Geared4me said:
While I love my dk-4001 I would certainly be interested in a trade up program.
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If we had an offering that was analogous to LUNA, we certainly would've considered doing such a thing. However, our DK hybrid series stands apart from our dynamic driver only models.
Jalo said:
Well so much information about the process and materials but not a single word about the sound character beside reference. I have the Vega, Atlas, Lab2, JVC 10K all single DD iems, I also have the Utopia which may have a similar process. I will be interested to hear what the sound is like. Please talk about sound because it is what drive the price point not the process. I don’t Think $1650.00 is too high if there is a totl sound that goes with it.
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The reason why we shied away from describing LUNA's sound is that we want people to form their own opinions. It wouldn't be fair for us to prescribe to people what we think its sound signature is like. As most people who went to CanJam Shanghai can attest, LUNA was popular to the point of problematic, and with only one unit available for audition, we had a long line of people waiting to listen to it. Currently, there are plenty of sound impressions written in Chinese on social media platforms like Weibo; we also held a small listening event this weekend with FUJIYA-AVIC, and many Japanese audio lovers post their impressions on Twitter. These impressions are all not in English, of course.
The only person prominently active on Head-Fi with ear time with LUNA is
Of course, when our lead engineer Andy Zhao tuned the LUNA, it was targeted toward our own 'reference' signature. The following is, in Andy's own words, his goals for tuning LUNA:
Roughly, it means that he wished to draw out maximum detail and fullness of sound while maintaining the widest possible bandwidth in its extension, without compromising on a relaxed and mellifluous overall sound. The pure
beryllium foil driver, especially when constructed in the way we fashioned it, naturally exhibits these attributes. We additionally looked to provide a sense of evocative warmth in vocals, but still maintain a very neutral tone. Our key goal, however, was to deliver the most natural timbre around, and we wanted to reduce ringing as much as possible, unless particular components of ringing proved to be especially euphonic. We believe LUNA meets these tuning goals.
In terms of measurements, our in-house results are quite favorable. We performed preliminary testing on standalone IEC 60318-4 ear simulators, and validated these results with our B&K 4128C HATS. The most significant results go beyond frequency response or distortion figures, however. That's why we elected to show the results of our high-speed vibrometry testing. It's proof positive that the driver exhibits near-perfect pistonic motion. While at our booth in Shanghai, Jude mentioned off hand that he'd like to conduct a full suite of measurements for LUNA, and we'd be happy to have him do them once we have finalized everything by next month.
Niyologist said:
True, but I make $200 per week and I have bills to pay for. I'll wait until the price drops.
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That won't happen anytime soon, or perhaps ever. There's a reason why LUNA is nearly double the price of our previous offerings --- the pricing is dictated by immense cost of the raw materials and the subsequent advanced processing, from the beryllium sheets, to cutting them out, forming them, gluing them to their suspension, and securing them within their support structure. To protect the driver, the custom titanium alloy is quite costly as well.
But that's why we still offer products with PVD beryllium. Soundwise, they give us a number of characteristics in common with our pure beryllium foil driver, but are more cost effective.
sunneebear said:
Should have went in another direction than the comparison to NASA and the Apollo Program. Really, a whole page of smack comparing Dunu to the Apollo Program? It only took tens of thousands of people and some of the greatest minds of the time to get man to the moon and this IEM is compared to that?
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Having spent a significant amount of time working in a lab at JPL and wandering its halls, marveling at our accomplishments over this past century, I personally can appreciate and attest to the extraordinary amount of work that goes into each and every space mission. I understand your concern; LUNA is never going to be anything that expands mankind's awareness of our place in the universe. It won't anchor fundamental understandings of mathematics and physics. It will never serve as the catalyst for an entire aerospace industry. No one lost their lives the same way the astronauts of Apollo 1 did. Our lives were never in jeopardy the same way the X-15 test pilots, or all 32 of the Apollo program's astronauts were.
