Honestly, I might need to create S+ and S- rankings due to this lol.
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Glad I pre-ordered this gem. 
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Ouch! SA6 > EST112.
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Hello there! For those of you who have the Dunu EST 112 (and/or the Dunu SA6), how much do they scale? Iām looking pretty seriously at buying these and Iām currently using a BTR5 as my portable amp/dac for some lower tier IEMs (Starfields, etc); Iām curious if I should look at using something a bit higher-end to pair with these.
I also own an XD-05 Plus that I mostly use for taking full-size headphones portable, but itās kind of a brick and the Bluetooth isnāt amazing on it. (I still love it, but itās not as well suited to my IEM use cases.)
I have them bothā¦
They are a great choice at their price point. These IEMs will scale quite well with anything you throw at them. Iāve been more impressed with the FR of the SA6. I was expecting it to be more relaxed than it actually is. Both are quite detailed IEMs. The EST112 hits harder (more dynamic) but the treble is a bit harsher vs the SA6.
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Itās not the best photo, but I figured Iād update to say that I picked both of them up!
Iāve been spending a lot more time with the EST 112 so far just because itās the one that happens to be more comfortable in my ears, but Iām enjoying both of them quite a bit. Iāve mostly been listening through an iPhone 11 Pro ā USB/Bluetooth ā XD-05 Plus (opamp rolled) and I have Final E tips on both of them at the moment, but I havenāt had a ton of listening time with them yet.
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Some random non-sound thoughts:
Both of these IEMs are incredible packages. They both come with fantastic cables with interchangeable ends for 2.5mm/3.5mm/4.4mm, but they both /also/ come with 1/4" adapters, and while they arenāt the screw-on type, thereās no play in the adapter and it works great for plugging into 1/4" outputs.
The two of them do come with different cables: the cable that comes with the SA6 is a thicker, more well-built cable, and the cable that comes with the EST 112 is a thinner cable. I feel like if I were using these IEMs primarily sitting down at a desk, I would strongly prefer the SA6 cable. But in practice, I mostly use my IEMs under non-ideal conditionsāwhile folding laundry, going for walks, cooking dinner, washing dishesāand in my particular use case, I think I prefer the EST 112ās cable. It just gets in the way a little bit less and holds itās shape just a little bit less, though again, both cables are the best stock IEM cables Iāve ever used.
They both come with a bunch of silicone tips, and the EST 112 even comes with some foams and some SpinFits. Iāve been using Final E tips because I already know I like them, but if you didnāt already own any other tips, I think youād be pretty good to go with what comes in the box.
In terms of the fit, I feel like the SA6 naturally wants to sit deeper in my ears and I ended up being most comfortable with eartips a size down from what I would normally wear, so Iām still playing around with eartips and sizings and all that. (I wear my ānormalā size on the EST 112 if I put the eartip all the way down the nozzle, over the ridge). Neither of them are uncomfortable, but wearing the two of them feels pretty different. Also, not sure what kind of metal the EST 112 shell is made of, but it can definitely get cold.
Theyāre both plenty sensitive enough to just plug into your phone with a dongle, so if youāre that kind of person, you should be good to go. Just for fun, I plugged them into my RNHP, which I usually have set around 9-oā-clock-ish to power the Focal Elex, and these IEMs get loud at like 7-oā-clock.
Thereās basically nothing thatās āwrongā with this package. It comes with everything Iād want in terms of cable terminations, cable quality, eartips, fit, comfortā¦ I havenāt been in this hobby for all that long, and it shouldnāt be that hard to do, but I basically havenāt bought any IEM or full-size headphone that actually came with all the stuff I needed where I didnāt need to buy an aftermarket cable or extra padding for the headband or whatever.
So yeah, Iām impressed. Good job, DUNU!
(EDIT: Okay, one fun mistake in the packaging, the SA6 was boxed with the left earbud plugged into the right cable and vice-versa. Not a huge deal, just unplug and swap them, but hey, they technically got one thing wrong. :P)
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Nice impressions, mate!
