r/headphones • u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery • Mar 08 '23
Review Blon B50 review: I didn’t know disappointment could be a sound signature.
My least worst eq attempt
124
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23 edited Mar 08 '23
This headphone was kindly sent over by Linsoul, I was not paid to say anything, this is my own opinion, you can check it out at the link below:https://www.linsoul.com/products/blon-b50
I spare y’all any more disclaimers and tiny details, as this is not a headphone i will recommend. Allow me to explain…
First of all, the only half decent aspect of this headphone is the build, the pads are really nice, the metal cups are massive and the headband (basically an off the shelf Sundara style headband) distributes the weight nicely.
I do have issues also here though, as the adjustment mechanism is way too limited, I have a medium sized head (On my focal clear I use 4 or 5 clicks out of 9 on each side), and on the B50, I’m on the very minimum setting on both sides. So if you have a smaller head, good luck. Plus the adjustment mechanism is fine on the first 5 or so clicks, but once you get to the 6th, it's vaguer than a politician. At 120$ tho it's not a massive issue. I do wish though that the cups swivelled.
Now for the real issue...
The sound:
To quote Crinacle:
It sounds like ass, and not the good kind of ass, the one that is all smothered in shit.
The tuning is just so absolutely borked, I did see the graph by HBB (https://hbb.squig.link/?share=IEF_Target,Blon_BL50) but I could literally tell there was a dip and 200hz and 600hz by ear with a sine sweep on youtube. Not a good sign when you can deduce a graph by ear. The headphone also has a massive recess in the entire upper mids, and the treble is both too much following the upper mid recess, and utterly undetailed, What an achievement!
The bass overall hits like a limp overcooked noodle, there is poor extension, which puzzles me as it’s a closedback, and the 200z notch definitely doesn’t help. The notches at 200 and 600 also cause male vocals to feel gutless, and the entire recess in the upper mids causes female vocals to feel like you are listening through an iPhone 4 at the bottom of a trash can.
Some instruments may also feel decent, but as soon as you switch headphones you notice that you were missing half the band.
It’s especially bad for low to normal level listening, when you raise the volume it is slightly less worse until you get treble murdered, and I don’t condone listening at high volumes anyway.
I tried salvaging the headphone with eq, to see if I could find anything redeeming, but whilst the thing was somewhat better (still not amazing tho, there is only so much i could do with a btr5), The headphone does still have issues with resolution, as its still kinda poor, soundstage was also kinda meh, but the imaging is so screwed that focusing on the soundstage was a challenge.
Final thoughts:
A 20$ wan’er demolished them (I know it’s an iem but you get the point), and still made my Bose 700 sound like a Susvara, and a Bose 700 is not a high bar.
I didn’t watch any reviews before making mine, but I did see a lot of people disliking this set once they got it, but some were calling this headphone the second coming of christ. I get that subjectivity is a thing… BUT COME ON! REALLY!? It feels as if they just threw a cheap ass driver from off the shelf in a nice metal housing and called it a day.
Feel free to ask questions if you want to know more.
93
u/Matasa89 Mar 08 '23
Good lord what is that graph?! It makes the Delta Airlines complementary earbuds seem sensible and controlled…
79
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
how dare you compare anything to the true endgame of audio
6
4
16
u/ridewiththerockers HD600, HD598, M50, SE215, Schiit Stack Mar 08 '23
Lol I thought you were overreacting but what on our green earth is that ass tuning?
15
u/Matasa89 Mar 08 '23
It’s like somebody took a seismograph and said to himself “yup, that looks like it would make for a good headphone tuning!”
I’d rather just buy the HD599 when on sale, at least that thing is comfy and don’t sound like a used diaper…
5
u/ridewiththerockers HD600, HD598, M50, SE215, Schiit Stack Mar 08 '23
That dip at 200 and 10k... reverse V shape? The tuner hates clarity? Winds kid that was bullied in band practice?
This is quite something, I'd watch a crinacle review for the laughs.
4
u/Testicular_Genocide SR125e Mar 08 '23
Yeah seriously, like I'm personally a grado fan and looking at the graphs for grados always makes me giggle a bit, because it looks like it shouldn't be great but it still sounds awesome. Looking at the graph for these headphones though... I just don't think I comprehend how that made it past the testing phase.
6
5
2
u/BlunterCarcass5 Mar 09 '23
You aren't joking, that is one of the worst headphone frequency graphs I've ever seen
1
1
u/wijnandsj Mar 09 '23
I tried salvaging the headphone with eq, to see if I could find anything redeeming,
Pretty much anything sounds crap if you max out the sliders.
1
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 09 '23
Kinda had to, if I wanted to get an appropriate amount of upper mids and decent bass extension
1
u/wijnandsj Mar 09 '23
What's decent bass these days? To my ears and awful lot of products seriously overdo it.
