[genck]

BLON is not getting a 6/10

i'll bet you 2 doll hairs

 

[buonassi]

i'll bet you 2 doll hairs

I'll take that action. you're on!

 

[HerrXRDS]

BLON is 3, maximum 4

 

[genck]

BLON is 3, maximum 4

Aw hell naw

 

[Fargeg]

Aw hell naw

There’s nothing to be ashamed about being judged superior to the Fearless Roland and standing alongside the TOTL titans that are the Solaris, the Fourte Noir, and the MH755.

 

[aminus]

BLON BL-03:
BELIEF
LETMUSICBURN
OPPOTY
NEVERGIVEUP

Such are the words that make up the supposed acronym that is BLON’s name. As if the name BLON wasn’t already clunky and un-cool enough.

But I’m not here to tell you about how bad chifi companies are at naming. I’m here to talk about the latest hypetrain of the month that will be promptly be forgotten in lieu of another value for money piece of crap. Anyways, let the games begin.

The bass response on the BL-03 is nothing short of the definition of bloated midbass. Subbass extension is dismal, and the fat blobby bass of the BL-03 eagerly bleeds into the the midrange. Bass slam, while better than the likes of the Oxygen, is still not very focused or incisive. It feels more like getting tapped in the eardrum by a pillow than the precise slam and impact that a good DD should have. Sure, you can do worse. But when BAs with more precision and sharpness exist, this is an embarrassment.

The BL-03’s midrange is heavily affected by its thick midbass bloat, bleeding over heavily to the lower midrange. But at the same time, the BL-03’s tuning attempts to take on a typically single DD upper midrange pinna comp (by this I mean the pinna comp of the likes of the EX1K and the Acoustune 16XX series). This results in a midrange that sounds somewhat recessed, though not immediately appearing so. In particular, it has a slightly odd uncanny valley effect where male vocals sound bloated from the untamed bass boost, but at the same time appear to be recessed. In short, I’m not a fan of this kind of tasteless bloated V shape.

“But Aminus!” You cry. “The Xelento is even more V shaped than the BL-03!” Sure. But the Xelento has the transient control to make its midbass sound coherent, and even then the midrange recession still ticks people off. In comparison, the BL-03 is flabby and doesn’t have the technical chops nor raw bass power to make its midbass bloat sound good. This is how intangibles can set apart truly good IEMs from the rest of the pack.

As for the BL-03’s treble, the tonality reminds me of the EX1000... except, well, worse. It’s dry, somewhat unnaturally so, and while not as sharp as the EX1K, still has that strange lower treble oriented bite-y timbre that sounds cold and unpleasant. Couple that with poor treble extension and the BL-03 comes out with a less than satisfying treble tonality just like everything else. I guess it isn’t splashy... sort of. Maybe.

As for technicalities, the BL-03 has, well, none. Imaging is fuzzy and undefined, surface detail struggles to be resolved, soundstaging is firmly within the head as is expected. Separation is mushy and congested on a good day, outright blurring into a wall of sound on a bad one. Dynamics are nothing short of horribly compressed. I mean, it’s $30, and maybe I’m faulting it too much for the price, but when the MH755 and the AS800 exist, the value proposition of the BL-03 ceases to exist. For a third or even a sixth of the BL-03’s price, you get an IEM that does something well (bass) with tolerable mids and treble, rather than a middling to failing mess in every department. Extend that $30 to $50-$60 (Wow! Almost double the price!) and AS800 pulls off mids extremely well while still having serviceable bass and treble. Oh yeah, and did I mention the horrible fit and nonexistent QC? Get this joke outta here.

Really, the issue with the BL-03 is that people are excusing the tonality as inoffensive for the price. The problem is, for the price is codeword for “it’s really not as inoffensive as people are making it out to be”, and for the price I’d rather buy a MH755 and save the extra money for a nice meal or, better yet, buy the Tin T2 for the same money, which is tried and tested. Or, I’d stretch my budget and buy the AS800, which is not only damn well tuned, but also has other nifty features like being waterproof and usable while working out (it was designed for that, after all). The BL-03 is a poor value proposition being disguised as a great one, which is incredibly insidious, in my opinion.

But hey, I’m not one to put down companies for a bad debut. BLON should BELIEF in themselves, maybe LETMUSICBURN a little bit before trying their hand again at another IEM. There’ll be another OPPOTY to pull something off as long as they NEVERGIVEUP. Oh what’s that? There’s a BL-05 coming soon? Well, nevermind then.

All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 3.5mm jack.

