[kakaworu]

I've just asked BLON official store on Taobao about the Cardinal / Blue jay version differences.
Turned out that she told me that they have stopped manufacturing the Cardinal / Blue.
And yes there will be successor coming.

 

[Slater]

I have a BLON BL-03 and a Cardinal. My Cardinal has the metal fan looking grill/nozzle like your last picture. I'll double check when I get home but I'm pretty sure that it does not have "audition" written on it like some of the other guys. I was reading their description of the Cardinal sounding better than the BL03 and thinking man I wish mine was like that because that's not how mine is. My BL03 sounds better than my Cardinal.

You illustrated my point EXACTLY!

Does your Cardinal not sound as good because of your particular ears/preference? Or because of your alien fan filter vs someone else's open nozzle? Or because yours says H101 when someone else's says audition (hypothetically speaking, since you aren't sure what yours says).

 

[Slater]

Great detective work, these are excellent questions, but I think they are beyond our level. Short of asking someone who works inside the industry. Maybe the sellers themselves dunno about the variations - eg the Kbear F1 had different drivers inside initially.

What I can say is my "audition" version of the Cardinal (with no fancy nozzle) sounds similarly tuned to the BLON BL-03, just a better subbass and better technicalities, as I said around 10 - 20% improvement in these areas give and take. My Cardinal has a "DGS0143L" engraved on the shell, so maybe it's a serial number or something?

Yeah the AE variation is between $64 - 100ish USD. Some sell it without package for a cheaper price as you said, though strangely most of the Cardinals are around $10 USD different in pricing from the Bluejay, though the sellers have assured me they are both the same internally, other than shell colour.

I agree, pricing variation is retail box vs no box. Or some sellers trying to make higher profit.

And yes, the number at the very bottom is a serial number.

Unfortunately, I also agree with your statement that we (as outsiders) will likely never know why:

1. there are 4 different model names
2. there are at least 2 different nozzle configurations
3. why some say Cardinal sounds better than BL-03 (and has more sub bass), and others say the opposite

I hate uncertainty

 

[baskingshark]

I agree, pricing variation is retail box vs no box. Or some sellers trying to make higher profit.

And yes, the number at the very bottom is a serial number.

Unfortunately, I also agree with your statement that we (as outsiders) will likely never know why:

1. there are 4 different model names
2. there are at least 2 different nozzle configurations
3. why some say Cardinal sounds better than BL-03 (and has more sub bass), and others say the opposite

I hate uncertainty

Definitely agree with you that it would be playing russian roulette to spend upwards of $60 USD and not being sure which model you get in the mail.

Well the good news (or maybe not so good news for our wallets) is that in the CHIFI world, another hypetrain is just round the corner. This industry moves so fast that by next week, something else is released and a lot of older gear are forgotten.
And as @kakaworu says, the Cardinal/Bluejay is not gonna be in production anymore, so maybe give this one a miss due to the uncertainties (though it is a big pity as I really enjoy my Cardinal more than the BL-03). Possibly if the sellers are trying to clear stock (as it is purportedly no more in production), if they do a firesale, like they did for the Semkarch SKC CNT1 recently, it might be worth it to get a Cardinal/Bluejay on the cheap.

 

[Hisma]

LOL, you beat me to it, I was going post the same question(s). Thanks for including the pics.
I have a BLON BL-03 and a Cardinal. My Cardinal has the metal fan looking grill/nozzle like your last picture. I'll double check when I get home but I'm pretty sure that it does not have "audition" written on it like some of the other guys. I was reading their description of the Cardinal sounding better than the BL03 and thinking man I wish mine was like that because that's not how mine is. My BL03 sounds better than my Cardinal. It has more thump/fullness to the bass. They do sound pretty similar otherwise. The Cardinal fits my ear dang near perfect so I would love for it to sound better.
Geez questions around differences with the BL03 and now I'm wondering about the Cardinal. That's a shame because my BL03 is pretty sweet but I couldn't recommend it to someone if I'm not confident they'd get one that sounds the same.
Causes you to think of BLON as flaky.

yes without a doubt there is something different technically with your unit. Because while all other sound differences are subtle (improvements in detail/imaging), the difference in bass extension with the cardinal/audition/whatever over the BL-03 is very apparent. In fact, as others have said in the past, it borders on being too much, depending on how much of a basshead you are. So it's very strange to me that you'd describe the BL-03 to have more thump.