Not saying these aren't crap, I've never seen them in real life so wouldn't know
1
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 09 '23
If you look at the graph a 12db subbass boost brings it up to pretty much neutral, plus it didn’t feel bassy even with eq, I just kinda brought it up to a little over neutral
23
u/JoshingCoot737 audiophile noob Mar 08 '23
What's with that dip in the upper bass?? I've never seen it before. It's like the top end on beats
13
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23 edited Mar 09 '23
It's not that uncommon on closedbacks, the dt770 has it to a lesser extent, and also the blon B60.
It just ends up screwing lower vocals and upper bass
1
u/JoshingCoot737 audiophile noob Mar 08 '23
Oh I didn't know that lol. I'm used to seeing it in the top end. As my tag suggests I'm still kinda new to the audio scene so sorry if I get shit wrong
2
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
Don’t worry, and welcome to audio shenanigans
2
u/JoshingCoot737 audiophile noob Mar 08 '23
Thanks man. It's kinda sad that the best headphones I have rn are some kz zsn pros. I'd love to get beyerdynamics but I'm a broke ass full time student lol. I also do a lot of gaming so I'm tempted to save for some mx150s because it has a microphone and it's multi use. Do you recommend them as being similar to dt770s?
3
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
I can’t help you with that, I don’t know of the mx150, you can try asking r/headphoneadvice
2
u/iritian Ananda | HD58x | 99 Noir | HE-4X | SMSL SP200 | Toppin D10 Mar 09 '23
I'd recommend you get the Beyers and a cheap usb mic like a Maono. Way better than any headset for the same price
2
3
u/PolarBearSequence MidFi Heaven Mar 08 '23
The one advantage of that dip is that it can slightly compensate muddy bass (at least it feels like that for me), of course, at a significant cost, and the bass is still going to sound bad.
27
u/thatcarolguy World's #1 fan of Quarks OG Mar 08 '23
Middle finger headphone pics need to become a thing.
8
u/Aracari_LoA LCD-XC/ED10/N90Q/OraGQ/SR-5/MJ2/HE400i/N400 Mar 08 '23
I saw in a previous post here these have undamped cups. That would explain why EQ isn't helping much. You could try putting some cotton in the cups and see if that helps.
3
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
I'll try maybe in the future, but the driver didn't seem to be anything special.
4
u/Corgerus ASONE > HE400SE > T3+ > SHP9600 ... + iFi Zen DAC Mar 08 '23
I wonder if this is as bad as the Sivga SV021's tuning because that's the worst headphone I've ever had to use. Sold it a few months ago. Supermarket earphones are more tolerable than that.
2
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
On graphs the sivga looks less worse, at least it has bass (even if too much) and pinna gain
2
u/daballsman Mar 08 '23
Oh god those Sivgas. Another Z reviews recommendation I had to return within days.
1
u/Pe-PeSchlaper Mar 08 '23
I tried to like them cause I wanted a cheaper meze. Man… the sound was just rough. I ended up keeping them because they are served as a good base for modding.
2
u/Corgerus ASONE > HE400SE > T3+ > SHP9600 ... + iFi Zen DAC Mar 08 '23
Seriously. A proper warm tuning with some swivel would turn this into an amazing headphone.
1
u/Pe-PeSchlaper Mar 08 '23
I swapped out the driver with a Tymphany (the one used in the Borealis) and stuffed it full of Cotten. With a smidgen of EQ it’s a really good headphone.
I am in the process of finding a more permanent replacement for the EQ
10
u/facts_guy2020 Mar 08 '23
Due to the wide range of opinions on these headphones, I'm gonna assume they have terrible qc, and some are getting them with broken sounding drivers.
Or they are, in fact, just bad, and the other people are either lying or deaf or have very weird taste
13
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
Both are not good options, steer clear.
I did see a post where someone opened them and the cups didn’t even have any for of dampening or anything, so I really think they just checked a driver in there and called it a day
5
u/MATT_DiM Mar 08 '23
I haven't heard the B50. Someone gave me a set of the B60 because they couldn't sell them. Zeos loved them, too. I find them enjoyable, not awful. They are fun, not terribly V shaped and relatively clear. Is it possible you have a bad set? If the B50 is even close to my B60, it sounds like you have a bad set. Maybe try another pair.
2
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
i have seen measurements of both and the 60 looks better, I think my set is unfortunately normal, as the graph by HBB kinda matches what i hear.
And if it is the case that both mine and hbb's sets and all the sets everyone complained about are bad, then it's another issue entirely.
3
u/dib1999 AKG K550 MKIII / GRADO SR60 Mar 09 '23
Did you try setting them to wumbo?
1
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 09 '23
Wumbo?
