New tour unit in and she’s a looker, boys. God damn.
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I got some more thoughts on the Dunu 142 after listening to them a bit more last night and this morning.
These are what the Juzear Harriers should have been in my opinion. For starters, they definitely fit my ear a bit better. I’m not sure what it was about the shape of the Harriers, but they would creep out of my right ear slowly and after a while, the seal would completely break. I used so many tips and even changed my cable to see if it got better but nope, it never did. Regardless, I put up with that annoyance for the sake of getting a full review out. They didn’t fare well to say the least as the treble was the biggest shortcoming of their sound.
The 142 basically takes that same formula and tuning as the Harrier, even a similar driver config, and adds some much-needed treble energy to the mix to create a winning combination of warmth, meaty bass, slightly relaxed vocals, and a balanced treble lift that creates a more cohesive playback to my ears.
They still maintain a more laid-back approach for sure. The bass is impactful and detailed, and vocals lack any kind of glare or shout while still maintaining much-needed micro detail.
Funnily enough, though, they still have some of the same shortcomings as the Harrier. The deep sub-bass, under 30Hz, lacks some texture and impact*, and the upper mids/lower treble can come off as a little brittle and cold in some cases. I still maintain that those microplanar drivers aren’t the best choice in this day and age. A well-tuned BA still reigns supreme for me in regard to timbre.
Still a lot more listening to be done here, for sure, but I can already pull some thoughts together considering these share a lot of DNA with the Harriers for $80 less. It’s only been 2 days since I got these in, and I can already confirm that for me at least, these showcase a much better value for money in the IEM space.
Looking forward to getting the 242s in soon to compare the two. I do wonder if that extra DD will add some much-needed sub-bass texture and depth, but we shall see. 
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I’ve yet to hear a MP that sounded good to my ear.
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The more I think about it, the more I agree with you. I don’t think I have either… maybe the Brain Dance? But that’s about it.
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I think Dark Phoenix is the only MP treble that I’ve heard, and it never bugged me but I’m pretty agnostic between MP/BA/EST as long as it’s well-tuned and implemented correctly.
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Of course, very valid point. Implementation is everything in this hobby.
I’m not sure if they need to be tuned differently or dampened differently, but to my ears, I’m just very sensitive to the timbre for whatever reason.
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I think a lot of it also has to do with individual ears and hearing, too. I’ve never been super sensitive to “planar timbre” so I don’t doubt that others may hear them as ‘off’ in comparison to other tweeter styles.
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For me, it’s only the micro planars used for upper reaches. I don’t mind a single planar driver treble at all.
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For me, it’s specifically the micro planar drivers they’ve been using lately. Single, big planars, I have no issue with at all. In fact, when they’re done right, timbre can be crazy spot on for my ears. The S08 has some of the best overall timbre I’ve heard under $1000
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One of my favs. Great modular cable, small ergo and $70 USD
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BrainDance.
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yup. I said the same thing up above.
The BrainDance Is probably an objectively bright leaning sound sig, but man is it contrasty and fun.
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Doesn’t bother me in the slightest, but I’m 60 with significant hearing loss above 11k or so …
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59 and run out of gas at 13k. A bit treble sensitive though. Lights up my tinnitus if there’s too much energy.
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I am 54 soon, and hear up to 14kHz. High treble/air have never bothered me, but I had some problems with the 10kHz area on Project M. On some songs they became tiresome for me, but on other again I thought they were marvelous.
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Same. The AFUL P5+2 is a classic example of an otherwise-superb IEM that I couldn’t handle because something about its peaks – which aren’t that severe – hit my tinnitus just WRONG. Headaches, ear pain and magnified ringing within 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, the BrainDance, with its obvious peaks and treble energy, doesn’t bother me a bit. Yeah, I’m surprised, too!
Further proof that graphs only tell so much …
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I’ve tried the P7 twice and both times didn’t keep it. There’s a grain to the treble I don’t like. Me like EST smoove!
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That is super interesting.
I’d love to know the reason behind this. Certain frequencies I guess don’t mesh with certain ears.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the psychological effects of audio rather than the physical sense.
According to Google;
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High Frequencies (Beta, Gamma): Connected to alertness, problem-solving, peak cognition, and heightened awareness.
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High Frequencies: May stimulate the nervous system, increasing heart rate and stress hormone release.
How fascinating.
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These are going to have to be sent out really soon, probably sometime this week, so I should definitely get some impressions down for future reference and also for anyone interested in the stuff from Flipears. Surprisingly, these are actually somewhat affordable considering the sound and overall presentation… in my humble opinion, these sound and feel like something in the Kilobuck arena. No joke.
I’m not sure about all of y’all, but sometimes I get this overwhelming feeling of complete burnout. There are so many new releases all the time. It almost seems like there’s a release every day, and everything just starts to look like one another. Frequency responses become copy and paste. A few dB here and there difference, honestly, within the margin of error for unit variation. Similar form factors. Similar driver configs. Similar prices… To be honest, it just becomes tiring.
Enter, Flipears.
I have on hand at the moment both the Legion and the Aegis; both are cut from the same cloth to my ears, but they both have their own personality to bring to the table. I overall prefer the Legion for its bombastic approach and, quite frankly, overdone use of that BCD. I love it. It’s addictive. It’s a breath of fresh air in this hobby to have something that’s actually novel and not a gimmick. So much so that I’ve committed to the idea of buying a Legion later on down the line if I can find one on the 2nd-hand market for a reasonable price.
Anyways, onto some impressions. The Aegis is what I have with me today at work, so we’ll go with those - The bass is deeeeep. Thick and impactful in every sense of the word. The mid bass punch actually has some serious depth to its attack, lingering just long enough to have that natural sound. To my ears, the staging is rather wide and deep as well, so there truly is a subwoofer detached sensation without having that aggresive tuck that some sets have to resort to in order to get the same effect. These are by no means a ‘basshead’ set if you’re a quantity over quality kind of basshead, no shame btw, but if you’re looking for a textured and impactful bass replay, the Aegis has you covered. Not to mention the amazing vibration effect from the BCD on certain mid-bass passages.
Onto the mids, which are somewhat of a mixed bag for me if I’m totally honest. On the one hand, the BCD activates around 250Hz to my ears (I used a frequency sweeper on Squig to confirm), so certain vocals really do bring that amazing texture and experience of the BCD driver. But at the same time, vocals come off as a touch recessed compared to the bass and treble elements. I’d fully say the Aegis is more of a laid-back kind of sound, focusing more on the warmth and low end of the spectrum. Timbre-wise, I think it’s fantastic. No weird artifacts, nothing out of place, no grain or metallic tonality to find here. All very natural sounding, albeit on the warm side.
The treble is something I haven’t had the chance to put my finger on quite yet. Nothing is wrong with it. Again, no weird timbre or anything like that, but it doesn’t come off as particularly airy or splashy or… ‘special’ in any way. Which could be a good thing if you’re into that. I think this is where the Legion takes over - The treble in the Legion is far more in-your-face and even abrasive at times, which is something I enjoy.
All in all, I’ll be doing as much listening to both of these sets this week and hopefully posting some Legion impressions tomorrow if I can snag the time. Thanks for reading!
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