Dunu Topsound is a chinese company quite famous in the audiophile community. My first experience with this brand was their Dunu Titan 1, that was fantastic for its price range and right now is still one of my favourite IEM under 100 USD. Today I am going to review their new dynamic flagship: Dunu Falcon-C, but first, would like to introduce the philosophy and history of this company:
“ With advanced technology and hi-end equipments, DUNU desires to be able to provide our products for Hi-Fi embracers. Delicate means extremely quality demanding on product process, from every little component to product manufacturing. DUNU has complete production line and equipments, including precise equipments, B&K frequency machine, IMD sputter, CNC machine, anechoic room, etc. Concerning design of product, DUNU also devotes to create unique outer appearance and balance in all sound frequency.
Utmost is not only the expectation on products, but also the pursuit of an Earphone Manufacturer. The founder of DUNU, himself, has years experience in OEM/ODM earphone products in which many worldwide famous earphone Brands are included. However, in order to create the most enjoyable earphone on his own, DUNU’s president establishes the brand “DUNU” and implants many hi-end equipments and hires talented employees. From then on, DUNU takes the lead in developing the first Chinese made metal earphone, developing 5.8mm Driver unit and produce the very first Chinese Balance Armature Earphone, in 2014 DUNU release China first triple driver Dynamic and Balance Armature Hybrid earphone, All these preparation are to step on the world stage and to challenge renowned earphone brands. The ultimate goal of DUNU is to provide worldwide HI-FI embracers our earphone products, with Delicate Sensation, Unique Design & Utmost Quality”.
New Falcon-C model shows an advanced CNT diaphragm drivers, with new enlarged MMCX plug and a new silver-plated copper 6n OCC wire.
Dunu C-Falcon unit was sent me as a sample , I am not affiliated with the company and all observations and opinions will be only my own. Would like to thanks Vivian and Dunu team for sending me this unit giving me the opportunity to experience such an innovative product.
LINK OFFICIAL SITE: http://www.dunu-topsound.com/
LINK FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/DUNU.FANS/
PACKAGING:
Packaging is rich with a lot of accessories. First of all, you can find a lot of eartips of high premium quality. Very compliment Dunu for these features. For universal models eartips are very important for the sound: they can change the overall reproduction, for example changing bass response or soundstage; so eartips like the sources are very important for the final result. In the box you can find: transparent gray tips, blue-tube tips and SpinFit ones. I tried many and at the end tips with blue bore not only gave me the better fit, but overall a more natural reproduction with great and lively vocals. In the box you can find one protective plastic case, the IEM and various instructions with warranty card and an airline adaptor. I don’t know why Dunu doesn’t give shirt clip like in the other models in catalogue.
Build quality is excellent and really surprised me: new Falcon-c shows a “new liquid metal jacket with its non-grain boundary is three times stronger than stainless steel and has an excellent acoustic character that restrains harmonic resonance to achieve a firm and more coherent sound”.
The IEM is very comfortable and lightweight and thanks to the MMCX angle I was able to listen to my music for many hours without any fatigue. The carry case is a bit small so has enough room inside for only the IEM. The new high quality cable with enlarged MMCX plug and a new silver-plated copper 6n OCC wire has great build quality and never noticed any microphonics issues.
In terms of comfort i found C-Falcon perfect and thanks to its rounded shape and small structure I never found any annoyance or fit problems.
Isolation is quite good, but not one of the best: Falcon makes a good job in blocking outside noise, but in noisy environments like metro, bus you could find some problems.
SOUND:
All my sound consideration has been made after 100 hours of burn in as suggested by Dunu company, with different DAPs such as Opus1s, fiio x3, x5, iFi Nano Idsd black label and my iphone 6 too.
Overall this IEM offers a v-shaped sound sig. Voices are a bit laid back but offers a good amount of details, for example in Lana Del Rey “Tomorrow Never Come” you can hear all the sensuality of this singer. With male vocals I found a lack of body in certain tracks, but with female voices this IEM can bring all the delicacy and sensuality typical of a female voice.
