The Shozy BG is the company’s latest mid-fi universal monitor offering comprising of 5 balanced armature drivers and priced at $280.
Disclaimer: The Shozy BG sent to us is a sample in exchange for our honest opinion. We thank the team at Shozy for giving us this opportunity.
To read more about Shozy products we reviewed on Headfonics click here.
Note, this review follows our new scoring guidelines for 2020 which you can read up on here.
I’m a pretty big fan of Shozy products these days. I have to admit lately they’ve been doing a very good job. Recently, I was sent their 5BA BG IEM and I must say that the future outlook for this company is extremely bright. I can’t thank Shozy enough for sending me the sample, as well as the last few items you sent me. You rock, mates!
Retail Presentation
For only $279, or so, the BG package is relatively light and unencumbered by any extra accessories beyond the typical replacement ear tips.
Again, as I’ve said many times lately at this price point it really doesn’t matter and has become the norm for lower midtier products to offer a basic package. The Shozy box is unimpressive but thankfully comes with a small carrying case. I am also told the box for the BG will be changed in the near future.
Design
The headphone itself is stunningly beautiful, perhaps even, the most beautiful lower midtier IEM that I’ve ever seen or used. Shozy has gone out of its way to include a fantastic design in this burst and splattered pattern on the faceplate of this IEM that replicates a custom IEM appeal.
For this price, this lower midtier product exudes a very high visual aesthetic. We need to see much more of this in the audiophile world, where companies go above and beyond to produce excellent looking products that far exceed their price tag.
Cable
The cable itself is a twisted and very customer feeling cable, although beautiful and seemingly high-end quality, it comes across as a bit too thick and weighted when referencing the IEM housing itself.
It is a stark contrast to the feel the body of the IEM, which exudes such a light feeling, but one that also becomes overly weighted due to the excessive heft of the cable. I would’ve very much preferred a thinner and lighter cable than this.
But, that is entirely subjective. The cable is of excellent quality and I have absolutely no gripes with it whatsoever. The 3.5 mm termination is girthy and feels great in hand.
Comfort & Fit
The comfort factor is off the charts. Again due to the excessive lightweight factor the BG comes with, the entire experience, at least on a subjective level for my needs, is excellent. Not only for being so light in the ear, but also offering me a rare near-perfect fit.
The fit factor for me is actually better than most of my custom IEM’s that I own. I can hardly feel the BG when this in my ear and I’m using it about my day. That sentiment is only strengthened once I replaced the stock cable with the lighter cable every now and then.
It is been a very long time since I’ve had a comfort level this high end something that I could boast about this much. The IEM isn’t large, thankfully, and it just so happens to fit my ear exceptionally well. I simply do not own any other non-custom looping over the ear IEM’s that are anywhere near this comfortable. The BG is easily top-tier for comfort.
Sound Impressions
Bass
Most of Shozy’s IEM’s are not bass-heavy. So too, the BG is lacking a deep sense of rumble factor and response even with the hyper amazing MSEB EQ system on my Hidizs AP80. With the bass factor bumped up significantly, bass quantity hardly changes.
However, it should be noted that it retains excellent quality despite being bumped so high, which is a very rare thing in this price tier.
Typically products of this nature end up overly muddied and sullied with a veil and a warped sense of low-end. There doesn’t seem to be the case and I found it very difficult to actually achieve any warped feeling, at least not with a humane level of bass boosting during my testing phase.
The BG is what I would consider the top end of bass light and perhaps riding the horizon of bass moderate quantity. You won’t get much more out of it even with significant bass boosting. As far as low-end purity and fidelity goes, liquid smoothness is a phrase that I would like to use to describe the experience. In some cases that is a good thing, and others not so much.
As far as the BG goes down below, raw fidelity is well into the very good tier for the price. Cleanliness is not an issue, you have plenty of that and I find it hard-pressed to believe that anybody would say different.
The biggest factor for me is physical responsiveness to alteration via an EQ system. Beyond that, I have no negative sentiments to discuss. I found the entire low-end to be punching well above its price point in terms of quality.
Mids
The BG is what I would consider a moderate placement in terms of midrange and vocalist experiences. This is no Audio Technica or Flare Audio, this is more set up for the relaxed enthusiast. No doubt about it.
Don’t take it as recessive, this IEM is not recessed in the slightest. It only comes across as what I would consider a relaxed presentation, something not so in your face and vividly engaging.
