If there’s one thing I’ll remember about 2022 in the world of personal audio, it will be how prices for high-end sound have been driven down. It’s now possible to spend less than $150 and achieve outstanding sound quality that would have cost double that just a few short years ago. One of the brands leading that charge is DUNU with its brand new Kima in-ear monitors.
The DUNU Kima is a pair of single dynamic driver earbuds, and it joins a crowded market at its current price point. It does a good job of delivering a well-rounded sound for its price, and its build quality and accessories are impressive. There’s a lot to like here, but it’s a not a jack of all trades, so whether it’s a good fit will depend on your tastes and exactly what you plan to use it for.
Specifications
Current Price: $99 to $109 (Linsoul, HiFiGo)
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DUNU Kima - First Impressions and Key Features
The DUNU Kima is the latest earphone from DUNU TopSound, one of the leading brands in the world of ChiFi. The brand has made a name for itself in its 18 years on the market and has earned much well-deserved acclaim for its prior releases.
Earlier models span the gamut from the affordable to the expensive, but the Kima falls toward the latter end of the spectrum coming in at $99 to $109 depending on who you buy it from. It features a single dynamic driver, a detachable cable that’s downright gorgeous, and a design that emphasizes comfort and easy listening even over extended gaming and music sessions.
Kima is the second earphone DUNU has released this year at in the middle-affordable category, and it bears other similarities too. In February, the we reviewed the DUNU Titan S ($79.99), a cyberpunk-inspired pair of earphones that also used a single dynamic driver. Both earphones also share an identical 5Hz to 40,000Hz frequency response range, but Kima’s driver is a noticeable upgrade.
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While the Titan S used an 11 mm Driver with Polycondensated Crystal Polymer Diaphragm, Kima utilizes a 10mm driver with a diamond-like carbon (DLC) diaphragm. DLC drivers are well regarded due to their light weight and high rigidity, adding speed and clarity to the listening experience. DUNU doesn’t remark much on the dual cavity design, but we’ve seen similar descriptions used in over-ear headphones as a means of separating out the frequencies and improving clarity, and that seems likely to be the case here.
The earphones are minimalist but quite pretty. They’re made of zinc-alloy for long-term durability and have brass nozzles. They have an ovular design that reminds me a bit of the Raptgo Leaf without being quite so ostentatious. The face of each housing comes together with four angles designed to capture and play with light and shadow and works well against the smooth curve of its outline.
As is always the case with DUNU, you get a plentiful selection of accessories. The detachable cable is absolutely beautiful and is made of silver-plated monocrystalline copper. It uses a standard 2-pin connection to attach to the earbuds and is easy to swap out, but I don’t see why you would ever want to. It's soft and flexible, and the 3.5mm single-ended termination is able to deliver enough power for these easy-to-drive (32-ohm impedance, 108dB sensitivity) earphones.
Also included in the box is a very nice zipped travel case. It’s bright orange, so standard apart from the other blue cases DUNU has been using recently but has enough space to hold the earphones with the attached cable, as well as an assortment of accessories.
Kima also comes with three sets of small, medium, and large silicone ear tips. The standard black tips are the normal type you’ll find with a product like this and work well, but DUNU also includes a set of the new S&S ear tips that shipped with the Talos and debuts its fresh Candy tips. These are similar to the standard tips but have a thicker inner nozzle for added stability.
You’ll also receive a 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapter to plug into larger sources, a polishing cloth, and a cleaning brush.
It’s a full package for only $109 and makes for a very positive first impression.
DUNU Kima - Fit and Comfort
The DUNU Kima is a very comfortable earphone. Since it’s not packing tons of drivers into its shell, its able to be fairly, which makes fitting and securing it easy. As always, take the time to try different sizes of ear tip to ensure a proper and secure seal. For me, I went with the Candy tips (the S&S tips have never fit me well) and they worked perfectly for extended listening sessions. With so many options to choose from, finding a pair that works for you should be possible.
