[Seazer]

Nice impressions!

How do u compare the BLON BL-03 to your moondrop Kanas pro and TFZ No. 3?

I have the tfz no 3 and I vastly prefer the blon 03. The no 3 has more bass but it is also one of the only iems i have that sound legitimately sibilant. The no 3 is actually painful to listen to on S sounds and cymbals. The 8k is next level ridiculous

 

[baskingshark]

Actually I dont want to write up too honest if i can, but thats not me. Because it will be hard times to sell KP and No 3 later

BLONs are crazy with their price. The first thing you have to do is get perfect seal. Its harder than spend your money for them. But never give up.
Once you got the seal, welcome to another crazy world, where a $30 iems sounds like $200-300 great iem (not refer to $200-300 overpriced sets).
Sub bass on KP level, with better speed and accuracy. More texture on bass compared to KP, fast enough like the no 3. But tuning wise i prefer blon from the 3 iems, bass level a bit bigger, (perfect one for me will lowe a bit), that give enough kicks from mid bass just by a slight north of neutral, giving thickness to lower mids and full body, while KP is a bit too thin and not complete with lacks of mid bass. On the other side no 3 mid bass is too big for me.
Mids as clear as KP and No 3, with same resolution if not better, but i feel more dynamic on BLON. High mids level that in between KP and no 3, which is good thing for me, giving engaging and fun listen feeling without being shouty. Trebles are crisp, very very crisp without being sibilance and fatiguing. Baby Oxygen is a good name for them or I called them baby xelento, really remind me to the xelento.
Soundstage better on BLON, as wide as KP, but with better imaging, and definitely better and wider than average no 3.

Direct comparison to your no 3 = wider soundstage, better imaging, clearer mids, a slightly better resolution, better high extension, more balanced signature (i dont know if this thing a good or bad thing to you since you have inner basshead soul), much much worseeeee fit. Yours will be coming shortly right? id like to hear impressions from you, as I feel you have of very objective impressions from the start buddy.

I have the tfz no 3 and I vastly prefer the blon 03. The no 3 has more bass but it is also one of the only iems i have that sound legitimately sibilant. The no 3 is actually painful to listen to on S sounds and cymbals. The 8k is next level ridiculous

Thanks for the comparisons friends. I actually compared my recently bought Semkarch SKC CNT1 and it is almost equal in sound quality to the TFZ No. 3 for like 1/3 of the price (maybe TFZ NO. 3 has more bass quantity and quality and bigger soundstage).
I also think there is a bit of a 8khz spike on it, a bit painful to listen to trumpets and horns for my bigband music.
I actually wouldn't have bought the TFZ No. 3 if I had gotten the Semkarch earlier. Now i'm looking forward to the BLON based on you guys' recs. Will probably sell the TFZ No. 3 soon =(

 

[DynamicEars]

Thanks for the comparisons friends. I actually compared my recently bought Semkarch SKC CNT1 and it is almost equal in sound quality to the TFZ No. 3 for like 1/3 of the price (maybe TFZ NO. 3 has more bass quantity and quality and bigger soundstage).
I also think there is a bit of a 8khz spike on it, a bit painful to listen to trumpets and horns for my bigband music.
I actually wouldn't have bought the TFZ No. 3 if I had gotten the Semkarch earlier. Now i'm looking forward to the BLON based on you guys' recs. Will probably sell the TFZ No. 3 soon =(

Few people wrote up that BL03 is better than CNT1, even BGGAR also bring 5 hot chifi, he stated that BL03 is no 1, and he cant judge the rest (including guideray and v90 and CNT1) but the BL03 is his no 1. I dont have CNT1 myself so i cant compare, but you can roughly guessing by comparison with our no 3. Seriously I pick BL03 than KP or no 3, even if they were sold higher than both.
Tuning wise, i also still prefer BLON than my Sony EX1000, but ex1000 still more mature iem on texture, resolution, smoothness, but seriously differences isnt night and day

 

[Seazer]

I got brief listen and AB ing the ZSX and V90 yesterday. Same as you, im sure these two on same level, I cant pick one if i only have to choose 1 of them. Both are amazing
Using same cable, same spiral dots eartips (which are i found the best for the two), same source.

