BLON A8 Prometheus Review (1) – Bring On the Bling, Beeyotch
Executive Summary: The Blon A8 Prometheus...innovative design; bright forward sounding IEM with estimable clarity and bass quality; mitigated somewhat by overheated mids.
I confess to being more stoked than usual to receive the latest from Blon, whose surprisingly refined, $30 BL03 has fully lived up to its massive hype and whose $42 BL05, while something of a sidegrade, also had its considerable virtues.
Enter the Blon A8 Prometheus, whose flamboyant design and $85 price tag suggest a company teeming with moxie. Its metallic, open-holed shells (consisting of 14 irregular sides around a sealed cavity containing the single DD driver) looks like something out of the Terminator’s eye socket.
I have serious doubts if the open design actually has any sonic benefit, but it is certainly creative as hell. Packaging is minimal, and the burlap case is sorta useless, but the stock silver cable looks and feels premium. I did find the Prometheus to be lighter and substantially more comfortable than its egg-shaped predecessors, although isolation is still sub-par and a lot of outside noise will intrude.
At 32ohm/115db, the Blon A8 Prometheus seems like it would be pretty efficient, and it does get very loud with just a mobile. However, it improves considerably with amping, with better coherence and, in particular, more articulate reproduction of drums and percussion. The difference is so significant that I would not recommend these without an amp (I used the Cozoy Takt-C dac/amp for my observations below).
Unlike the Harman-tuned, generally polite and warm-sounding BL-03, the Blon A8 Prometheus opts for a bold, bright W-shaped sound—forward and energetic, with added (over)emphasis on the 5-10 kHz midrange area. Note texture is noticeably thicker than its predecessors and soundstage is wide, if somewhat low-ceilinged.
Performers are well-separated, fairly accurately placed on stage and there’s an uncongested, airy quality to the presentation. They do have a bit of a clinical quality, in the sense that your ears get drawn to the prominent mid-frequencies rather than to a seamless whole, though overall clarity is excellent.
The Blon A8 Prometheus surprises with its bass quality—tight, well-sculpted and wholly free from bloom and bleed, with adequate but not massive subbass throb. Mids are very forward and full—female vox in particular sound forceful but also overamplified and a tad shouty.
Note 1: switching from stock silicon tips to foams does attenuate the midrange glare, but makes the bass boomy. I got the best results with Symbio W (silicone/foam) hybrid tips, which better controlled the low end.
Note 2: these might adapt well to micropore taping or other nozzle mods; EQ would also help, though I’m generally too lazy to EQ.
Treble is crisp and very detailed but not especially smooth; some sharpness is presented on piano keys but drums have nice snap and sparkle.
Timbral quality is the polarizing factor here. Compared to the cheaper BL-03, the Blon A8 Prometheus (seemingly by design) go for a more vivid, amped-up tonality which works better for rock and techno and less well for acoustic fare—these sound more like an $85 hybrid than a DD.
While a palpably exciting listen, you don’t transcend the feeling you’re hearing a digital recording as opposed to a live performance Competitors at its pricepoint like the Tin T4 and Moondrop Starfield sound less digital and colored, especially at the high end, while the KBear Diamond is smoother, more cohesive and more “live” sounding.
However, the Blon A8 Prometheus has tighter bass than the above, presents more microdetail and sounds “larger” and more expansive overall. Moving up in price class to something like the Shozy Rouge or Simgot EN700 buys you better coherence and staging and more accurate reproduction, although rockheads may still prefer the gutsier presentation of the Prometheus.
So should you buy it? On its musical merits, it’s not audiophile-accurate but is still a lot of earphone for the money. Ultimately, though, it is as ear jewelry that Blon really scores and I would not be surprised if they sell tons of these to the fashionistas among us. Kudos to them for designing something really different.
DISCLAIMER
These were provided to me gratis for review purposes by keephifi. I’ll pass ‘em on to the notoriously style-conscious Durwood for his opinion.
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