[baskingshark]

A common complaint I’ve read about the bl-03 is that they have “poor technical ability” but what are people referring to exactly?

The reason I ask is because I can’t really hear much wrong with my set. The only thing I notice is that the soundstage is a little bit narrow, and there’s a little bit of congestion in busy passages of music. The instrument separation is probably not the best either but it’s certainly not “poor”, so I’m just wondering if there’s something in particular that maybe I’m not hearing? Or maybe I got lucky and have one of the better built sets?

For reference, I own multiple TOTL IEM’s such as Sony IER-Z1R & M9, QDC Anole VX, Campfire Solaris and other high end sets and honestly the Blons are in the mix with those guys which is almost crazy to say, but I can’t argue with what I’m hearing. I also own the KZ ZSX & Tin T4 which are in a similar price category but the Blons are leaps and bounds ahead in every way.

Sorry I don’t mean to sound like I’m hyping the blons any further than they already are, I’m just genuinely curious what the technical shortfalls are so I can try and notice them.

Wow if u own those TOTL sets, some are superbly technical IEMs, especially the QDC Anole VX. I've auditioned the Anole VX before, and it should beat most other IEMs in the area of "technical ability". BL-03 is a single DD, and at this budget pricing the DDs tend to have poorer technical ability than a similarly priced multi BA/hybrid (in general). But even within the budget to midfi 10 single DD sets I've had/have, I would say the BL-03 to me is slightly below average among the DD sets in technical abilities. But the BL-03 has great timbre and tonality, which is its forte.

I would classify a few components under "technical ability", such as:
1) Imaging - BLON BL-03's imaging and instrument placement is actually quite good, considering its price.
2) Instrument separation - BL-03 is decent in this area, not the best at the price range, but certainly heard worse. In very complex instrumentation/competing instrumentation, sometimes the instruments end up being blended, or as what you pointed out above, "congested".
3) Clarity - BL-03's not the best for this. It sounds a bit veiled and analogue sounding, as though you are listening to a vinyl record (for the older generation who have heard this before). The BL-03 has a bit of a boosted upper mids (but 3 kHz dip), and some CHIFI like to boost this area to give a fake sense of details/clarity, but BL-03's is not overly boosted, so the tuners ain't resorting to this trick and I think it is a driver limitation.
4) Details - as per clarity, not too good in the BL-03, micro details like ghost notes/ghost hits are lost.
5) Bass speed/texturing/accuracy/layering - BLON BL-03 is below average in this area. Amping helps tighten the bass a bit, but it still cannot cope with busy/fast passages in the basslines, the basslines start getting melded together into one mess. This is probably partially related to the BLON's midbass hump/bloat, with slight midbass bleed, which does obscure the lower mids/midbass a bit.
6) Soundstage - BL-03's soundstage is above average in width. Height and depth of soundstage about average.

All these "technical abilities" should be ideally evaluated with a good source such as amping as the BL-03 is quite power hungry despite its specs.

TBH the BLON BL-03 punches much above its weight and should be the new standard for what we expect for a DD CHIFI sub $50 set. And it has my vote for CHIFI of the year for 2019, but I personally think it won't be able to compete with some multi BA/hybrids above $100 USD in the area of technical ability, that's just my subjective 2 cents worth of opinion, maybe the rest can chime in with their views too!

 

[dharmasteve]

A common complaint I’ve read about the bl-03 is that they have “poor technical ability” but what are people referring to exactly?

The reason I ask is because I can’t really hear much wrong with my set. The only thing I notice is that the soundstage is a little bit narrow, and there’s a little bit of congestion in busy passages of music. The instrument separation is probably not the best either but it’s certainly not “poor”, so I’m just wondering if there’s something in particular that maybe I’m not hearing? Or maybe I got lucky and have one of the better built sets?

For reference, I own multiple TOTL IEM’s such as Sony IER-Z1R & M9, QDC Anole VX, Campfire Solaris and other high end sets and honestly the Blons are in the mix with those guys which is almost crazy to say, but I can’t argue with what I’m hearing. I also own the KZ ZSX & Tin T4 which are in a similar price category but the Blons are leaps and bounds ahead in every way.