Fit = both no problem with me, even bigger zsx made a good grip with my ears, but smaller V90 also get me instant fit and maybe better bet for most people.

Build = V90 because metal body that built like a tank, ZSX made by high quality plastic / resin with metal shell. Look wise you can choose by yourself.

Cable = default cable TRN one slightly better.

Comfort = V90, not by big margin though

isolation = V90, that big vent holes on shell plate just a gimmick, even if that thing is real, must be very tiny holes inside, i was hoping a semi open back one.

Bass = V90 definitely bigger on tuning, more to basshead level, ZSX lower in quantity that feels more balance in overall signature. Texture are good on both, maybe v90 just a hair thin better in texture. but quantity wise i prefer on ZSX level. Bottom end extension are great with the two, both are not rolled off too fast, on bass decay V90 have more slightly faster decay speed. Both have no mid bass bleed at all, just touch of warm and thickness, without sound muddy at all.

Mids = ZSX have more forwarded mids, but V90 perceives a clearer mids. Mids on V90 are more open, ZSX sounds a bit veiled on vocals, again not by much margin. lower mids on both have good thickness that not overly done. High mids on V90 are more emphasized than ZSX, made overall signature more dynamic, but on the other side can be shouty if you are sensitive on high mids, shouty female vocals on 3 khz, safe enough, but can be intense on high volumes, while ZSX more flatter, but for some people maybe sounds duller than V90.

Highs = V90 have crisp trebles, very crispy but not fatiguing, made the overal signature fun at first time you listening to them. They have smoother presentation yet very crispy and detailed. I like the trebles on V90 more than ZSX. ZSX trebles are more safe but trebleheads will want more engaging trebles. Both are safe from sibilance.

Overall signature = what differentiate one from another is = V90 more V shaped tuning, ZSX more balanced tuning. V90 more fun and engaging with bigger bass, ZSX more balanced and have forwarded mids

Detail retrieval = on ZSX micro details are more easily heard than V90, because of the more balanced tuning also.

Instrument separation = I have to give to ZSX because i heard more air in between instrument, quite good for this price range but V90 are not left behind.

Soundstage = They are both wide, but if i have to answer which one is wider, I will answer "maybe ZSX", again in very tiny gap between them.

Timbre = v90 is more natural to my ears, but remember ZSX isnt as steely as previous KZ. Just because of the timbre only, i would call its a big upgrade. they are closer to natural, but still below V90, again not by much.

They retail at almost same price also. So you cant go wrong with these 2, just about preferences. For me myself with my pop-jazz, pop, jass, classic, vocals, rock, blues, acoustics, I still cant decide clearly which one i would take to be frank. They have pros and cons but with only small margin. For tuning wise i would prefer ZSX, but i will miss that nice trebles on V90, and clearness of the mids. But if I take V90, i will keep thinking, errrghhh i wish the separation is like on ZSX and the bass is too overwhelming for me. That is the case if im allowed to be picky person. But at this price, if i grab randomly any of them, Ill be happy enough to listen without fear of damage or lost for daily use.

Now about BLON BL-03 that I received in between my ZSX and V90, I love the tuning more. The tuning the smoothness isnt from budget level. Its a tuning similar from what I've heard in TOTL level. crazy in this price. resolution and clearness also very very great, trump both ZSX and V90. Overall more dynamic, clear, with very natural timbre. On separation though, BLON lost to both ZSX and V90, multi driver iems have their advantage in this section. But as you can read in many reviews, blon fit are infamous, sh**ty pieces. That is the main cons of BLON.

Funny how we all hear stuff differently I think the BLON has very very good tuning, but I also think it is the least resolving of the 3. I prefer the v90 over them. Also interesting that you think thethe v90 treble is better than ZSX. I think the v90 treble is smoother, more relaxing, and more forgiving to poor recordings and lower bitrates (spotify and youtube). I think the ZSX treble is crisper, airier, and has better texture though, but it is less forgiving on poor recordings and lower bitrates (but sounds superior with good recordings and FLAC)

Edit: wow the v90 really open up with a good amp. I was using an es100 earlier and just switched to the thx 789 and the sub bass dug even deeper

Edit 2: man i really cant pick between the 3, i might just keep them all. You really cant go wrong with any of them

They each sound better in certain situations. I was playing Sweden from the Minecraft soundtrack and the BLON piano sounded the most realistic of the 3, followed by the V90 and lastly the ZSX.
However playing Reflektor by Arcade Fire, the microdetails and separation from the ZSX sounded best, while the BLON came in second, and the V90 sounded ever so slightly edgy in the upper mids.

