And that alone is somewhat troubling about the Blon. Consistently is iffy. From the initial reports that one color sounds better than the other (which has now been debunked), to just regular old variations from unit to unit. I prefer to have more consistency if possible, which may help explain why the Blon is $30 and the Oxygen is $300. My guess is that they may in fact ‘have the same driver’ (which is a rumor that has not been proven), but the B-stock drivers that didn’t make the cut (for whatever the reason may be) went to the Blons, and the perfect drivers went to the Oxygen. Companies do that stuff all the time, and Intel and AMD have made an entire business model out of it. Heck, we see the same variations in MH755 units. Some have a little more bass, others have a little less, etc. But just like there’s a few dud MH755 out of a batch (that don’t sound as good/perfect as the others) I’m sure the Blons are the same way too.
Wow i missed your comments about Spring 1. I already explain about weirdness and bloomy mid bass that caused by eartips, they are very picky about eartips and required burn in (well, im half believer). But seriously eartips playing big parts on Spring 1 bass, try wide bores that have only little overlap with nozzle end so they dont make longer resonance which caused bloomy mid bass. i agree, even Andromeda have a lot of unit variations, they can slightly different in sound
unit variations exist in every price category, only professional brands like Etymotic for example have very tight tolerance on their top of the line ER4 models
Yep and I do believe most brand just QCed not all of their iems but just going by the batch and call it a day.
Indeed differences do exist in every price category. Which is why in some ways I think pontificating on headfi about how great an iem is and rating it in finite terms over various aspects is a complete waste of effort...so many variables, not just from unit to unit, but depending on source, cable, fit, point of burn in etc etc. Just pick what you like and enjoy the music eh!
This all comes back to the general thought on case studies being of questionable veracity. Most of us only have a single pair as a point of reference for most things we have, cars, headphones, etc. It's why a meta analysis of all data points is such a necessity. We can only infer so much, even from reviewers we find we have similar tastes to. I know @Hawaiibadboy tends to have similar tastes to me... I also know his general tastes well enough that I'd have told him not to buy the spring 1 if I'd had it before him... He doesn't believe in burn in, and prefers a more natural sound than I require. That's bad news with the spring 1... Conversely, I know @antdroid and I have very different tastes, so I don't pay much attention to the subjective parts of his reviews (that being said his bl-03 review echos my thoughts almost exactly now that I read it).
that is a very good point, for example there is a opinions on my DAC that the sound is more on the "analytical" side, so it is possible warm earphones to sound cleaner with my source compared to others that have more neutral or warm sources, at the end we will have different opinion on the sound, the earphone is the same, a lot of variables
Blon received, the hype is real. Lower treble is still a touch elevated for me personally but it is very well controlled, not just for the price. Bass has a satisfying punch, soundstage is immersive, and timbre is done exceedingly well. Bass could be a bit flatter toward the sub for better definition. Vocals have enough presence for my liking and sound very natural. Overall, an incredible product all around but I’ll still be on the lookout for something greater. I’m sure many of us in this hobby would agree that you can’t put a price on an earphone that fits our preferences!
I'm more than tired of the BL-03's radioactive popularity, coerced me to order a 2nd pair But it'll be a good thing, if enough members buy a pair, then we'll have a common benchmark, for future comparisons. As long as the one-upmanship doesn't get out of hand. e.g. I've seen comparisons against the MoonDrop Kanas, Kanas Pro & KXXS, where owners have found some scenarios where the BL-03 might hit a drum kit better; which someone will then take to an illogical conclusion of "Kanas Killer".
On second thought, it seems to be the peak around 10k on the Blon that could stand to be less emphasized more so than the lower treble. No harshness, however. I think less emphasis at 5k and 10k would be perfect but I’m nitpicking here. Also, it appears that Disney really is taking over everything..
My recommendation for tip rolling the Blon. I’m using SpinFits CP145 with spacer rings made by cutting off part of the inserts found with the CP240. This way the CP145 doesn’t slip further down the nozzle, giving the earphone more distance from the ear thus increasing comfort.
The cable isn’t bad in my opinion. I’d prefer a straight jack and a cable cinch but otherwise no real complaints. Another random rant (unrelated to Blon).. 45 degree jacks are ugly, this needs to stop.
But there’s a valid reason for them. Depending on the earphone and individual ear anatomy, they may lead to a superior fit. Case in point is the difference between the plug shape on these 2 earphones:
I was actually referring to the end of the cable where it enters the source/amp, not the earpieces. My mistake for using the term “jack” when I meant plug.
I'm glad it worked for you. Even though the spacer fixes the slippery issue I still can't use this model (CP145-M) without getting the ear tip stuck in my ear when taking it off. To me, it's either MH755 tips or Spiral Dots since they can "lock-in" on the nozzle.
