The official place to discuss to BLON IEMs and headphones.
Just got the Blon BL30’s today. This headphone sounds awesome! I’d say at 100$ this is the best sounding headphone in the range. I like it better than some of my 200-300$ headphones. What Blon did in cheap IEMs their doing again in headphones.
Bassy, treble not harsh or sibilant at all, but clear. It has that big driver sound like the Arya. not as good of course. But I dont know what other dynamic headphone I could get that from besides expensive Sony headphones. The 70mm drivers are delivering that very well. great separation. Great dynamics. Good detail for a headphone this cheap. Very pleasing balanced frequency response. This headphone just sounds great.
Blon also set this headphone with 150ohms impedance. So should work fine with OTL tube amps.
I really like the build too on the Blon BL30. Feels like all metal and the cups move every which way. It feels simple but very functional. Not much clamp at all. Pads nice and soft, not very firm. You can get a nice looking copper contrast in the gold edition.
Again Blon goes cryptic with WGZ BLON 2014 printed on the cups.
I bought it on Linsoul but for a week nothing happened. I had to email Linsoul to get them to send it. Once they did it took 10 days to get to me from China.
remove the pads:
Here are a few links to previous Blon reviews that are in the Ultra Cheap IEM thread…
Blon BL-03
Blon BL-05
Blon BL-05s
Blon T3
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I cant find anyway to remove these pads. ive tried pulling the pad off, it seems attached. ive tried twisting it, Ive tried pulling the pad as if its on a diaphragm and it wont come off. nothing works. seems its on tight. but i saw the Bad Guy Good Audio Reviews was able to remove them on his video. Unless that was only available on the review copy. I really want to get a look at the driver and the cool looking grill. take a look at this:
I want to get a look at that grill. Anyone able to get the pads off? please post to this thread.
There are 3 round holes on the grill. Is it possible the pads have pins that snap into them? If so you might be able to use a spudger to pop the pad off.
So the other night i was searching for 70mm driver headphones like the Blon B30 and i came across this:
So another company called Cooyin seem to be the ones responsible for the B30. Its the same headphone with Grado like pads. You can see the original inspiration for the headphone. very Grado like.
I checked the web and they have their own Twitter page but haven’t updated it since October 2019. So I’m wondering if Cooyin maybe went out of business and Blon bought up the headphone stock or got the right to manufacture it. They are after all very nice headphones. you can see in the original ad. they where charging 220$ for them. No wonder they sound like 200-300$ headphones. they originally were!
Smart move on Blons part to change the pads. I never liked the Grado pads. did they do any tuning changes also?
As a matter of fact i wonder where Blon themselves come from? obviously a Asian company. Ive seen them associated with Boss Hifi. If its the same, the Boss company have been selling products in America for a long time. i remember seeing their products way back in the day. but there’s no website for Boss Hifi or Blon 
Thanks to the Cooyin ad we’re able to see some of the tech that went into the drivers:
So is Biofiber the same as Bio-cellulose drivers?
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So i found out how to remove the pads and got a look at the driver and spiffy looking grill. Thing is Blon or Cooyin built this thing so you would never be able to remove the pads. So DONT try to remove the pad the way you do other headphones. you’ll just end up tearing it. I hear the XL Brainwaves pads will fit. Heres how i did it. you’ll need some tools and very strong fingers. Before you start, the tip of the bar that connects them to the headband screws off and you can remove them from the headband. you may want to do that as theres a lot of fiddling that needs to be done.
first you’ll have to cut a slit in the filter inside the pads. i just cut mine completely off. But it stretches pretty good so you just need a slit. Inside there will be 3 screws:
You’ll need a Alan screw driver. just loosen them up. you wont be able to remove them cause of the bolts on the other side. Next use a hook or pry tool to remove the outer grill. it snaps on and off so its no problem.
you’ll see 3 bolts inside:
You can unscrew these by hand. Now separate the grill from the cup. you’ll see the pads are held in place by the screws. theres no pulling this thing off without disassemble:
Pull them out of the screws but its not over. the pads are also attached by the stickiest tape i have ever seen. your gonna need to pull the pads off. gonna require a lot of finger strength but i was able to do it and the pad did not tear. so dont worry.:
I removed the tape from the metal. i didnt see anyway to get the pads back on or any pads with it still on, its VERY sticky. I dont know why Blon did this. Pads wear out. They get dirty. People want to try different pads to see how the sound changes. Whoever designed this did NOT want them removed. weird.