Our goal with LUNA's marketing campaign was merely to pay homage to the Apollo program on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, and it was certainly not our intent to diminish its immense accomplishment. We are not conflating DUNU with NASA. We have the utmost respect for all of the men and women who worked on the Apollo program, or any program whose goal is to push the frontiers of mankind. It is a bold undertaking, and we salute this spirit.
If we had an offering that was analogous to LUNA, we certainly would've considered doing such a thing. However, our DK hybrid series stands apart from our dynamic driver only models.The reason why we shied away from describing LUNA's sound is that we want people to form their own opinions. It wouldn't be fair for us to prescribe to people what we think its sound signature is like. As most people who went to CanJam Shanghai can attest, LUNA was popular to the point of problematic, and with only one unit available for audition, we had a long line of people waiting to listen to it. Currently, there are plenty of sound impressions written in Chinese on social media platforms like Weibo; we also held a small listening event this weekend with FUJIYA-AVIC, and many Japanese audio lovers post their impressions on Twitter. These impressions are all not in English, of course.The only person prominently active on Head-Fi with ear time with LUNA is @jude , and even he only got a few moments with it. We'd love for him to chime in on its sound, but of course he might be too busy to come 'round these parts. He, of course, has an entire website and community to manage. That is why our goal is to secure a Head-Fi dedicated listening unit as soon as possible.Of course, when our lead engineer Andy Zhao tuned the LUNA, it was targeted toward our own 'reference' signature. The following is, in Andy's own words, his goals for tuning LUNA:Roughly, it means that he wished to draw out maximum detail and fullness of sound while maintaining the widest possible bandwidth in its extension, without compromising on a relaxed and mellifluous overall sound. The pure beryllium foil driver, especially when constructed in the way we fashioned it, naturally exhibits these attributes. We additionally looked to provide a sense of evocative warmth in vocals, but still maintain a very neutral tone. Our key goal, however, was to deliver the most natural timbre around, and we wanted to reduce ringing as much as possible, unless particular components of ringing proved to be especially euphonic. We believe LUNA meets these tuning goals.In terms of measurements, our in-house results are quite favorable. We performed preliminary testing on standalone IEC 60318-4 ear simulators, and validated these results with our B&K 4128C HATS. The most significant results go beyond frequency response or distortion figures, however. That's why we elected to show the results of our high-speed vibrometry testing. It's proof positive that the driver exhibits near-perfect pistonic motion. While at our booth in Shanghai, Jude mentioned off hand that he'd like to conduct a full suite of measurements for LUNA, and we'd be happy to have him do them once we have finalized everything by next month.That won't happen anytime soon, or perhaps ever. There's a reason why LUNA is nearly double the price of our previous offerings --- the pricing is dictated by immense cost of the raw materials and the subsequent advanced processing, from the beryllium sheets, to cutting them out, forming them, gluing them to their suspension, and securing them within their support structure. To protect the driver, the custom titanium alloy is quite costly as well.But that's why we still offer products with PVD beryllium. Soundwise, they give us a number of characteristics in common with our pure beryllium foil driver, but are more cost effective.Having spent a significant amount of time working in a lab at JPL and wandering its halls, marveling at our accomplishments over this past century, I personally can appreciate and attest to the extraordinary amount of work that goes into each and every space mission. I understand your concern; LUNA is never going to be anything that expands mankind's awareness of our place in the universe. It won't anchor fundamental understandings of mathematics and physics. It will never serve as the catalyst for an entire aerospace industry. No one lost their lives the same way the astronauts of Apollo 1 did. Our lives were never in jeopardy the same way the X-15 test pilots, or all 32 of the Apollo program's astronauts were.Our goal with LUNA's marketing campaign was merely to pay homage to the Apollo program on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, and it was certainly not our intent to diminish its immense accomplishment. We are not conflating DUNU with NASA. We have the utmost respect for all of the men and women who worked on the Apollo program, or any program whose goal is to push the frontiers of mankind. It is a bold undertaking, and we salute this spirit.