DUNU KIMA: Such A Remarkable Tonality

Oi! mates, welcome to my another review  article and what I have here is quite very special as this is my first product review from DUNU. I'll share some of my story and please bear with me as I elaborate my experience on this audio company. The DUNU company was founded in 2006  as an independent audio company and it already has an extensive experience in audio engineering and also designing and manufacturing some audio equipment like earphones for other audio companies and also telecommunication companies as their roots also happened to be an OEM/ODM company.

I've tested some DUNU products before and my first encountered on a DUNU product was around 2018 and it was Dunu Falcon-C. I had a very pleasant experience at that time and really impressed by the build quality of the Falcon-C. If my memory serves right, it has rather a U or V-shaped sound in my lug holes. I actually treasured that moment and aspired at that time if I could ever own a DUNU IEM.  My second contact with another Dunu product happened last year as I accidentally encountered this guy in an audio shop that I'm always hanging out with. He  has a DUNU SA6 which really caught my attention and approaching to do some enquiry about it as DUNU SA6 is one of the IEMs that I want to try (It seems that audio gods seems give me some convenience scenario), and good thing that the guy kindly lend it to me for a short listening session. My first impression was that this IEM really suits my preferred tuning preference as DUNU SA6 really hits my soft spot with its well-textured, supple and detailed midrange frequency. I'm a midcentric guy and DUNU SA6 is such a pairing match "made in heaven" to my ears. The third one was the Titan S, and my friend had it and he let me lend it to me for a week. I find the Titan S is quite a good IEM in that particular segment and it has a mature tuning.

When someone contacted me if I could try DUNU's latest entry-level product. Without batting an eyelid, I promptly agreed on this opportunity to get a chance to review and finally have a DUNU set. What I have here is DUNU's latest product offering in the entry-level segment, The DUNU KIMA.

DUNU KIMA is a single dynamic driver IEM, it is a successor unit to DUNU Titan S and DUNU's second model on their affordable entry-level line-up. The transducers that were implemented on this set was a latest generation of Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) diaphragm chambered in a 10mm dual cavity, high-grade neodymium magnet. It was housed in zinc alloy shell chassis which is quite light and yet has a solid built on it as DUNU's testament of their years of experience of producing metal-shelled IEMs. The shells have different prints etched on both sides, The print "Criz Faction" on the left part and "Kima" on the other part. Even its nozzle is made of brass andn it has a lip on the top end to hold ear tips (to be honest, it takes a minute just to put an ear tip there).

Another impressive feature of DUNU KIMA was its stock cable. Its wirings are made of silver-plated mono crystalline, high purity copper in a  2-pin connector module with a 3.5mm termination plug. The cable quality is thick yet supple, well-built and less prone to entanglement.

Fitting them in my lug holes seems very comfortable and quite a snug as I don't feel any sort of discomfort. It really provides a good passive sound isolation as it manages to block some noises from external surroundings.

As expected, DUNU's packaging on their products are top-notch and DUNU KIMA is no different than its more expensive, midrange cousins when it comes to quantity and quality of inclusions. The packaging box of Kima is very quite presentable, it has a tinge of blueish-grey colour along with the illustration of the Kima mascot with the model name, small DUNU brand at the right top corner and small Hi-Res certification at the front, the back part of box where you can some information on specifications and company address. The inclusions inside are placed in an orderly manner and all of the accessories are of up to par standard.

 Here are the following contents inside the box:

■ Pair of DUNU KIMA IEMs

■ A silvery white-coloured 4-core stock cable in 3.5mm termination plug.

■ An orange-coloured hard-bound zippered IEM case.

■ A velcro cable winder.

■ 3 pairs  of "candy" narrow-bored eartips of different standard sizes.

■ 3 pairs of black narrow-bored eartips of different standard sizes

■ 3 pairs of "S&S (Stage & Studio)" wide-bored eartips.

■ Cleaning tool.

■ 6.5mm adapter.

■ a grey-coloured microfibre cleaning cloth.

Another notable thing is the S&S eartip, it became one of my favourite eartips and I'm using them on the KIMA eversince.

As for driveability, it seems that DUNU KIMA is a very efficient IEM when it comes to amplification. Just a decent power output from multimedia devices like smartphones and tablets will give enough juice on this set to deliver a good amplitude and better dynamic sound. Putting them in better sources with better DAC/amps will sound even more fuller and vital to the sound quality.

Regarding its sound profile, Dunu Kima takes a more mild-U shaped sound signature that it sounds so balanced and almost neutral to listen with. It has just minor colouration in the overall sound spectrum.