Getting a look at it the driver is massive. much bigger than i thought. we’ve all had 50mm drivers which are most common on our dynamic headphone drivers. how much more a difference would 20mm make? well a LOT. i was surprised how big they are and that big driver sound is no longer a mystery.
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So, a question that comes to mind seeing that you had to cut the material to get to the screw to remove all that stuff to get the pad off…
How did they get them on?
lol beats me!
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Glad you figured it out. Definitely not a headphone for a long-term commitment unless you want to do a lot of surgery.
I wouldnt say surgery. I mean i didnt have to solder anything. I didnt want to make it sound like it was super difficult. wasnt that hard actually just took a few of steps. Once you get the pads off and the tape off you could put any pads you want on it. The sound of the headphone certainly makes it worth it. cause god they sound good. and i can use them on a tube amp. that big driver sound. oh yeah
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Good news! We’re all going to die The pads are removable from the 110 mm mounting plate!
More photos showing the stock pads compared to the Brainwavz Round XL Gel in the album.
After removing the headband pad, I used hands and knee to effectively flatten most of the band which started significantly arched. After bending the ends by hand as much as I safely could, it became clear that I would end up weakening or breaking where the headband connects to the joint, so I resorted to a wrench, pliers and some paper kitchen towel.
Even after several rounds of bending and fitting, I doubt that there is enough headband to make the pads press evenly to my head, however it is good enough for now and as a bonus, the pad fits better.
An Audeze LCD Carbon Fiber Headband would probably fit nicely.
!
I tightened all eight hex bolts. The ones at the cup ends of the poles were especially loose.
Pictured next to my Thieaudio Phantom connected to the E1Da PowerDAC V2 mounted on ROCCAT Modulok stands, the BL-30 is powered by the xDuoo TA-01B 2.1 Watt single-ended tube hybrid DAC/amp.
It’s not there as I type because it’s on my head playing Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch’s “Blade Runner 2049” soundtrack through PulseEffects with Bass Enhancer. I wanted it big and expected the bass, and the BL-30 has not disappointed. I saw this movie in a Dolby Theater and this reminds me of that experience.
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Yeah ive been seeing this a lot. People saying their copy of the headphones have no problem taking pads off. But the ones that report this all have the copper colored ones dubbed “gold”. Maybe all the black ones are jacked? Or maybe i got the jacked pair lol. I did grab it right away when i heard about it. maybe i got some crazy review or model copy. They said they where new. weird.
Blon B50
The Blon B50 were sent to me by Linsoul in exchange for the publication of this review. Linsoul have not made any requests or comments and I will do my usual best to be as sincere and unbiased in this review as possible.
You can find the B50, via Linsoul, by visiting the version of this review published on my blog (link at the end of this post).
As always, it is a non-affiliate link.
To avoid being repetetive in my reviews, you can find all the info about how I create the reviews, equipment used, how I receive the products and how to interpret my reviews by visiting: About my reviews
Intro…
I have actually had the Blon B50 for some time but haven’t really gotten around to them until now. As the temperatures start to climb rapidly here, hitting between 30 and 35C every day, I decided it was best to focus on testing these closed back headphones before the heat starts to get, let’s say, uncomfortable.
The B50 are a set of budget oriented headphones by the brand that is more known for its IEMs than over ears, although they do have a few models of headphones, none of which I have tried. This specific set is available for just under 120€ on Linsoul at the time of putting together this review, which, in my opinion, is a very reasonable price for a set of headphones… if they are decent that is.
So, after using the B50 at my desk, finding that they are easily powered by anything with a headphone jack, here are my opinions on these headphones.
Presentation…
I have to say that I was very surprised by the packaging of the BL50, which arrives without even being in a box! The normal brown shipping box used by Linsoul opened to reveal a rectangular semi-rigid storage case just sitting inside.
Opening the case didn’t get any better either. The interior of the case is just an empty space inside which the headphones were placed in a clear zip-lock bag, with the included cable in another zip-lock bag, and a simple warranty/info card.
That is it. I would say that the presentation being sparse would be a bit of an understatement but they do at least give us a storage case and if the savings are spent on the headphones themselves, then I am all for saving on packaging where possible.
Build and aesthetics…
Let’s get the aesthetics out of the way first, I am not really a fan. They have a bit of a retro look going on but, honestly, I think it makes them look more “cheap” than “retro”. I think the main thing that turns me off as far as looks are those large gold diamonds with blue text and decor. These are mounted on solid metal cups that are a darkish grey colour which is not terrible but doesn’t match the metal used on the headband either, making it look like it was put together with random parts.