ANNOTATION
MUSIC AND DRIAMS
NOT RECOMMEND

Score: 3/10

 

[mvvRAZ]

BLON BL-03:
BELIEF
LETMUSICBURN
OPPOTY
NEVERGIVEUP

Such are the words that make up the supposed acronym that is BLON’s name. As if the name BLON wasn’t already clunky and un-cool enough.

But I’m not here to tell you about how bad chifi companies are at naming. I’m here to talk about the latest hypetrain of the month that will be promptly be forgotten in lieu of another value for money piece of crap. Anyways, let the games begin.

The bass response on the BL-03 is nothing short of the definition of bloated midbass. Subbass extension is dismal, and the fat blobby bass of the BL-03 eagerly bleeds into the the midrange. Bass slam, while better than the likes of the Oxygen, is still not very focused or incisive. It feels more like getting tapped in the eardrum by a pillow than the precise slam and impact that a good DD should have. Sure, you can do worse. But when BAs with more precision and sharpness exist, this is an embarrassment.

The BL-03’s midrange is heavily affected by its thick midbass bloat, bleeding over heavily to the lower midrange. But at the same time, the BL-03’s tuning attempts to take on a typically single DD upper midrange pinna comp (by this I mean the pinna comp of the likes of the EX1K and the Acoustune 16XX series). This results in a midrange that sounds somewhat recessed, though not immediately appearing so. In particular, it has a slightly odd uncanny valley effect where male vocals sound bloated from the untamed bass boost, but at the same time appear to be recessed. In short, I’m not a fan of this kind of tasteless bloated V shape.

“But Aminus!” You cry. “The Xelento is even more V shaped than the BL-03!” Sure. But the Xelento has the transient control to make its midbass sound coherent, and even then the midrange recession still ticks people off. In comparison, the BL-03 is flabby and doesn’t have the technical chops nor raw bass power to make its midbass bloat sound good. This is how intangibles can set apart truly good IEMs from the rest of the pack.

As for the BL-03’s treble, the tonality reminds me of the EX1000... except, well, worse. It’s dry, somewhat unnaturally so, and while not as sharp as the EX1K, still has that strange lower treble oriented bite-y timbre that sounds cold and unpleasant. Couple that with poor treble extension and the BL-03 comes out with a less than satisfying treble tonality just like everything else. I guess it isn’t splashy... sort of. Maybe.

As for technicalities, the BL-03 has, well, none. Imaging is fuzzy and undefined, surface detail struggles to be resolved, soundstaging is firmly within the head as is expected. Separation is mushy and congested on a good day, outright blurring into a wall of sound on a bad one. Dynamics are nothing short of horribly compressed. I mean, it’s $30, and maybe I’m faulting it too much for the price, but when the MH755 and the AS800 exist, the value proposition of the BL-03 ceases to exist. For a third or even a sixth of the BL-03’s price, you get an IEM that does something well (bass) with tolerable mids and treble, rather than a middling to failing mess in every department. Extend that $30 to $50-$60 (Wow! Almost double the price!) and AS800 pulls off mids extremely well while still having serviceable bass and treble. Oh yeah, and did I mention the horrible fit and nonexistent QC? Get this joke outta here.

Really, the issue with the BL-03 is that people are excusing the tonality as inoffensive for the price. The problem is, for the price is codeword for “it’s really not as inoffensive as people are making it out to be”, and for the price I’d rather buy a MH755 and save the extra money for a nice meal or, better yet, buy the Tin T2 for the same money, which is tried and tested. Or, I’d stretch my budget and buy the AS800, which is not only damn well tuned, but also has other nifty features like being waterproof and usable while working out (it was designed for that, after all). The BL-03 is a poor value proposition being disguised as a great one, which is incredibly insidious, in my opinion.

But hey, I’m not one to put down companies for a bad debut. BLON should BELIEF in themselves, maybe LETMUSICBURN a little bit before trying their hand again at another IEM. There’ll be another OPPOTY to pull something off as long as they NEVERGIVEUP. Oh what’s that? There’s a BL-05 coming soon? Well, nevermind then.

All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 3.5mm jack.

ANNOTATION
MUSIC AND DRIAMS
NOT RECOMMEND
Score: 3/10

A company that doesn’t take the time to run a spellcheck can hardly be expected to run any sort of quality control on the junk they put out innit

 

[hollis7]

hi, just out of curiosity, did you get the chance to hear the Sony XBA N3AP? i was searching throught the thread hoping to find something about this unnoticed iem. Given how well fare in general Sony models in the diferent tiers, i was hoping maybe it would work as a cheap downgrade to the Sony Z1r.

