Fit and Comfort

I had taken four photos originally—one each with the four size M ear tip types—before realizing it was visually quite hard to distinguish the fit between them as-is. Seen above is one of the size M silicone ear tips that comes with the DUNU FALCON PRO thus, which might as well represent them all, installed on the right ear bud and inserted into an artificial ear mold. I have averagely sized ears, and the ear mold seen above about perfectly represents my own experiences. Size M silicone tips are my go-to for testing in general since foam tips are not included by some, as was the case here. The size of the ear buds is about average, and the design should be very comfortable for most people courtesy the soft curves gently caressing the concha. These are about average as far as mass goes, measuring in at just over 8 g each. I will say here that it isn't the easiest to get a good seal for all the provided nozzles and ear tips, so this is where tip rolling is recommended. Try out some aftermarket foam tips, too. They may suit you better even compared to the plethora of silicone options here. Passive isolation, bass response, and indeed a lot of the user experience will depend on this.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

The driver technology used in the FALCON PRO is really where DUNU shines, with an emphasis on materials and processing that bests most of the competition. The reversed E in ECLIPSƎ also distinguishes it, even if I personally think it looks dumb. ECLIPSƎ is a platform, if you will, that came about after DUNU wanted to make the most of a single dynamic driver configuration for IEMs. It is a patented collection of driver technologies that began with the flagship LUNA and debuted with the respected DUNU ZEN. The LUNA used a pure beryllium foil diaphragm, the intermediate ZEN went with a magnesium-aluminium alloy dome, and the FALCON PRO ends up the most affordable ECLIPSƎ implementation to date with a diamond-like carbon (DLC) dome as part of the 10 mm ECLIPSƎ driver. This is different from the carbon nanotube coating with the previous FALCON, with DUNU choosing to go with multiple layers of tetrahedral-predominant hydrogenated DLC deposited onto a thermoplastic substrate using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). These are details that the materials scientist in me geeked about, and I was happy to share here accordingly. For those wondering why the DUNU ZEN and newer ZEN PRO are more expensive, they use a 13.5 mm driver system that employs pulsed cathode arc-PVD (physical vapor deposition) to coat non-hydrogenated and nearly pure tetrahedral DLC onto a metal substrate—the magnesium-aluminium alloy dome from before. The bottom line here is that as pure as you can get with tetrahedral, sp3-hybridized carbon gets you diamond-like carbon, which can allow for a stiffer, more uniform response to the magnetic force driving the diaphragm back and forth. The DLC coating in the FALCON PRO is not as good as on the ZEN/ZEN PRO, but DUNU makes no attempt to hide this since the FALCON PRO also costs around a third as much.

There are other things of the ECLIPSƎ platform beyond the diaphragm, in this case referred to as the speaker dome itself. The dome is suspended within an independently constructed polymer surround, and driving the dome back and forth is a up to 1.6 T magnetic motor system. Some marketing leeway is employed here, with the 1.6 Tesla number accounting for magnetic flux and not the steady state value, but that is to be expected. This in itself is not different recent releases from competitors, but the entire package promises accuracy and, combined with the dual chambered anti-resonance shell design, high acoustic performance at reasonable cost. Driving the hardware takes no more than with your average IEMs, with a rated impedance of 26 Ω and slightly higher than average sensitivity of 112 dB at 1 kHz, which I presume is 112 dB/mW here. A standalone DAC/amp intended for high sensitivity earphones is not a bad idea thus, if only to run at lower volumes without clipping or a hiss, and going with one of the portable Bluetooth options we have covered before also makes this a wireless solution. The lack of a 3.5 mm audio jack for most phones these days is another reason to consider a DAC/amp that takes digital input and provides a 3.5 mm jack since you will otherwise have to use an adapter anyway, or even a dedicated DAP. If not on the go, space is less of an issue, but the relatively short cable might be a potential handicap if connecting to a PC as the audio source.

Frequency Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm neutral signature emphasizing a slightly elevated bass and smooth treble range with detailed mids and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our reproducible testing methodology begins with a calibrated IEC711 audio coupler/artificial ear IEM buds can feed into enough for more ideal isolation. The audio coupler feeds into a USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running and the earphones connected to the laptop through the sound card. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/6th setting, which nets a good balance of detail and noise not being identified as useful data. Also, the default tuning was used for testing, and no app-based settings were chosen unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is tested thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the three individual measurements for statistical accuracy. For IEMs, I am also using the ear mold that fits to the audio coupler for a separate test to compare how the IEMs fare when installed in a pinna geometry and not just the audio coupler by itself. The raw data is then exported from REW and plotted in OriginPro for easier comparison.


