However, such background situation made my curiosity even more vivid when an opportunity developed for me to audition a pair of BL05s, a few weeks ago (my article here), and a pair of BL-01 now.

Also “pushed” by a couple of friends literally digging them I spent quite some time with my BL-01 sample in the past month or so, and I can easily say I’m impressed – both by the pros and the cons…

At-a-glance Card

Full Device Card

Test setup

Sources: Apogee Groove / Questyle QP1R / Sony NW-A55 mrWalkman – Radius DeepMount eartips – Nicehck 16core High Purity Copper cable – lossless 16-24/44.1-192 FLAC tracks.

Signature analysis

Technicalities

Physicals

Specifications (declared)

Considerations and conclusions

So as I mentioned in the beginning I found goods and bads with BL-01.

The two main negative aspects might be deal breakers (indeed the first one sadly is for me) : fit and source requirements.

About fit: I couldn’t possibly find a way to fit BL-01’s housings into my outer ear without resulting either in an unfirm grasp or in an uncomfortable one, or both. The housings are not shaped properly for me, and they are too “fat”. Add that their nozzles are infuriatingly short (sadly in good company there… Oxygen anyone?).

Long story short: if I “push the housings in” I do get a better seal a stability, but in less than 30 minutes I feel my outside cartilages aching; if I adopt longer eartips to compensate / avoid that, housings stay too much outside, don’t get properly “grasped” by my antitragus and antihelix, and normal head movements make them wobble, repeatedly loosing the seal.

I tried with all different tips I have (and I have quite a few), the sole ones that “reduce” the issue for me are Radius DeepMounts. The usual “YMMV” here is not enough: you really need better luck then me at compatibility with their shape.

About source requirements: from the electrical standpoint BL-01 fall in the “supereasy drive” class – 16 Ohm, 102 dB a piece of cake for any phone or whatever. However, major differences apply based on the source’s amp quality.

A lower end amp (stage) will make BL-01’s highmids glare out very soon, mid-bass transients longer & bloaty and the device will lose most of its layering / separation capability. The good amp for BL-01 needs to have great treble and bass control, and a clean power delivery.

Examples of counter-recommended amping sources: Fiio X3, BTR5; Hiby R3, R3Pro, R5; Meizu Hifi DAC Pro dongle; iFi ZEN CAN, Nano iDSD BL, and more. Examples of recommended amping sources, where the 3 issues go away : Sony NW-A55, Apogee Groove, Questyle QP1R, iFi Micro iDSD BL, Monolith Liquid Spark, Lotoo Paw GT.

On to the up side now.

When ideally paired – and if you are lucky enough for your ears to physically accept them for you – BL-01 are monumentally good all rounders.

Presentation and technicalities are on Ikko OH10‘s direction, surely less perfected but hey, at 1/5th of the price! And this by already factoring in the absolute need to swap BL-01’s bundled cable and tips with third party ones, otherwise it’s more like 1/10th!

Another very significant comparison is with their siblings BL-05s. Very simply put, it’s kinda like BL-05s is a BL-01 “shifted towards the trebles”. Both drivers show great technicalities, and a well calibrated presentation, with a very pleasant overall timbre and tonality.

BL05s fundamentally lack sub-bass, and deliver more attention on the high end; BL-01 the other way around. BL-05s do benefit like BL01 from higher quality amp pairing, but technicality delivery degradation when downscaling the amp is less dramatic on BL-05s, these are more indulgent so to say.

Finally, aesthetics apart (some do hate their color!), BL05s is indeed “almost easily” wearable for me, unlike their siblings, but… at twice the price.

Disclaimers

I got this pair of WGZBLON BL-01 as a review unit from my friends at KEEPHIFI (www.keephifi.com).

Our standard disclaimer

The post BLON BL-01 Review (2) – Give Me A Quality Source And I’ll Shine appeared first on Audio Reviews.

Cons — Very source AND volume dependent; rather bright and therefore aggressive sounding at higher volumes; shallow soundstage; music bleeds to bystanders; LACK OF TUNING FILTERS; haptically not much different from the company’s budget/mid tier offerings; mediocre accessories for its class; expensive.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Moondrop Illumination is a warm-bright single-dynamic-driver earphone that will please the purist but it can be aggressive sounding for many at higher volumes.