 

[DynamicEars]

Funny how we all hear stuff differently I think the BLON has very very good tuning, but I also think it is the least resolving of the 3. I prefer the v90 over them. Also interesting that you think thethe v90 treble is better than ZSX. I think the v90 treble is smoother, more relaxing, and more forgiving to poor recordings and lower bitrates (spotify and youtube). I think the ZSX treble is crisper, airier, and has better texture though, but it is less forgiving on poor recordings and lower bitrates (but sounds superior with good recordings and FLAC)

Edit: wow the v90 really open up with a good amp. I was using an es100 earlier and just switched to the thx 789 and the sub bass dug even deeper

Edit 2: man i really cant pick between the 3, i might just keep them all. You really cant go wrong with any of them

Yes, i just wrote up What I've heard, but we can hears differently, even if we are using same source, same cable, same tips, we still can hear differently, and preference is really subjective. THe BLon for me is very resolving for a DD, but separation definitely lost to ZSX and V90, About V90 trebles, i agree and i mentioned that they are crisp but smooth, and have better tonality while ZSX trebles are full, complex, extension below V90, more flatter without peak and dip, but full overall. Its personal, but i prefer trebles of V90. Again everything is just by more or less, very small margin between them, like i said, really cant be wrong with any of them, deeply agree.

*Edit : ooh, i know maybe i like to hear BLON on higher volume because like there is no dominating certain frequencies, while the rest can be painfull first on high mids or fatiguing bass or trebles. With that, you "hear" more. try to blast up volume on BL03 dude

 

[courierdriver]

Actually I dont want to write up too honest if i can, but thats not me. Because it will be hard times to sell KP and No 3 later

BLONs are crazy with their price. The first thing you have to do is get perfect seal. Its harder than spend your money for them. But never give up.
Once you got the seal, welcome to another crazy world, where a $30 iems sounds like $200-300 great iem (not refer to $200-300 overpriced sets).
Sub bass on KP level, with better speed and accuracy. More texture on bass compared to KP, fast enough like the no 3. But tuning wise i prefer blon from the 3 iems, bass level a bit bigger, (perfect one for me will lowe a bit), that give enough kicks from mid bass just by a slight north of neutral, giving thickness to lower mids and full body, while KP is a bit too thin and not complete with lacks of mid bass. On the other side no 3 mid bass is too big for me.
Mids as clear as KP and No 3, with same resolution if not better, but i feel more dynamic on BLON. High mids level that in between KP and no 3, which is good thing for me, giving engaging and fun listen feeling without being shouty. Trebles are crisp, very very crisp without being sibilance and fatiguing. Baby Oxygen is a good name for them or I called them baby xelento, really remind me to the xelento.
Soundstage better on BLON, as wide as KP, but with better imaging, and definitely better and wider than average no 3.

Direct comparison to your no 3 = wider soundstage, better imaging, clearer mids, a slightly better resolution, better high extension, more balanced signature (i dont know if this thing a good or bad thing to you since you have inner basshead soul), much much worseeeee fit. Yours will be coming shortly right? id like to hear impressions from you, as I feel you have of very objective impressions from the start buddy.