In the end, it seems the decision to pull the trigger comes down to your budget and risk tolerance due to product variation. Which is a pity. Soon this will all be moot anyway, as it's been discontinued and we'll see some sort of successor.

 

[fendiking]

loved my firs BLON but unfortunately broke, my new set just don't sound as good - most likely psychological

but I am not ready to make a step up and my budget is max £200

what would you guys recommend? T800?

 

[Hisma]

loved my firs BLON but unfortunately broke, my new set just don't sound as good - most likely psychological

but I am not ready to make a step up and my budget is max £200

what would you guys recommend? T800?

you'd need to describe your desired sound signature, and what sort of music you like listening to, to start.

 

[chinmie]

loved my firs BLON but unfortunately broke, my new set just don't sound as good - most likely psychological

but I am not ready to make a step up and my budget is max £200

what would you guys recommend? T800?

you want sound that is in the same ballpark of the BL03? you might want to consider the Blon Cardinal which other HF members said basically uses the same drivers.

 

[baskingshark]

loved my firs BLON but unfortunately broke, my new set just don't sound as good - most likely psychological

but I am not ready to make a step up and my budget is max £200

what would you guys recommend? T800?

Audiosense T800 (8 BA) is very very different in sound signature from the BLON BL-03 (single DD). As per my previous post about comparing multi BA/hybrid transducers with a single DD IEM, they have inherent strengths and weaknesses.

Even among the budget to midfi multi BA/hybrids, the T800 is a hyperdetailed imaging monster that is on the bright side, whereas the BLON is better in timbre/tonality and is warmer, but lacks in the area of technicalities compared to equivalently priced multi BA/hybrids.
I fully agree with @Hisma , it really depends on your preferred sound signature and preferred music genres as some transducers/IEMs are better in certain areas than others.

 

[Cuebbing]

you want sound that is in the same ballpark of the BL03? you might want to consider the Blon Cardinal which other HF members said basically uses the same drivers.

I'd be hesitant to recommend the Cardinal based on the discussion above. Just like with feedback on differences in sound/quality/other on the BLON BL03, the BLON Cardinal is also having feedback that there are differences. So even they were to go order a Cardinal they wouldn't know which variation they would receive. It would be a gamble.

 

[Cuebbing]

At this point I don't see how any of us could order any BLON iem (new upcoming models included) and have confidence it will sound as described by reviews/feedback until there is something that demonstrates consistency within each of the models.

 

[SoundChoice]

Still No

I was wondering does the color of the Blon BL-03 cable affect the sound quality?

 

[kanett]

Blon 03 with cheap setup?
I listen to music 30 min a day. I dont mind about the comfortability.

What should I buy?
computer soundblaster card
usb dongle (Sonata HD)
dap?

Right now I listen from computer mainboard, it sound better than 60$ dap.

Thx for pitch in.

 

[SoundChoice]

Does anyone have a Cardinal or BlueJay that are actually engraved on the IEM as “Cardinal” or “BlueJay”?

Because the photos of Cardinals that people have posted, all say “Audition”.



The only ones I’ve ever seen that are actually engraved on the IEM as “Cardinal” or “BlueJay” are the marketing photos from Blon.

All of yours are fake unless they say AUDISHUN #driams

 

[Tonymac136]

Blon 03 with cheap setup?
I listen to music 30 min a day. I dont mind about the comfortability.

What should I buy?
computer soundblaster card
usb dongle (Sonata HD)
dap?

Right now I listen from computer mainboard, it sound better than 60$ dap.

Thx for pitch in.

Es100 is a good, cheap companion. Use it with a balanced NiceHCK cable with NX7 fitting and it'll sound pretty good.