Shozy Black Hole Review

Today we’re reviewing the interesting Shozy Black Hole for you. It is selling for $799.

Disclaimer: The Shozy Black Hole review sample was arranged directly with Shozy. I covered the customs taxes only. The review reflects my sincere opinion, as always. 

About Shozy

If you have no information about Shozy, then you must have been away from the hobby for a long time. They’re making their names with bang for buck products for a considerable amount of time. We have reviewed several Shozy products from different budget levels already. For the premium segment, Lieven reviewed their hybrid electrostatic offering, the Pola39 as below:

Me? I reviewed a lot of Shozy products. Perhaps one of the most popular IEMs last year was their BG model. Almost all of their products have made it to our recommended list such as the Hibiki MK2, V33, Rouge, Pola39, and most recently, Form 1.4 Why? It’s simple. They offer great value for money. Shozy is quite sensitive about keeping the prices low. Even their premium Pola39 model is below the market average when you check out similar IEMs.

Based in Hong Kong, Shozy’s offerings stand out with distinctive design language. They offer very good build quality with their products at the same time. They also want to change and influence the market with very competitive price tags. This time however it’s not a budget-friendly earphone and for that reason, it has to give a good performance.

About Shozy Black Hole

The Black Hole is a universal IEM with a semi-open back design, consisting of a single 10mm dynamic driver. Shozy has put on a considerable amount of time and effort into this project. The design is highly unconventional. We’ve seen open-back IEM designs like the Audeze LCD-i4, but this one is different. Audeze’s open offerings look like minor headphones without headbands. The Black Hole though still has a classic IEM shape with a semi-custom metallic shell.

So what is the aim here? Why did they opt for this kind of design? Well, Shozy basically wanted an earphone that can give a spacious sound-stage than other classic IEMs. They also wanted the sound to blend with ambient noise and provide a relaxed and comfortable experience. Another reason is that they wanted to prove they can pull this task off. With this kind of a design direction, it’s not easy to control the bass response and treble peaks. For the Black Hole, they worked together with KOOK™ Electro-Acoustic Engineering Lab from the USA with patented acoustic technologies applied.

Super fast response, minimal coloration and ultra-low distortion designed to capture details and energies of instruments. No need to say, the background is as dark as a black hole as long as your outputs are clean.

Package Content

Shozy provides a gray and small carrying case which is the same as previous offerings, and 7 pairs of tips. That’s basically it when it comes to content. Did I find these accessories enough? Not really. A thing or two would’ve been nicer.

This is Shozy’s one of the few pricier offerings and I expected a more premium box and content from this price tag which is 799$. I’m not going to judge them on that part though. Shozy gives importance to their sound and their products always performed well. But they could’ve gone with a different package for their new and unique offering.

Design & Build Quality

When you take a first look at the Black Hole, it doesn’t appear like anything else in the market. All-metal body, holey face-plate, shiny surface, and so on. Everything in its design boasts originality. Shozy’s previous models like the Form series and the Rouge looked quite nice and elegant, but this one is definitely something else.

There are 3 color options for the Black Hole. This silver one looks awesome to me but you can also go for gold and black versions. They also look very nice and the gold one has some “bling” vibe, but I chose silver for a more serious look. I think silver is also a complementary color choice for the overall sound performance of this IEM, but more on that later.

Build quality is excellent. The all-metal body is simply great and I think Shozy executed this to perfection. The shape is very smooth and seamless, yet it’s all metal and that slight cold feeling is really nice. Nozzles have a great design too. They’re very sturdy with impeccable integration to the shells. Although you should be careful about wax build-up because of the mesh on the tip of the nozzle.

Shozy certainly has created a high-quality design for the shells of the Black Hole. However, I found the cable quite elementary or too ordinary, to be honest. It doesn’t give you a “wow” feeling when you compare it to the shell design, which is incredible. So in the design part, the cable is a bit weak and too plain. I’m not talking about the quality of the wires or anything related to that. I’m sure it was selected for a reason. But at least the 2-pin connectors and the 3.5mm jack could’ve been a bit more stylish.

Fit & Isolation

The Shozy Black Hole has a semi-custom like design with a moderate size which is in totally acceptable dimensions. The footprint is small and the IEM is very compact. The fit is excellent as a result with great comfort. Once you find the correct tips for you, I don’t think you’ll ever have big problems.

The insertion is good enough but not very deep. The fit is still flush and since this is a semi-open-back IEM, a deep insertion is not essential. Isolation is of course is not really isolation with this IEM. But still, you get a slight noise blockage when you put it in your ear. So I can’t really say the isolation is non-existent, but you certainly shouldn’t expect anything more.

However, it’s really a unique experience. In the office, you can hear your colleagues without a problem but you can still enjoy the music it gives you. Its sound presentation has something to do with that also, but I really liked using it in the office environment. Also, you get a small amount of isolation when you play music so I can’t say the isolation is zero. One surprising part about it is that it doesn’t give too much noise to the outside. People can hear your music playing a bit, but not too much, which is a good thing.

The review continues on PAGE 2 with sound performance.