Nice comparison! Thanks! I'm with you...don't think I'll ever sell my KPE, but I probably could find myself letting go of the No.3. I'm finding the opposite of what others are saying about that set, though. Even with cable and tip swaps, I'm still not as in love with the TFZ NO.3. I still don't think they are as good overall as KPE. Yes, they have deep, solid, impactful bass. But I don't think their detail presentation in mids and highs is as good. The No.3 still sounds kinda dark, recessed and less detailed than any of the other sets I own, including ZS10 PRO. Great for dance music and helps with older 80's/90's metal to give a bit more warmth to the sound; but still lacks the detail resolution of the KPE, NX7, or ZS10 PRO, even though I can see why some folks find these 3 sets to be a bit thin sounding in the mids and "metallic" in the treble. The good news is; if you don't mind EQ'ing a bit; they all respond well to it a bit. Even the No.3, which I usually up the mids to +2-3.5 db, and treble up the same. It gives the No.3 a bit more liveliness to it. Still, of the 4 I currently own, they would be the first I'd give up. Honestly, I can achieve the same qualities in the bass, with a more detailed and open soundstage, with my other iems. I like the No.3...don't get me wrong, it's not bad at all...but there are others that do better within the price range or less, for less $.

 

[voicemaster]

Yes, i just wrote up What I've heard, but we can hears differently, even if we are using same source, same cable, same tips, we still can hear differently, and preference is really subjective. THe BLon for me is very resolving for a DD, but separation definitely lost to ZSX and V90, About V90 trebles, i agree and i mentioned that they are crisp but smooth, and have better tonality while ZSX trebles are full, complex, extension below V90, more flatter without peak and dip, but full overall. Its personal, but i prefer trebles of V90. Again everything is just by more or less, very small margin between them, like i said, really cant be wrong with any of them, deeply agree.

*Edit : ooh, i know maybe i like to hear BLON on higher volume because like there is no dominating certain frequencies, while the rest can be painfull first on high mids or fatiguing bass or trebles. With that, you "hear" more. try to blast up volume on BL03 dude

Yes BLON is harder to drive than the ZSX. With my BT20s, I need to go to 84-90% with BLON, while with ZSX, 80% is plenty loud.

 

[archdawg]

Actually I dont want to write up too honest if i can, but thats not me. Because it will be hard times to sell KP and No 3 later

BLONs are crazy with their price. The first thing you have to do is get perfect seal. Its harder than spend your money for them. But never give up.
Once you got the seal, welcome to another crazy world, where a $30 iems sounds like $200-300 great iem (not refer to $200-300 overpriced sets).
Sub bass on KP level, with better speed and accuracy. More texture on bass compared to KP, fast enough like the no 3. But tuning wise i prefer blon from the 3 iems, bass level a bit bigger, (perfect one for me will lowe a bit), that give enough kicks from mid bass just by a slight north of neutral, giving thickness to lower mids and full body, while KP is a bit too thin and not complete with lacks of mid bass. On the other side no 3 mid bass is too big for me.
Mids as clear as KP and No 3, with same resolution if not better, but i feel more dynamic on BLON. High mids level that in between KP and no 3, which is good thing for me, giving engaging and fun listen feeling without being shouty. Trebles are crisp, very very crisp without being sibilance and fatiguing. Baby Oxygen is a good name for them or I called them baby xelento, really remind me to the xelento.
Soundstage better on BLON, as wide as KP, but with better imaging, and definitely better and wider than average no 3.

Direct comparison to your no 3 = wider soundstage, better imaging, clearer mids, a slightly better resolution, better high extension, more balanced signature (i dont know if this thing a good or bad thing to you since you have inner basshead soul), much much worseeeee fit. Yours will be coming shortly right? id like to hear impressions from you, as I feel you have of very objective impressions from the start buddy.

Thanks for the comparisons, buddy. I can't get mine out of my ears since I got them the other day - these Blons are CRAZY good on my E1DA 9038S; I'd be almost as happy if I had paid 200€ for them, no joke. Last night I listened to some acoustic jazz recordings and the instruments had a visceral quality to them, hard to describe, but I was able to reproduce this experience over and over again - pretty amazing. Now I'd like someone to compare them to the mothership; besides ... IF the Blons really sport the same drivers it would be interesting to know what they did differently on the Oxygens.

Now i'm looking forward to the BLON based on you guys' recs. Will probably sell the TFZ No. 3 soon =(

Looking forward to your comparisons against the 9T even though I'll probably spend my money somewhere else. Maybe the IMR Aten but who knows what will happen next in these crazy times?

 

[Seazer]

The more I listen to them the more I love all 3. I think the BLON is the best for gaming, the ZSX is my personal favorite for music, and the V90 is the jack of all trades and bass kings

 

[AtrafCreez]

At this point in time, I'm just gona wait for KZ ZS15 to make sure i get a KZ which is more matured and better tuned.

