INTRODUCTION

   If you enjoy listening to music while on the road or even while at home then you probably own a good pair of earphones or a good headset already. Still as some of you are well aware, we're always looking for the best price/performance ratio in just about anything in the electronics industry and to date I can't say that we've come across an audiophile grade pair of earphones that doesn't require you spending half or more of your monthly pay check. Sure we've had several interesting and impressive pairs of earphones reach our lab over the years but that doesn't mean we'd stop looking around for more and so recently we stumbled on a not so popular Chinese manufacturer by the name DUNU and after reading several interesting reports on their products by both satisfied customers and media we decided to take a closer look at their Falcon-C Hi-Res Earphones.

   DUNU was originally an OEM/ODM manufacturer established in 1994. DUNU focuses on development, manufacture and marketing professional earphone and ear bud products. Now DUNU has become one of worldwide famous earphone manufacturer and has the capability to develop driver units. Moreover, DUNU takes the lead in developing 6μ?5μ and 4μ, different high-accuracy composite and metal membranes, which enables DUNU to breaks the technology monopoly by Japan and German manufacturers. In the mean time, DUNU acquired many International acoustic research achievements and International Patents. With years of experiences, DUNU establishes its Leading in earphone and acoustic manufacture field. The head-quarter in Taiwan is the sales, R&D and administrative center. DUNU cultivates self R&D actively, holding the key technology and operating in with full rapid communication step by step in every process. Thus, DUNU earn customers’ trust through the whole journey.

  The new Falcon-C is DUNU's flagship Hi-Res Audio IEM based on two 9mm CNT (carbon nano-tubes) diaphragm dynamic drivers (10Hz-40KHz frequency response with 16Ohm impedance and 108dB +-3 SPL) housed inside ergonomically shaped black matte finish enclosures made out of liquid metal which are in turn connected with a 1.2 meter long detachable hand crafted braided silver-plated copper 6N OCC cable that features sturdy MMCX gold plated plugs on one end and an 3.5mm angled gold plated jack on the other. DUNU is not the first manufacturer to use liquid metal for their enclosures but honestly when it's up to 3 times more durable than stainless steel and offers better acoustics I don't understand why we don't see it more often in the industry (price is probably one of the factors but we're not talking about low-cost models here). DUNU also packs 3 different types of ear-tips with the Falcon-C designed to tune their audio according to your personal taste/preference (for example the popular SpinFit ear-tips improve bass while the silicon ear-tips improve mids and highs). So time for us to see exactly what the Falcon-C by DUNU are all about.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

DUNU packs the Falcon-C inside a silver box that has a large product picture at the front right beneath their logo and above the Hi-Res Sound and SpinFit logos.

The main product features and the bundle contents are all listed at the rear of the box.

Once you remove the silver cover you will see the main box with the company logo at the top.

The main box opens up to reveal the Falcon-C and their bundle on one side and information about Max Barsky (Ukrainian singer) on the other.

Leaving out the Falcon-C bundled in the box are also an airplane adapter, 3.5mm to 6.3mm gold plated adapter, carrying/storage case, warranty information paper, user manual, 4 pairs of black/blue silicone ear-tips (one pair is pre-mounted on the earphones), 3 pairs of grey silicone ear-tips and 4 pairs of SpinFit ear-tips.

THE FALCON-C

DUNU has done a great job with the bundled ear-tips and although foam ones would also be nice to have the SpinFit ones more than make up for that.

The hard carrying/storage case has the company logo at the top and is just enough to fit the Falcon-C and their adapters inside.

Using a 1.2 meter long hand crafted 4-way braided cable means that DUNU aimed more towards durability and audio quality rather than comfort since we had a really hard time untangling it.

The ergonomic enclosures are designed in such a way to provide optimal comfort at all times (one of the reasons for this is that the cable is passed over your ear).

Of course, having a detachable cable with MMCX gold plated plugs means both that you can store the earphones easier and that you can use a better one if you want to further down the road (for example DUNU offers an upgraded silver version of the cable which unfortunately they didn't ship to us).

Left and right markings are engraved on the interior of the earphones right next to the dynamic driver vents.

The company logo is also engraved on the exterior of the earphones.

As you can see DUNU has used angled tips for optimal fit.

Using 9mm drivers is not something uncommon but according to their specifications however these should be quite special.

The Falcon-C is the very first pair of earphones to arrive in our lab that features MMCX gold plated plugs and I must admit they are quite useful (not only can you swap cables but they also rotate further boosting comfort levels).

DUNU also placed their name on the cable Y-splitter.

The angled gold plated 3.5mm jack may not be something we haven't seen numerous times in the past already but it's always a good feature to have.

For this review we used several smartphones (Samsung S7 Edge/S8, iPhone 6, Huawei P20 Pro Dual) and the FiiO M3k/M6/M7 Hi-Res Music Players.

CONCLUSION

   After using the Falcon-C for 6 weeks the very first thing that comes in mind is that we’re surprised that DUNU is not a very popular manufacturer even among audiophiles. You see the Falcon-C is among a very small number of earphones that feature CNT (carbon nano tubes) diaphragms and that helps it produce very rich and accurate mids and highs with a good amount of bass and a wide/spacious sound stage. Now it’s not exactly perfect since highs some times feel a bit too rough/sharp (some may like that while others may not) and bass is not as rich as we’d like to be at times (still more than what we usually get from wired earphones so we can’t really complain) but other than that audio performance is nothing less than impressive especially if you take into account that the Falcon-C have room for improvement if you decide to use a different cable. Unfortunately, although the Falcon-C is a very comfortable pair of earphones due to its ergonomically shaped enclosures during testing we found that the 4-way braided cable isn’t very convenient and tends to tangle up quite easily. Yes it’s seems to be very durable and certainly helps with the audio performance of the Falcon-C (as do the bundled ear-tips / especially the SpinFit ones) but more than just once it did make us wish DUNU would make a wireless version of the Falcon-C.

   Although the DUNU Falcon-C are clearly among the best wired earphones we’ve reviewed to date their price tag doesn’t really reflect that since you can currently grab a pair for USD219.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 192Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Yes to many people even that will seem like a rather hefty price tag for a pair of earphones but for audiophiles looking for the best possible price/audio performance ratio (always based on what they can afford) the Falcon-C by DUNU represent a very good choice and that’s why they gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Liquid Metal Enclosures)
- Audio Reproduction (Good Amount Of Bass With Crisp & Detailed Mids/Highs)
- 4 Way Braided Cable With Gold Plated MMCX Plugs
- Angled Gold Plated 3.5mm Plug
- Hard Carrying/Storage Case
- 10 Sets Of Ear Tips (Including SpinFit Ones)

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Sharp Highs (For Some)