Sorry I don’t mean to sound like I’m hyping the blons any further than they already are, I’m just genuinely curious what the technical shortfalls are so I can try and notice them.

There is so many different views of the Blon 03's that it seems that it is something beyond taste that is creating the controversy. Like you I was lucky to get (two) perfect sets, but recabled and changed to my preferred tips. They are beautiful sounding. It must be QC as no other IEM has ever caused such controversy. I have now found a couple of IEMs that fully compete with the Blon 03s though. The Urbanfun iss014 and the Cambridge Audio SE1. All three of them are relatively cheap as chips. Those of us poorer brothers are lucky for that.

 

[dharmasteve]

Wow if u own those TOTL sets, some are superbly technical IEMs, especially the QDC Anole VX. I've auditioned the Anole VX before, and it should beat most other IEMs in the area of "technical ability". BL-03 is a single DD, and at this budget pricing the DDs tend to have poorer technical ability than a similarly priced multi BA/hybrid (in general). But even within the budget to midfi 10 single DD sets I've had/have, I would say the BL-03 to me is slightly below average among the DD sets in technical abilities. But the BL-03 has great timbre and tonality, which is its forte.

I would classify a few components under "technical ability", such as:
1) Imaging - BLON BL-03's imaging and instrument placement is actually quite good, considering its price.
2) Instrument separation - BL-03 is decent in this area, not the best at the price range, but certainly heard worse. In very complex instrumentation/competing instrumentation, sometimes the instruments end up being blended, or as what you pointed out above, "congested".
3) Clarity - BL-03's not the best for this. It sounds a bit veiled and analogue sounding, as though you are listening to a vinyl record (for the older generation who have heard this before). The BL-03 has a bit of a boosted upper mids (but 3 kHz dip), and some CHIFI like to boost this area to give a fake sense of details/clarity, but BL-03's is not overly boosted, so the tuners ain't resorting to this trick and I think it is a driver limitation.
4) Details - as per clarity, not too good in the BL-03, micro details like ghost notes/ghost hits are lost.
5) Bass speed/texturing/accuracy/layering - BLON BL-03 is below average in this area. Amping helps tighten the bass a bit, but it still cannot cope with busy/fast passages in the basslines, the basslines start getting melded together into one mess. This is probably partially related to the BLON's midbass hump/bloat, with slight midbass bleed, which does obscure the lower mids/midbass a bit.
6) Soundstage - BL-03's soundstage is above average in width. Height and depth of soundstage about average.

All these "technical abilities" should be ideally evaluated with a good source such as amping as the BL-03 is quite power hungry despite its specs.

TBH the BLON BL-03 punches much above its weight and should be the new standard for what we expect for a DD CHIFI sub $50 set. And it has my vote for CHIFI of the year for 2019, but I personally think it won't be able to compete with some multi BA/hybrids above $100 USD in the area of technical ability, that's just my subjective 2 cents worth of opinion, maybe the rest can chime in with their views too!

I cannot dispute what you say at all. BA's often have better 'technicality'. But it's good to look at it from the opposite direction too....what do BA's/Hybrids lack relative to DDs, and particularly to the newer materials like Carbon and Beryllium. Bass, rhythm, timbre and organic sounds are much more difficult to reproduce on BAs, Piezzos and many hybrids. Technicalities often distort rhythmics. It's a balancing game, and we need to satisfy what we personally like. I am still drawn to DDs for their more organic sound.

 

[baskingshark]

I cannot dispute what you say at all. BA's often have better 'technicality'. But it's good to look at it from the opposite direction too....what do BA's/Hybrids lack relative to DDs, and particularly to the newer materials like Carbon and Beryllium. Bass, rhythm, timbre and organic sounds are much more difficult to reproduce on BAs, Piezzos and many hybrids. Technicalities often distort rhythmics. It's a balancing game, and we need to satisfy what we personally like. I am still drawn to DDs for their more organic sound.

Agreed, I still like DDs for their organic sound, especially for bass decay/movement of air and subbass extension, which most BA bass can't compete in. Plus the better timbre/tonality and coherency in DDs. In fact I've sold majority of my CHIFI multi BA/hybrid sets away and have been focusing on DD sets the past year.

