[Johnny2R]

What seller did you use and did you get white or black ones. High chance of fakes with the black.

Seller was 'xirui_01' on ebay, and they're white, with orange tips. No real reason to suspect they're fakes, I'd just like to be able to tell. They were actually listed as 'HM755', but I think that's just an error, as the ones which turned up have 'MH755' on the label (and AFAIK, there's no such thing as an HM755).

 

[dw1narso]

I have to say I'm not as taken with the Sony MH755's as I hoped I might be. A little anxious I might have bought fakes. Is there an easy way of telling?

Can you describe what you hear with the Sonys? mind to share what do you use to drive them?
do you use the provided [orange] eartips? I get better sound to my taste with eartips with wider bore... it open up the base, mid and treble, though on the negative side also make the skewed mid frequency response toward upper mid became more apparent.

However in other case... if you are so used to with multi-driver IEM, especially V-shaped ones... there's a chance that the MH755 sounds off compared to them.

 

[Johnny2R]

Can you describe what you hear with the Sonys? mind to share what do you use to drive them?
do you use the provided [orange] eartips? I get better sound to my taste with eartips with wider bore... it open up the base, mid and treble, though on the negative side also make the skewed mid frequency response toward upper mid became more apparent.

I have to say that I'm a complete newbie in this area, and have little experience comparing one IEM with another, so anything I say is probably not of much use. I'm using the large orange tips (I seem to have large bore ear canals) - I don't know if they are especially narrow bore. I'll try to see if I can find some tips with a wider bore. I'm driving them with a special B&O DAC module for the LG G5 phone ('LG Hi-Fi Plus') which was generally well reviewed as providing substantially better sound than the phone by itself.

I'm not finding as much sense of space as I hoped for from these (from what people had been saying about them, not from the price!), and as mentioned, there is a shrillness with massed orchestral sound, especially strings (I am listening mainly to classical). The thing is, I have never heard any real high-end IEM's, so I don't know what they're capable of. My complaints about the MH755 could well be equally valid for IEMs costing 100x what they cost, I don't know. I may well end up shelling out for some regular open back headphones, if I can't get what I'm looking for with an inexpensive chi-fi IEM. (I've read good things about the Grado SR80e).

The MH755s are absolutely extraordinary for the £5 I paid for them, even so. I should have some KZ starline tips turning up soon. I'll see what those do to the sound.

 

[scottySK]

I have to say that I'm a complete newbie in this area, and have little experience comparing one IEM with another, so anything I say is probably not of much use. I'm using the large orange tips (I seem to have large bore ear canals) - I don't know if they are especially narrow bore. I'll try to see if I can find some tips with a wider bore. I'm driving them with a special B&O DAC module for the LG G5 phone ('LG Hi-Fi Plus') which was generally well reviewed as providing substantially better sound than the phone by itself.

I'm not finding as much sense of space as I hoped for from these (from what people had been saying about them, not from the price!), and as mentioned, there is a shrillness with massed orchestral sound, especially strings (I am listening mainly to classical). The thing is, I have never heard any real high-end IEM's, so I don't know what they're capable of. My complaints about the MH755 could well be equally valid for IEMs costing 100x what they cost, I don't know. I may well end up shelling out for some regular open back headphones, if I can't get what I'm looking for with an inexpensive chi-fi IEM. (I've read good things about the Grado SR80e).

The MH755s are absolutely extraordinary for the £5 I paid for them, even so. I should have some KZ starline tips turning up soon. I'll see what those do to the sound.

I don't feel that a spacious stage is where these shine - I too find that they are a little closed when compared to other iems that I own

 

[Makahl]

soo.. this arrived this afternoon, nice and surprising sunday delivery.

this is a nice sounding IEM worthy of the hype.
out of my small number of IEMs, the BL03 is similar in tuning group to the ZS10 Pro and the Kanas, with the latter two both more similar together.

the BL03 has more emphasis on midbass bloom, while the Kanas and Z10pro digs deeper in Subbass. also the BL03 has a faster overall attack, while the Kanas and ZS10 Pro has a "slow compression" sounding overall. based on this alone, i prefer the Blon for rock, jazz, or everything that use real drums and bass guitar, while i prefer the Kanas for everything that use electronic drum sound and synth based bass.

mids and treble are more natural sounding on the BL03, while the Kanas and ZS10 Pro have leaner mids and more processed sounding treble.