Highs are very clean and detailed . They are refined and you can find a lot of sparkles, you will get an extended treble response but without harshness and sibilance issues, indeed, i could be able to listen to this IEM and never find any listening fatigue. I don’t understand why some says highs on C-Falcon are harsh. I did notice this thing with cold sources or with my iPhone 6, but with a warmer source like Opus 1s or iFi Nano I found a more controlled sound with good amount of sparkles and bass.
Bass of this IEM is just perfect, I would say it was just tuned with an “audiophile bass”: it is not one of the strongest, but is really fast, with great impact and decay. You will get a good amount of mid-bass that will give just a touch of warmth, but will never cover mid frequencies. If you loved bass of the previous Dunu dynamic model: Titan 1; new Falcon will offer you the same quality, plus a more mature and controlled bass response.
Dynamic is very good, maybe not one of the best, but for the price tag is more than average. With my iPhone 6 I found dynamic a bit “anemic”, so I really suggest you to invest in a DAP or DAC/AMP in order to unleash the full potential of this IEM.
Soundstage is very good with a coherent sense of space both in width and depth, you will not get a “speaker-like” soundstage, but a natural and coherent one. I found the soundstage a bit narrower and a bit less holographic than Dunu Titan 1.
With its low impedance is quite easy to drive, you can drive easily with your Smartphone, but obviously with a good DAP you get an overall better sound, with better dynamic and a stronger bass response.
COMPARISON:
C-FALCON VS PERIODIC AUDIO Ti: these two IEMs share a V-shaped sound signature. Dunu has a better build quality and more premium feel, with detachable cable and is more ergonomic. Falcon has better bass response that is very fast and intricate with excellent decay. Voices are a bit recessed on both these two IEMs, but Ti make a good job with both male and female voices. On the other side Falcon makes an excellent job with female voices, but with male ones can lack of body. Soundstage on Falcon is wider than Ti, but Periodic Audio IEM has more depth. Both of these IEMs are quite easy to drive, maybe Ti needs more power to really shine.
C-FALCON VS Ibasso IT01: iBasso IEM has a more fun sound sig. with stronger bass and more sparkles. On the other side Dunu IEM shows a more mature sound with a more controlled bass and a bit less recessed voices. Soundstage on IT01 is wider, but Falcon has a more natural and coherent extension.
Falcon costs more or less twice, but you have to consider that has better build quality and a more premium feel. Plus with Falcon you will get better quality ear-tips.
C-FALCON VS ORIVETI NEW PRIMACY: ORIVETI has a more warm and romantic sound with more focus on voices. Primacy has more mid-bass quantity and a less detailed sound reproduction. On the other side Falcon has a more “audiophile” bass response with good impact and great speed and decay.
New Primacy has wider soundstage, but C-Falcon has more depth.
C-FALCON VS TITAN 1: it’s quite interesting to compare these two Dunu models. Titan 1 has a more v-shaped sound with more bass impact and more sparkles. Voices are more recessed on Titan 1. On the other side C-Falcon shows a more mature sound with more detailed voices and less listening fatigue. Soundstage on Titan 1 is wider with a more holographic feel thanks to the five bores in the shell.
PAIRING:
FALCON WITH OPUS 1S: Falcon has a great synergy with this DAP: bass gets more body with more rumble. Male voices acquire more body and fullness. Highs are less in evidence and this thing can help to reduce harshness and so listening fatigue. With Opus 1s soundstage is quite wide with a good instrument separation. I can drive quite easily Falcon with high gain at 80 volume level.
FALCON WITH IPHONE 6 + AUDIRECT WHISTLE: thanks to this small DAC/AMP voices have more body and presence. Soundstage is not as wide as in Opus 1s. Audirect whistle will help a lot to reduce any hiss problems.
FALCON WITH IPHONE 6: my Iphone can drive quite easily C-Falcon with wide soundstage, but voices are too thin and lacks body, Plus with my iPhone i noticed more harshness on top-end frequencies.
BASS: 8.6
MIDS: 8.4
HIGHS: 8.5
FINAL RATING: 8.5
SIMPLY AUDIOPHILE 