I bought KZ BA 10 from China. Am saving up for better IEM's but heard that they were very good for the cheap price being Chinese.After I paid for them I found many reports that they are very uncomfortable on the ears. ONE great thing about being over age 12 is that your ears and nose continue to grow. Which makes 67 year old Geezers like myself wonder you is looking back at me in the mirror... so, by me I cannot feel even a minute sense of discomfort in ears. I've only heard them once , they are far from being burnt in. Lets hope the tinny treble goes away, but the bass is nice and not overdone!

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Jamming the latest Opeth album with the ZSX and it's glorious.

 

[Barusu Lamperouge]

@All Members how do you compare your budget-fi gear with the TOTL+ Mid-fi gear? Is it really worth to pay over $100 for an IEM? I'm asking this because in my country $100 is considered to be borderline premium and I am really restricted on a budget but always curious about TOTL sound that all reviewers mention in their reviews. Since this is a budget-fi thread, I'd like to have an opportunity to seek everyone's esteemed opinion which might be helpful to others like me.

 

[HungryPanda]

@All Members how do you compare your budget-fi gear with the TOTL+ Mid-fi gear? Is it really worth to pay over $100 for an IEM? I'm asking this because in my country $100 is considered to be borderline premium and I am really restricted on a budget but always curious about TOTL sound that all reviewers mention in their reviews. Since this is a budget-fi thread, I'd like to have an opportunity to seek everyone's esteemed opinion which might be helpful to others like me.

most certainly my very first iem was the Unique Melody Miracle then down the rabbit hole I went. I now have a huge list of some very loved earphones and some absolute garbage in storage. Right now budget gear used is KZ ZSX, TRN V90, NiceHCK NX7. Mid-Fi BGVP DMS, Rythmos SD7, Toneking TK2

 

[baskingshark]

@All Members how do you compare your budget-fi gear with the TOTL+ Mid-fi gear? Is it really worth to pay over $100 for an IEM? I'm asking this because in my country $100 is considered to be borderline premium and I am really restricted on a budget but always curious about TOTL sound that all reviewers mention in their reviews. Since this is a budget-fi thread, I'd like to have an opportunity to seek everyone's esteemed opinion which might be helpful to others like me.

I haven't heard or owned any IEMs > $1000 USD so take what I say with a pinch of salt. My experiences come from owning a few midfi pieces the past 15 years (mostly multi driver westones and the Audiosense T800 and a few single driver DDs) and I compare my CHIFI budget stuff with them. Price does not always correlate with audio quality, and of course music is subjective for everyone, so what may be nice for someone does not apply to everyone.

Honestly, the past 2 - 3 years, the CHIFI releases are as good or just slightly less good as most of my multi driver westones. So much so I have stopped patronizing most western brands since then. My very very first IEM was the westone UM1 and it was a single driver IEM that cost me $150 USD. I was a student then and had to scrimp and save for months just to buy the cheapest entry level IEM that was available then. In terms of sound quality, the westone UM1 won't hold a candle to most of the sub 30 buck CHIFI IEMs today IMHO.

If I can give an example which I quoted before, the KZ ZS10 Pro can subjectively give 80% of details, clarity, instrument separation as the westone W30. But the W30 costs 10x more than the ZS10 Pro. Whether u wanna pursue the 20% marginal improvement for a diminishing return with respect to costs is really subjective. But I had purchased my W30 before I got the ZS10 Pro and I wouldn't have bought the W30 if I had heard the ZS10 Pro beforehand for sure. And the latest reviewers have said the CCA C12, KZ ZSX and TRN V90 are better than the ZS10 Pro, so that is pretty amazing for the price. There was no such thing as a well tuned multi BA/hybrid IEM costing < 50 bucks 3 years ago, so we are really blessed to get relatively good quality stuff at non exorbitant prices nowadays.

Regardless, I think we should all have our own sweet spot for price to performance ratio and stick to it, as the higher up u go, the law of diminish returns kicks in for marginal improvements.

 

[mbwilson111]

and some absolute garbage in storage

I want to know which ones these are.