1. Three $100 earphones are better than one $300 earphone.
2. Enjoyment of an earphone is largely independent of price.
3. The higher the price for buying something unseen from China, the higher is the threat of loss.
4. You pay a lot for that fancy unboxing experience, a sensation that lasts only for a few minutes.
5. Read many reviews and between the lines in each. Filter out the ones that are ads.
6. If you are savvy you save lots of money. I got most of my stuff on sale.
Call this a model. And it may be a bad model for some. BUT: a bad model is better than no model at all. It makes us think and stimulates discussion. I do have two "pricier" references, the ones I would take to that famous lonely island with me. The first is the UE900S, a 4 BA earphone, which I got from "Drop" for $179 (MRSP $399). This one is my reference for resolution. The other is the JVC HA-FDX001, a single DD at $250, which is my reference for timbre (also from Drop).
However, considering the blistering fast progress in technology, the incredibly large market selection, and the lack of organic sound/high harmonic distortion in BAs, I'll rather wait for that "kill" once I am 200% sure, it will be the endgame. And these JVCs are my personal endgame in terms of dynamic drivers.
Not bad.
I got mine from ebay for 22$. Regular price there, no discounts.
(Currently you can get one from there for 23.68$. No idea why they are more expensive on AE...)
I think I'm going to order a pair of the Cardinal / Bluejay as well as the BL-03. I just like the fit of shells shaped like that better than teardrop ones. But since the Cardinal / Bluejay is MMCX, I suppose I'll have to get another TRN BT-20 in that connector, as I want this to potentially be a daily driver wireless IEM.
I got BL03 yesterday. After about 24 hours burning I compared them "back-to-back" with TFZ MLE. MLE mids are recessed as compared with the subj but they sound much "juicier" than the BL03. The BL03 bass is not as powerful as it is with MLE. The highs, scene and instrument separation are close with those two IEMs.
Later on I will compare the subj with the KZ ZS7 and Termi (Terminator). These are my best budget earphones for the moment.
If anybody wants me to compare the subj to other budget IEMs from my "IEMs Zoo" (see my signature) just request it.
Fellow basshead!!! I found tiprolling to a spinfit CP100 (narrow bore) increases bass quantity, but adds a tinge of slight midbass bleed.
The BLON drivers take well to EQ though, but increasing bass too much on a low end source like a smartphone may introduce distortion.
Amping definitely helps to scale the bass in definition and being less bloated, without introducing distortion.
The tape mod works but I read some reports in other IEMs that it may cause driver flex and build up pressure in the IEM housing.
Nobody knows conclusively if this will mess up the IEM so do it at your own risk. And generally I tried taping a vent with another IEM before, it does increase the bass but makes it a bloated mess.
In fact, when I got the Blon Cardinal a few days back, i had to collect it secretly from the post office (and hide it in a bag pack on coming home) rather than asking them to drop it off at my house mail box.
But the cat was out of the bag when my wife saw my desktop rig with a red IEM. Cause the Cardinal's my first and only red pair.
Nobody in this thread will ever know about driver lifespan cause a new hypetrain comes out in a few weeks' time and the older set is relegated to the drawer LOL, so no further testing is done.
But on a serious note i think cables will die before a driver dies usually. I've had some IEMs that are 10 - 15 year's old and are still working fine today (some old westones), but those are BA sets rather than DDs. I suspect by their mechanism of action DDs will probably have more wear and tear than BAs?
That is a pretty cable. I would have been interested in that if I was still wearing mine over the ear. yeah the color choice option is so weird. Sometimes "color" just means mic or no mic. Sometimes a cable is one of the choices... sometimes you can choose just the earpieces. Sometimes it actually means color.
I think right now that is the only upgrade cable available that has the proper connectors.
That is a pretty cable. I would have been interested in that if I was still wearing mine over the ear. yeah the color choice option is so weird. Sometimes "color" just means mic or no mic. Sometimes a cable is one of the choices... sometimes you can choose just the earpieces. Sometimes it actually means color.
I think right now that is the only upgrade cable available that has the proper connectors.
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