DUNU Hawkey (DN-18) Quick Review

DUNU Hawkey (DN-18) Quick Review

Thanks to Frogbeats for the sample

Brief:  Dunu make a pretty great W shaped generalist

Price:  I think circa £50

Specification:  Dynamic Driver 10mm, SPL 100 +- 2dB, Impedance 16 Ohms, Frequency Response 20Hz ~22KHz, Noise Attenuation 26dB, Weight 20g, Plug size 3.5mm, Cord Length 1.2m

Accessories:  8 pairs of tips, 2 cases, a cleaning cloth, a 3.5mm to 6.25mm jack, an airplane adapter, a shirt clip and the attached cable tie.

Build Quality:  Superb.  Metal blobs of solidness that look most sturdy.

Isolation:  Pretty good.  Oddly they are rated the same as their open twins however I found these to be slightly better.  Very good for normal uses and making you road pancake if you’re not careful.  Not really the one for visiting New Zealand though.

Comfort/Fit:  Comfort was pretty good and fit was fine too.   A touch of an issue with venting (they are closed dynamics so what do you expect) but nothing major.  It took a min or so of seating them just right and a sec to let them settle and balance out.  Not one I’d really want if I had to pull them out every few minutes though.

Aesthetics:  I really like the colour of them.  In the official photos from Dunu they look like a shiny black but they are more of a pewter colour.  Dark silvery shiny.  It looks better IRL than it does in a photo. 

Sound:  Similar to their twins but these do it better.  They have a quite a W shaped sound with somewhat of a slant to the low end.  The low end is where they are most skilled.  They can do, more or less, anything you could want from them.  They have very good depth, and can really roar down low without struggling.  They can do power too and have enough slam to be bouncy and fun yet given the scale not so hard that they hurt.  They have enough softness to allow for that scale, like being hit with a wall of water rather than a wall.  You get the impact, you get that sense of power but you aren’t put in hospital.  Be sure you want that sort of bass though, it’s not one that likes to go away so critical or classical listeners probably want to look elsewhere.  Mids and highs are both rather good too, not great, but pretty good.  Both a touch on the warmer, softer side with little in the way of crispness or hard edge.  Its softer on the ear that way but still it has enough detail to let you know exactly what’s going on, just gently presented.  It’s a really great pairing with most pop music.  Bassy, powerful, yet everything comes though clearly and can do pretty much anything you ask of it.

Value:  Since I’m guessing price I can’t be certain but its pretty damn good.  It’s pretty great sounding, not the best mind, but the package it has is fab.  If you are only to have one IEM and you like popular modern music, you don’t need ruler flat sound, then these are a great all round package.

Pro’s:   Great bass, sound good, stunning package

Con’s:  Bass can be omnipresent, not the best clarity, highs a little rounded off.