soundstage is wider on Kanas and ZS10 Pro, but because of the faster attack and less compressed presentation, the BL03 has a better instrument separation in the mids and treble. separation on the lower register is still better on the Kanas.

the ZS10 Pro overall sounded veiled compared to the BL03 and the Kanas. I'd put the Kanas and BL03 in the same class on resolution

i tried the BL03 with three cables: the Kanas's Lyre cable (8 braid), the EM2's stock cable (3 braid below the splitter, 2 each above the splitter), and the stock BL03 cable (4 braid below and 2 each above the splitter).

the midbass is bloomier and become too much with the Lyre cable. the EM2 and BL03 cable is a bit similar on the midbass, with the EM2 a bit more controlled and less amount of midbass. i don't know about the impedance of the cables, it's just something i found out and share here. others who are more knowledgeable about this stuff might be able to provide better information.

Excellent write-up! I really share the same opinion regarding Kanas x BL-03. My dream IEM would be the sub-bass of Kanas that you can feel the lowest registers and the attack and crispness of BL-03 or Oxygen. I'm feeling it's getting so close! I put my hope on Drop FDX1, but I think against the Blon the law of diminishing returns will hit hard, lol.

Btw, I'd give a try to the JVC Spiral Dots, it gives a bit more meat at sub-bass and the mid-bass gets more linear compared to the Tennmak Turbos IMO (assuming that's the tip on your picture).

 

[lgcubana]

I pulled out of the Massdrop JVC HA FDX01 (which cost $250 USD during the pre order phase) after I got my BLON BL-03 for $25 USD. I haven't heard the JVC, but thanks @Otto Motor for comparing the 2 and saying the BLONs ain't too far away in quality. I personally would prefer to spend the 90% difference in price on 11/11 sales or Christmas sales.

Definitely the BLON loses out in clarity, instrument separation and details to my other single DDs, not to mention multi BA/hybrids, but I'm very happy with the BLONs for the tonality and timbre. My gold standard in timbre and tonality was the toneking nine tails till the BLON came along. And I'm pretty suprised the BLON's subbass can dig quite low, though it ain't basshead in quantity. Yeah there's a mild midbass bleed, but I actually like it for acoustic and jazz genres to give a bit of warmth and "analogue" signature to the lower mids.

Same here. Between the Blon BL-03 & ToneKing Nine tail, I couldn't see the JVC HA-FDX1 being a "game changer".

It'll be interesting to see (when the Drop occurs) how many long time members stayed in, to the very end, of the 1st round, of the JVCs.

 

[Slater]

Same here. Between the Blon BL-03 & ToneKing Nine tail, I couldn't see the JVC HA-FDX1 being a "game changer".

Same here. I’m sure the FDX1 is really nice and all, but I’m very happy with the 9 Tail.

There will always be something better that comes down the pike.

 

[chinmie]

Excellent write-up! I really share the same opinion regarding Kanas x BL-03. My dream IEM would be the sub-bass of Kanas that you can feel the lowest registers and the attack and crispness of BL-03 or Oxygen. I'm feeling it's getting so close! I put my hope on Drop FDX1, but I think against the Blon the law of diminishing returns will hit hard, lol.

Btw, I'd give a try to the JVC Spiral Dots, it gives a bit more meat at sub-bass and the mid-bass gets more linear compared to the Tennmak Turbos IMO (assuming that's the tip on your picture).

i agree. if the Blon has a deeper reach in subbass similar to the Kanas's, it would be golden.

thanks for the tips (no pun intended ). i happen to have some spiral dots, i would certainly give it a try.

 

[dw1narso]

I have to say that I'm a complete newbie in this area, and have little experience comparing one IEM with another, so anything I say is probably not of much use. I'm using the large orange tips (I seem to have large bore ear canals) - I don't know if they are especially narrow bore. I'll try to see if I can find some tips with a wider bore. I'm driving them with a special B&O DAC module for the LG G5 phone ('LG Hi-Fi Plus') which was generally well reviewed as providing substantially better sound than the phone by itself.