The IEC711 is such that you can't really compare these results with most other test setups, especially those using a head and torso simulator (HATS). The raw dB numbers are also quite contingent on the set volume, gain levels, and sensitivity of the system. What is more useful information is how the left and right channels work across the rated frequency response in the DUNU FALCON PRO, or at least the useful part of it. The left channel was separately tested from the right one, and colored differently for contrast. I did my best to ensure an identical fit for both inside the IEC711 orifice, so note how the two channels are nearly identical through the bass and mids, and within +/- 1 dB throughout the measured 20 Hz to 20 kHz range, keeping in mind that the IEC711 coupler isn't the most reliable past 10 kHz. These are not top of the line IEMs, and I wasn't expecting any sort of individual channel matching at this price point, either. It's still good to see how close it gets, and the response with the artificial pinna in place is similarly impressive for how close it is to the coupler itself. There was no measurable burn-in effect even though I know there are many who profess burn-in effects for dynamic drivers no matter what. I did let a mix of white/pink noise go through these for ~25 hours and checked to be sure, and I can't say I perceived even any non-quantifiable changes to the output.


At this point, I would start talking about the tuning of the DUNU FALCON PRO and its associated tonality and technicality, but DUNU does not make it as simple, or rather makes the FALCON PRO more versatile with the user-replaceable nozzles that change the tuning as seen above. As DUNU puts it, the FALCON PRO moves "between a balanced, mildly V-shaped sound signature with its 'Reference' nozzle, to a more clarity-oriented signature with the 'Transparency' nozzle. Finally, 'Atmospheric Immersion' mode delivers not merely boosted bass, but also brings the midrange upward proportionally." The general sound signature would be the mildly V-shaped one given the FALCON PRO ships with the Reference nozzle installed out of the box. The naming is not necessarily accurate, however, since the mid-bass-heavy tuning we get is indeed mildly V-shaped and not one I would call reference myself.

Regardless, let's talk about the behavior with the Reference nozzle foremost since it is the defacto option and because I think it is the best way forward with the FALCON PRO. This is also a case of frequency response curves being slightly misleading because a look at the plots above would make you believe the tuning comes off with a bloated bass response. If anything, this is quite to the contrary, where the bass response is one of the best I have heard with IEMs to date, including with many more expensive options from others. If the FALCON PRO was meant to be the gateway drug to DUNU's ECLIPSƎ driver tech, then it has worked since I want to seek out more. There is sufficient sub-bass energy for my tastes, and the warmth as you get to the mid-bass is very nicely balanced with detail and resolution to where rock, pop, EDM, and hip-hop sound very good. Note the other two nozzles trade things somewhat, which can be perceived as more balanced but ends up toning down what I believe is the FALCON PRO's strength. This is one of the reasons I prefer the Reference nozzle out of the three.

The mids are a weakness of the FALCON PRO in my books, however, beginning with the added warmth of the tuning bleeding into the lower mids. This is also where there is a bizarre change from high detail and resolution to some haziness I did not appreciate with male vocals in particular. Imaging is so-so. I can't say this is the IEM to get for those wanting a large soundstage out of closed-back IEMs, either. It may seem like I am just listing faults here, but at least some of these are impractical expectations for a set of IEMs clearly tuned with recessed mids in mind. Female vocals in particular are recessed, and between the warmer male vocals and recessed female vocals, this is a less-than-natural sounding set for those who listen to music with a lot of vocals. I would not recommend the FALCON PRO to them as there are several other options which do the job better. The Atmospheric Immersion nozzle somewhat mitigates this, but not to where this is no longer prevalent.

It's interesting then that the treble response is back on track, and a set of IEMs in the ~$200 price range for once does not disappoint me here—at least on the Reference and Transparency nozzles. The latter does get overly bright, especially going from the recessed mids, and can come off shouty in some regards. The Atmospheric Immersion nozzle, on the other hand, clearly is going with darkness in mind to artificially elevate the mids and lows by comparison. I think this is why my preference in order is for the Reference, Transparency, and Atmospheric Immersion FALCON PRO nozzles. The Reference nozzle ends up more balanced than the other two even in the upper mids, and there is no sibilance to speak of. Instruments shine quite well with good tonal separation and enough depth for orchestral performances to come off fairly well. But it is with the second/third-order harmonics of string instruments that the FALCON PRO shows off its synergy when it comes to the aforementioned music genres—rock music, in particular. The overall tuning also makes for a pleasant experience for everyday listening, especially for action movies and video games. In fact, the DUNU FALCON PRO can be a nice recommendation for someone used to more of a mainstream tuning looking to move deeper into the audiophile world.

Comparison to other IEMs

I had to think hard about which IEMs to use for comparisons here, especially since the most obvious point of comparison would be the equally new MoonDrop Kato, which is actually on the way to me, so look out for a review of the same wherein I will compare it to the FALCON PRO. In the meantime, I went with the obvious choice of the Campfire Audio Honeydew, a $250 single dynamic driver set that is a one-trick pony, even if said trick is performed fairly well. I would absolutely take the DUNU FALCON PRO over the Honeydew any day of the week, and only recommend the latter to bassheads that need deep rumble that would make Michael Bay blush. The second comparison I am making here is to a hybrid, the IKKO OH10, which now costs a lot less than the FALCON PRO after having its $200 spot taken up by the newer IKKO OH1S that is tuned quite differently. The OH10 is tonally quite similar, but the FALCON PRO is superior in execution, and macro-dynamics in particular. Once again, I would go with the DUNU if choosing between these two, and many other single DD/hybrids in the $150–250 price range.