Fit and Comfort

I took two photos of the BLON BL-A8s with the two provided types of silicone tips, both in size M and inserted into an artificial ear mold. I have averagely sized ears, and the ear mold seen above about perfectly represents my own experiences. Size M Silicone tips are my go-to for testing since foam tips are not included by some, and I personally think the standard silicone tips work best here, although both are so close no difference can be made out in the taken photos. As such, I am only posting one photo here to represent both cases. These are about average in size for IEMs and as such take up more room than some of the recent ones we've examined from Ikko and Campfire Audio. There is not much outward pressure to worry about, or any fatigue owing to the mass being just ~7 g each. Getting the fit right is the most important thing for comfort, so take your time and try out the different tips, or even some aftermarket ones if you prefer some foam tips.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

This section is easy enough to talk about because there is not much going on inside. BLON is using a single 10 mm dynamic driver, which is seemingly a lightweight diaphragm driver at that. There is no venting within the tube everything is inside, with the outer shell doing nothing for the actual audio performance. Expect to see a boosted bass response thus, but the rest will come down to tuning and how well that acoustic chamber in the tube performs. The 3D printed shell should make for a more consistent reproduction across samples; however, do not expect BLON to individually test everything to the same extent higher-end IEM brands do. Driving the hardware is easy enough, with a total rated impedance of 32 Ω (16 per channel) to where no aftermarket amp is needed. A DAC is always a good idea. However, in the price range BLON operates I do not expect many to spend too much on one, if anything at all. Onboard DACs in phones will be better than nothing, as will similar onboard audio solutions in motherboards today if you connect this to a PC. The lack of a 3.5 mm audio jack for most phones these days is another reason to consider a DAC/amp that takes digital input and provides a 3.5 mm jack on the other end since you will have to use an adapter anyway, or even a dedicated DAP itself. If not on the go, space is less of an issue, but the relatively shorter cable might be a potential handicap if connecting to a PC as the audio source. BLON also rates the signal sensitivity at 115 dB, which I am taking with a grain of salt, and a frequency response of 20 Hz to 20 kHz, but good luck making use of that range!

Frequency Measurement and Listening

Before we proceed, I will mention that I have a general preference for a V-shaped sound signature emphasizing elevated bass and treble with recessed mids. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, which complements the V-shaped profile.


Our reproducible testing methodology begins with an IEC711 audio coupler/artificial ear that ear buds can feed into to where you have decent isolation similar to real ears. The audio coupler feeds into a USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running and the earphones connected to the laptop through the sound card. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/6th setting, which nets a good balance of detail and noise not being identified as useful data. Also, the default tuning was used for testing, and no app-based settings were chosen unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is tested thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the three individual measurements for statistical accuracy. For IEMs, I am also using the ear mold that fits to the audio coupler for a separate test to compare how the IEMs fare when installed in an ear geometry and not just the audio coupler itself. The raw data is then exported from REW and plotted in OriginPro for easier comparison.


Now, after calibrating the sound card and accounting for the base floor noise levels, I am a touch more confident about the SPL label, but there is likely still a significant offset across the board owing to the overall resistance and impedance in the system in addition to the operating volume/gain. I should also normalize the curves to a set frequency, but the IEC711 is such that you can't really compare these results with most other test setups anyway, just within our own library of measurements. What is really useful information is how the left and right channels work across the rated frequency response in the BLON BL-A8 earphones, or at least the useful part of it. The left earbud was separately tested from the right one, and colored differently for contrast. I did my best to ensure an identical fit for both inside the IEC711 orifice, so note how the two are pretty much spot on identical!

Now, there is a caveat to mention here—I am not the first reviewer to have received these, and others have had multiple samples over the last few months as BLON went about finalizing the design and packaging. Many in the press do not do frequency response measurements, and those who do tend to do it for a single channel and call it a day. There are very few who measure both channels, and among those, I clearly have the most consistent set here. Findings for the others have been less impressive to where the difference between left and right channels are more obvious, but still nothing to write home about, especially since I can't vouch for the testing methodology of others. I will also mention that there was no discernible break-in period or effect, so BLON gets full marks for reproducibility and consistency since the average response for each channel is also basically the same across the three repeated tests for each.

The use of a single dynamic driver almost guaranteed an elevated bass response, and we get pretty decent sub-base feedback, too. BLON seems to favor this across the board with its IEMs, including the very popular BL-03. The lows generally have plenty of energy, but without the punch to your skull from more bassheady IEMs, such as the Ikko OH10 and Campfire Audio HoneyDew. Not once did I have to turn the volume past 50% on these, as the warm signature lends itself more favorably to hip hop and rock going towards the lower mids. The transition is smooth enough, but the mids generally have a larger dip than I would like to where vocals as a whole are unimpressive. Female vocals get worse, and there is an ungainly peak at ~6 kHz which can affect the highs response for many. This is not going to win any awards for best representation or tonal clarity, especially for instrumental music.

Soundstage is adequate, and in fact better than what the previous paragraph might lead you to believe. Once again, keep in mind that there is nothing else in this price range that I have tested to date, including wireless earphones. So I have gone from far more expensive and technically proficient devices to one that clearly has more of a focus on looks. With that in mind, it comes closer to the $250 Campfire Audio Honeydew than you would think, especially in the low and mid response, but loses out big time overall, especially in the treble region. Though this weakness hurts more than you might imagine, I would say the EVA2020 x final TWS earphones sound better than the BLON BL-A8 in the upper mids and highs too, which is a first for me to say!


Before we wrap things up, I sought see how the BLON BL-A8 tests when fit into an artificial ear mold to better represent reality. This also involves the fit factor, so the audio coupler is typically a better idea for comparisons and a truer test of the factory tuning. With the artificial ear mold of the test setup, I used a different color to clarify that it is still the right channel, but not directly fitted into the audio coupler (which remains there as a control). We see a near-identical bass response, which is good, and a slight dip past 60 Hz continues well into the upper mids before transient peaks that are offset in the highs, which we have seen with other IEMs, too. That one relatively harsh peak at ~6 kHz originally gets exaggerated, which I mentioned previously with how this is not the best to listen to for people who prioritize classical music, opera performances, or even female vocals in general.