Dunu Falcon Ultra Titanium review and comparisons.
I would like to thank Dunu for sending me these beautiful in-ear monitor (IEM) earphones for a review. Dunu never told me what I could or could not say, and there is no money gain on my part. You can rest assured that this review will be truthful according to my perception.
I've been listening to music on earphones for more than 30 years now, and I find Dunu to be one of the oldest audio companies that are still operating today. Dunu, based in China, has always been, for me, a middle- to high-end company that produces high-class and high-quality IEMs at longer than usual intervals between product releases compared to other brands. I've never seen Dunu products that are cheap or poor in quality, and as you can see in the measurement graph that I did (see photo), the channel balance between the left and the right is impeccable; it is practically perfect, a testament to a high production quality standard.
Note: This newly released Dunu Falcon Ultra Titanium grey edition (220 USD) is exactly the same internally as the older Klein blue version; only the color and finish are different, as I was told.
Fit and comfort:
The Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti is a small, mid-sized IEM that doesn't protrude outside the ears so much that sleeping with it is very possible. The parts towards the nozzle don't touch the outer part of my ear canal, so it doesn't cause discomfort during long listening sessions.
Nozzles:
There are two sets of nozzles included: one is gold, and the other, which is the one pre-installed, is silver. I tried the gold nozzle, but I highly prefer the silver nozzle because it sounds more dynamic and fits my taste better, so this review will be based on the silver nozzles.
Eartips and cable:
The eartips included are one of the best because they include one of my favorite tips, which is highly regarded and known to have excellent sound: the Dunu S&S eartips. It also includes another highly regarded tip, the Dunu Candy tips, as well as two other kinds of tips that also sound and feel excellent. I tried other brands of eartips, but I found the included tips optimal for best sound with the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti. However, good as they may be, I still find the ePro EP00 tips better; they sound tonally similar to the Dunu S&S eartips but with more defined imaging. So, I used the ePro EP00 eartips for this review.
The modular cable included is good and doesn't tangle easily; it seems to sound good, but I haven't connected it to other cables because I have no other MMCX cables yet. I will upgrade the cable in the future.
Synergy:
The Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti is very sensitive to the sources' own sound signature; be careful when paring it with an ESS Sabre Dac chip source as it can sound very analytical, as in the case with my Fiio M15s. I like it, but some people may not. I tried it with my other Dac/amps such as the Moondrop Moonriver2, Dawn Pro, Topping G5, and Hidizs S9 Pro Plus Martha. They all sound good, but my favorite sound of all is with the Hidizs S9 Pro Plus Martha, as this pairing has the best balance between details and musicality.
Sensitivity and drivability:
The Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti is very easy to drive and has above-average sensitivity. It is easily driven by small dongle DAC/amps and goes very loud with a modest volume setting. I give it two thumbs up for this.
Power handling and distortion:
The Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti can take a lot of power and can go very loud without obvious distortion, more so than most sets; it is highly recommended for loud listeners. I give it an A class status for power handling. This is proof that the drivers employed are of very high quality.
Sound signature, timbre, and resolution:
The Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti has a slightly bright and natural timbre, and depending on the eartips used, it has a slightly V-shaped to slightly U-shaped sound signature. It is also very revealing and sometimes unforgiving of the quality of the recordings. The resolving capability is excellent.
Sound staging, imaging and holography:
It has above-average spherical sound stage size, and with the ePro EP00 eartips, the imaging and holography are superb; it can project sound from near to far and sometimes from behind; and the left to right instrument panning performance is seamless. The Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti is the best single DD IEM I have heard in these regards, but I haven't heard them all, so you may take this with a grain of salt.
To give you an example, on the music mix called Chillhop Essentials · Spring 2024 [chill relaxing beats/llofi hiphop] that you can search on YouTube, starting at the 50 minutes and 25 second mark, I can hear a very realistic bird chirping sound coming from 10 feet behind me with above six feet of elevation.
