[Review] Dunu Ares

Chinese OEM manufacturers are excited to jump on the audio bandwagon these days. One of them is Dunu, which used to be an OEM for various large companies. They have jumped into the bandwagon once in the past, but issues and disputes within the company forced them to pull out. With their issues settled, they have once jumped into the audio bandwagon, now stronger than before.

Dunu Ares and Crius are the first products being released from Dunu. Dunu Ares is sold at 90SGD while Crius is sold at 77SGD. With stiff competition in the sub-100 audio world nowadays, can they take the heat?

 Packaging is excellent. While the Chinese words might ruin impressions for some people, the way this is packaged makes this look like a top class product.

Opening the package, you will be presented with the Dunu Ares along with the luxurious looking case. This makes it look like a truly great product, and especially so at this low price.

The accessories are really generous. 3 pairs of single flanges, 3 pairs of rounded single flanges, 1 pair of bi-flanges, 1 wallet-like hard pouch, 1 synthetic leather soft pouch and 1 cotton soft pouch. The number of pouches provided are overkill I believe but for 90SGD, the number of accessories is pretty generous.

Talking about looks, this is really eye catching. Gold plated titanium body with rings to signify the left/right channels. For some, this would instantly remind them of the Monster Turbine Pro Gold, which is a good IEM of its own right. Sure, some people may call it plagiarism, but it doesn't really matter to me. In addition, it also has a cable tie built in, which makes cable management much easier, allows the IEM to be stored easily and also prolonging its life by reducing tension on the wire.

Build quality is top notch, which could be said is kind of expected from Dunu. Solid metal housings, substantial strain reliefs, good cable, CNC machined y-splitter, right angle plug, I expect this to last really long (and it did, surviving abuse and abuse throughout 1.5 years and doesn't seem to be falling apart anytime soon).

Comfort is pretty good, though this IEM feels pretty heavy due to the metal, which gives it substantial weight. Wearing it over the ear will distribute the weight much better and also makes it very comfortable to wear. Isolation is pretty good, though the weight of the IEMs will sometimes break the seal.

Being a single balanced armature IEM, one will believe it will take on the typical characteristics of lower-end single balanced armatures: tight bass with little impact, clean, detailed mids and rolled treble (due to the difficulty of covering the entire spectrum). However, listening to this, one would realize that it takes on both balanced armature and dynamic characteristics.

Bass is tight and punchy, which is expected of a balanced armature. However, it offers good impact which is similar to dynamics of the price range. It is slightly slower than balanced armatures in general but faster than most dynamics of the price range. Bass shows signs of rolloff at lower frequencies, which results in less rumble then there should be. But again, this is to be expected for a balanced armature, which would have a harder time trying to portray the entire frequency spectrum.

Mids are clean and slightly forward. There is little bass bleed but the overall sound signature makes this a little warm. It is pretty lush, detailed and has good texture. Having this sound signature, it works very well for slower vocals but will slightly struggle with faster tracks.

Treble extends pretty well, but does roll off at the ends. It is smooth and forgiving will no sibilant characteristics. It has little sparkles, but that isn't to say treble quantity is lacking.

Soundstage is about average size, with decent width and some depth. Imaging is decent but would become slightly congested with faster and more complicated songs.

One thing to keep in mind is that it does hiss with poor sources. While I did not notice hiss with my HTC Desire Z, I noticed some hiss when songs are not playing when plugged to the PC.

Overall I would say for 90SGD, this is a pretty good buy, considering the top notch build quality and how the sound signature makes it a pretty good all rounder. However, I can see some people recommending the Crius over the Ares due to the slightly better balance and increase in detail due to a slightly more prominent treble. Overall, I believe both Ares and Crius are good buys at their price range for solid build quality and attractive looks.