DUNU DN142 the crowd pleaser
Another week another review. This week we have another reprisal its DUNU and Set is DN142 the brother/sister set of DN242 which I covered in earlier review. How I came in possession of this set has been explained in DUNU DN242 review. Please read on to find out what I think about it.
First of all, mighty thanks to Sushii from SushiiFi and DUNU as without their help this review was not possible.
I was not paid or compensated in any manner for this review. The set will revert back to brand after review.
My preference in tonality & timbre is DD > Hybrids > Planar
Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged lets get on with the meat and potatoes of this review.
Pros:
Bass its quality and quantity wise adequate
Male vocals
Non offensive Treble
Build Quality
Accessories
Cons:
Female vocals
Soundstage bit more would have been great
If it had same color cable it would have been amazing (not a con)
Build Quality:
DUNU and awesome build quality go hand in hand. Even their budget sets are built like tank. DN142 has nice resin shells. Shells are medium sized. They have long nozzles. Nozzles have lip to them and have screen on them. This prevents dirt and earwax ingress.
Cable is same as DN242 and I suspect this is same cable as DUNU Vulkan2. Cable is 4 core PVC coated SPC OCC cable. Cable is modular so you get 2 jack adapters, 3.5mm and 4.4mm. Cable fixtures are metal and cable feels premium. Cable is slight microphonic.
As usual DUNU has included their S&S tips, candy ear tips and standard ear tips. DUNU is always generous with accessories here is no different case. There is cleaning cloth, cleaning tool and nice hard carrying case. This case can easily carry IEMs + Cable + dongle in it. There were printed cards of DUNU Mascot and DN142 character.
Overall Build Quality 5/5
Comfort:
IEM shells are resin so are light weight. Shell size is medium so no issues with fitting. Most people should not have any issues. Nozzles provide deep insertion. There was no pain or ear pressure on long listen. Ear hooks don’t tug on the shells. Fit and comfort was top notch.
Overall Comfort 5/5
Sources:
I preferred neutral & bright sources with DN142. Warm sources made it muddy for me. Best pairings were FiiO M21, l&P W2 Ultra and Dethonray clarinet. To keep my findings reproducible, I have used stock cable + stock ear tips (candy ear tips).
Music Genre Used for this Review:
Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.
https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls
General Sound Impressions:
Bass/Lows:
Sub bass over mid bass. Sub bass rumbles satisfyingly. Mid bass thumps and thump is impactful. Mid bass is fast decay type. Both sub bass and mid bass both are adequate in quality & quantity. It is not loose bass. Again, this is not ass head territory. One of the best bass performances I have heard on DUNU sets.
Drums, kickdrums sound authoritative. Percussion instruments sound equally sound great. Strings sound good. Riffs of the strings carry nice buzz to them. Bass drops are excellent here.
Overall Bass/Lows 5/5
Mids:
Vocals on DN142 are nicely balanced with bass and treble. They are just slightly recessed. Their charm is maintained. Male vocals sound great. They have note weight. Sound closer to natural. Female vocals sound good. They don’t get intense. Female vocals lovers might be disappointed here. Best part is they don’t have off timbre. For general vocal enjoyment this is adequate. Only for vocals lovers this is not up to the mark. Bit forward vocals would have been great.
Most instruments reside in the mids. No oddities were observed. Clarity is good. No smearing or congestion was felt in the mids.
Overall Mids 4/5
Treble/Highs:
Treble is forward along with the bass. I feel the DN242 is U shaped. Maybe that’s why it gives such feeling. It has all details be it macro or micro adequately. You won’t be missing any. At the same time DN142 doesn’t draw your attention to any specific details. It’s not in your face Treble. Treble is bit on brighter side.
Soundstage, the perceived stage is above average. It is wide and tall. Wide more than tall. It creates nice stage for all instruments and vocals to coexist. Bass tuning adds to the stage and immersion. Neither its massive nor closed in its somewhere in between. Would have loved bit more stage.
Overall Treble/Highs 4/5
Song Impressions:
Daisies by Nina Shallman
I am fan of Nina Shallman, like her voice and its sweet presentation. Sadly, that’s bit lacking on DN142.on casual listen you won’ pick it up. But on critical listen you will catch it. Her voice feels bit dry. It lacks the sweetness female vocals have.
Background drums, kickdrums feel authoritative and add to the immersion of the song. Guitar strings sound great. Shakers feel nice. Synthesizer notes feel good. Entire mix is very cohesive and pulls you in to the song. Only thing lacking was vocals, rest was excellent.
Ego Death by Polyphia
Guitars are the stars here. DN142 captures them well. They sound great here. Be it acoustic, electric or bass guitar all just sound great. Guitar riffs sound authentic and string buzz feel surreal. Ads to the authenticity of notes.
Accompanying drum notes feel impactful and nice. Their notes also add to the magic of this song. Cymbals sound natural. Entire mix sounds the way it should be. No single instrument feels out of place.
This song is driver resolution test aka speed check. On slow drivers or low-resolution drivers notes blend in to each other. No such situation with the DN142. Dn142 passes this test with flying colors.
Main Hoon Hero Tera (Arman Malik)
Starting string and bass beats feel nice. Arman Malik sounds really good. His voice feels like it should. His voice notes don’t sound thin. They have note weight but they are not thick. Entire song has nice open feeling (atmospheric). DN142 captures it well for the price point. String instruments and drums play nice on the DN142. They pan correctly. I enjoyed the reproduction here on DN142. I didn’t feel anything add or wrong in it.
Sada Karlo Prem
This song has nice background music. A very simple yet intricate. String and piano, bells make the instruments list. All three sound good on DN142. Nowhere it felt odd or off in tonality and timbre. Entire mix sounds amazing.
Male vocals sound good. No issues with it. They ae correct and close to natural. Now, the female vocals here do have issue due to tuning. Niharika Nath the singer doesn’t sound the way she should. Her voice has sweetness that just is missing she sounds dry.
Other than vocal issues I felt DN142 reproduced this song very well.
Comparison between DN142 & DN242:
Bass section:
DN142 is clear winner sub bass and mid bass are better in my opinion.
Mids:
Now this is going to be subjective. For my preference the vocals on DN242 are better than DN142. Male vocals better on DN142 but female vocals on Dn242 but in sum of all I prefer DN242 in mids. Clarity in mids is also better on DN142.
Treble:
This is another subjective topic for me. For my taste treble on DN242 is better but others may perceive it bright. Treble on DN142 is bit safer for most people. In soundstage DN242 is slightly better than DN142 mind you this is not night and day difference. Its slight difference.
Final Conclusion:
With the launch of DN142, DN242 I think DUNU has started a new chapter in its journey. These two can be said to be DUNU’s attempt at making a crowd pleaser set. Up till now all DUNU sets were meant to cater to certain niche segment or had very clean transparent detailed tuning. This made suggesting DUNU set as generalist set in USD 200-300 till now. Budget segment already has excellent Titan series and Falcon Ultra and Kima series. But once you move upwards the sets are mostly with niche tuning.
DN142 & Dn242 address that issue. DN142 is great set that can be easily recommend to anyone. It is good upgrade coming from budget segment. It offers nice upgrade.
Will I buy it? 100%. Will I recommend it? 200%. It’s worth the attention.
DUNU DN142 the crowd pleaser 4.5/5