Dynamics:
The vibrant dynamics of the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti are what caught my attention right away; the Falcon Ultra Ti is consistently energetic throughout the whole audio frequency range.
Vocals:
Excellent, especially the female vocals, which are really clear and natural. The vocals have great intensity when they are in the recording, and male voices are also great. This is an excellent IEM for vocal lovers.
Bass:
It has one of the best neutral-head bass I have heard among the 30+ IEMs that I own, including the more expensive ones. It's not for bassheads; it's for people who don't like to have excessive bass sound in their music and who value neutrality, such as myself.
The bass is slightly boosted with a balanced sub-bass and mid-bass presence; it sounds very detailed and articulate; it is neither dry nor boomy. When a passage with excellent sub-bass presents itself, the Dunu Falcon Ultra can go from 0 to 60 in an instant; the sub-bass transient response is very fast with superb depth, but on tracks with normal bass, you won't suspect that this IEM is capable of such performance; the bass only goes loud when need be. I feel that this is due to the excellent dynamic drivers employed and, of course, the tuning.
To give you an example, on the music mix called Chillhop Essentials· Spring 2024 [chill relaxing beats/llofi hiphop], which is the same example I have given in the Sound staging, imaging, and holography section and can be searched on YouTube, the song at the 52 minutes and 10 second mark, the Dunu Falcon Ultra, has no problem reproducing the sub-bass, as well as other sub-bass in some Rap and other electronic music songs I listened to. But keep in mind that this is not a bass-head-tuned set, but for a neutral-head like me, the bass is perfect.
Midrange:
Neutral with excellent accuracy and clarity, it's neither thick nor thin and sounds very clean, but be aware that this has a pinna gain that peaks at 3 KHz but is not high enough to make it fatiguing. Pinna gain in IEMs is necessary to make them sound as natural as speakers with flat frequency response sound; it also helps IEMs achieve very good imaging, sound staging, and holography, and the Dunu Falcon Ultra has those in spades. Overall, the midrange sounds very natural, and there are no sudden jumps in the response like shoutiness or distortion. The midrange is never fatiguing and is very well mannered.
Treble:
Clean, clear, detailed, and slightly boosted, with very good macro and micro details. The upper treble is very extended and smooth and doesn't sound like it needs the help of another driver that would act as a tweeter. I hear no obvious driver diaphragm break-up distortion, unlike other IEMs with lesser quality drivers. Again, a good indication of how good the drivers are on the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti.
Comparisons:
I will be focusing mostly on sound quality to make this section as concise as possible, and I will be comparing it to IEMs with different price brackets. If there are aspects of sound quality I didn't mention, it means I have no issues with those particular aspects, or it could also mean I forgot to. I'm not perfect, you know. I intend to guide the readers in the right direction and not waste their hard-earned money.
Compared to Simgot EA1000 (220 USD):
The Simgot EA1000 is a direct competitor to the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti; both have the same driver configuration and price; they have similar tuning; and the quality of the drivers used on both is also similar. I use the default silver nozzle and ePro EP00 tips on the EA1000.
I find the bass on the Dunu Falcon Ultra to be slightly superior to the Simgot EA1000's bass, it has a little more sub-bass, and a tighter, punchier, and more detailed mid-bass, but again, only slightly so. On casual and non-critical listening, I find the difference to be subtle and almost negligible.
The midrange on both is equally clean and clear, but the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti has slightly more energy in the upper midrange than the Simgot EA1000, making the EA1000 sound more relaxed in the midrange, but again, only slightly so, and due to the Falcon Ultra Ti having slightly more energy in the upper midrange, it has better imaging, details, and holography.
The treble on both has about the same boost or elevation, but I find the upper treble on the Simgot EA1000 to be a smidge more enegetic. I can hear more fine sparkles on the EA1000, but the difference is really small. On the other hand, I find there is slightly more clarity and immediacy on the overall treble with the Dunu Falcon Ultra.
They have similar soundstage sizes, but the presentation of the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti is slightly more forward and three-dimensional.
