Shozy Black Hole Mini Unboxing & Quick Review: Spacious & Lovely Vocals

Shozy is a familiar name in the industry. They have a huge range of high-resolution in-ear monitors such as the Shozy Form 1.4, Shozy Rouge, and many more. A few months back they released their single DD flagship pair, the Shozy Black Hole. The Black Hole instantly grabbed the attention with its unique semi-open back design. It provided an outstanding sonic performance with its 10mm dynamic driver unit and those sleek semi-open back aesthetics. Recently, inspired by the semi-open back design of the Black Hole, Shozy released another pair with an 8mm dynamic driver unit, called the Black Hole Mini. I, being an avid audiophile get excited by such unique IEM’s. So I grabbed a unit for myself, and today I am gonna share my unboxing and sound impressions for these super beautiful IEMs.

Shozy Black Hole Mini:-

The Shozy Black Hole Mini is a specially designed pair of hi-res in-ear monitors with specially chosen Thuja Wood earpieces. The pair looks extra-ordinary with its one of its kind wooden finish on semi-open back aesthetics. It features a powerful 8mm micro dynamic driver on both sides. It has a price tag of 659.99$, you can check out more details on the HiFiGo store page here. Now let’s start with the review!!

Packaging & Accessories:-

The Shozy Black Hole Mini comes in a very simple black cardboard packaging. It is straightforward considering its a high-tier IEM, there is nothing special. But it’s the contents that make it special. Shozy has included denim finish gray-black hexagonal carrying case that holds the beautiful pair of IEMs. There are three pairs of silicone ear tips and a 2-pin audio cable and that’s just it for the contents of the package.

Package Contents:-

>One pair of Shozy Black Hole Mini IEMs.

>One earphone carry case.

>One 2-pin connector cable with 3.5mm termination plug.

>Three pairs of silicone ear tips.

Design & Build Quality:-

Shozy Black Hole brought a new level of IEM aesthetics and looks with its premium metallic earpieces and open-back design. With the Black Hole Mini, Shozy has reinvented that design with specially chosen Thuja Wood earpieces. The earpieces look spectacular with their unique, textured looks, semi-open back grill, and metallic ear nozzles. In terms of design and aesthetics, the Black Hole Mini looks one of its kind. The earpieces have Shozy engraved on the faceplates along with the three openings for grills for the semi-open back architecture of the pair. They look super beautiful and are very lightweight to hold. In terms of design and build quality, the Black Hole Mini provides the premium experience that justifies its nearly 700$ price tag.

Fit:-

The earpieces are quite small and provide a comfortable fit for me. They are designed ergonomically and have a normal-sized ear nozzle. The earpieces don’t go too deep into the ear, they sit firmly covering the entire ear canal. With its ergonomic design, I am pretty sure the pair will provide a comfortable fit for most people. Though with a semi-open back design, the noise isolation is pretty average with the pair.

Driving The Black Hole Mini:-

The Black Hole Mini is quite a sensitive pair. It has a low impedance rating of just 16 Ohms with a high sensitivity rating of 105dB/mW. I tried the pair with my smartphone Samsung Galaxy S10, iBasso DX160, and Khadas Tone 2 Pro DAC/AMP, here are my finding for these different pairings.

With Samsung Galaxy S10:-

The Black Hole Mini is a very easy to drive pair. With a regular smartphone like the Galaxy S10, it provided ample volume and extensions at about 80% of the volume.

With iBasso DX160:-

With a powerful device such as the DX160 hi-res player from iBasso, the pair opens up. It shows better extensions at both the lower and high ends. The bass punch feels more powerful, and the soundstage feels more airy and spacious. For adequate listening volumes, I never had to go above 50% volume on my DX160.

With Khadas Tone 2 Pro:-

The output is quite similar to that with the DX160 but it has a cleaner background here. Obviously, it’s because of the better DAC in Tone 2 Pro, but the details pop out better with this combo thanks to the cleaner background.

In my experience, one can enjoy the quality performance with the Black Hole Mini with normal smartphones too, but having a hi-res player or HiFi desktop system is recommended to experience the best possible sound with the pair.

Sound Quality:-

The Black Hole Mini has a very immersive sound output with a sense of openness and airiness on a spacious soundstage. The IEM shows great resolving characteristics with its high-resolution imaging and clarity. Instruments, Vocals, everything sounds super crisp and rich. Vocals have a lush, thick tonality, providing a unique vocal experience to the user. I being an avid Vocal listener, my favorite artists include Damien Rice, Tony Braxton, Yao Si Ting, and similar, found the Black Hole Mini to be an outstanding pair with its quality vocal performance. Bass complements different frequencies with its quick punchy response, treble has great clarity and airiness for the output.

Bass:-

The Bass performance is pretty rich and textured. The lower end is quite impactful for a semi-open back design, it complements the mids and highs with ample punchiness and high-resolution clarity. The sub-bass rumble shows its presence with good strength. “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish showed great control and precision. I never found the bass to be overpowering or boomy.

With EDM artists like Daft Punk, Scandroid, the output is groovy and punchy, loved how crisp, and clean the pair sounds. There is no muddiness in heavy bass tracks either.

Mids:-

Mids are simply magical with the Black Hole Mini. I don’t know what it is, tuning by Shozy, or the specially chosen Thuja Wood material for ear shells, but the Vocal performance is simply majestical. Vocals are presented in a very rich, lush tonality with ultimate clarity. Listening to Pop, Vocal-based music, is a whole new experience with the Black Hole Mini.

Other than vocals, musical instruments such as acoustic guitars, pianos, and more, are presented beautifully with superb detailing and layering on an airy stage. Listening to live performances is an amazing experience with the Black Hole Mini.

Highs:-

The Treble portion has great levels of transparency and airiness. The pair shows good attack and dynamics even in complex heavy metal tracks. Instrument layering, staging is simply superb with high-resolution clarity throughout the frequency range. Treble is neither too aggressive nor too laid back, it is presented in a soothing manner precisely producing the minutest of the details in our music. I simply loved how airy and spacious the pair sounds. There is no sign of sibilance or harshness even at loud volume levels.

Soundstage & Imaging:-

The Shozy Black Hole Mini produces a wide soundstage with a good sense of height and depth too. It provides the feeling of a concert hall right in our ears. With high-resolution clarity and detailing, the Imaging capabilities of the Black Hole Mini is pretty solid. One can easily position different instruments being played on the stage even in complex tracks. Pretty amazing isn’t it!!

Comparison With Shozy Black Hole:-

How well does Shozy Black Hole Mini compares to its elder sibling, well I compared both head to head, and here are my findings.

>Black Hole Mini has a deeper bass response.

>Black Hole sounds more spacious, airier.

>Vocals have a rich, lush tonality in Black Hole Mini.

>Soundstage is wider in Black Hole but deeper in Black Hole Mini.

>Black Hole has a neutral response, while the Mini is focused more on Vocals.

>In terms of design both the IEMs look extra-ordinary.

Final Verdict:-

Shozy has produced a brilliant IEM with the Black Hole Mini. It has tremendously beautiful looks, outstanding sonic capabilities, superb vocals, and a wide soundstage. Now the confusion is which one to get, the metallic Black Hole or Wooden Black Hole Mini. Both the IEMs are pretty solid, It will come down to your listening preferences, the Black Hole has a neutral, flat sound signature, while the Black Hole Mini has an emphasis on mids and produces superb vocals while maintaining a smooth, transparent tonality throughout the frequency range. You can check out more details about the Black Hole Mini on HiFiGo here.