# Overview (TL/DR)
 
The Pula Unicrom is a well done, slightly bassy, balanced V-shape, with a pretty decently punchy and rumbly bass, a bit thin but mostly correct mid-range with very lively female vocals, and a present enough treble that’s inoffensive for the most part, just a bit of sparkly on top. A solid V-shaped choice under $100usd.
 
 
 
Its soundstage is average but with accurate imaging, solid resolution, and fine detail retrieval for its price. Separation is remarkable for a single-driver config, note weight strikes a nice balanced of enough physicality without being too intense, and replay is good on well-mixed tracks, though it can feel bland on poorly mixed music.
 
 
 
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# Quick note: From August 14th to 28th, you can get the Unicrom for just $69.99usd with a $10 early-bird coupon, Use code: 818UNICROM, valid on HiFiGo, Amazon, and AliExpress.
 
 
 
***Code: 818UNICROM***
 
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**WOULD RECOMMEND:**
 
 
* For people that like energetic (V-shape) kind of tunings.
* For people that like lively vocals, specially female vocals.
* For people that want good quality bass, that is still quite balanced.
* For people looking for a comfortable IEM (The best seal out of the box I have got).
* For people that like to do EQ, since it works fairly decent with it (Basshead potential with EQ applied).
* For people that want decent accessories.
* A good upgrade coming from Kiwi Cadenza or TKZK Ouranos, especially if you want more bass.
* Similar tuning approach to Artti T10 or TRN White Tiger but a bit more bassy and with less treble sparkle, better technical performance than Tiger and very close to T10.
 
 
 
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**WOULD NOT RECOMMEND:**
 
 
* Not for people that don’t like V-shaped, too energetic, or too intense sound signatures. * Not for people that like very thick and fuller (lush) vocals.
* Not for people sensitive to bass (it could sound too bassy for some).
* People who are sensitive to upper mid-range (high pitched vocals), should be cautious with this set.
* People that use iems at high volumes should be a bit cautious with this set.
 
 
 
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***Full disclosure, this set WAS provided by HiFiGO, I did NOT buy it with my own money, but the opinions, as always, were given on my own accord.***
 
 
 
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# REVIEW
 
 
 
# INTRO
With Pula entering the sub $100 IEM competition, and with a (so far) short history in the IEM market in general, their new budget model, the Unicrom, has become PULA´s gateway set for people to be introduced to the brand, and as we all know, first impressions are very important, so, how does Unicrom compares in a market with a lot of competitive sets nowadays?.
 
 
 
Let me be honest, when I first saw the pre-release* frequency response graph of the Unicrom I was a bit skeptical, however, Pula listened to feedback given on their pre-release tuning and, for my surprise, once I tried Unicrom, I can say that they have done a tuning style that I never thought I would be willingly recommending, until now.
 
 
 
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# Fit and Drivability
 
 
Out of the box, nothing seem too impressive, I mean, the unboxing experience is fairly premium (more on that later), the nozzle doesn’t seem too big and shell shape is quite generic so it should be fine, nothing seemed too impressive until I put the Unicrom on.
 
 
 
Unicrom is the first iem ever to fit me like a glove, no slipping out, no constant adjustment, and after some tip rolling, using the stock blue colored, red core, small eartips for this review, there is a good chance Unicrom would offer a great, comfortable fit for a lot of people out there.
 
 
 
As for what you need to drive this, arguably you can connect Unicrom to any kind of source and should work mostly fine, the only possible difference I found from my 4.4mm 150mW DAC output (Dunu DTC480) to my phone jack was that, with less power output, the bass had a tiny bit more presence, but overall presentation of the sound was just about the same.
 
 
 
Suffice to say any basic dongle DAC like the Apple dongle, or anything with 30mW+ of power output, will do just fine for Unicrom, those get quite loud easily, despite the 101dB sensitivity and the 32 Ohms impedance.
 
 
 
 
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# THE BIAS.
 
 
Just before commenting on my experience, I need to mention a few things about me. Remember, every person listens and perceives in a different way, and those preferences and differences in perceptions are key to understand what each person specifically likes and dislikes and how that will translate into the opinions given for a review.
 
 
 
My preference is a “neutral with bass boost” type of tuning, I don’t like too boosted treble, however, I do can handle intense upper treble quite a lot, so, what is not too bright or too “sparkly”, treble forward for me, could actually come as harsh for you, and what is bassy enough for me, could be too bassy or even muddy for you.
 
 
 
Another relevant thing to note is that I’m a bit susceptible to iems with boosting on the upper mid-range and the lower treble are of the sound (around 4Khz-6Khz), which affects high pitched vocals, some instruments like cymbals, and part of the treble. Having boosting peaks in those areas gives the sound this overall intense and harsh energy for me, so if I personally find something that I say it could be “shouty,” or too intense in treble or vocals, please understand that I’m mostly talking about this.
 
 
 
Last thing is that I usually don’t struggle with iems with the called “Metallic / BA / Planar” Timbre that some people can’t really enjoy, I normally don’t have problems with neither of those.
 
