BLON - BL-03 + Shanling - UP2

Shanling UP2 with BL03 is a nice combo. But after listening various music formats with both BL03 and KZ ZS10 Pro, I feel KZ ZS10 Pro is best pair with UP2.

I am not exactly an Audiophile and not used to listen music until I have started my career. I never bothered to look beyond earphones provided with phone. My samsung earphones got stolen, then I took chance on relatively unknown Korean brand Cowon and purchased EM1. The audio from that got me into listening songs more often. At present I have Soundmagic E10C, KZ ZSA, AudioTechnica's entry level discontinued Over-ear Headphone. I prefer headsets which do well in vocals and a wide soundstage.
I have tried our KZ ZSA(bought it from Headphone zone) just to see how IEM earphones feels like. I am sort of disappointed with that and fit was an issue. After that purchase, I started to look out for other budget IEMs. I have been looking to buy BLON-03 from a long time. Soundmagic E10C is the reason why I didn't buy any bluetooth earphones. I have even purchased Fiio BTR1K to pair with E10C, but had to return it back as Amazon shipped a damaged product. After the pandemic, Fiio Bluetooth DAC+AMP were not always in stock.I was looking at other options, came across UP2, Earstudio ES100MK2, Fiio BTR3K.
This combo is both the things I wanted.
BLON-03
Definitely better resolving, great details than E10C, ZSA. Vocals are excellent and have great clarity. Fit was also not an issue. I found the bass was bit lacking and is not as fun as E10C, but it's not an issue for me as I tend to listen to more Vocal heavy regional music or Cello bands. They are not comfortable wearing for longer times, bit heavier and bulkier than ZSA. ZSA included wire is better built than BLON's one. The included wire also get tangled easily compared to both E10C and ZSA. Overall I am satisfied with the purchase.
Shanling UP2
I have preferred it over ES100 because of micro-usb and have to ship it from overseas. I don't want to take chances with our Indian Customs as well. I have plan to purchase M50x down the lane, that's one reason I have bought this instead of waiting for BTR1K to be available or uBTR.
I already have Oppo Enco M31(it supports LDAC as well) for meetings, so that I can stand-up and walk while being in calls. My partner also wants another bluetooth headset for calls, so purchased this for my calls and gave the neck band to my partner.
Build quality is excellent. The glass gives a premium feel, but makes it tad heavier. Bluettoth range and connectivity is worse than M31 neck band. The provided clip is not great, bit flimsy.
It sounds better,cleaner when used as a USB-DAC compared to Macbook Pro's in-built one even though MBP is louder. I also had buzzing noise when I have used ZSA with MBP. Another thing to when you are using it as USB-DAC the microphone wasn't working on both UP2 as well as Earphones. When you use it with earphones having mic, the UP2 disables that, so for taking calls you have to clip it to your shirt.
Shanling App is very basic and I had to update the firmware manually as the one in app didn't work. I have not tried the equalizers inside the app. Surprisingly LDAC is having less connectivity issues compared to Aptx HD. I am having issues with MBP mostly because of AAC and those sort of issues are present with the M31 neckband as well.
I hate and love the one click wheel. It is bit tough to remember all the command combinations, but controlling volume is easy. The wheel does not have min or max level, it just turns both ways so there is no feedback whether you are max/min volume. I have not yet figured out how to switch devices, whereas in Oppo neck band it is pretty easy.

Please don't purchase UP2 for calls, you can get Oneplus buds Z or any neckband/TWS, or even uBTR as it is very light-weight. I prefer to take calls mostly wired as bluetooth is still finicky espescially with MBP and would use it for meetings which aren't that important.

If you can spend more and have an offline dedicated collection of songs take a look at Shanling MO, Fiio M5 as they can act as reciever as well and also very compact. UP4, BTR5, ES100 are also other options.

Headphonezone shipping is pretty fast. I have discovered a lot of Audio Brands through this site.