If you already have the Simgot EA1000, is it worth getting the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti too? No, and vice versa, as they perform equally well and sound equally good, the differences are small.
If I had to choose only one, which one would it be? It'd be the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti for me; I like it more because of the punchier bass, the better imaging and holography, and the overall clarity. In the Simgot EA1000's defense, it has a more easy-going sound that is more forgiving and relaxed. But again, the differences between the two are small.
Compared to the Xenns Mangird Top (530 USD):
The Xenns Mangird Top is a hybrid IEM consisting of one dynamic driver and eight balanced armature drivers for the midrange and treble for each channel.
The Xenns Mangird Top has more fine micro details and better imaging, holography, and sound stage, but the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti is not far behind, and when it comes to the bass, I find the Falcon Ultra Ti to be better. The Xenns Mangird Top has a louder bass but could sound detached at times. The bass on the Falcon Ultra Ti is very coherent. I also find that in terms of consistency, the Xenns Top sounds more bassy at low volumes and becomes brighter at high volumes. This can be caused by the different kinds of drivers behaving differently at different volumes, but I never had that issue with the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti.
They are equally capable of handling a lot of power and delivering loud sounds without obviously distorting.
Whether you want coherency or more details with less coherency is essentially what determines which one to pick.
Compared to the Hidizs MP145 (150 USD):
One of my favorites, the single-planar IEM Hidizs MP145, offers sound quality and tuning comparable to much more costly sets.Compared to the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti, the MP145 is warmer-sounding with elevated midbass, recessed upper midrange, and an energetic upper treble. The MP145 has more micro-details in the upper treble too. On the other hand, the Falcon Ultra sounds more accurate overall, has more immediacy in transient attacks, has clearer details due to its more forward presentation, and for me, has better vocals. The MP145 has a bigger soundstage, but the Falcon Ultra has better holography.
Compared to Kinera Celest PhoenixCall (120 USD):
Another favorite of mine, the PhoenixCall, is a tribrid IEM with a micro-planar driver for the upper treble, balanced armatures for the treble, and a dynamic driver for the bass and midrange.
Due to its driver configuration and V-shaped tuning, the PhonenixCall has more fine-sounding micro details, a more illuminated treble, and a warmer-sounding bass. On the other hand, the Falcon Ultra Ti has more accurate sound across the audible frequency range, a deeper sub-bass, and better imaging, holography, and vocals.
Compared to Moondrop Starfield 2 (100 USD):
The Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti is a direct upgrade to the Moondrop Starfield 2. If you own a Moondrop Starfield 2, you know how good it is at imaging and holography, yet the overall sound lacks polish. Well, the Falcon Ultra Ti is a refined version of that. It has all the positives but none of the drawbacks, with the exception of the price..
Compared to other less expensive IEMs such as:
Simgot EA500, Mondrop May, Moondrop Lan and Kinera Celest Pandamon.
These are very good-sounding sets for their price range, and I highly recommend them if you are on that budget. But if you are looking for a real upgrade to these and have the funding, just get the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti if you are already on the fence. I said this because I see so many people asking for upgrades to their good-sounding budget sets like those mentioned, and then people would suggest another budget set that has similar, if not worse, performance than what they already have. What I'm trying to say is that if you want a true upgrade, you have to spend more money rather than wasting it on side grades, though not necessarily on the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti.
Pros:
+ spherical sound stage
+ imaging and holography
+ high-power handing
+ high sensitivity
+ high volume capability
+ excellent vocals
+ shell design
Cons:
- perhaps the MMCX connectors...
- Sonically, none that I can think of for the price.
To wrap it up:
I have nothing but praise for the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti. It performs on par with more expensive sets; for me, it has a flagship level of performance. The excellent vocal performance and engaging dynamics only add to its excellent tuning. I highly recommend this if you are a vocals lover and/or want a near-neutral-sounding IEM. Thanks for reading! Cheers!
4-29-2024
Thank you and have a happy day.