Dunu EST112

Dunu EST112

 What are these headphones?

They have 4 drivers. A third-generation dynamic 13.5mm driver with beryllium diaphragm for bass and sub-bass. Knowles custom fittings are responsible for the mid / upper mids. The high frequency range is handled by two Sonion electrostatic drivers.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (legacy edition) (Tidal Master)

A very lively holographic scene, the musicians play like a hemisphere, the location of the participants is clearly traced, the instruments play together, a very detailed sound with a well-developed middle and bright highs, percussion instruments are filigreely played out with micro-contrasts, the contrabass is alive - there is exactly as much of it as the master can give -lenta, Miles Davis and other equally eminent participants just play right next to you! The flow is warm, but crisp. The headphones play very engagingly. I want to listen and listen.

Igorrr - Downgrade Desert / Nervous Waltz / Very Noise (Tidal Hi-Fi)

All splits and echoes of guitar strings, the slightest tremor reaches the listener - headphones can go into analytics! The hurricane wall of sound with blast beats blows away with its pressure, the bass is complex, textured, the drums play out very quickly, the vocals are natural and powerful, nothing gets messy. His Majesty sabbas, drum loops and fills, epic walls of sound! Bravo! The strings do not cut out the brain, while they are quite sharp, natural. Generally Igorrr is a great material to show if your headphones can play complex fast multi-instrumental music or not. So Dunu EST 112 can do it masterfully.

Iron Maiden - Stratego / The Writing on the Wall (Tidal Master)Strange things, but headphones can also play classic heavy music, while it is presented on the Maiden's new album in a particularly old-school, warm, tube-like manner. I have not said before, but these in-ear headphones do not play inside your head, do not press on your ears with excessive pressure, but on the contrary give out a lot of air. The guitars are amazingly long and melodious with wonderful decays, the solo was great! Bruce Dickenson's vocals, as always, are "mighty"! In general, listening to metal on these internal channels is a real pleasure.

Anouar Brahem Trio - The Mozdok's Train / Nihawend lunga (Tidal Master)

Ethnic drums not only give out sound, but you can also determine the force of the blow, half-touching the fingertips on the darbuka. Against the background of the masterful playing of the guitar and the truly mesmerizing playing of the solo oud, all together create a vivid picture that shimmers and sways in front of you as living matter.

Colin Vallon, Patrice Moret & Samuel Rohrer - Telepathy / Rruga / Home (Tidal Master)

A deep, continuous canvas of keyboards, organically interwoven elements and fills of various cymbals, cymbals, percussion. You can never go wrong - everything is in its place. The pressure increases as you move towards the finale. The crescendo hits you like a wave, overwhelming you. Tragic and talented. The piano tears the consciousness to shreds, breaking through on strong emotions.

Metallica - Garage Inc. (2xCD, Album, Ltd, RE) Vertigo UICY-75746/7 Japan 2013) FLAC

Cool! Very cool! Out of habit, Lars's plates sparkle a little more than we would like, but this is a matter of habit and warming up. Rubilovo!

Maria Callas - Bellini: Norma: Act 1 "Casta Diva" (Tidal Master)

I will be brief - to tears. The vocals are incomparable.

About sound in general.

Describing the sound of headphones, you catch yourself thinking that you are already writing not about sound, but about music, which means that you have completely succeeded in immersing yourself in sound, in the very essence of music. Never before in a very long time have I been so satisfied with the sound, just enjoying it.

As you would expect from a combination of armature and electret drivers, the treble detail is pretty good with a lot of micro detail, nuance and texture. The drums are exceptionally well-contoured and naturally damped, the best drums I've heard in in-ear headphones under € 1200. Cymbals are also good, the only thing they start to sparkle and sparkle when you turn up the volume a little more to feel completely real. The dynamic driver handles even the busiest bass lines. In general, the EST 112 tuning is universal without rolling into pointed tops and insipid analytics and does not get tired after a few hours of listening. 112s give exactly what the source offers, so they should be kept exclusively on a hi-res diet, paired with a source not lower than FiiO M11 / Shanling M6, as well as with their PRO versions and higher. I personally chose the Shanling M6 Ver. 21, which fully justified itself.

The soundstage is one of 112's greatest strengths. Headphones breathe! There is a lot of air in them and for me it was a kind of wow effect. The size and proportions of the scene, the separation of instruments is much higher than average, but not prohibitive, which is perhaps good, since in real life there are no ideal conditions.

What can you compare with?

Kinera Nana (less air, less bass and even more sub-bass, slightly more upper mids and highs), Dunu DK4001 - very similar bass, fast, less detail, subjectively a little worse in micro-contrasts, Campfire Solaris - more relaxed flow, slower in speed, but naturally good, Dunu Sa6 - details are on the same level, 112 has slightly less mid-bass and slightly more sub-bass compared to Sa6, the two models have parity in mid-frequencies. The high frequencies are 112 brighter and more contrasting, while the Sa6 is slightly muffled. Dunu Zen - too flat in their presentation, boring. FiiO FH7 - I didn’t like the middle and the top, they are rather harsh. Unfortunately, we couldn't compare with the Moondrop A8 and Thie Audio Monarh headphones, but I hope to hear them someday.

For the sake of curiosity, I also listened to Sony IER 7 and IER 9 - warm sounding, bold, wide strokes, very solid and too smeared at the top, a fundamentally different approach to sound. A couple of years ago, I might have preferred such a presentation, but now, having become infected with the parsing of music into layers and micro-details, this does not come to me, although many will like the comfortable presentation and Sonek certainly has his own fans, but in my subjective opinion they have their own money do not stand.

Conclusion

Despite all of the above, someone will not be tall enough, which should be razor-sharp (it is not clear who should really be)). I, as a basshead, would like more lows in electronic styles, but then the balance of frequencies would go away. On live music, there is more than enough bass and sub-bass. Anyway, for me, these are one of the best headphones in the middle price segment up to 500 euros, which can compete with models even 2 times more expensive and play out of their league.