Yep, it's a balancing game as you say, and also I think dependent on the music genres we predominantly listen to and what we want in our music. The good news is that CHIFI has many oustanding releases in 2019, and some are relatively affordable such that we can skip a few Starbucks coffees and restaurant meal or two to get both a BA and DD type IEM to complement each other's strengths and weaknesses.

 

[dan]

A common complaint I’ve read about the bl-03 is that they have “poor technical ability” but what are people referring to exactly?

The reason I ask is because I can’t really hear much wrong with my set. The only thing I notice is that the soundstage is a little bit narrow, and there’s a little bit of congestion in busy passages of music. The instrument separation is probably not the best either but it’s certainly not “poor”, so I’m just wondering if there’s something in particular that maybe I’m not hearing? Or maybe I got lucky and have one of the better built sets?

For reference, I own multiple TOTL IEM’s such as Sony IER-Z1R & M9, QDC Anole VX, Campfire Solaris and other high end sets and honestly the Blons are in the mix with those guys which is almost crazy to say, but I can’t argue with what I’m hearing. I also own the KZ ZSX & Tin T4 which are in a similar price category but the Blons are leaps and bounds ahead in every way.

Sorry I don’t mean to sound like I’m hyping the blons any further than they already are, I’m just genuinely curious what the technical shortfalls are so I can try and notice them.

Well with my setup I'm not getting a narrow soundstage.
Maybe that's using balanced and a very clean dap.
What I get is engagement with the composition. That gives me good communication so I'm able to enjoy and respond to what the musicians are doing as a whole.
Every part of the song comes across together to make a strong statement and affect me.
What I hear on other sets is more individual details. They're more distinct.
Like the sounds of the making of the music. That's interesting in an analytical way. And easier to quantify and compare.
Rather than the sound the instrument contributes to the composition to create what the musicians want to have me experience.
I value the experience of the song more than the instrumental details.
So improvement won't be that easy. More detail but only if the quality of the tonality is the same or better.
Nothing is real. And nothing to get hung about.

 

[Tail]

Guys I have a (probably stupid) question. On the Blon's box it says they have 102 dB sensitivity and 32 Ohm impedance. How is it that it sounds slightly louder on exact same volume settings and same devices than Sennheiser IE80 that has 125 dB and 16 Ohm? Tried with FiiO X3, LG V30 and Huawei P10 Lite - all the same. Same volume setting it's about the same or slightly louder than much more sensitive and lower impedance IE80. Also I've heard from couple of reviews that Blons benefit from amplification (which was OK looking at specs) but I can't see how as even at 80% volume on smartphones it's very loud without any distortions or background hiss.

 

[Damz87]

Wow if u own those TOTL sets, some are superbly technical IEMs, especially the QDC Anole VX. I've auditioned the Anole VX before, and it should beat most other IEMs in the area of "technical ability". BL-03 is a single DD, and at this budget pricing the DDs tend to have poorer technical ability than a similarly priced multi BA/hybrid (in general). But even within the budget to midfi 10 single DD sets I've had/have, I would say the BL-03 to me is slightly below average among the DD sets in technical abilities. But the BL-03 has great timbre and tonality, which is its forte.

I would classify a few components under "technical ability", such as:
1) Imaging - BLON BL-03's imaging and instrument placement is actually quite good, considering its price.
2) Instrument separation - BL-03 is decent in this area, not the best at the price range, but certainly heard worse. In very complex instrumentation/competing instrumentation, sometimes the instruments end up being blended, or as what you pointed out above, "congested".
3) Clarity - BL-03's not the best for this. It sounds a bit veiled and analogue sounding, as though you are listening to a vinyl record (for the older generation who have heard this before). The BL-03 has a bit of a boosted upper mids (but 3 kHz dip), and some CHIFI like to boost this area to give a fake sense of details/clarity, but BL-03's is not overly boosted, so the tuners ain't resorting to this trick and I think it is a driver limitation.
4) Details - as per clarity, not too good in the BL-03, micro details like ghost notes/ghost hits are lost.
5) Bass speed/texturing/accuracy/layering - BLON BL-03 is below average in this area. Amping helps tighten the bass a bit, but it still cannot cope with busy/fast passages in the basslines, the basslines start getting melded together into one mess. This is probably partially related to the BLON's midbass hump/bloat, with slight midbass bleed, which does obscure the lower mids/midbass a bit.
6) Soundstage - BL-03's soundstage is above average in width. Height and depth of soundstage about average.

