Company Name: Dunu Topsounds
Company Website: http://www.dunu-topsound.com/
Headphone Model: I3C-S
Frequency Range: 16Hz-22KHz
Headphone Style (Open, Closed, On-Ear, Over-Ear, IEM, CIEM): IEMS
Impedance: 10 Ohms
Sensitivity: 105db
Isolation: 26db
Warranty: 1 Year
Describing Sound: http://www.head-fi.org/a/describing-sound-a-glossary
Definitions: http://www.head-fi.org/a/glossary-of-terms
Pros: Comes with a lot of accessories, multiple options for portable cases depending on circumstances, midbass, fun headphone to listen to
Cons: Ear guides are a little uncomfortable, hard to get a good seal, emphasized highs.
Rating scale Breakdown (1-10)
1-2: Very Bad
3-4: Bad
5: Not Bad/Not Good/ Neutral
6-7: Good
8-9: Very Good
10: Excellent
Audio Quality: 7/10
Micro-phonics: 7/10
Comfort: 8/10
Design: 9/10
Isolation: 9/10
Value: 8/10
Accessories: 10/10
Overall Rating: 8.28/10
Rating Definitions
[size=11.0pt]Music Setup[/size]
[size=11.0pt]My PC music setup consists of Virtual Audio Cable, VSTHost, and Electri-Q Posihfopit Edition. Playback is done on Foobar2000 or Spotify with no EQ. This setup allows me to EQ any music source coming from any application on my PC. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]Using Virtual Audio Cable allows you to create a sound device that picks up the default Windows audio and route it through a VST plugin of your choice and link it to an output device of your choice. This bypasses the often buggy or less than optimal Windows sound drivers. VSTHost is responsible for hosting the VST Plugin Electri-Q EQ. I get the input from the virtual audio cable, send it through the equalizer, and output it to the Realtek HD Audio card. I use the MME driver for these because in Windows 7 DirectSound runs in emulation mode. Meaning it does not offer hardware acceleration and can often cause degradation over its DirectSound counterpart . I am running a sample rate of 48000 and a buffer of 480 samples (100 b/s).[/size]
[size=11.0pt]All of the output is then ran through the Fiio E11 with low gain and EQ at 0 for this review. [/size]
Accessories
[size=11.0pt]Build Quality[/size]
[size=11.0pt]The I3C-S model by Dunu Topsound features their new silver wiring system. Starting from the top we have a solid, metallic, plastic ear piece with the I3C-S model number in white. These headphones are an over ear style and have a decently thick strain relief on the wiring coming from the ear piece. It is a little loose around the wire causing a bit of wiggle room. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]The new wiring has a rubbery feel to it and is not easily tangled up. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]About 18” from the ear piece is the Y. This section is made of hard plastic with a nice sliding mechanism. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]As we move down from the Y we run into both ear piece cables being combined. Both cables are visible like your typical speaker wire. As we move down this wire we find Dunu’s built in, rubber, cable tie just before the heavily reinforced L -shaped 3.5mm, gold plated jack. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]The hard metal case has a nice felt lining and a pop on top with 2 finger grips on each side. Nothing special here other than a very good quality and compact metal carrying case. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]Listening Experience[/size]
[size=11.0pt]As I started listening with the I3C-S they immediately seemed to lack the authority in the low end of the spectrum even with older rap such as DMC. The low end seems to drop off around 60-80Hz. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]The midbass is great, however is not the focus of this IEM. The midbass has great definition and is rather smooth across the entire spectrum, but I feel that the highs of this headphone are a little too bright and over shadow the quality of midbass. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]The highs seem to have a slight sparkle and are a tad more emphasized over the mids and lows with this IEM. I prefer a more balanced sound signature with a slight bump in the low end. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]Sound stage is lacking, it feels enclosed. [/size][size=11.0pt]Overall clarity and separation are above average.[/size]
Review/pictures can be seen at www.pc-babble.com
Company Website: http://www.dunu-topsound.com/
Headphone Model: I3C-S
Frequency Range: 16Hz-22KHz
Headphone Style (Open, Closed, On-Ear, Over-Ear, IEM, CIEM): IEMS
Impedance: 10 Ohms
Sensitivity: 105db
Isolation: 26db
Warranty: 1 Year
Describing Sound: http://www.head-fi.org/a/describing-sound-a-glossary
Definitions: http://www.head-fi.org/a/glossary-of-terms
Pros: Comes with a lot of accessories, multiple options for portable cases depending on circumstances, midbass, fun headphone to listen to
Cons: Ear guides are a little uncomfortable, hard to get a good seal, emphasized highs.