Moving on to build quality, credit should be given where credit is deserved. There is no shortage of metal used on the B50, with metal cups, yokes and headband, all seeming well assembled and looking like they would withstand quite a bit of abuse. When fully extended, there is a bit of play in the part that extends but it is not bad and I would say that, for 120€, these are very well built.
As far as comfort, this is obviously going to vary from one person to the next but personally I found them to be very comfortable. There isn’t much in the way of adjustment, just some tilt (very little) to the cups and the extension of the headband but in my case they fit well. They are also on the heavy side, which is understandable due to them being completely made of metal, but I didn’t find them tiring, mainly due to the soft pads, decent clamp and the (faux) leather headstrap that just all click into place with my personal anatomy. Again, this is going to be very different for each and every one of us, so it is worth noting that there is no swivel or really much adjustment at all, they will either be comfortable on your head or they won’t.
Before moving on, I have to say tha the included cable is quite nice, being superior to many cables received with other headphones at price points above these. It is a simple fabric covered twist which then divides into single 3.5mm connectors, one for each side. It is a lightweight cable that isn’t prone to tangling (or having a life of its own) and, while it may not be a boutique cable, I like it.
Sound…
All tracks mentioned are clickable links that allow you to open the reference track in the streaming service of your choice (YouTube, Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, etc.)
Now on to the important part, how does it does it perform in the audio realm. Well, I’m afraid that it doesn’t do great. There is a strange overall presentation of music with the B50 that is difficult to explain but I will try.
First off, as always, the graph:
I have included the HD6XX just for comparison’s sake so you can get a reference as to what the basic frequency response is like. Now it is not really fair to compare the measurements of a closed back headphone against an open back as closed backs rarely measure well (at least the ones that I have measured) and while sometimes the measurements look rather weird, it is possible that the sound is not as weird as the graph would suggest.
As an example, here is another graph comparing the the B50 to the Beyerdynamic Custom Studio, which is another closed back headphone:
In this case, you can see that the CS measurements are also all over the place in comparison to an open back but these are a set of closed back headphones that I actually find myself using when I need over ear isolation. No, they are not the best sounding headphones I have but they are not terrible either.
But anyway, enough of the squiggly lines and let’s get to how I find the B50 to perform in my subjective opinion, starting off with the subbass.
The lowest frequencies are actually not bad, they do have a bit of a roll off in the lowest frequencies but manage to stay from being too boomy in that low end. My usual “Chameleon” test track is a long way from being the cleanest I have heard but they are still fairly decent in these lower ranges. If you are looking for an extreme rumble in the lowest frequencies then they aren’t going to give you that but seeing that they stay coherent, I can’t really complain.
Midbass actually seems a little hollow, without much presence, which is again not a bad thing. I would rather there be some absence of midbass than an overly bloated mess that some other closed backs have in this area. Although there is a dip around the 200Hz mark, they don’t actually sound like the lower notes are too detached from the mids, avoiding that “separate subwoofer” feeling that I have found with some other sets that have a similar dip.
Unfortunately, as we move up from this range, things get progressively worse moving through the mids and then into the upper ranges. The B50 give a sensation of having holes in the frequency response, with certain groups of frequencies being elevated while others are just not there. This gives a very unrealistic timbre to acoustic instruments and, when listening to more electronic focused music, gives the impression that a DJ has been playing with his effects and forgot to turn the knobs back to neutral.
Vocals somehow manage to be recessed yet peaky and harsh at the same time, going from not being quite upfront to attacking you, all at the same time. This is the case with both female and male vocals, however, females can portray the harshness much more than in the case of males.
Sibilance is present but doesn’t really stand out as much as it would if there weren’t other harsher things going on around it. Again, the impression that I get is that some kind of effect has been activated and not removed, this can make certain parts of songs in the upper ranges actually quite painful. I did find myself removing the headphones on occasions until I could change tracks.
Soundstage is actually not too bad for a closed back set of headphones and if it wasn’t for the weirdness in sound, I think imaging would be fairly decent also, but as it stands, it is difficult to locate things accurately due to those dips and peaks in both music and vocals.
Conclusion…
I can’t see the point in going deeper into this review as the Blon B50 just don’t agree with me. I am not sure what went on with the tuning of these headphones but the outcome is… strange.
While I would love to say that they are a good alternative for a specific use case or genre, I’m afraid that I haven’t found it personally. They are comfortable and seem like they will withstand abuse, meaning that you could probably throw these about in a bag and not worry about them but, to be brutally honest, I’m not sure that the weight would be worth it.
As always, this review is also available in Spanish both on my blog (www.achoreviews.com) and on YouTube (Acho Reviews - YouTube)
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