Spiral Dots so far are giving me the best experience
Dunu-Topsound Studio?
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Hey all, I wanted to share some thoughts on the SA6. I’ve been enjoying (yes, really haha) it a lot lately. Not a full review, mainly just impressions, and many thanks to Tom, in particular, for sending out his personal unit for me to review.
The SA6 utilizes two Sonion Acupass vented subwoofers. Generally, BAs are not vented, and the intangible benefits here are unmistakable: While transient attack seems to exhibit a slight blunting, the SA6 certainly slams harder and has more texturing than your run-of-the-mill BA IEM. Decay is still non-existent, but this is impressive. The midrange tonality is also on-point with something of a subtle bump at 4.5kHz which brings the upper-midrange forward. A tad bright at times, and likely in an effort to boost perceived resolution; however, no less a worthy means of doing so in my eyes. I think my main issue is with the SA6’s treble. Similar to the qdc Anole VX, the SA6 exhibits a strong dip from 5-7kHz; there’s something of an upward skew, as a result, with too much mid-treble energy for my preferences. Slap on a lack of presence in the utmost highest frequencies, and the SA6’s treble can run somewhat plasticky, artificial, and contributes to an overly “clinical” sound a times. Nonetheless, the tuning here is nothing short of very good, and even though the SA6 doesn’t hit my preferences super closely, that hasn’t stopped me from jamming to it a good deal the last several days.
Technicality-wise, the SA6 is a competent performer. It doesn’t make me go “wow” or anything of the sort, but resolution is fine, and in particular, macrodynamic contrast is fairly good. That said, it does seem to have the common issue in which it’s always riding “high” on decibel gradations, which made it seem a bit dry on first listen. The SA6 also seems to struggle with layering, especially in terms of positional cues; that is to say, there isn’t sufficient “air” between instruments and their placement on the stage. Basically pretty average in terms of imaging in the grand scheme of things.
But these are minor quibbles, and I could find many, many more faults with most every IEM in its price bracket. I have to say - I'm really impressed by what the Dunu team has put together here. I honestly haven't been the biggest fan of any of their other IEMs (the SA3 in particular, yikes!), but the SA6 - hoo boy. This an IEM I wouldn't hesitate to recommend, an IEM that I think truly has standing in its price-bracket on the merit of its sound alone. Great work, Dunu
morndewey
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Suggestion to use spiral dots was godsend for me. Went max and used largest ones I have. Transformed the sound, like Wow. I resisted the urge so far to test a variety of songs. Didn’t want to spoil the pleasure last night. Prior to spirals, I noticed consistent issue with male vocals being sharp, and my heart sank. I’ll be checking again, after I enjoy this longer. The experience makes me think correct insertion depth is critical to optimal implementation and dynamic rendering. Iems should come with instructions. Cheers
Glad to help!
MRSallee
100+ Head-Fier
I've just done my review of the Dunu SA6 (also featuring SA3).
I like the SA6 quite a bit. Describing the build quality as "top notch" is a bit trite, but accurate; just a gorgeous shell with stellar (STELLAR) fit for my ears. I often sleep with IEMs and usually take them out of my head in the middle of the night. The SA6 is an earphone I've woken up with in the morning, still plugged in.
The sound ranges from very good to excellent, depending on the track. An example of a track that sounds phenomenal is Eddie Palmieri's "Abarriba Cumbiaremos," which has naturally good staging and image separation, a very lively recording with a lot of texture and detail. The SA6 does this track as well as anything else I've heard. This was my experience with most tracks in my library, though there are some recordings that do come across a bit flat. I can't be certain of the cause, but I chalk it up to the relaxed BA midbass. I generally prefer a relaxed midbass tonally, but tracks that don't dip into the sub-bass frequencies can come across a bit flat and without the dynamic depth on the SA6.
The star of the tuning is, IMO, the treble. Midrange resolution and tuning is excellent, but the treble is among the best I've heard in an IEM. Never sharp, not too forward, but also never lacking and always detailed. ER4 treble is my reference, and I think the SA6 is competitive with it.
SA3 I don't like as much -- the tonal balance is too distracting for me to enjoy, though the bass and lower midrange is pretty well done for budget all-BA set. Fit is VERY secure, almost too filling in my ears, though it got more comfortable once I switched to small ear tips.
I like the SA6 quite a bit. Describing the build quality as "top notch" is a bit trite, but accurate; just a gorgeous shell with stellar (STELLAR) fit for my ears. I often sleep with IEMs and usually take them out of my head in the middle of the night. The SA6 is an earphone I've woken up with in the morning, still plugged in.
The sound ranges from very good to excellent, depending on the track. An example of a track that sounds phenomenal is Eddie Palmieri's "Abarriba Cumbiaremos," which has naturally good staging and image separation, a very lively recording with a lot of texture and detail. The SA6 does this track as well as anything else I've heard. This was my experience with most tracks in my library, though there are some recordings that do come across a bit flat. I can't be certain of the cause, but I chalk it up to the relaxed BA midbass. I generally prefer a relaxed midbass tonally, but tracks that don't dip into the sub-bass frequencies can come across a bit flat and without the dynamic depth on the SA6.
The star of the tuning is, IMO, the treble. Midrange resolution and tuning is excellent, but the treble is among the best I've heard in an IEM. Never sharp, not too forward, but also never lacking and always detailed. ER4 treble is my reference, and I think the SA6 is competitive with it.
SA3 I don't like as much -- the tonal balance is too distracting for me to enjoy, though the bass and lower midrange is pretty well done for budget all-BA set. Fit is VERY secure, almost too filling in my ears, though it got more comfortable once I switched to small ear tips.
morndewey
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My fit issues with SA6 have been solved by removing cable jacket hooks. Something to consider.
Any reason to take any extra precautions as a result of the SA6 not having a wax filter? There are the three nozzles and it makes me nervous that wax or debris could get in them...
We include a cleaning loop and brush so that the nozzles can be cleaned out regularly.
Nabillion_786
500+ Head-Fier
@DUNU-Topsound are you allowed to give a rough idea on the pricing of dunu zen? Because I am really interested in the fiio fd5 right now and would only hold out on them for the zen if they were within 450 USD. Someone reviewed the fd5 to be a baby Sony z1r and just that comparison alone speaks some value about the product.
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Well, we were going to wait a few hours as we got everything ready together, created an announcement post, and everything. Its retail price in China has just been announced for 4599 CNY. You can make a reasonable assumption as to how much that will translate to in US dollars, Euros, Japanese yen, etc.
This is very exciting! I can’t wait to see these stateside!
So, ~$700 for those too lazy to google.
Nabillion_786
500+ Head-Fier
Unfortunately, that price is wayy out of my budget and the fd5 is going less then half the price of this. I'm not sure how much better it will sound either but I'm convinced it will be nothing short of exceptional. But i'm hoping the fd5 can come very close though as it has some really favourable impressions already.
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Sorry to hear that it’s out of your budget. We’re working our way down the price brackets. ZEN sets the tone for how we're going to utilize the ECLIPSƎ driver platform.
In a few months we'll be releasing follow-up models to the FALCON and TITAN series.
Nabillion_786
500+ Head-Fier
Haha just as I was about to order the fd5 you pull me back in. Back then I used to love the crystal clear sound of the dunu titan 3 and always hoped for a follow up. Any news regarding your titan series as to tuning and rough pricing? Also would you say the next titan model could compete with the fd5? I am not too familiar with fiio but have heard some of your iems and they have all sounded great to me.
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