 

[aminus]

hi, just out of curiosity, did you get the chance to hear the Sony XBA N3AP? i was searching throught the thread hoping to find something about this unnoticed iem. Given how well fare in general Sony models in the diferent tiers, i was hoping maybe it would work as a cheap downgrade to the Sony Z1r.

I was considering reviewing one in the future, more as a curiosity since the designer of the N3 later went on to design the Z1R. It’s been forever since I last heard one so I won’t comment on how that’ll go down until it does.

 

[buonassi]

BLON should BELIEF in themselves, maybe LETMUSICBURN a little bit before trying their hand again at another IEM. There’ll be another OPPOTY to pull something off as long as they NEVERGIVEUP.

 

[Raketen]

In defense of BLON, companies from all over the world have been using nonsense word salads on product packaging since thyme immemorial (just look up Dr. Bronner's labels).

 

[aminus]

Elysian Acoustic Labs Terminator 2:
Now here’s an obscure one. Elysian Acoustic Labs is a Malaysian brand that’s somewhat known in the Asian DIY community but fairly obscure outside of it. The Terminator 2 is a 8BA model, and is Elysian’s top full BA.

To start with, the Terminator 2’s boosted bass is typically BA. It has a good punch to it, as well as nice transient control, though it falls short in the usual ways that BAs do. That is, it lacks subbass rumble, proper decay, and clean timbre. The punch really does feel like it needs more weight behind it. But such is typical for a BA.

The Terminator 2’s mids are upper midrange oriented none of the gross shout that tends to come with such tunings. There’s minor bloat coming in from the bass response, lending a little bit of warmth to the midrange. General instrumental tonality is on point, save some lower midrange instruments that are slightly affected by the bass bleed, and some others that sound slightly thin thanks to the upper midrange boost. There is a little BA timbre in the upper midrange, similar to that of qdc Gemini’s, though not as extreme. It lends a little crinkliness and maybe some roughness to brass instruments, which, while annoying, is not a dealbreaking issue.

The treble of the Terminator 2 is characterized by lower treble emphasis that dips the mid treble before spiking back up for some upper treble peakiness all the way up at the top. This upper treble peak is reminiscent of the 64 tia drivers, with that extra ultra high end zing to cymbals. Your sensitivity to this and dislike or like of it will vary. That aside, the Terminator 2 has decent amounts of stick impact with slightly muted crash, though this isn’t a bad thing as cymbal crash can be pretty fatiguing. The main thing that annoys me about it is how the upper treble peak has a tendency to work its way into the initial stick impact of the cymbal, which sounds out of place. Aside from that, no splashiness, as is expected of an IEM with little stick impact, and very good treble definition.

The Terminator 2 is also technical. Excellent resolution from the clean midrange coupled with high levels of detail retrieval and respectable separation and layering. Thanks to the thick shell the IEM also attains some level of wider than average staging, though it still has a sonic wall. Timbre is the its biggest downfall, with the slight upper midrange plastickiness and lack of true low end extension being flaws. That and the slightly fatiguing upper treble peak. But these are small flaws on a solid allrounder nonetheless.

The Terminator 2 is undoubtedly a good IEM. A respectably tuned warm V shape, good technicalities, nothing offensively wrong with its dynamics or other intangibles. The real issue is in fact the pricing. At $2400, the Terminator 2 is not competitive at all, and according to its creator, intentionally so. As such, the value proposition for the Terminator 2 is next to nonexistent, which is a pity.

All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 4.4mm and 3.5mm jacks.

I don’t know if I can recommend this. The price is incredibly steep. But let it be known that it is a damned good full BA setup.

Score: 8/10

 

[aminus]

Elysian Acoustic Labs Annihilator:
The Annihilator, also known as the Dio (An Annihilator with a special cable called the World. Filthy weeaboos), is the flagship of Elysian, sporting a tribrid setup of 1DD, 4BAs and 2ESTs. My opinion of tribrids is not very high, with the VE Elysium being what I consider to be the least bad, and the EE Valkyrie being a somewhat distant second. I go into the Annihilator with a low opinion of what it’s capable of.

The Annihilator’s bass is unmistakably DD. Subbass extension, texture, timbre, is all where it should be. Quantity is also plenty and clean. The slight bass bleed of the Terminator is nowhere to be found here. The Annihilator’s transients do definitely lean on the faster side of things, which plays nicely with the driver coherency on this fairly complicated IEM. More on that later. I do have some complaints here though. I feel like the Annihilator doesn’t quite slam hard enough. It certainly slams harder than a BA, but I do wish it had a bit more. The other thing I don’t quite like about the Annihilator is that it has a midbass focus rather than a subbass one, On the other hand, the slight lack of slam and more midbass focus lends itself better to the Annihilator’s more airy sound. In either case, the Annihilator’s bass is not best in class, but it certainly is not bad.

