The sound of DUNU EST11 is clean, high quality, prominent and dense in imaging. Two high-performance electrostatic units play a rare high-frequency performance.

• $490 – Check latest price on: AliExpress, Amazon US, Amazon Germany or other Amazon countries

Appearance Design & Accessories

The packaging of the DUNU EST112 is simple and intuitive. The front of the package is printed with the internal structure of the earbuds, the Hi-Res mark and the accessory trademark are also printed in the lower left corner, and the back has a detailed parameter introduction.

The cavity of DUNU EST112 earbuds is machined by five-axis CNC machining of aviation aluminum alloy. Although it is made of stainless steel all over, the total weight of the earphones is only 15g. The naming of portable HiFi headphones is composed of two aspects: “portable” and “HiFi”. Many top headphones on the market are overly pursuing “HiFi” and ignoring “portable”. In this regard, DUNU EST112 perfectly balances these two aspects.

Earphones use MMCX interface

DUNU EST112 also adopts a new and upgraded version of DUNU Proprietary Air Control Impedance System (ACIS) in design. The rear cavity of DUNU EST112 adopts a semi-open design, which can effectively optimize the acoustic environment of the beryllium dynamic driver in the earphones by increasing the intake air volume with this technology. Achieve deeper low frequency extension and greater dynamic performance in a limited space.

DUNU EST112 comes standard with a 4-core high-purity monocrystanlline sliver-plated cable with MMCX interface, and each conductor is covered with an insulating layer. It is worth noting that the interface part of the cable adopts patented expansion pins. Compared with ordinary pins, the service life is longer and the connection is more reliable. There are also 3.5mm single-ended, 2.5mm balanced, 4.4mm balanced, and 6 pairs of silicone eartips with different specifications in the package to fully meet user needs.

Introduction to Evaluation Reference Equipment

In this review, we selected two portable players, Lotoo PAW Gold Touch and Hiby R8, as the main reference equipment for the review.

The Lotoo PAW Gold Touch flagship HiFi player is designed with a multi-processor architecture, and each internal part has its own independent processor and power supply system. The design of AK4497EQ DAC + AK4137EQ dedicated upscaling chip + double phase-locked loop makes the sound performance of this player very reliable. In terms of driving force, both the 4.4mm balanced interface and the 3.5mm unbalanced interface of this player have an output capacity of 500mW/channel.

The Hiby R8 flagship HiFi player adopts a four-way power supply design of digital, decoding, pre-stage and output. Internally equipped with dual AKM4497 + two extremely low phase noise clocks, built-in luxury audio configuration: 4 ELNA silk audio capacitors + 10 gold tantalum capacitors + 18 high ripple rejection ratio LDO + 35 Panasonic polymer capacitors + deeply customized OP02 op amp.

Acoustic Configuration – Sound Quality

The price of the DUNU EST112 equipped with two electrostatic units is only $490, but the tuning completion of this pair of earbuds is very high. The tri-frequency connection is natural, the performance is strong, and the high frequency extension performance is extremely dazzling.

The most frightening thing is that in the $500 price range, even if it avoids its brightest high-frequency performance, its mid-frequency and low-frequency quality are not to be outdone. The low frequency of EST belongs to the type whose texture is higher than quantity sense. Although the style is not surging and powerful, the strength and depth of the extension are very good.

In mid-frequency performance, DUNU EST112 has the characteristics of large density and high imaging resolution. The mid-frequency of the DUNU EST112 can bring excellent prominence when playing back an electric guitar. When playing acoustic instruments such as acoustic guitars and violins, the imaging, sense of orientation, and separation of the instruments are all superior to earbuds at the same price.

In terms of vocals, the sibilance of the DUNU EST112 is also well controlled, and the pop vocals are slightly stimulated, but within an acceptable range. The vocals are well resolved and separated, with a clean foundation and accurate imaging. This kind of voice is very good for male voices, but the voice lines of female voices are a little tight.

The high-frequency lines of DUNU EST112 are strong, the style is neutral, and it will not be too bright or be covered up. The playback experience of classical music is very good, especially the high-frequency extension of large-scale music, which is not only rich in layers, but also the distribution of energy is very real and natural. In addition, for relatively fast pop and ACG music, this earbuds can also fully cope with those relatively fast and complicated scenes.

Not much low frequency, not grand soundstage, not much dynamics. What is the quality advantage of DUNU EST112?

1. The performance of information volume and density is top-level at the same price. Undoubtedly, these two are also the most intuitive hard indicators of earbuds themselves.
2. The three-dimensional effect of imaging and the instrumental performance with obvious gloss make EST112 a rare earbuds with a high-quality sound at this price, and the fineness of the instrumental performance is excellent.
3. As a triple hybrid driver earphones, DUNU EST112 has excellent high frequency extension and beautiful sound. Its handling of static electricity is as good as any flagship earbuds priced around $1000. It can be seen that DUNU’s careful tuning is not a hardware configuration pieced together to highlight “high cost performance”.

If you like slender imaging, sweet female voices, and overall clean, transparent and delicate voice lines, you don’t have high requirements for large dynamics. Based on this premise, DUNU EST112 can be regarded as the product that really improves the cost performance to the highest level.

Finally, a few usage notes are listed:

1. Personally, I think EST112 is not suitable for driving with a balance port. Priority consider for single-ended, especially when listening to vocals.
2. The gray eartips are given priority, the sound is more positive, followed by the SF eartips.
3. It is not suitable for the front end with its own thin sound and digital taste.

• $490 – Check latest price on: AliExpress, Amazon US, Amazon Germany or other Amazon countries