[ryanjsoo]

Ahhhhhhh yes. I was just thinking of these iem's.

How long does a set of symbio's last day using them 2-3 hours a day?

Symbios are really just like regular silicone tips, they should last for a long time.

 

[crabdog]

Yeah the symbio's are narrower bore than the spiral dots. Takes away some bass

I don't think it has to do with the bore size but rather because the foam on the inside makes the tips quite rigid and this reduces the resonance or transferal of vibrations through the silicone.

 

[PixelSquish]

Just checking in. These things are still amazing. Flying overseas on Tuesday, can't wait to bring these two little buds of joy with me on the long trip. Going to make it that much more pleasurable.

 

[hi-fi amateur]

Excited to see how the new ibasso it04 compare to these. They both have the same 4-driver hybrid configuration.

 

[ldo77]

I received mine.
As usually with Dunu, I'm impressed with the package.
I spend many minutes to find the right fit, to solve the pain ... to be continued
The sound is really good, especially the bass and the mids. Vocal male sound very well.
I think I will have to spend a few weeks to discover all the 'potential' of this iem.

 

[crabdog]

I received mine.
As usually with Dunu, I'm impressed with the package.
I spend many minutes to find the right fit, to solve the pain ... to be continued
The sound is really good, especially the bass and the mids. Vocal male sound very well.
I think I will have to spend a few weeks to discover all the 'potential' of this iem.

Yes, it's an amazing IEM. Keep trying with the fit! It took me a bit of experimentation and tip rolling to get it right.

 

[phthora]

I received mine.
As usually with Dunu, I'm impressed with the package.
I spend many minutes to find the right fit, to solve the pain ... to be continued
The sound is really good, especially the bass and the mids. Vocal male sound very well.
I think I will have to spend a few weeks to discover all the 'potential' of this iem.

Welcome! Let us know how your journey of discovery goes. As crabdog suggested, tip-rolling may be crucial to getting a good fit and seal. But once you get that sorted out, these IEMs are gold. For me it was Symbio Wide Bores that finally got them perfect. Best of luck.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Playing with them in your ears to get a stable fit might be worth it.

After 1-2 minutes, I always get a good fit with most IEMs, it just takes time to find their sweet spot and positioning.

 

[sphones19]

I've benefited from some advice on Head-fi in the past, but I'm not often in much of a position to contribute. However, I thought I might be able to add something useful to the discussion of the DK-3001 iems. I listen mainly to classical music, which seems less common amongst people posting comments on head-fi. This isn't a review, but rather a perspective, I guess you might say. My listening has been done through an Aune M1s, and I'm reporting impressions based mainly on high quality files of audiophile oriented recordings. I've listened to lots of other music on them, but I don't have anything special to add that hasn't been said upthread.

Classical music uses a very broad spectrum of frequencies. Tubas, concert grand pianos, and pipe organs all have notes with fundamentals in the 20-30 hz range. Even a contrabass bassoon reaches down to around 30 hz, as does a concert string contrabass. Jazz contrabasses and electric bass guitars have their lowest notes at around 40hz. Of course, electronic music can go very low, but for acoustic or electrically amplified music, classical very often has the broadest spectrum. This, and the sometimes resonant performances spaces in which it is performed pose some challenges for high quality reproduction.

Setting aside questions of fidelity, however one wants to understand the term, I often find listening to classical music that uses low-pitched instruments somewhat unsatisfying on iems, and on some headphones. Some are conspicuously bass heavy, and the balance doesn't sound natural. Others simply cannot produce sounds in the way that one experiences them to sound at a live performance. If the goal of high-end audio is to bring you to the concert rather than the concert to you, then these are closer to high-end for well recorded acoustic music than other sub-$600 iems I've owned or heard (which is to say all the iems I've heard, as they've all been under $600).