All these "technical abilities" should be ideally evaluated with a good source such as amping as the BL-03 is quite power hungry despite its specs.

TBH the BLON BL-03 punches much above its weight and should be the new standard for what we expect for a DD CHIFI sub $50 set. And it has my vote for CHIFI of the year for 2019, but I personally think it won't be able to compete with some multi BA/hybrids above $100 USD in the area of technical ability, that's just my subjective 2 cents worth of opinion, maybe the rest can chime in with their views too!

Thanks so much for your detailed response and explanations!

I guess I haven't heard enough gear in this price range to really know what the benchmark is. The bl-03 has taught me a great lesson in diminishing returns and how small the gap can be between a $2.5k Flagship IEM and a $40 Chi-Fi IEM. If you take price out of the equation and compare the bl-03 with TOTL multi-kilobuck gear, then yes the bl-03 has "poor technicalities". But when price is factored back in, I would say that it's technically superior to anything else I've heard (in this price category)

It's really a great thing for this hobby that you can get such high quality sound at this price point. Looking forward to hearing what comes next that tops the bl-03 for under $50!

There is so many different views of the Blon 03's that it seems that it is something beyond taste that is creating the controversy. Like you I was lucky to get (two) perfect sets, but recabled and changed to my preferred tips. They are beautiful sounding. It must be QC as no other IEM has ever caused such controversy. I have now found a couple of IEMs that fully compete with the Blon 03s though. The Urbanfun iss014 and the Cambridge Audio SE1. All three of them are relatively cheap as chips. Those of us poorer brothers are lucky for that.

Thanks for the recommendations! I will look into those two

 

[barbaresh]

I can't find anything to compete the blon. Bought the Shozy 1.1 and I feel it's too dark with the same amount of bass. If every month I'm going to spend 100$ on something that bring me back to blon, I'm prefer to put 100$ aside for 17 months and get the Sony zr1. For the end game of all of this.

 

[tgx78]

I don't get it either when ppl say poor technicality. drive it with 9038S and my set almost sounds flawless.. abundant detail with natural tone and pace

 

[Slater]

I don't get it either when ppl say poor technicality. drive it with 9038S and my set almost sounds flawless.. abundant detail with natural tone and pace

When you’re mostly used to multi BA and hybrid sets, people seem to commonly make that remark about ANY dynamic-only earphone.

It’s nothing new with the Blon, and actually kind of funny to see. I remember a few years ago as ChiFi hybrids got cheaper and more popular, people were leaving GOOD dynamics in droves and jumping on the BA bandwagon. Now a few years later, the pendulum has swung back in the opposite direction and people are flocking back to dynamics.

 

[fairx]

could someone with Blon + bt20 combo advise me on fit issue. I can't get good fit and need to fiddle once in awhile

 

[Sebulr]

could someone with Blon + bt20 combo advise me on fit issue. I can't get good fit and need to fiddle once in awhile

I find them a bit tight round my ear, so it sort of twists them to a vertical position. I have gone back to using my kz zs 10 Pro, with them.

They do fit fairly well, but after an hour or two, they become uncomfortable. Stretch them out a bit, it helps. Try a spacer from a cut off useless tip to help the blons fit deeper in your ear.

 

[sutosuto]

could someone with Blon + bt20 combo advise me on fit issue. I can't get good fit and need to fiddle once in awhile

I use bt20s and stock tip without any fit issue but quite tight and after few hours use feel a bit pain.

 

[fairx]

yeah . thanks. maybe i should re-stretch them using hot gun

 

[dharmasteve]

Blon 03s constantly get pulled up for not having technicalities/details, but I'm more interested in what the Blon can do than what they cannot. Quality timbre, tone, rhythm, bass, movement of air, organic sounding music, make the Blond better than all but the most creatively made BA/Hybrids. For under $40 that is the nearest to price inversion we can come. The Blon 03 is synonymous with pleasure and joy to me.