The Annihilator’s midrange follows the general character of the Terminator 2 with that ridiculously clean upper midrange boost. Excellent clarity and resolution is the name of the game here, with no shout or harshness. The main issue with the it is that the mids do display quite a bit of thinness, and this can sound odd, if not straight up unnatural, with some vocals. Aside from that, the Annihilator’s BAs are free of the BA timbre that slightly annoyed me with the Terminator 2. I’m actually fine with the midrange thinness as I generally like the cleanliness that comes with it, though I know plenty of people who cannot tolerate it. Certainly a dealbreaker issue for some, though again, it’s not an issue for me.

The treble, however, is the Annihilator’s truly unique feature. This is handsdown the best electret implementation yet, with almost linear extension from 5khz-20khz. Yes, linear. It does not have the distinctive IEM treble roll off after 10khz, not even a bit. Peaks are slight but certainly not major compared to any other IEM. Not even the Z1R can compete at this. Nothing can. This is what a real electret implementation should sound like, and puts every other company to shame. You heard that right, VE, EE, AAW, FiR, Jomo, Fearless, none of them have anything on this. This implementation is honestly so out there and so radically different from anything before that it calls my previous favorite electret tweeter IEM, the VE Elysium, into question, as now it’s not quite clear if VE’s implementation counts as “proper” anymore, if this implementation shows what can really be done with the electret tweeter.

That aside, the Annihilator’s treble is characterized by incredible amounts of upper treble. And I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way. Cymbal extension and decay is best in class here, setting a benchmark the way the Z1R does in bass. Timbre is precise and incredibly nuance with complex cymbal hits and crashes being easily discernible. Make no mistake, this is a treblehead IEM. It’s undoubtedly bright, but its brightness is smooth and not peaky at all. A little fatiguing? Sure. Unnatural amounts of air and extension? Yeah, you might think that. But at no point do I find it harsh or unwanted. I only wish that every other electret implementation was this well done.

As if I’ve finished praising the Annihilator. The technical ability on the Annihilator is incredible, to put it simply. Not only does it have excellent resolution from the midrange and treble extension, the general detail retrieval and layering is some of the best I’ve heard on any IEM, easily beating out the qdc’s and the PP8. Dense orchestras are incredibly well articulated, and complex metal tracks sound effortless. Layering on the Annihilator is precise and difficult to fault. Transients are snappy and clean throughout the frequency range, bringing time domain incoherency to a minimum. Minor timbral incoherency exists, mostly between the electret and the BA midrange, though that’s certainly a nitpick. Dynamics are strong and uncompressed, with little issues handling my more difficult classical stuff. Though soundstage is typical by tubed IEM standards, the Annihilator shell is fairly thick, giving it decent width given what little it has to work with, and has precise image placement. This may or may not have something to do with the treble extension. It does run into the ever present sonic wall, but no tubed IEM doesn’t.

In either case, call me a fan. This thing has a thought out and well executed tuning, gamechanging treble, and the technical ability to make it a cohesive package. And somehow Elysian, a one man show, is the only company that have managed to show the world what a proper electret tweeter IEM should sound like. How has everyone else fallen so flat? Really embarrassing honestly, and a reflection of the dismal standards this industry has.

Oh what’s that? You want the price? Well, the Annihilator sells for a healthy $3.5k USD. Have fun.

Listening was done with the WM1A’s 4.4mm jack and a FiiO 2.5mm to 4.4mm dongle with the World cable, as well as the stock Annihilator with the standard cable terminated in 4.4mm.

I don’t need to recommend this. I’ll let the score speak for itself. You go figure out if you think it’s worth the money.

Score: 9/10

 

[mvvRAZ]

Elysian Acoustic Labs Annihilator:
The Annihilator, also known as the Dio (An Annihilator with a special cable called the World. Filthy weeaboos), is the flagship of Elysian, sporting a tribrid setup of 1DD, 4BAs and 2ESTs. My opinion of tribrids is not very high, with the VE Elysium being what I consider to be the least bad, and the EE Valkyrie being a somewhat distant second. I go into the Annihilator with a low opinion of what it’s capable of.