INTRODUCTION

I like single-dynamic drivers. In fact, I prefer them over hybrids. Yes, I sacrifice technical competence for natural sound. What good is it when a symphony sounds detailed but artificial?

Reviewers have to listen analytically for the review’s sake in the short preparation period, and there is a tendency for many to find ever new and unusual adjectives, fancy attributes, and flowery language to make themselves and their review stick out.

But apart from advances in prose one should also have the recreational listening experience in mind, looking ahead to the everyday use of the product beyond a review. How long will the appeal last? This long-term enjoyment, which defines the real value of a product, relies less on strict technical performance but on factors such as “sonic comfort”, for example. And that’s where dynamic-driver earphones are typically underrated.

I have been following Moondrop for the last few years observing their shift in tuning philosophy from Harman target towards diffuse-field neutral. Together, we steered our Spaceships and Super Spaceships (Pulse and Reference) through the odd Starfleld across the Milky Way. We are now reaching the outer edge of our galaxy, where we encounter some…erm…Illumination. And, while asking for forgiveness for my flat humour, I will describe this phenomenon as follows.

SPECIFICATIONS

Drivers: 11 mm dynamic
Impedance: 25 Ω @ 1 kHz
Sensitivity: 124 dB/Nrms @ 1kHz
Frequency Range: 20 – 20,000 Hz (IEC60318-4); 10-50000Hz (1/4Inch Free field Mic)
Cable/Connector: OCC copper with SPC shielding + replaceable plugs (2.5 mm single ended, 2.5 mm/4.4 mm balanced); 0.78 mm, 2 pin
Tested at: $799
Product Page/Purchase Link: Moondrop Official Store

PHYSICAL THINGS AND USABILITY

In the boox were the earpieces, the occ copper cable with replaceable plugs, airplane adapter, spare filters with tweezers, eartips, and a case.

The haptic of the earpieces is not much different from the discontinued $180 KPE or the current KXXS models…other than that the colour is golden and not silver. The silicone eartips are the same as in all other Moondrop models. Even the twisted cable is not out of the ordinary (it works). The only extravaganzas are that monstrous retail box and the Louis-Vuitton-grade carrying case. Overall, I am missing the “little luxury” expected from this price category.

The metal earpieces are reasonably small, not too heavy, they fit me well and are comfortable over longer sessions. The nozzles are long enough even for my problematically huge ear canals, and they don’t have a lip (but I never “lost” the eartips). Isolation is quite good for me…but not for my wife next to me (or the guy on the bus), as sound bleeds owing to the design. And I had to swap the stock eartips for the SpinFit CP145 to optimize seal.

The Moondrop Illumination are driven very easily.

TONALITY AND TECHNICALITIES

Follow these links for some background information:

My tonal preference and testing practice

My test tracks explained

Equipment used: MacBook Air alternating with Khadas Tone2 Pro (balanced circuit) and AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt; ifi Audio Nano BL (IE Match).

The Moondrop Illumination follow the classic recent Moondrop tunings of being slightly warm towards the bottom end but bright-neutral in the midrange and with a relatively early rolloff towards the top end. In fact, the Moondrop SSP’s and Moondrop Illumination’s graphs track each other.

I tested using mainly two dac-amps which produced slightly different results and enjoyment levels with the MacBook Pro. It became clear early that the Illumination rely strongly on source and that a warm amp produces the best results.

The natural Khadas Tone2 Pro (“T2P”) produced great headroom and w i d e soundstage but a robotic, metallic, digital timbre and lots of harshness. The warmer Dragonfly Cobalt (“DFC”) eased that pain with a more organic, natural, bassier sound adding lightness/ease, overall body but a smaller soundstage (in all dimensional) with lesser technicalities. And the midrange still remained somewhat on the bright side, which is unpleasant for my ears at higher volumes. As a last resort, I rolled the warmest of all my possible dac-amps in: the ifi Audio Nano BL, but it did not make a huge difference to the DFC in terms of temperature.

In detail, bass of the Moondrop Illumination is relatively subdued (more so with the T2P, but clean, well textured, and well extended). It is slightly meatier with the DFC. Bass by itself is actually excellent.

The elegant, minimalistic bass moves the midrange into focus, which is shouty and harsh with the T2P at higher volume while yielding a nice transparency at lower volumes. The elevated upper midrange improves clarity and transparency, but it can hurt my ears.