I'll be explaining what sound characteristics that I've heard in every section of the frequency range spectrum.

LOWS/BASS:

The bass of KIMA is punchy, precise and well-controlled so that it doesn't smear the midrange as it has sufficient cleanliness of the bass response. It focuses more on mid bass texture rather than the sub bass quantity. On the Sub bass range, it has a decent amount of reverbs and rumble that I discerningly felt from the synthesisers, low toned bass guitars and electric drums from old school hip-hop and synth-pop tracks.

Mid bass has an ample texture that it adds a body on bass-baritones to have a fuller and deeper sound, a growl and roar of bass guitar to have a more broader and resonant sound and lastly, the pounding and sonorous sound of bass kicks.

This type of bass will be satisfying enough for a listener who wants a less colouration on their listening but bassheads who wants a boomy bass might look somewhere else.

MIDRANGE:

It seems that the midrange of this set is quite very balanced. It has a decent texture due to some ample warmth into it and at the same time, it has this transparency that gives that sense of clarity. Vocals on both male and female are fairly detail and clean sounding as male vocals has this sufficient power and depth to give an ethereal and lean sound on counter tenors then rich and robust sound of tenor on the highest modal range. On female vocals, It gives a bright, emotive and possess a fuller timbre on soprano vocal pitch while on contralto, it has a smoky and pleasantly sweet sound that will be enticing and captivating to listen on especially on jazz tracks.

Meanwhile on sound characteristics on instruments, Starting with string instruments, it gives a crisp and lingering sound on either acoustic or electric guitar then a vibrant and lively sound on violins on every motion on its bow string. On brass instruments, trumpets have this brilliant and stately-like sound while trombones have a penetrating and intense sound. Woodwinds like flutes seem to have a shrill and bright sound then a reedy and expressive sound of a saxophone. Percussive like snares and tom drums have this penetrating, full and hard hitting. Pianos sounds rather balanced as it can be a warmer or vividly bright tone.

Certainly that for a midcentric like me, KIMA seems the pass in flying colours on how it sounds so balanced and well-delineated for a single DD.

HIGHS/TREBLES:

The treble part of KIMA is rather conservative on how it was tuned. It is so balanced and tonally organic that it manages to give an equilibrium tuning neither dark or too bright sounding. Certainly that there are some perceptible emphasis on the upper-mids to presence region to give a sense of detail and sparkle on notes but the good thing was that I don't hear any hint of harshness nor overpowering sibilance.

It has a modest amount of treble air as cymbals have sufficient shimmer and sizzle. It also gives that chicky sound characteristic on hi-hats with its short buzzing and dry sound. Certainly that Dunu takes a more safer treble tuning to avoid unnecessary graininess or dazzling but I still feel that air seems to have that lacking of harmonics.

SOUNDSTAGE, IMAGING AND OTHER TECHNICALITIES:

Based on my initial testing of the previous products of Dunu, It seems that Dunu isn't keen too much on technical aspects, rather they evidently concentrate more on tonal balancing. And I expected, technical performance of DUNU KIMA will be rather average to above average.

Relatively, it has an average-size dimension on sound/speaker stage width, it has an adequate height reach with sufficient depth to perceive spatial distance on front and back. At least it give a sense of engaging as it stays within the confines in my perceived  headroom.

Imaging seems to take more of an enveloping 3-D like presentation on how I was able to pinpoint the placements of singers and instrumentalists in a three channel-like experience . Separation has considerable gap between the spacing of each element with its distinct stratification of each specific frequency and dynamic layers.

As for coherency of the driver, it performs quite well on its execution on  envelopment of sound and other acoustical focus matter. from transient speed up to less distortion rating.

Resolution capability-wise, it has a solid macro-dynamics and satisfactory micro-detail retrieval. It has rather a balanced resolution that I can't categorise as either sharp or blunted. Tonal colour of KIMA is more organic with a hint of brightness.

PEER COMPARISON:

MOONDROP ARIA

■ Both devices have similar build quality as they have metal alloy shell chassis. They even have the same transducers which are dynamic drivers but the difference was materials as  Aria's diaphragm is made of LCP (Liquid Crystal Polymer) while KIMA uses a DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) which is a bit better. It has a lesser amount of inclusions too.

■ Aria needs a tad more power output compared to KIMA which you need to crank a volume output a bit. As for tonality, both have a U-shaped sound profile. Aria has more bass but it doesn't have a clean bass response, midrange is even recessed compared to Kima as it is too lean in my liking (I'm very critical towards KATO and KXXS because of this inherent leanness on midrange). And treble of Aria is indeed unrefined as it has peaky upper mids and yet it sounds uneven with instances of being tinny sounding then a subdued treble air.