The Annihilator’s bass is unmistakably DD. Subbass extension, texture, timbre, is all where it should be. Quantity is also plenty and clean. The slight bass bleed of the Terminator is nowhere to be found here. The Annihilator’s transients do definitely lean on the faster side of things, which plays nicely with the driver coherency on this fairly complicated IEM. More on that later. I do have some complaints here though. I feel like the Annihilator doesn’t quite slam hard enough. It certainly slams harder than a BA, but I do wish it had a bit more. The other thing I don’t quite like about the Annihilator is that it has a midbass focus rather than a subbass one, On the other hand, the slight lack of slam and more midbass focus lends itself better to the Annihilator’s more airy sound. In either case, the Annihilator’s bass is not best in class, but it certainly is not bad.

The Annihilator’s midrange follows the general character of the Terminator 2 with that ridiculously clean upper midrange boost. Excellent clarity and resolution is the name of the game here, with no shout or harshness. The main issue with the it is that the mids do display quite a bit of thinness, and this can sound odd, if not straight up unnatural, with some vocals. Aside from that, the Annihilator’s BAs are free of the BA timbre that slightly annoyed me with the Terminator 2. I’m actually fine with the midrange thinness as I generally like the cleanliness that comes with it, though I know plenty of people who cannot tolerate it. Certainly a dealbreaker issue for some, though again, it’s not an issue for me.

The treble, however, is the Annihilator’s truly unique feature. This is handsdown the best electret implementation yet, with almost linear extension from 5khz-20khz. Yes, linear. It does not have the distinctive IEM treble roll off after 10khz, not even a bit. Peaks are slight but certainly not major compared to any other IEM. Not even the Z1R can compete at this. Nothing can. This is what a real electret implementation should sound like, and puts every other company to shame. You heard that right, VE, EE, AAW, FiR, Jomo, Fearless, none of them have anything on this. This implementation is honestly so out there and so radically different from anything before that it calls my previous favorite electret tweeter IEM, the VE Elysium, into question, as now it’s not quite clear if VE’s implementation counts as “proper” anymore, if this implementation shows what can really be done with the electret tweeter.

That aside, the Annihilator’s treble is characterized by incredible amounts of upper treble. And I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way. Cymbal extension and decay is best in class here, setting a benchmark the way the Z1R does in bass. Timbre is precise and incredibly nuance with complex cymbal hits and crashes being easily discernible. Make no mistake, this is a treblehead IEM. It’s undoubtedly bright, but its brightness is smooth and not peaky at all. A little fatiguing? Sure. Unnatural amounts of air and extension? Yeah, you might think that. But at no point do I find it harsh or unwanted. I only wish that every other electret implementation was this well done.

As if I’ve finished praising the Annihilator. The technical ability on the Annihilator is incredible, to put it simply. Not only does it have excellent resolution from the midrange and treble extension, the general detail retrieval and layering is some of the best I’ve heard on any IEM, easily beating out the qdc’s and the PP8. Dense orchestras are incredibly well articulated, and complex metal tracks sound effortless. Layering on the Annihilator is precise and difficult to fault. Transients are snappy and clean throughout the frequency range, bringing time domain incoherency to a minimum. Minor timbral incoherency exists, mostly between the electret and the BA midrange, though that’s certainly a nitpick. Dynamics are strong and uncompressed, with little issues handling my more difficult classical stuff. Though soundstage is typical by tubed IEM standards, the Annihilator shell is fairly thick, giving it decent width given what little it has to work with, and has precise image placement. This may or may not have something to do with the treble extension. It does run into the ever present sonic wall, but no tubed IEM doesn’t.

In either case, call me a fan. This thing has a thought out and well executed tuning, gamechanging treble, and the technical ability to make it a cohesive package. And somehow Elysian, a one man show, is the only company that have managed to show the world what a proper electret tweeter IEM should sound like. How has everyone else fallen so flat? Really embarrassing honestly, and a reflection of the dismal standards this industry has.

Oh what’s that? You want the price? Well, the Annihilator sells for a healthy $3.5k USD. Have fun.

Listening was done with the WM1A’s 4.4mm jack and a FiiO 2.5mm to 4.4mm dongle with the World cable, as well as the stock Annihilator with the standard cable terminated in 4.4mm.

I don’t need to recommend this. I’ll let the score speak for itself. You go figure out if you think it’s worth the money.

Score: 8/10

Maaaan that was going so well and then the thin mids... rip

 

[candlejack]

One remark and one question.

Your reviews would improve even further with a picture or two, especially when you're talking about these more obscure IEMs.

You often compare different IEMs in your reviews. Is this based on memory alone or do you also do some comparative listening?