Looking for a serious BLON BL-03 upgrade

That’s a really good buy, I remember seeing your post of it. How are you enjoying it?

UK only sale :confused: I wonder if I can catch them under 1k shipped. The fact that there’s only 1000 of them made makes me doubt it.

Picking it up Saturday because the guy lives 2 hours away. Looking forward to rumbling my windows though!

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Glad you enjoy it! Nice to hear your thoughts about them! Happy listening.

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Researching TE5B vs CE5 atm. Would you mind elaborating more on why you prefer CE5? Except Crin, reviewers seem to prefer TE5B, but it seems that a lot of them simply like newer stuff, so I have my doubts.

So personally I think the ce5 is the more fun yet also more refined iem. The TE5B kinda had some issues with it’s treble response which can make it sound kinda wonky with some more acoustic tracks, but neither iems are ideal for that type of music, pretty strong v shape for both. I think the te5b also didn’t have as refined and also impactful response as the ce5, the ce5 was just more enjoyable to my ears. I also liked the shell/fit on the ce5 more, so that could have played a role for me (although I got good fit on both I think). They were pretty close technicality wise too imo, the te5b had a bit better detail, but I didn’t think it was worth the trade-off personally

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I see. What about the mids? Some reviewers prefer TE5B but looking at Crin’s graph, mids look almost identical. Aesthetics wise I adore the CE5 purple. I guess I just need validation to choose it over TE5B :sweat_smile:

Imo the te5b is even more v shaped than the ce5, but really I wouldn’t pick either if mid-range performance and presence is important to you. I would instead suggest you look at the hyla sarda then, it’s got a more w shaped response and is more refined than both the ce5 and the te5b, while maintaining most of the fun of the ce5, really been enjoying it lately. It doesn’t fully replace the ce5 for me, but it does end up getting used more because of its better performance with more genre, I still pull out the ce5 if I want bass v shape overload though

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Understood. Also thought that TE5B being more V based on the graph, but again I got confused by reviewers claim otherwise. Sarda is unfortunately out of my budget and yeah this is definitely for my inner basshead.
Thanks for sharing this M0N, super helpful.

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Hyla sarda for 900 here

I should also add, that no matter if you get the ce5 or the te5b or sarda, you get a sick ass case, like a really really nice van nuys case, pretty sweet, and the pwaudio stock cable is sweet too

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Whoah! Thanks for that! Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

By the way CE5 doesn’t come with pwaudio cable right or am I mistaken.

You know, I’m not sure, it actually might but it’s not as visually similar. It’s pretty solid (and I prefer not having that slider, which I broke off the stock sarda cable since it was bothering me lol), but I just use the stock cable on the ce5. Right now I am using a PWAudio Blackicon Silver Gold 4.4mm balanced cable on the sarda that works really well with with it, but I also don’t think it’s really needed to replace the cable.

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Yeah the stock looks solid think they’ll do me fine. Forgot one important question: any driver flex or pressure issue with any of these?

Not with my pairs, I do know it was an issue with some for the ce5 on some pairs, but mine doesn’t exhibit this. On the sarda I haven’t heard nor experienced this issues. Haven’t really looked into any potential issues on the te5b so I couldn’t tell ya for that one.

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I see. Thanks again M0N these are all hard to find great info!

Neither have I. No driver flex or other issues with the Sarda.

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Glad you are enjoying the Starfields. I may still pick these up because I keep hearing such good stuff about them. Here is a thread where I gave my impressions on the Shozy 1.1 and compared it to the BL-03.

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has anyone considered thieaudio legacy 3? cause I’m thinking of upping my blon 03s too

but then i have my $1200 ciem use, still thinking also is it worthit to continue venture in universals, hmm

The Sony XBA-N3AP is one of my favorite sets of all time. Wonderful sounding and fit. I got them for unbelievable 80 Dollars on Amazon Warehouse. Highly Recommend it. No matter what set you buy as an upgrade for your BLONs - this set is worth buying anyway :ok_hand:

That is a killer deal on that set!