I'm not finding as much sense of space as I hoped for from these (from what people had been saying about them, not from the price!), and as mentioned, there is a shrillness with massed orchestral sound, especially strings (I am listening mainly to classical). The thing is, I have never heard any real high-end IEM's, so I don't know what they're capable of. My complaints about the MH755 could well be equally valid for IEMs costing 100x what they cost, I don't know. I may well end up shelling out for some regular open back headphones, if I can't get what I'm looking for with an inexpensive chi-fi IEM. (I've read good things about the Grado SR80e).

The MH755s are absolutely extraordinary for the £5 I paid for them, even so. I should have some KZ starline tips turning up soon. I'll see what those do to the sound.

Don't worry about newbie-ness... Though I've been in audio as hobby for 25 years or so... I myself always felt like newbie in this hobby because there are always something new that force me to relearn and dropped what I've learned before... I just learned that IEM could sound good probably about the last 3 years... After I learned the aspects of sounds and my musical genre taste getting wider, my taste of sound also changing a long the time...

I used LG V20, which maybe used similar ESS DAC B&O module as in LG G5. In my case, if I want to listen more seriously, I always tricked my phone to operate in "high-impedance" mode (if you haven't aware, there are 3 Hi-Fi modes auto-switched by LG: normal, external and high-impedance). My LG V20 sounded better this way, especially for hard/difficult to drive head/ear/iem-phones. Sony MH755 actually fall into the IEM that is harder to drive, similarly as hard as my Yamaha EPH-100 and harder compared to my other IEM such as Fiio FH1 and LZ A2. I could hear it benefiting from V20 high-impedance mode.

MH755 is not perfect... at least on my MH755, which I hope an original... it lacks midbass punch, it has narrow soundstage (soundstage is not important for me in headphone), the mid skewed toward upper mid and the treble sounds rough... It excel though on coherency, smooth transition from low to mid with barely no bass bleed (see that lack of mid bass punch), good layering of musics, and that "right" dynamic timbre.. all of which both my FH1 and LZ A2 give up to MH755.

Regarding your interest on Grado SR80e... Seems like there's once in life of many audio hobbyist have/had one or two Grados in their collection... I started this headphones addiction with Grado SR60, and then Grado HF2 few years later... But I have no longer Grado in my stuff. If you love classic, IMHO... is not the right phones for this genre... they meshed up when I strike them with Beethoven 9th Symphonies 4th movement, the Presto.

I believe Chi-Fi IEMS nowadays, even in the range as in this sub $100 thread would easily surpass SR80e, provided you could find a good one. And which one is good...? that is what I'm slowly trying to find out... (my next one OTW is Blon BL03)

 

[martiniCZ]

I don't feel that a spacious stage is where these shine - I too find that they are a little closed when compared to other iems that I own

I still don't know if my MH755 from AE (3.5 $ white / orange) is a fake or is an "upgrade" from the manufacturer. The frequency response curve is very similar to the original, but with one significant change. Sub bass and lows are not so highlighted, which is not so bad for some genres. It is also perhaps the reason why some praise their wide soundstage. Certainly MH755 are not perfect, they lack the bulkiness, the sound is so simple and lacking a higher resolution, sometaims feels cheap. But on the other hand I have to confirm flawless tonality, enough mids and nice wide soundstage. The classics listen to them quite pleasantly, but sometimes I am surprised how they handle even more difficult rock songs, where hybrids sometimes don't seem to know which driver to use. In the graph, I tried to compare them (white) with other 1 DD IEM's I have - Senn's CX175 (green) and larger Tiandirenhe TD1 (blue). I don't know what it is, but MH755 sounds close, or better to me than the older overpriced Senn's with similar size. The TD1s are completely different, richer and more voluminous, more V-shaped, more vivid and mature. The highlighted sub bass is great for most modern songs, but may not suit for everyone.

 

[mbwilson111]

I still don't know if my MH755 from AE (3.5 $ white / orange) is a fake or is an "upgrade" from the manufacturer. The frequency response curve is very similar to the original, but with one significant change. Sub bass and lows are not so highlighted, which is not so bad for some genres. It is also perhaps the reason why some praise their wide soundstage. Certainly MH755 are not perfect, they lack the bulkiness, the sound is so simple and lacking a higher resolution, sometaims feels cheap. But on the other hand I have to confirm flawless tonality, enough mids and nice wide soundstage. The classics listen to them quite pleasantly, but sometimes I am surprised how they handle even more difficult rock songs, where hybrids sometimes don't seem to know which driver to use. In the graph, I tried to compare them (white) with other 1 DD IEM's I have - Senn's CX175 (green) and larger Tiandirenhe TD1 (blue). I don't know what it is, but MH755 sounds close, or better to me than the older overpriced Senn's with similar size. The TD1s are completely different, richer and more voluminous, more V-shaped, more vivid and mature. The highlighted sub bass is great for most modern songs, but may not suit for everyone.