Rating scale Breakdown (1-10)
1-2: Very Bad
3-4: Bad
5: Not Bad/Not Good/ Neutral
6-7: Good
8-9: Very Good
10: Excellent
Audio Quality: 7/10
Micro-phonics: 7/10
Comfort: 8/10
Design: 9/10
Isolation: 9/10
Value: 8/10
Accessories: 10/10
Overall Rating: 8.28/10
Rating Definitions
- Audio Quality: How good a set of headphones sounds in relation to other headphones I’ve heard. This will be subjective with any set of headphones that are reviewed.
- Micro-phonics: Noise that can be heard from the cable being moved around. The more noise the higher the value, the less noise the lower the value.
- Comfort: How comfortable a set of headphones is over a prolonged period of time.
- Design: How well a set of headphones are designed. This includes cables, reinforcement points, jacks, and materials used.
- Isolation: How well a set of headphones blocks outside noises and allows you to hear the music you’re listening to. This also includes sound leakage from the headphones to others around you.
- Value: Performance to cost ratio. If performance exceeds cost this value will be high. If performance is on the low end for the cost the value will be low. This will be subjective based on audio quality. Everyone hears different things.
- Accessories: How well the included accessories stack up compared to other headphones of similar style.
- Overall Rating: This is the average of the other 7 criteria. This is meant to give you an overall comparison of where the headphone lands on a scale of 1 to 10. However, this is not entirely accurate. A headphone with a low score in audio quality could still score a high overall rating if it received high marks on the rest of the weighted categories.
[size=11.0pt]Music Setup[/size]
[size=11.0pt]My PC music setup consists of Virtual Audio Cable, VSTHost, and Electri-Q Posihfopit Edition. Playback is done on Foobar2000 or Spotify with no EQ. This setup allows me to EQ any music source coming from any application on my PC. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]Using Virtual Audio Cable allows you to create a sound device that picks up the default Windows audio and route it through a VST plugin of your choice and link it to an output device of your choice. This bypasses the often buggy or less than optimal Windows sound drivers. VSTHost is responsible for hosting the VST Plugin Electri-Q EQ. I get the input from the virtual audio cable, send it through the equalizer, and output it to the Realtek HD Audio card. I use the MME driver for these because in Windows 7 DirectSound runs in emulation mode. Meaning it does not offer hardware acceleration and can often cause degradation over its DirectSound counterpart . I am running a sample rate of 48000 and a buffer of 480 samples (100 b/s).[/size]
[size=11.0pt]All of the output is then ran through the Fiio E11 with low gain and EQ at 0 for this review. [/size]
Accessories
- [size=11.0pt]I3C-S Headphones[/size]
- [size=11.0pt]Ear guides[/size]
- [size=11.0pt]Plethora of tips (8 pairs)[/size]
- [size=11.0pt]Airplane adapter[/size]
- [size=11.0pt]6.3mm adapter[/size]
- [size=11.0pt]Hard metal carrying case[/size]
- [size=11.0pt]Soft brown leather carrying pouch[/size]
- [size=11.0pt]Shirt clip[/size]
- [size=11.0pt]Microfiber towel[/size]
- [size=11.0pt]Noise attenuator (200 ohm)[/size]
[size=11.0pt]Build Quality[/size]
[size=11.0pt]The I3C-S model by Dunu Topsound features their new silver wiring system. Starting from the top we have a solid, metallic, plastic ear piece with the I3C-S model number in white. These headphones are an over ear style and have a decently thick strain relief on the wiring coming from the ear piece. It is a little loose around the wire causing a bit of wiggle room. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]The new wiring has a rubbery feel to it and is not easily tangled up. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]About 18” from the ear piece is the Y. This section is made of hard plastic with a nice sliding mechanism. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]As we move down from the Y we run into both ear piece cables being combined. Both cables are visible like your typical speaker wire. As we move down this wire we find Dunu’s built in, rubber, cable tie just before the heavily reinforced L -shaped 3.5mm, gold plated jack. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]The hard metal case has a nice felt lining and a pop on top with 2 finger grips on each side. Nothing special here other than a very good quality and compact metal carrying case. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]Listening Experience[/size]
[size=11.0pt]As I started listening with the I3C-S they immediately seemed to lack the authority in the low end of the spectrum even with older rap such as DMC. The low end seems to drop off around 60-80Hz. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]The midbass is great, however is not the focus of this IEM. The midbass has great definition and is rather smooth across the entire spectrum, but I feel that the highs of this headphone are a little too bright and over shadow the quality of midbass. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]The highs seem to have a slight sparkle and are a tad more emphasized over the mids and lows with this IEM. I prefer a more balanced sound signature with a slight bump in the low end. [/size]
[size=11.0pt]Sound stage is lacking, it feels enclosed. [/size][size=11.0pt]Overall clarity and separation are above average.[/size]
Review/pictures can be seen at www.pc-babble.com
