Before I get into anything, I would like to preface that I am in no way an audiophile, and I do not claim to be such. Now onto the actual review.
I'm not going to wax poetic about these – they're definitely budget IEMs. Does that men they're bad? Hell no! They're much nicer than almost anything it the price bracket. However, I'm not *entirely* sure thats enough of a reason to invest in these if you spend more than just a couple of hours listening to music every day.
This is my second pair of BLON BL-03s, and I'd just like to highlight a couple of points
1. QC can be a bit of an issue when it comes to chi-fi. Like I said, these are my second pair of BL-03s. My first pair was definitely not up to scratch and I ended up selling them off to a choto bhai (there was a definite imbalance in the driver output between the pair, regardless of what cable or source I utilised). This pair however, seems to be in perfect working order out of the box!
2. Regardless of what reviewers might be saying, the BL-03 is definitely not "neutral". They have a distinctly warm sound signature. Now whether that is a positive or negative in your books is completely up to your own taste, there is absolutely no wrong answer.
3. I like the placement of the treble and the mid highs. They're not too recessed, and not particularly shouty either – they're just ever so slightly pushed forward. I personally happen to like that.
4. The bass – the BL03's have a very distinct mid bass "bump" which gives it its signature warm tonality. However, as much as I like bass, I have found this bump to overpower the subbase and bleed into the lower mids (male vocals) is a less-than-desirable (for me) way. Your milage may vary, depending on how you actually like your music to sound. Again, music is a very personal and subjective thing!
5. thickness – annnd we come back to talking about tonality. the BL 03s have a thicc (yes with two c's) sound signature – It does make for really enjoyable renditions of certain genres! Tiptoe by Thad Jones and Dragonball Durag by Thundercats are particularly enjoyable on these!
6. Sound stage – theres no getting around the fact that these are tiiiiny IEMs. But even with that disadvantage, they DO sport a surprizingly spacious sound stage. On well mastered tracks you can definitely hear distinct separation of instruments and its got a pretty decent air of directionality (decent, not accurate – remember, budget buds, manage your expectations!). I haven't come across a pair of budget buds that can render Yosi Horikawa's stuff this nicely! (or daft punk for that matter!)
7. If, like me, you find the bass to be somewhat overpowering for your particular taste, I would highly recommend applying Oratory1990's EQ for these, and them laying whatever parametric eq you feel necessary on top!
8. A couple of genres don;t play particularly well on the BL03s for me without some EQ tweaking. Specifically hard/glam rock and metal. And to be perfectly honest, I cant really blame the IEMs! These genres usually employ very many layered instruments that often create a "wall" of sound – something that just can't be reproduced well with a single dynamic driver – at least not in this price point! I've found pulling down the mid bass a bit and boosting the sub bass and the mid highs can make stuff like SOAD, Pantera and KISS sound a LOT better and wider and cleaner.
9. Fitment – your mileage may vary. Everyones ears are different. The BL03s have a distinctly short stem, which MAY mean that you MAY need to get yourself some longer eartips, or one with a flexible head. I'd like to add that you dont NEED to spend more money on spinfits – the BL03s *do* come with two spinfit-style eartips featuring flexible heads. If they fit well on you, thats great! you wont need to spend more money. If they dont, well, you can try the spinfits! For me however, nothing works as well as memory foam – regardless of which IEM I'm using, and the BL03s aren't an exception.
10. Don't expect amazing sound out of the box – just like any other IEMs, let them breathe a bit. The sound signature will change over the first few hours of playing music. And thats okay. But you do need time to a. give the drivers some time to settle in and "break in", and more importantly, b. give your own brain and auditory system some time to get acclimated with the sound signature!
If you've managed to come this far down the review, congratulations! Heres where I give my final thoughts. Are the Blon BL-03s amazing? No. Are they *better* than most of what you will find at this price bracket – definitely! Should you invest in them? Sure, if you are into collecting chi-fi stuff, go right ahead! If there's no way for you to stretch your budget, BUY IT. It's going to be fucking great! BUT if you *can* stretch your budget, the Moondrop Aria's blow these out of the water.