Instead, perhaps, optimized for large venue listening, classical and live recordings that were set up at a distance from the microphone. It is in those types of recordings in presentations I found this IEM to be extremely useful and enjoyable.
Fidelity
As far as literal fidelity goes in the way of the vocalist experience, the BG once again shines through with excellent clarity. I detect absolutely no nasal tendency, however, I do sense an overly bright and upper midrange. Thankfully, not a painful one or it on annoyance, as well as one that is actually fixable with some EQ alteration.
For the price, the BG gets my stamp of approval for sounding excellent with classical recordings. However, I do not consider it at all an engaging midrange product. And please remember that is entirely subjective.
This is all about preferences. Some people like a very forward midrange and some people do not. Not all headphones will sound the same and not all will respond equally to EQ or any manual changes you might want to attempt.
Tonality and Density Factor
Perhaps the only lacking trait the product offers is one of the less than stellar density factor. What I mean by that is weight carried. The physical and literal heft to the entire sonic sound signature. Shozy’s BG would have probably scored higher for me if it had been a product of a higher and density.
To me and listeners like me, that is very important. But, I know a lot of people love the sound signature and physicality of headphones like the HD800, which lack a strong sense of weighted presentation throughout the entire spectrum.
For this price, I have other IEM’s that do a better job and offers me closer to high-end physicality factor that is present in many expensive products. This has nothing to do with clarity or fidelity. This has entirely to do with the physicality factor and weighted appeal the product can exude. In this case, the BG falls a bit short from top to bottom and, at least to my ear, sounds a little too thin.
Treble
The most lacking in physicality and dense flair certainly the top side of this product. While I consider it clean enough to be enjoyed, and also, certainly not presenting any painful or obtuse experiences, the treble factor being as thin as it is, leaves much to be desired.
There are times where I would like to listen to a cello, violin or even a screaming guitar and feel the note plucked and resonate naturally. Sadly, with the BG, I don’t experience that as well as with a few other IEM’s I have in this price tier.
But once again, this has nothing to do with actual fidelity and has everything to do with brightness factor and tonality. When a product is thin on the top side, typically, it also exudes a painful wince factor. The BG does not portray itself in that manner and I find it moderately relaxing on physical slam impact potential. By that, I mean cymbal crashes and sudden peaky moments are oddly tame.
Considering the brightness factor of the treble offered, I found it oddly contrasting to what I know most products in this price tiers offer when the top end is bright. Thankfully, pretty much the entire experience remains moderately relaxed.
Imaging
Due to the moderately relaxed nature of the BG as a whole, the imaging factor feels very well tailored for live recordings and classical music. If I had to go to classical IEM, it would be this for anything $500 and under.
I really enjoy specific movie soundtracks and I also find YouTube podcasts to come across as wider than usual for IEM’s of this price. Good stage depth combined with moderate levels of impact makes the audio experience easy to listen to for hours on end. In fact, during my testing phase, there was a period where I wore the BG for over 12 hours and simply forgot that it was in my ear.
Sublime comfort factor mixed with a highly optimized presentation that meshes well with spoken word is something I simply don’t have any references to in my collection at the moment. That is a great thing.
The experience isn’t large from left to right and spaciousness certainly bested by the likes of the Flare Pro IEM, which is in a similar pricing tier. Realism factor is drastically reduced due to the thinner than I would like experience in regards to tonality. But, physical coherency in the imaging experience is excellent. It reminds me of the way the Beyerdynamic T1 was set up.
Our Verdict
I think that Shozy could easily become a powerhouse company very soon if they keep offering products as good as this one. I like everything but the overall tonality and physical density factor.
The comfort factor is pretty amazing and I truly wish that every IEM that I own felt as good as this one in my ear. There’s a clear step up from this BG from everything else that I own. As mentioned, I have custom IEM’s that don’t feel as good as this. My Nemesis custom, while very comfortable, simply isn’t as nice feeling in my ear as Shozy’s BG.
Beyond that, the BG fares excellently for live music recordings and podcasts. If I had to gripe about anything, it would be the lacking physicality factor. For the price, the BG is not the most well-rounded IEM out there and I consider it a specialist at the $279 level. If you enjoy a very attractive looking experience that also offers a moderately relaxed presentation, something easy to listen to for hours, then this is for you.
Shozy BG Technical Specifications
- Impedance 22ohm
- Sensitivity 110dB SPL/mW
- Frequency response 20Hz-20000Hz
- Driver config 5ba Electrical + Passive crossovers
- Passive noise isolation 25db