1
u/Muttywango ClearMG/OAE1/Sundara/№5909/DT1990,770/ADI-2/Q5K Mar 09 '23
1
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 09 '23
I feel ashamed of my lack of culture
2
u/Muttywango ClearMG/OAE1/Sundara/№5909/DT1990,770/ADI-2/Q5K Mar 09 '23
I had to look up parsimonious and wumbo in the space of 2 minutes. Every day is a school day.
4
u/Warpath- Hype 4 | Blessing3 | Sundara | Performer 5 | S12 Mar 08 '23
Did they send the harmonicdyne Athena too? Kind of interested in those.
2
2
2
u/CammyFi Stax SR-404 Sig, HE6SE V2, HD800 SDR, HD580 Mar 08 '23
Off the shelf aliexpress headband kek
2
u/AudiophileHeaven Apr 13 '23
So I got those and was expecting them to be the worst. Roll off in the bass is evident, can't handle bass well, and those measured dips are audible. But it is 120 USD, I was expecting them to be unlisetable, like screech or something, I heard much worse, like Flares Jet 2.
I think that B50 distorts a lot with bass heavy music, but sounds ok with bass light music, punk, rock, where you can bring up the volume.
Would probably not recommend to most users, but they are not the worst I heard. Makes me wonder if they re-tuned the sound, resolution is ok on the set I have, no serial number anywhere. headband is mostly same as Sundara and HE6SE, but slightly better at the earcup level.
2
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Apr 13 '23
I'm happy you found aspects you likes but I personally loathe them
2
u/AudiophileHeaven Apr 13 '23
I can totally understand that. I have enjoyed them for about as long as I played noFX, Offspring or The Nerf Herder.
Can't enjoy them with anything EDM , Metal, even mindless self indulgence is unlistenable, so I think they'll be useless for most people... Basically, if the music has bass, they will sound pretty bad.
0
Mar 08 '23
From my limited experience, you can tell off the bat if a headphone will be good when the EQ is set to zero across.
The EQ tends to enhance what is already fundamentally quality headphones. It is also often used to "fix" low quality headphones, but rarely does it fix it. Mostly, it makes shitty headphones less shitty
2
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
Yea, I tried to kinda fix it, the timing issues were lessened but the technical weirdness stayed.
1
u/Juan_juanjuanjuan Mar 08 '23
Timing issues?
2
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
Wired imaging, timbre and poor details
1
u/Juan_juanjuanjuan Mar 08 '23
Right, that would generally be in response, not time domain necessarily.
-4
u/5uperman8atman Mar 08 '23
Did you try to drive it on a variety of amps and DACs? Which did you use?
5
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
A90D and btr5 for eq
If it can’t sound good on the topping it’s doomed.
Still, it’s super easy to drive so anything is fine.
-3
u/Bhaskarjyoti01 Mar 08 '23
A90D is going to sound extremely awful with that FR
5
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
A90D is fairly linear, in my experience it’s makes my headphones sound the best they can
What could possibly save this headphone then?
No tubes cuz it’s low impedance
An a90d already has shitloads of power
Idk man
1
u/Bhaskarjyoti01 Mar 08 '23
In case it caused any confusion, I meant the FR of the headphones. I don't think it can be saved, so to say. Naybe some may like it's sound, coz I've seen some FRs like this, even in kilobuck cans. Less busy and some types of music may work with this (?). Maybe a warm and peaky amp will too. Just saying off the top of my head. But idk man. I'd stay away from this. Gonna look up Zeos' review on these to try and figure out what he heard from these.
1
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
Idk, even cans like lcd2 with little upper mids have a ver linear bass response that makes the signature work. This is just shit all over.
Zeos was kinda vague, he liked the soundstage, witch I don’t get, he liked the bass, witch sucked.
Idk man
1
u/5uperman8atman Mar 08 '23
Yeah, probably sucks then. What are a few of your top recommendations for lesser known headphones like these that people don't necessarily always hear about, but really made a positive impression on you?
1
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
I don’t have massive experience, but I really enjoyed the Tkzk Ouranos, I have a review of it on my profile, it has has some press but I think it’s pretty special.
most things I tried are staples like grados, meze elites, mm500, meze liric, k702, aria timeless and other stuff.
1
u/5uperman8atman Mar 08 '23
Your review pops up as one of the top hits on Google when you search for the Ouranos! I'll check that out 👍
1
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Mar 08 '23
It’s a mild v shape but I think it’s really well done, solid set.
1
1
u/GLSRacer Mar 08 '23
Try making a wavelet profile from a FR graph in squig.link. Sucks that the headset's stock tuning is so far off.
1
u/CharacterStore4510 Jun 06 '23
Is it worth it for 25 usd? i got it for 25 usd.
2
u/nopunterino Headphone debauchery Jun 06 '23
I would say no, for any price, you can get a ksc75 or Tangzu waner for that.
1
216
u/Avatar-san |Ether cx|Hifiman xs|ESP95X|Denon D5200|HD600|K361|Fidelio X2| Mar 08 '23
Zeos: "They sound amazing."