DUNU launches the PRS5, a $159 five-driver tribrid with a four-way crossover

DUNU has launched the PRS5 at $159, a wired in-ear monitor with five drivers per side: a 10 mm dynamic driver for the low end, two balanced armatures for the midrange, a third for the upper mids and a micro-planar for the highest frequencies. A four-way crossover combining physical and electronic elements divides the bands. DUNU rates it at 38 ohms, 110 dB/mW and under 0.3% distortion at 1 kHz, in 3D-printed resin shells of about 8 g, with a four-core cable on 0.78 mm 2-pin connectors and interchangeable 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm Q-Lock Mini plugs.

Four bands in a $159 in-ear means three handovers, and each one is a place where the response can step or the phase can turn. A distortion figure quoted at 1 kHz says little about the bass, where a dynamic driver usually does its worst, or about the planar's region at the top. A full frequency response and distortion across the range would say far more than the driver count does.