As for the overall sound, it's what people in the loudspeaker stereo world of the early 2000s would have described as 'euphonic', at least to my ears. They are slightly warm in character and provide a pleasing presentation of human vocals, male and female. I've enjoyed listening to polyphonic choral music with them quite a bit. For voices and instruments, they have a natural, but slightly less than accurate, sound. At the same time, the DK-3001s are accurate enough to make low quality recordings sound low quality and good quality recordings sound good quality. They do a good job with instrument separation, even in complex music, and they're one of the few iems I've personally heard (again, not a giant or especially illustrious list) that do not muddy up very complex contemporary symphonic music. One of their best qualities is relaying the resonant character of acoustic instruments. I notice this with jazz basses and acoustic guitars. They can produce a big enough soundstage to keep things sonically uncluttered.

There are no doubt better sounding iems in various ways. These sacrifice some accuracy for euphony. It's not always a trade-off I would favour. Nonetheless these bring me close to the music and closer to the concert experience than other pairs of iems that I've owned or listened to. I found these as a discounted ex-demo unit. The Aune M1s came at a decent price, too. While still not inexpensive as a combo even with the discounts, together they produce a lot of good quality sound for the money, and it's highly portable sound at that. I hesitate to recommend anything to others, but if one has the chance, I believe the DK-3001 is at least worth an audition for those who like live classical music.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I've benefited from some advice on Head-fi in the past, but I'm not often in much of a position to contribute. However, I thought I might be able to add something useful to the discussion of the DK-3001 iems. I listen mainly to classical music, which seems less common amongst people posting comments on head-fi. This isn't a review, but rather a perspective, I guess you might say. My listening has been done through an Aune M1s, and I'm reporting impressions based mainly on high quality files of audiophile oriented recordings. I've listened to lots of other music on them, but I don't have anything special to add that hasn't been said upthread.

Classical music uses a very broad spectrum of frequencies. Tubas, concert grand pianos, and pipe organs all have notes with fundamentals in the 20-30 hz range. Even a contrabass bassoon reaches down to around 30 hz, as does a concert string contrabass. Jazz contrabasses and electric bass guitars have their lowest notes at around 40hz. Of course, electronic music can go very low, but for acoustic or electrically amplified music, classical very often has the broadest spectrum. This, and the sometimes resonant performances spaces in which it is performed pose some challenges for high quality reproduction.

Setting aside questions of fidelity, however one wants to understand the term, I often find listening to classical music that uses low-pitched instruments somewhat unsatisfying on iems, and on some headphones. Some are conspicuously bass heavy, and the balance doesn't sound natural. Others simply cannot produce sounds in the way that one experiences them to sound at a live performance. If the goal of high-end audio is to bring you to the concert rather than the concert to you, then these are closer to high-end for well recorded acoustic music than other sub-$600 iems I've owned or heard (which is to say all the iems I've heard, as they've all been under $600).

As for the overall sound, it's what people in the loudspeaker stereo world of the early 2000s would have described as 'euphonic', at least to my ears. They are slightly warm in character and provide a pleasing presentation of human vocals, male and female. I've enjoyed listening to polyphonic choral music with them quite a bit. For voices and instruments, they have a natural, but slightly less than accurate, sound. At the same time, the DK-3001s are accurate enough to make low quality recordings sound low quality and good quality recordings sound good quality. They do a good job with instrument separation, even in complex music, and they're one of the few iems I've personally heard (again, not a giant or especially illustrious list) that do not muddy up very complex contemporary symphonic music. One of their best qualities is relaying the resonant character of acoustic instruments. I notice this with jazz basses and acoustic guitars. They can produce a big enough soundstage to keep things sonically uncluttered.

There are no doubt better sounding iems in various ways. These sacrifice some accuracy for euphony. It's not always a trade-off I would favour. Nonetheless these bring me close to the music and closer to the concert experience than other pairs of iems that I've owned or listened to. I found these as a discounted ex-demo unit. The Aune M1s came at a decent price, too. While still not inexpensive as a combo even with the discounts, together they produce a lot of good quality sound for the money, and it's highly portable sound at that. I hesitate to recommend anything to others, but if one has the chance, I believe the DK-3001 is at least worth an audition for those who like live classical music.

Awesome write-up!

