When you are trying to design an IEM that supposed to look unique yet supposed to be comfortable for a variety of users things could get out of the hand pretty easily.
This is what happened to WGZ Blon 2 years ago. They managed to design an IEM that looks fantastic and sounds great for its price range but according to the users the fit was atrocious. Company tried to do something different with BL1 but boy that was a step to the opposite direction fit-wise.
But they finally managed to solve this probem by designing something rather weird looking. I’m reviewing their latest offer to the budget segment; WGZ Blon BL mini. Lets find out where their 3 years of journey in this market brought them to.
First things first; unboxing and presentation
The box design has changed a little bit. The new box is very thin something that can fit into a tiny envelop. A very good design approach considering that they are selling everything online. After opening the box you are greeted by the BL mini on its molded plastic section. The rest of the accesrories are tucked inside a tiny box below the IEMS.
You get a new cable which is great. The same selection of tips that you are getting with the rest of the blon products a carry pouch and manuals. New cable is perfect for the price range, its a single strand transparent coated cable that tangles rearely ang gets untangled very easily. I’m sure you’ll love it. But the eartips are still the same. They are not terrible but not as good as the KBEAR eartips. They should work on that.
Fit and isolation
The design of this IEM is very funky. I’d say its like macaroni but everyone is saying that. So I’ll use a different approach; its like a drop of liquid metal from the Terminator 2. Made of zinc alloy, it has a premium finish. Designed perfectly for ear cavity. But it has a minor design flaw but I’ll get that one in a bit. The fit is great, altough the stock eartips are causing some problems. It blocks most of the enviromental noise.
Sound quality and characteristics.
This is a Blon IEM and it sounds like a Blon IEM. How? Well you got a tastefully boosted bass. Delicate and natural mids and very soft treble. Blon is known with their energetic and soft tuning. Although they had some issues with the design on their past products the sound quality was always great.
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Bass is boosted on this IEM. More than BL03 as I heard of. Its a thick yet tastfully tuned bass that doesn’t bleeds into mids. The level of detail is not that much but the characteristics of the bass is great.
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Mids are recessed. Not too much but definetly noticeable. They are detailed and natural. Vocals have a rather agressive seperation from the rest of the mids. but its still maintains its coherent nature.
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Treble is detailed yet soft. There are no harshness and sibilance.
The overall tuning is a dark and intimate V. Great for modern genres. There are no hotnesses on the ‘T’s and ‘S’s which is great.
Soundstage and seperation is good. Soundstage is not that wide but still it has great seperation on its level. I think this is a choice that you have to consider rather than a flaw or deficiency of this IEM.
The overall tuning and sound characteristics of this IEM is great for those listens modern genre’s like pop and varieties. İts also great for rock and electronic music but You have to use a bright source in order to add some air.
İt performs well with classical and live recordings but intimate sounstage poses a little problem. Lowering the 250hz band by a dB on the EQ solves this issue.
Concluison
After experimenting with different designs I think the company finally manged to gather enough experience on the design department with this model. İt looks weird but fits great. With one exception; the nozzle is thick and short; you have to use a long and small eartip to get the best fit. Its not a fit problem like BL03 had; this IEM has great fit with out of the box eartips. But if you use a small eartip and do a deeper insertion to the ear canal all of the outside noise becomes dead silent. This IEM has the greatest passive isolation that I have experienced in a long time.
As for the use cases I’d say that this IEM will make a majority of the users very happy. But if you are after a spacious and airy presentation you might be disappointed. This is a party animal not an orchestral elite.
You can use the link below to shop from where I bought. If you are after a more affordable option you can check out KBEAR KS1; it has a similar sound signature with a more affordable design. If you are after a more airy option check out our TRN TA1 review.
