DUNU DN-2000 Quick Review

DUNU DN-2000 Quick Review

Thanks to DUNU for the sample.

Brief:  DUNU take’s it to the top.

Price:  US$316 or £186 sans HMRC’s cut

Specification:  Driver Unit: Dynamic (10mm)*1+Balanced Armature*2, Sensitivity: 102dB+/-2dB, Impedance:16Ω, Frequency Range: 10Hz - 30kHz, Plug: Ø3.5mm stereo plug, Cable length :1.2m, Weight:22g

Accessories:  11 pairs of Eartips, 1 pair of Earhooks, 3.5mm Female to 6.5mm Male Adapter, 3.5mm Female to 2-pin Male Adapter, Aluminium alloy box, 6 pairs of metal adjust ring, 4 pairs of fitting rubber, Shirt Clip

Build Quality:  Excellent.  It’s just what we have come to expect from DUNU

Isolation:  Good for having a dynamic driver in them.  Suitable for normal use, out and about stuff but not up to the level offered by some deep sitting BA IEM’s.  Still, as ever, easily enough to get you run over.

Comfort/Fit:  Okay the metal protrusion on the side cased discomfort if no rubber thingy was attached.  Without them the sticky out bit stabbed my ear.  Swapping left and right cured that issue but I don’t get why its there to begin with?  Fit though was fine, tiny bit of air pressure issues but nothing to worry about.

Aesthetics:  Well I get that golden is supposed to look fancy but I’m not a big fan.  I just don’t love how they look.

Sound:  Top tier.  These are priced in the same area as other high end stuff, IE8, TF10, UM3 level and these are easily a match for them.  Actually these sound like a cross between the IE8 and the UM3.  Bass is big and powerful.  Mids are clear and focused, highs are clean and sparkly.  Basically, these are awesome and epically spectacular.  Their presentation steels the UM3’s incredible sound separation and the vastness of the IE8.  The bass is taught and likes to try the UM3’s punch but injecting some of the scale and expansion form the IE8.  Mids too occupy a middle place between them.  Focused and detailed like the 3 but with a hint of life (I found the UM3 very deadpan vocally.)  Highs, for a BA, sparkle and shimmer well enough to sound rather more natural than most.  The real stand out feature though is the soundstage and instrument separation.  Vast, drama, dynamism, power, authority, scale, you get the idea.  They sound epically scaled.  They are also super sensitive, so they hiss but also they are so easily driven and can sound magnificent even out of a phone. (Paired super nicely with my N5.)  The DN-2000 is a W shaped epic aural monster.  If you’re after sedate or a monitor, this isn’t it, even handed it may be but it’s just too aurally epic and grandiose to be a humble monitor.

Value:  Well it is expensive but you easily get what you pay for.

Pro’s:   Epicness, amazing instrument separation, superb scale.

Con’s:  Golden, the bothersome sticky out bit, oversized case.