SteelCookie
Head-Fier
I'll have to get back to you as L3 and L9 are on loan to a friend to review. Out of memory, the Blessing 2 is noticeably brighter than both and I had to adjust to let my ears get used to them.
I am a basshead, I will let people know I'm a basshead. I love the rumble and I love the bass guitar. While the L3 and L9 both beat the B2 bass out in quantity, they don't come anywhere close to the quality and separation of the bass. The bass on the B2 is more textured, detailed and better on the attack. The bass on L3 and L9 do smear a little bit to the other frequencies (L9 much more so than the L3, which only slightly smears) whereas there is a clear separation between the bass and the other frequencies on the B2, I never have to search for the bass guitar when the recording gets busy, it's just always there and with the speed of the dynamic driver you get all that wonderful physicality out of thick textured bass notes that I don't really get with the other 3 (L3, L9 and Solaris). Again out of memory, I do think that the treble on the L9 is unrivaled to my taste with what I have so far and the mids are thick and syrupy but those are more of a preference rather than a dig at the B2. With mids, B2 has natural mids that leans toward the thicker side (on stage with the singer, 10ft back), the L3 has natural mids that lean towards the thinner side (row 1/2 in the audience), L9 has very intimate molasses thick mids (singer right in front of your face). I'll preface this by saying that I do prefer splashy treble (the tail-end of cymbals) more so than tingy treble (the attack on cymbals). L9 I would say has more of a splashy treble (more subdued attack but the cymbals shimmer brilliantly at the tail end) while the B2 has more ting (attack on cymbals) to it but does have splashy characteristics. I'm not too much of a fan of the L3s treble (feels rolled off and subdued) but I've heard a lot of people do like it and there are people who prefer a more darker sound which may mean that I'm a closet treble-head and just started to realize it.
In terms of sound-stage and imaging, the B2 is hands down the winner of both of them. L3 is quite wide but lacks depth and L9 is quite tall but lacks width. B2 I would say combines the depth and width of both and it's hard to discern whether or not the sound-stage itself has more width or height which leads to a more natural sense of imaging rather than feeling pulled out of it when you notice something is going way wider than depth or something is going way deeper than its width. If I had to recommend the 3 to people who are blind buying their first IEM. I would probably go L3 as my number 1 with the B2 afterwards. While I would say the L3 is probably the least favorite in my collection, it doesn't mean I dislike it. It has an extremely inoffensive sound that's agreeable to many new listener (warm signature, with slightly rolled off treble and a small bass bump), I believe that the slightly brighter sounds signature of the B2 can turn off a bit of people. But let's say you have listened to a lot of IEMs and are looking for something to compliment something you know is on the darker side or that you've demo'd or owned a bunch of IEM and actually do prefer the slight uptick in the upper frequency energy, then I believe that the B2 is something that should be in your collection. Honeymoon period aside, I do much prefer the B2s over my CFA offerings while I do acknowledge that they are very much a different IEM. CFA Solaris/Andros are much more on the laid back side and after a while, I couldn't find myself to feel engaged in the music with them, they have slight bass bump, thin airy mids, with hints of treble energy, though I would say that I felt that Solaris (OG) treble felt too veiled and artificial for my likings which is what made me ultimately sell them. I'll give a more concise review and comparison once I get my L3 and L9 back in my hands but these ramblings are just what I can really parse out of my mind at the very moment. L9s are at the bottom of my recommendations, not because they are bad but they definitely have a sound that can't be considered agreeable by everyone, they definitely fill a niche and those that prefer that niche will be greatly rewarded but I would not recommend anyone to buy it blind especially at its price point with B2 being significantly cheaper (over $200 cheaper).
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