Okay, Iām not an audio reviewer and I donāt have the best-trained ears, but since Iāve had them both for a while, I figured it would be good to post some thoughts on the actual sound of the EST 112 and the SA6.
First off, Iām coming from only owning low-tier IEMs. I own the Blon BL-03, some KZs that I kind of hate, I own a Moondrop Starfield, and I own an oBravo Cupid. (I donāt really like the Cupid either.) And so in that sense, Iāll immediately say that the EST 112 and the SA6 sound more similar to each other than either of them do to something like a Moondrop Starfield. So just keep that in perspective when I talk about their differences.
The SA6 is the one with more bass from the frequency response graphs Iāve seen, but the EST 112 definitely has what comes across as the punchier bass. You really feel the bass impact on the EST 112 in a way that you donāt on the SA6. I feel like itās a similar story for the treble as well: something about the treble on the EST 112 just draws more attention to itself and makes you notice it more.
Meanwhile, the treble on the SA6 is smooth, and when you combine the smoother treble and the less-punchy bass, I find the SA6 kind of relaxing to listen to. Out of curiosity, I tried some of the tips that were recommended to brighten the treble on the SA6 to see what would happen, and itāsā¦ well, louder and smooth. The overall relaxed quality of the SA6 seemed to remain with whatever tips I used. (Though you might be able to go the other way and use some foam tips to smooth out the EST 112, but I just donāt like foams at all.)
Maybe Iām just trying to justify keeping both of them instead of selling one of them, but it would be really easy to imagine a preference for one or the other being based on your mood. The EST 112 could be your āwake up in the morningā IEM and the SA6 could be your āunwind after dinnerā IEM. Both work well for all the genres of music that I listen to. (I canāt speak much to orchestral or metal, sorry friends.)
In terms of detail and whatnot, they both sound better than any of the IEMs I own, so if youāre upgrading from something like a Moondrop Starfield, I feel like both of these are just better, and I imagine youād be happy upgrading to either one. Neither of them sound as good as the Focal Elex that I listen to nearly every day, but thatās to be expected. And honestly, it probably doesnāt make sense for me to go too far up market for IEMs considering I mostly listen to them in environments with distractions and background noise.
I mentioned this before, but since Iām only ever listening to IEMs portably, my chain has mostly been iPhone ā Bluetooth ā XD-05 Plus (w/ AD827SQ op amp). Iāve also been using Final Audio Type E eartips on both IEMs.
If I had to only keep one, I think Iād keep the EST 112.
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Thats the DD advantage vs the BA in the SA6. BA lack a lot of the texture and air that DD has, so they compensate for that with boosting the quantity instead to try to achieve a similar feeling, which still doesnt come close to DD bass IMO.
The power of ESTĀ“s I guess, they have tons of micro-details vs other drivers. (generalizing ESTĀ“s based on only the EST112 so keep that in mind.)
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The EST drivers of the EST 112 do not sound the same as the Thieaudio EST drivers in their tribrids.
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good to knowā¦
In a bad or good way? 
The Thieaudio EST drivers sound smoother and less harsh while still retaining detail. The EST 112 EST sounds more like a BA than the Thieaudio EST do.
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Isnāt that more a matter of tuning than the drivers, though? Iām pretty sure that both the Thieaudio Tribrids and EST112 have the same count and model of Sonion ESTās. If anything, the differing BA drivers themselves could contribute to the differences in the treble. Iām just curious as to what all would be the nature of the perceived differences.
Either way, Iām looking forward to comparing the Excalibur to my EST112 and other tribrids (when the Excalibur finally arrive, that is).
Iām new to the IEM space, but some of the ātreble gets hotā comments are reminding me of what folks said about DT1990s, which I love. If iām not too treble sensitive and want a more āsit up/lean forwardā sound, the 112s sound like the move?
Possibly, and you may also want to add the Tri Starlight 4, Tri Starshine and Kinera Nanna 1.0 to the list of Treble-forward Tribrids and Hybrids with EST drivers.
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I wouldnāt call it treble forward though since I am treble sensitive and donāt have problems with it.
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Iām in the same boat (although I am NOT particularly treble-sensitive), but everyone else seems to think that it has a bright tilt.
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