I haven't tested them with Classical, so I honestly don't know, but it sounds like they work as nicely for Classical as they do for Metal and Rock music!

 

[mochill]

Two new dunu are coming out soon, falcon c flagship dynamic driver with carbon nanotube diaphragm, and dk-x 5 way hybrid

 

[PixelSquish]

The Symbios in M are quite nice tips but the Spiral Dots in M/L are the best to me. They get a seal faster and are just a bit more comfy, and to me provide a touch more bass. I do love the Complys as well as the Spirals, but like the Spiral Dots as I don't need to keep buying pairs.

 

[PixelSquish]

I've benefited from some advice on Head-fi in the past, but I'm not often in much of a position to contribute. However, I thought I might be able to add something useful to the discussion of the DK-3001 iems. I listen mainly to classical music, which seems less common amongst people posting comments on head-fi. This isn't a review, but rather a perspective, I guess you might say. My listening has been done through an Aune M1s, and I'm reporting impressions based mainly on high quality files of audiophile oriented recordings. I've listened to lots of other music on them, but I don't have anything special to add that hasn't been said upthread.

Classical music uses a very broad spectrum of frequencies. Tubas, concert grand pianos, and pipe organs all have notes with fundamentals in the 20-30 hz range. Even a contrabass bassoon reaches down to around 30 hz, as does a concert string contrabass. Jazz contrabasses and electric bass guitars have their lowest notes at around 40hz. Of course, electronic music can go very low, but for acoustic or electrically amplified music, classical very often has the broadest spectrum. This, and the sometimes resonant performances spaces in which it is performed pose some challenges for high quality reproduction.

Setting aside questions of fidelity, however one wants to understand the term, I often find listening to classical music that uses low-pitched instruments somewhat unsatisfying on iems, and on some headphones. Some are conspicuously bass heavy, and the balance doesn't sound natural. Others simply cannot produce sounds in the way that one experiences them to sound at a live performance. If the goal of high-end audio is to bring you to the concert rather than the concert to you, then these are closer to high-end for well recorded acoustic music than other sub-$600 iems I've owned or heard (which is to say all the iems I've heard, as they've all been under $600).

As for the overall sound, it's what people in the loudspeaker stereo world of the early 2000s would have described as 'euphonic', at least to my ears. They are slightly warm in character and provide a pleasing presentation of human vocals, male and female. I've enjoyed listening to polyphonic choral music with them quite a bit. For voices and instruments, they have a natural, but slightly less than accurate, sound. At the same time, the DK-3001s are accurate enough to make low quality recordings sound low quality and good quality recordings sound good quality. They do a good job with instrument separation, even in complex music, and they're one of the few iems I've personally heard (again, not a giant or especially illustrious list) that do not muddy up very complex contemporary symphonic music. One of their best qualities is relaying the resonant character of acoustic instruments. I notice this with jazz basses and acoustic guitars. They can produce a big enough soundstage to keep things sonically uncluttered.

There are no doubt better sounding iems in various ways. These sacrifice some accuracy for euphony. It's not always a trade-off I would favour. Nonetheless these bring me close to the music and closer to the concert experience than other pairs of iems that I've owned or listened to. I found these as a discounted ex-demo unit. The Aune M1s came at a decent price, too. While still not inexpensive as a combo even with the discounts, together they produce a lot of good quality sound for the money, and it's highly portable sound at that. I hesitate to recommend anything to others, but if one has the chance, I believe the DK-3001 is at least worth an audition for those who like live classical music.

Wow. Well written and a powerful statement really. Good stuff. I haven't even listened to classical with these yet as I've been on an indie pop and rock tip for a bit now but it's about time I do. Any particular recordings you feel show off the Dunu's capabilities?

 

[1TrickPony]

I've benefited from some advice on Head-fi in the past, but I'm not often in much of a position to contribute. However, I thought I might be able to add something useful to the discussion of the DK-3001 iems. I listen mainly to classical music, which seems less common amongst people posting comments on head-fi. This isn't a review, but rather a perspective, I guess you might say. My listening has been done through an Aune M1s, and I'm reporting impressions based mainly on high quality files of audiophile oriented recordings. I've listened to lots of other music on them, but I don't have anything special to add that hasn't been said upthread.