Midrange is lean to varying degrees depending on dongle, but vocals and piano notes are intimate, well sculptured, well defined, and, yes, you heard it before, they can be sharp. I’d attach a smoother, less edgy midrange to a premium earphone.

Treble rolls off early, classic Moondrop, but any high note I hear has very good definition (for a single DD earphone). The T2P produces the treble in a robotic manner whereas the DFC introduces a more natural and therefore slower attack and decay. T2P’s cymbals sound metallic and overpixelated.

Soundstage is rather wide with the T2P’s balanced output but not very deep, independent of source, that’s what you expect from a moderate low end. Technicalities certainly lag behind multi-driver earphones, which is also no surprise. Separation, layering etc. are good but they did not blow me, the budget guy, out of my socks with the DFC, they were better with the T2P.

What is actually very well implemented is dynamics. Listening to a symphony, the impulse is very natural and so are attack and decay, and this also works very well for electronic music. Good balance in this department.

Also very good is the natural timbre, despite its bright spin. At low to moderate volumes, it ads that layer of silk and smoothness you want from a single dynamic driver. It is like adding a tube to your ears…

THE MOONDROP ILLUMINATION COMPARED

Yes, technicalities in the Moondrop Illumination are better than the Sennheiser IE 400 PRO or IE 300, those cannot compete in terms of clarity, definition, and refinement, but they are more cohesive sounding, at least at higher volumes. The Illumination, in turn, sound more open. You can turn the Sennheisers up without regret where the Moondrop Illumination start screaming.

The Moondrop Illumination are also technically better than the JVC HA-FDX1 with their wider stage and their cleaner sound across the frequency spectrum. The JVCs sound less refined in comparison.

The identically tuned Moondrop SSP sound a tinge more aggressive than the Illumination, have a smaller stage, and can’t compete with their timbre either – BUT BUT BUT, they come at 1/20th of the price. I like the Moondrop SSP for quiet listening sessions – but moving up to $800, expectations are naturally much higher.

In any case should you pair the Moondrop Illumination with a warm dac-amp. A neutral analytical dac-amp will make them sound too aggressive for many. I wished Moondrop had gone for a tuning similar to their excellent $30 Crescent, which were premium earphones with sloppy technical competence.

VALUE

OK, at $800 the Moondrop Illumination do not come cheap. They face much competition from multi-drivers in this segment, but none from any single-dynamic driver, other than perhaps the Beyerdynamic Xelento and the Dunu Zen…none of which I have tested (Zen loaner is on its way). And you can go up to $2000 in that category. Value above a certain price is perceived as – and we know that – diminishing return. In the end it depends on what type of buyer you are.

In the case of the Moondrop Illumination, you have to like a bright midrange in an otherwise warm sounding iem. I find it problematic that, at this price, you have to pair the Moondrop Illumination very carefully in order to make them sound decent (at least for ears like mine). They should work universally. And cable and eartips are rather basic for “premium”.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The Moondrop Illumination appear to have been tuned for the Asian market with their boosted upper midrange. But depending on source and volume, you can actually get the pleasant dynamic-driver sound I expected from them. It is a good and bad earphone in one from my perspective.

I am surprised that Moondrop, with their outer-space vision, did not equip this model with tuning filters (as the aforementioned JVCs and even some $10 iems such as the KZ ED9) to appeal to a universal, not to say a galactic audience….and to generate a broader market appeal. Adding brightness to the usual technical limitations of a dynamic driver, the Illumination will probably have a tough stand against their hybrid competition.

For me, these Moondrop Illumination mainly work well for naturally generated sounds/acoustic instruments.

But that should not keep you from having a good look at them if you do like this kind of tuning.

And while I just mailed this unit to the Super* Review YouTube channel for “further processing”, I am eagerly awaiting the Moondrop Dusk Crinacle from audiodiscourse.com. That’s great and that’s how it should be.

Until next time…keep on listening!

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DISCLAIMER

The Moondrop Illumination were provided on loan by Moondrop up my request. And I thank them for that. Following my review, I sent them on to Super* Review, a popular YouTube channel.

Get the Illumination from Moondrop Official Store

Our generic standard disclaimer.

About my measurements.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

Measurements

The post Moondrop Illumination Review – Good And Bad…But Not Ugly appeared first on Audio Reviews.