iem-info-thread.820747/page-1745#post-15176790
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chinese-asian-brand-iem-info-thread.820747/page-1841#post-15260691
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chinese-asian-brand-iem-info-thread.820747/page-1774#post-15201197

BLON BL-03 is weak in technicalities though, so if u are listening to complex music with competing instrumentation, then the BL-03 can't keep up. But overall, at the sub $100 region for CHIFI, it is very easy to find something with good technicalities, but much rarer to find something with good timbre/tonality.
 
May 4, 2020 at 9:45 PM Post #2,838 of 2,999
Aren't the Blon BL-03 earphones, rather than budget earbuds? :relaxed:
 
May 4, 2020 at 10:26 PM Post #2,839 of 2,999
Yes BLON BL-03 is a real eye opener in tonality and timbre. But, only if u get a good fit (BLON's nozzle is too short for most average sized westerners). So do invest in longer nozzle eartips eg spinfit CP145 if u want less bass on BLON or CP100 if u want more bass.

A few headfiers also reported a successful fit on the BLON BL-03 with a spacer mod or some variant of the sort (pics included):
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chinese-asian-brand-iem-info-thread.820747/page-1745#post-15176790
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chinese-asian-brand-iem-info-thread.820747/page-1841#post-15260691
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chinese-asian-brand-iem-info-thread.820747/page-1774#post-15201197

BLON BL-03 is weak in technicalities though, so if u are listening to complex music with competing instrumentation, then the BL-03 can't keep up. But overall, at the sub $100 region for CHIFI, it is very easy to find something with good technicalities, but much rarer to find something with good timbre/tonality.

Anyway how does the BLON -03 sounds like in this song?

 
May 4, 2020 at 10:54 PM Post #2,840 of 2,999
Anyway how does the BLON -03 sounds like in this song?



Hi I don't have the BLON BL-03 with me currently as I'm out, but will be able to give a listen in about 12 hours time.

Any areas you are looking for particularly? I've not much experience with Indian music, so not sure what are the nuances and things that you would appreciate. And as discussed before, the BLON BL-03 would fair better with accurate reproduction of acoustic instrument timbre, rather than technical excellence.

And maybe I'll PM u later, so as not to derail this thread, which is technically a earbuds thread haha.
 
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May 5, 2020 at 2:29 AM Post #2,841 of 2,999
Aren't the Blon BL-03 earphones, rather than budget earbuds? :relaxed:
ahh, sorry. I didn't realize there was a difference.

And technically, this thread should not be here, as this is the section of the forum for "Portable Headphones, Earphones and In-Ear Monitors".
 
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May 5, 2020 at 5:52 AM Post #2,842 of 2,999
Hi I don't have the BLON BL-03 with me currently as I'm out, but will be able to give a listen in about 12 hours time.

Any areas you are looking for particularly? I've not much experience with Indian music, so not sure what are the nuances and things that you would appreciate. And as discussed before, the BLON BL-03 would fair better with accurate reproduction of acoustic instrument timbre, rather than technical excellence.

And maybe I'll PM u later, so as not to derail this thread, which is technically a earbuds thread haha.

well its mostly accoustic sounds.

if the song is reproduced properly it should have the following

SOme kind of airy soundstage with instruments floating in the space especially the tabla beat.

The cymbal will come off as reverb

The piano or bass watever it called will go down in a v shape bass with good sub

The violin will have some kind of low tempo and come off as a mid sound

The blow horn sound which is an electronic accoustic sound will have good stage presence expanding 360 and more to the sides on both left and right

The vocals will have a kind of transparent quality to them
 
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May 6, 2020 at 12:20 PM Post #2,843 of 2,999
ahh, sorry. I didn't realize there was a difference.

And technically, this thread should not be here, as this is the section of the forum for "Portable Headphones, Earphones and In-Ear Monitors".
Earphones would normally refer to earbuds. As per the history. It would be more correct to refer bl03 as iem.
So this thread is in the right place.
 
May 6, 2020 at 3:36 PM Post #2,844 of 2,999
May 6, 2020 at 9:13 PM Post #2,846 of 2,999
11211712.jpg


A lot of lay consumers interchange the words In Ear Monitors (IEMS), earbuds and earphones. Some people refer to earphones as an umbrella term that covers both IEMs and buds, though I've even seen some large electronics stores refer to IEMs as earbuds LOL.

IEMS (picture on the right) sit within the ear canal and hence give a better seal and isolation in general. They tend to give a narrower soundstage as they are sited inside the ear. Though there are some vented or open backed IEMs that don't give as good isolation, but in general they are still better in isolation than earbuds. And cause of the good seal, they allow music to be heard at lower volumes, preserve microdetails and also preserve the bass frequencies, which is the first to be lost in noisy environments.

Earbuds are the picture on the left where the transducer doesn't really enter the ear canal and give a good seal. Earbuds have their strengths though, such as better soundstage. Most of em have poor subbass quantity/extension due to the lack of seal, though they tend to give quite good timbre in general.

Well at the end of the day, it is all semantics, most important is that we enjoy the music with what gear we use!
 
May 9, 2020 at 2:27 AM Post #2,847 of 2,999

If I'm not mistaken lifewire( or some other similar online mags) is the first progenitor that popularized the usage. Before, iem was iem. And at that time iem is very rare, a new mass production. Only 'classical earbuds' existed.

But since that online mags(that I forgot what is the name) blunder, everyone jumps in. And now it's interchangeable.

Term are just term, but now it becomes a bit harder to search for classical earbuds. As search will gives iem style and classical style at the same time.

Just a little historical perspectives.
 
May 9, 2020 at 2:35 AM Post #2,849 of 2,999
11211712.jpg

A lot of lay consumers interchange the words In Ear Monitors (IEMS), earbuds and earphones. Some people refer to earphones as an umbrella term that covers both IEMs and buds, though I've even seen some large electronics stores refer to IEMs as earbuds LOL.

IEMS (picture on the right) sit within the ear canal and hence give a better seal and isolation in general. They tend to give a narrower soundstage as they are sited inside the ear. Though there are some vented or open backed IEMs that don't give as good isolation, but in general they are still better in isolation than earbuds. And cause of the good seal, they allow music to be heard at lower volumes, preserve microdetails and also preserve the bass frequencies, which is the first to be lost in noisy environments.

Earbuds are the picture on the left where the transducer doesn't really enter the ear canal and give a good seal. Earbuds have their strengths though, such as better soundstage. Most of em have poor subbass quantity/extension due to the lack of seal, though they tend to give quite good timbre in general.

Well at the end of the day, it is all semantics, most important is that we enjoy the music with what gear we use!
Yes. But to say this is not the place to talk about non canalphone, is like saying everyone has been wrong the entire thread and well, to each his own I guess.

They should have called it canalphone. Lol.

The average consumer refers to iem as earbuds and earphones all the time nowadays.
 
May 9, 2020 at 6:36 AM Post #2,850 of 2,999
Yes. But to say this is not the place to talk about non canalphone, is like saying everyone has been wrong the entire thread and well, to each his own I guess.

They should have called it canalphone. Lol.

The average consumer refers to iem as earbuds and earphones all the time nowadays.

On Head-fi, earbuds have a special designation so we know what we are talking about.
Average consumer terminology doesn’t really apply.
Blons aren’t earbuds. .
 

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