Classical music uses a very broad spectrum of frequencies. Tubas, concert grand pianos, and pipe organs all have notes with fundamentals in the 20-30 hz range. Even a contrabass bassoon reaches down to around 30 hz, as does a concert string contrabass. Jazz contrabasses and electric bass guitars have their lowest notes at around 40hz. Of course, electronic music can go very low, but for acoustic or electrically amplified music, classical very often has the broadest spectrum. This, and the sometimes resonant performances spaces in which it is performed pose some challenges for high quality reproduction.

Setting aside questions of fidelity, however one wants to understand the term, I often find listening to classical music that uses low-pitched instruments somewhat unsatisfying on iems, and on some headphones. Some are conspicuously bass heavy, and the balance doesn't sound natural. Others simply cannot produce sounds in the way that one experiences them to sound at a live performance. If the goal of high-end audio is to bring you to the concert rather than the concert to you, then these are closer to high-end for well recorded acoustic music than other sub-$600 iems I've owned or heard (which is to say all the iems I've heard, as they've all been under $600).

As for the overall sound, it's what people in the loudspeaker stereo world of the early 2000s would have described as 'euphonic', at least to my ears. They are slightly warm in character and provide a pleasing presentation of human vocals, male and female. I've enjoyed listening to polyphonic choral music with them quite a bit. For voices and instruments, they have a natural, but slightly less than accurate, sound. At the same time, the DK-3001s are accurate enough to make low quality recordings sound low quality and good quality recordings sound good quality. They do a good job with instrument separation, even in complex music, and they're one of the few iems I've personally heard (again, not a giant or especially illustrious list) that do not muddy up very complex contemporary symphonic music. One of their best qualities is relaying the resonant character of acoustic instruments. I notice this with jazz basses and acoustic guitars. They can produce a big enough soundstage to keep things sonically uncluttered.

There are no doubt better sounding iems in various ways. These sacrifice some accuracy for euphony. It's not always a trade-off I would favour. Nonetheless these bring me close to the music and closer to the concert experience than other pairs of iems that I've owned or listened to. I found these as a discounted ex-demo unit. The Aune M1s came at a decent price, too. While still not inexpensive as a combo even with the discounts, together they produce a lot of good quality sound for the money, and it's highly portable sound at that. I hesitate to recommend anything to others, but if one has the chance, I believe the DK-3001 is at least worth an audition for those who like live classical music.

Wow man. Props. I got bored reading shallow statements. "Product X sounds great"... but that's all there is to it without any useful info. Glad you're liking them.

 

[sphones19]

Awesome write-up!

I haven't tested them with Classical, so I honestly don't know, but it sounds like they work as nicely for Classical as they do for Metal and Rock music!

Thanks!

Wow. Well written and a powerful statement really. Good stuff. I haven't even listened to classical with these yet as I've been on an indie pop and rock tip for a bit now but it's about time I do. Any particular recordings you feel show off the Dunu's capabilities?

Thanks!

Just speaking about sound quality, I’d mention four of possible interest. One is Jan Kraybill’s recording, Organ Polychrome, on Reference Recordings. It’s an album recorded on modern pipe organs and conveys the DK-3001 sub bass rumble very nicely. A second is Signe Bakke’s recording of Karen Tanaka’s Crystalline on 2L. It has a superbly recorded piano. Magnificat’s rendition of sacred choral music on Linn records, The Tudors at Prayer, gives a good sense of voice and space. For symphonic music, the performance of Mahler’s 1st by the Utah Symphony Orchestra and Choir that is tacked onto the Vanguard label edition of Berlioz’s Requiem is well recorded and shows off how well these iems handle complex music.

These are also all good performances, at least in my view. If you like specific periods, I could mention other things. This list is mostly 20th century with some early 16th century thrown in. It’s not representative of many different periods. But you get a diverse set of sounds with it, at least. They are also recordings which are free of dynamic range compression, as far as I can tell.