If you go to the MH755 thread you will find photos of what the driver should look like.

 

[phillipdhall]

What would you recommend in this price range primarily for sound isolation and comfort? I'm looking for something to replace my earplugs while riding my motorcycle and listening to podcasts and music.

More (excessive) background... I currently ride with a typical Bluetooth headset with speakers Velcro mounted inside the helmet. I care about my hearing, so I also use earplugs (Radians). Problem is, driving at freeway speeds, the speakers aren't loud enough to overcome the wind noise when listening to podcasts or phone calls.

I was a sound engineer almost 10 years ago, absolutely loved my Sensaphonics 2X-S CIEMs. They died ~5 years ago, and since I'm no longer getting paid to use them, can't justify repair costs. Boy, with 39dB of isolation, those would have been awesome in my helmet! Well, they still fit perfectly, and I was considering trying to cut out the insides (solid silicone filled) and use the "shell" to DIY some IEMs. In researching the latest in DIY here on head-fi, that just seems like way too much work and risk. So I thought maybe I'll pick up some earbuds or universal IEMs and try to make silicone tips from my broken CIEMs. That may still be an option, but I'm not sure any easier that just using Radians molds around an earbud.

Now I'm wondering if the custom fit is even worth it with such great foam tip options on the market. I've mostly given up on having one awesome pair of high isolation CIEMs and am ready to settle for Blon BL-03 (just ordered) for listening, and just something decent with strong isolation and comfort for my motorcycle.

So back to the original question - what do you recommend in the sub-$50 range for 1) isolation, 2) comfort, and 3) audio quality (I prefer neutral reference)? And then, any better ideas for my situation/needs, or how to not just throw away my prior CIEM investment and dreams of returning to TOTL CIEMs on a family-with-5-kids budget?

 

[SoundChoice]

what do you recommend in the sub-$50 range for 1) isolation, 2) comfort, and 3) audio quality (I prefer neutral reference)? And then, any better ideas for my situation/needs, or how to not just throw away my prior CIEM investment and dreams of returning to TOTL CIEMs on a family-with-5-kids budget?

BL-03 is under $50, disappears under a helmet into your ear with fit, is comfortable, and good audio quality, but isolation is ok.

CCA C10 is under $50, has a more typical fit, good comfort (YMMV since ears do), and a less basshead sig than many, and better isolation as an all-BA solution.

You may have already solved the problem, and will know when the BLONs arrive in the post.

 

[phillipdhall]

CCA C10 is under $50, has a more typical fit, good comfort (YMMV since ears do), and a less basshead sig than many, and better isolation as an all-BA solution.

Thank you, SoundChoise for the thoughtful recommendation! You are right - I should wait for the Blons and see if they provide enough isolation before seeking to spend more.

For clarification to other readers, the C10s are not all-BA, but hybrid. Reviewers do however note that they are surprisingly good at isolation, with a port on the inside rather than backplate, and per SoundChoice's recommendation, they will be on my short list if I do end up needing more isolation.

 

[baskingshark]

Thank you, SoundChoise for the thoughtful recommendation! You are right - I should wait for the Blons and see if they provide enough isolation before seeking to spend more.

For clarification to other readers, the C10s are not all-BA, but hybrid. Reviewers do however note that they are surprisingly good at isolation, with a port on the inside rather than backplate, and per SoundChoice's recommendation, they will be on my short list if I do end up needing more isolation.

IMHO I think the BLON BL-03 is slightly below average in isolation compared to my other IEMs. For comparisons' sake, I do have a fan in my room and when I sit a meter away from the fan stream, I get the sound of wind whirling in my ears with the BLON. I've tried a few different silicone tips and this whirling sound still gets thru. Not sure if foam tips will help cause the foams technically will expand and block the ear canal, but I have a feeling foam might dull the treble, which is already pretty laid back in the BLON. I have a feeling it will not be suitable for motorcyling at high speed with wind in your ears, but worth a try first since u got it on order.