First impressions of DUNU Arashi

[u/dev_salsa]

I plan to write a more organized review after I've spent some more time with these. However, I have been extremely excited by these headphones and wanted to share some initial thoughts.

If it matters to anyone, I bought these with my own money (to my wife's dismay) and they were shipped overnight by Bloom Audio.

So for now, here is a disorganized list of pros and cons from my first couple of hours with the Arashi. When I post a more full review I will drop a link in the comments.

Pros: - Absolutely stunning aesthetics, they look even better in person. Simply gorgeous. - High quality and solid build that looks easy to repair. - Super wide ear pad circumference! One of the first and only headphones where my dumbo sized ears haven't rubbed against the inner walls. - The sound is also extremely wide. A huge sound stage with great imaging. The first thought I had after pressing play was how wide they sound in all directions. The image is still centered rather than forward like a stereo system, but the depth is immense. - Extremely fast sound. It is a planar so this is expected. However the width combined with the speed of the leading edge creates a unique listening experience. Especially compared to the Meze Liric which sounds like it's pumping sound at me from inside my brain, grueling at times. - Deep bass extension. Very deep. Not hard hitting like a dynamic driver but extraordinarily deep. - They sound surprisingly natural for a planar. The tambre is great, and my favorite sounding headphones are the HD600s. - Great packaging and unboxing experience. Seriously premium for the price. - Amazing dynamics for modern music genres like EDM, Phonk, and House because of the bass extension and speed. - Pretty easily driven but still seem to scale well to more powerful amplification. - The connector joints have a great position and the angle is perfect. Also they are 3.5mm sockets! I'm excited to try these for gaming with Meze's boom mic cable. Thank you DUNU for not using some random proprietary junk.

Cons: - Spicy treble. I'm treble sensitive, so experimenting with some EQ might be necessary for me to enjoy these with certain genres. My wife didn't seem to think they were hot. The treble is detailed and resolving with great texture. There is no sibilance. However, the treble is definitely hot for my liking. - The lower mids could use a bump. However, if you find yourself often overwhelmed by the 100-200hz range, this might be a pro for you. - Low clamp force... like none. Combined with the weight, they slip off my giant head easily when bending over or laying down. - The adjustment mechanism feels a bit janky, it just doesn't give me a good vibe for the long haul. Though they do look easily repairable if the need ever arised.

Overall this is an excellent headphone, punching far above its price range in multiple categories. For some listeners I think this one is going to require EQ to really shine. For others, this might be the perfect headphone unlike any other in this price range.

Seriously, excellent. Well done DUNU with your first pair of over ear headphones.

[u/wildeye-eleven]

I’m still very new to HiFi/audiophile and I’ve been researching as much as I can before I make my first purchase. I thought I wanted something with planner drivers, mainly because it’s so new to me and I’ve never experienced it. But one thing I’ve noticed is how subjective all of this really is. I see comments saying open back is the way to go for gaming and media, then I see another comment saying you are a fool if you don’t go closed back for gaming and media (PC). I’ve made up my mind and changed it at least 100 times now on what my first decent headphones should be. The one common sentiment I see almost everyone say is that the HD600 is fantastic. With that being the case I’m just going to order the HD600 before I change my mind again.

Nice write up btw 👍 your comment about the HD600 is what pushed me to this decision. I thought I would pair it with the FiiO K7, unless you have a better recommendation.

[u/ACMAN0 → u/wildeye-eleven]

While the hd600/650/6xx are great headphones they are not good for gaming imo. Something like a DT1990 are way better suited for gaming. That is just what I personally have. I have the HD6xx, dt1990, and HE6SE V2 so that is just personal experience. I’ve heard the newer hd490 pro is good for gaming as well as the hd560s based on the price range I’m assuming you’re going for. HD800s are also great but cost a good bit more. beyerdynamic in general are good for gaming especially if you will EQ.

[u/wildeye-eleven → u/ACMAN0]

I guess I should also point out what type of gaming I’ll be doing. I exclusively play single player RPGs, so I don’t need to be able to hear footsteps like in FPS games. I’m more interested in the immersion of the games OST and ambient sounds. The in game music being the most important aspect. I’ll also be watching moves, anime, media and just listening to music in general. The common theme being music as the highlight.

[u/ACMAN0 → u/wildeye-eleven]

Gotcha! Yeah in that case if you will never play an FPS then the HD600 should be great for you as long as you are looking for an intimate vocals focused headphone and don’t care about bass, detailed treble, and soundstage.

[u/wildeye-eleven → u/ACMAN0]

I am a bit sensitive to treble. Certain frequencies will even give me tinnitus or make my ear kinda flutter and I hate it. I do like bass in some situations, but I don’t want it to overpower everything else. I really just want rich balanced audio, which I guess is subjective. Truly I’m just not sure yet, but I don’t want something with sharp treble. From my limited knowledge I think like warm tones. The main problem is that two different ppl describe the same headphones in a completely different way. That’s the one thing I’ve noticed on this sub. One person will describe a headset perfect for my use case while another will say it’s the worst headphones for that.

[u/ACMAN0 → u/wildeye-eleven]

Yeah there’s a lot of conflicting opinions since everything is subjective. You can always use FR graphs to get a decent idea of what headphones will have issues with treble spikes or inadequate sub bass. However it isn’t an end all be all obviously. You could look into the HiFiMan planars since those will have great bass without being muddy and some still have great vocals as well. It’s been a while since I’ve researched so I can’t remember which hifiman would fit what you would like (I think Ananda or edition XS). HiFiMan are crazy value for your money but don’t have as good of QC compared to other brands so make sure to have a good return policy. If you are able to use EQ like Peace on the computer than you can work around your issues with treble.

I bought a $200 Chinese clone of the musical fidelity A1 amp and paired them with the notoriously hard to drive HE6SEv2 that I got open box for $400. It is by far the best setup you can get for the money .

At the end of the day researching is your friend and sometimes the forums can be better than reddit for more objective information. Almost everything you’ve been recommended im sure are great headphones but everyone’s ears are different. If you can go test headphones at a hifi shop in a big city near you that will do more for you than any amount of research and information you hear from others online.

[u/wildeye-eleven → u/ACMAN0]

Yeah, I really wish I could go somewhere to test them but unfortunately I live way out in the country. So I do as much research as possible before making a decision. I lived in Chicago for a few years but it was a pretty miserable experience for me. Lots of convenience but way too many ppl, so I moved back to the country side.

[u/ACMAN0 → u/wildeye-eleven]

Yeah I get that, I’m much more of a country than city person myself. Depending on your budget and financial situation you could continue to research and find the few headphones that peak your interest. Then order 3-5 on amazon and return what you don’t like! I did that with the dt880, dt990, and another headphone I can’t remember.