■ As for technicalities, it has a similar sound/speaker stage size but separation and imaging are inferior that Aria struggles on some complex instrumental tracks. Even for resolution capability, Aria has inherent inadequacies on detail retrieval and a lean macro-dynamics.

TINHIFI T2 DLC

■ Again, they have noticeable similarities from build quality to implementation of transducers, both use DLC diaphragm on their dynamic drivers. The inclusion of T2 DLC is rather spartan compared to KIMA's but it is way more cheaper.

■  Both IEMs have a mild U-shaped sound signature, T2 DLC is tad brighter. Bass is tighter on T2 DLC, midrange is a tad leaner but crispier especially on strings. Then on treble quality, it has more shimmer and tad more airy.

■ Technicalities-wise, they both have similar imaging, separation and coherency performance but T2 DLC has a bit wider sound/speaker stage. As for detail retrieval, T2 DLC has edgier and sharper definition compared to a more balanced Kima.

As I end my evaluation and assessment on KIMA, DUNU proves to the audio enthusiast community that they will deliver the best possible audio quality even in the entry-level segment. As it also noted that DUNU isn't really that exceptional when its technical capabilities even on their midranger like DUNU but rather focus on superb tonal balanced sound with almost accurate tonal colour, DUNU KIMA possesses those tonal and technical philosophy that will give a more pleasurable listening experience to audio enthusiasts.

Will I recommend DUNU KIMA? Absolutely yes without any hesitation.

DUNU KIMA is now available in LINSOUL, you can check it out HERE* if you are interested in purchasing this product.

(*Non-affiliated link)

SPECIFICATION:

MODEL: DUNU KIMA

IMPEDANCE: 32Ω

SENSITIVITY: 108dB

FREQUENCY RESPONSE:  5Hz – 40KHz

CABLE LENGTH: 1.2M

PIN TYPE: 2-PIN CONNECTOR (0.78MM)

PLUG TYPE: 3.5mm

DRIVER UNIT(S): (1) DYNAMIC DRIVER

PROS:

△ Has a very solid aluminium alloy shell chassis.

△ High-quality and quantitative amount of inclusions.

△ A smooth and pleasing tuning that will be versatile to almost known popular music genre.

△ Sufficiently textured on mid bass to midrange to give substantial note weight.

△ S&S ear tips is one of the best stock ear tips on my opinion.

△ Non-fatiguing treble register as it doesn't have some occurrences of sibilance and stridency.

△ Clean and precise bass.

CONS:

▽Overall technical performances are rather average.

▽ Might be too safe tuning to some listeners as it really fits the tag "jack of all trades, master of none" tonality, there's nothing wrong about its tonal characteristics and at the same time, nothing to stand out to be an impressive sounding one.

Some Tracks Tested: ( * = 16-bit FLAC, ** = 24-bit FLAC, *'* = MQA, '*' = DSD, *'= .WAV)

Alison Krauss -When You Say Nothing At All *

Jade Wiedlin - Blue Kiss**

Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks **

Mountain - Mississippi Queen *

Queen - Killer Queen **

Guns N' Roses - Patience *'*

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven '*'

Sergio Mendes- Never Gonna Let You Go '*'

Pearl Jam - Daughter **

Roselia - Hidamari Rhodonite *

Assassin - Fight (To Stop The Tyranny)*

Celtic Frost- Visual Aggression *

New Order - Blue Monday *

The Corrs- What Can I do (unplugged version) *

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child *

The Madness- Buggy Trousers *

Metallica - Motorbreath **

Mariah Carey- Always Be My Baby *

Destiny's Child - Say My Name *

Malice Mizer- Au Revoir *

Mozart - Lacrimosa *

New York Philharmonic Orchestra - Dvorak- Symphony 9 " From the New World." *

Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold (Sting cover)*

Michael Jackson - Give In To Me *

Exciter - Violence and Force *

Diana Krall - Stop This World **

Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat *'*

The Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection**

Suzanne Vega – Luka **

Lauren Christy – Steep *

Ottoman Mehter - Hucum Marsi *

P.S.

I am not affiliated to DUNU nor receive monetary incentives and financial gains as they provide me a review unit for an exchange of factual and sincere feedback from yours truly.

Once again, I would like send my gratitude to Ms.Kareena Tang of LINSOUL and also to DUNU-Topsound for providing this review unit. I truly appreciate their generosity and trust towards me and other reviewers.