DUNU Kima - Listening Impressions
The Kima isn’t a difficult IEM to drive, so you can safely plug it into your smartphone or PC and achieve good sound quality. Using a small amplifier expands the soundstage a touch, but you shouldn’t feel pressured to go out and buy an additional accessory just for this set.
Bass: Despite the appearance of the graph, I find the bass on the Kima to emphasis more mid-bass than sub-bass (so, bass guitars over sub-woofer-like low frequency rumble. There is decent extension, so songs like D.R.E.A.M. can still sound good, but those truly low notes don’t push forward quite as much. This kind of tuning isn’t bad for mainstream music, however, as a lot of pop, and indeed a lot of the biggest sounds in video games that make them sound cinematic and large, live in the mid-bass which comes through with a bit more presence.
The speed of the bass is decent but not outstanding. Edges of notes are clean, so the driver is able to keep up with the fast starts and stops of things like kicks and unexpected bursts of sound in video games, but
Mids: The midrange on this set is smooth and natural. Pianos in particular sound very organic and natural, such as in Snowflakes by Jurrivh. Detail retrieval in the mids is good during quieter tracks but some detail can get lost in busier sections of music or torrents of sound in first-person shooters. In the aforementioned tracked, you can hear the sound of the piano’s hammers on strings and each creak of the pianist’s seat, which is quite immersive.
Guitars in harder tracks like Hurricane by Hands Like Houses sound gritty and I was able to pick out a good amount of texture within their distorted tone. It’s not the best I’ve heard at this price, but it’s cohesive and enjoyable. The same is true of vocals, which aren’t very forward but are clear and articulate.
Treble: Treble is very tame. DUNU has tuned these earphones to provide just enough for music to sound clear without ever sounding sharp. This aligns with the overall warmer sound of these earbuds, but I wish we got a little more bass for the trade-off. There isn’t a lot of sparkle or air, and the trailing ends of high frequency notes and sounds disappear a bit more quickly than I like. Treble isn’t bad, but it doesn’t stand out.
Technical Performance, Soundstage, and Imaging: Much of my impressions of the sound of the Kima is influenced by its technical performance. For our purposes, that breaks down into soundstage (the sense of space), details and the layering of sounds and tracks, and imaging (positionality).
Starting with soundstage, the earphones deliver a decent amount of width and depth for their size and price. It didn’t blow me away, but they don’t sound constrained or like the sound is coming from the inside of my ears. It’s a more natural listening experience and the earphones are better for it.
Layering and imaging are also average for this price. You can hear what’s going on, but there isn’t as much spacing between the tracks as you’ll find in an in-ear planar like the DUNU Talos or a competing dynamic like the Thieaudio Elixir. Both of those earphones cost $100 more, however, which puts them in another bracket entirely. Overall, good layering and imaging but again, nothing that will block your socks off with such heated competition.
Imaging is also good but not amazing. This is expected with the soundstage and layering falling into that same camp. Stereo separation is good and won’t leave you guessing about which channel a source is coming from, but I had trouble picking out distance details in music. Games didn’t have this issue as the sound engines are coded with positional detail in mind.
Gaming: The DUNU Kima will work for gaming but wouldn’t be my go-to choice versus a traditional gaming headset. The soundstage is good for a pair of IEMs but doesn’t compete with a good open-back headset. Still, they’ll work fine if you’re on the go and need something portable to plug into your gaming laptop. Turn on Dolby Atmos for enhanced positionality.
Overall Impressions and Final Thoughts
The DUNU Kima are a very solid earphone for the money. They look good, sound good, and have a solid set of accessories for the money. I’ll say it again: the cable is beautiful. They don’t dazzle in any particular way but come together well as a cohesive whole I was able to listen to and enjoy for hours. If you’re already a DUNU fan or just want something that will sound good across multiple genres of music and games, the Kima is a safe bet.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes. Articles may include affiliate links from which we may earn a small commission to help support the site. Authors do not earn affiliate revenue or commissions.