 
 
  
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# SOUND
 
 
 
 
# Bass
 
 
After trying a few iems that, on graph, had a quite boosted bass area and expecting a decent presence of it, just to be disappointed, Unicrom is a breath of fresh air to that trend, being boosted enough to balance the sound and also having a pretty nice, pretty punchy bass presence with just the right amount of physicality to enjoy music without getting too aggressive.
 
 
 
The bass area is well balanced overall, but the mid-bass, where most of the punch is, does feel like slightly more boosted over the sub-bass rumble, this is more of an “allrounder” kind of bass approach that would deliver rumble or punch when the song calls for it without much problem.
 
 
 
The sub-bass has a decent rumble quality that, along the bouncy mid-bass, gives a fairly good texture and detail to this area of the sound, and despite being fairly boosted, it maintains a mostly clean presentation, with barely any “muddy” presence into the mid-range. Overall, a good quality and quantity of bass across the board.
 
 
 
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# Mid-range (vocals)
 
 
Mid-range, where vocals live, is the only part that would receive a nit-pick from my part, but to be clear, this is more of a preference issue rather than a flaw in itself, and is that the mid-range do is a bit on the thin side, with some part of the vocals feeling a bit “on the background”, however, versus other V-shape style sets, Unicrom is far from the worse offenders, since vocals don’t feel totally “in the back” just a bit reduced overall.
 
 
 
Lower mid-range, where a lot of instruments and specially male vocals live, is the more affected part of the sound, which you might feel male vocals aren’t as full as they could be, still in terms of correctness, thanks to the controlled amount of warmness coming from the bass are, male vocals sound quite natural and also quite clean overall, well separated.
 
 
 
In terms of upper mid-range, the part where there is more high-pitched sounds, it is on the boosted side, this means that female vocals are very lively and energetic and, while it sure come feel shouty for sensitive people, they are also quite well controlled and fairly natural. If you like this kind of presentation, I think they are from the better done ones in IEMs since even I, with my sensitivities, can enjoy it.
 
 
 
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# Treble
 
 
Treble is one of those cases that is just good so there is nothing much special to mention but also not much really to critique about, is decently extended, a bit airy, sense of detail is good, texture is fine, is just well controlled in general, not really for trebleheads but also not super “tamed”, just the right amount of it for the overall sound presentation.
 
 
 
The only potentially problematic thing to point out is that there is a tiny area of the treble that is audibly emphasized over the rest of the treble, which makes for a bit of a “splashy”, a bit sparkly presence on some specific sounds that some sensitive people could find too intense, more so depending on the music genre but for the most part it isn’t really fatiguing, still, using high volumes or, again, being sensitive, can make it more problematic
 
 
If sibilance is something you are worried about, I’ll say Unicrom actually controls sibilance quite well but it would really depend on each specific song, especially if there is recorded sibilance involved, it might be a bit be a bit annoying in those kind of tracks, all in all though, it controls it just fine as most decent IEMs do.
 
 
 
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# Technical performance
 
 
I recently reviewed another iem that had a similar tuning but had a hybrid driver configuration, 2 dynamic drivers plus a small planar, and this is what I mean when I say “driver quality is always more relevant than driver count”, because Unicrom, with just a single 10mm Beryllium-Plated Dynamic Driver, manages to beat the hybrid configuration, even on things that it should do better for being a hybrid.
 
 
 
Soundstage is fine, not the most open feeling, but also not the most narrow, is the average for most IEMs, imaging is pretty accurate, on brand with most good sub $100 iems, resolution is pretty nice, realistic enough, detail retrieval is fine but maybe not the most obvious when listening to it, again, everything is as good, as crisp as it should be for the price bracket Unicrom is at.
 
 
 
Something that did surprised me is that, despite the single driver, the separation on the Unicrom is surprisingly good, and I mean, remarkably good for both the price and for not being a hybrid IEM, plus, it does it in a bit more cohesive way that some hybrids do.
 
 
 
Finally, stuff like note-weight, how physical the notes feel on the iem, is in the middle ground of being aggressive or being too soft, just the right amount for enjoying music. About replay, how good the IEM can convey the mixing on a song, for well mixed tracks it does very well, giving you the full experience, but it might feel a bit bland with poorly mixed tracks, not bad, but maybe lacking some “wow” factor.
 
 
 
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# Overall sound
 
 
All in all, I find the Unicrom to be a well done, slightly warm, slightly bassy, balanced V-shape, with a pretty decently punchy and rumbly bass, with a clear focus on the mid-bass hit, without leaving the sub-bass rumble behind, a bit thin but mostly correct mid-range with very lively female vocals, and a present enough treble that’s inoffensive for the most part, just a bit of sparkly on top, so sensitive people should be careful.
 
 
 
I am going to be real with you, I really hate V-shaped iems, I don’t like thin mid-range, I don’t like boosted upper mid-range (4khz to 7khz) and I don’t like too boosted treble, and in general I just don’t like how noisy yet hollow music sounds with V-shapes, so you got to imagine my surprise when I was not actively hating using the Unicrom which do check some of those boxes.
 
 
 
Would I even buy it with my own money? Not really, but not for other reason than because is just not my style, however, if I had to use a V-shaped iem without EQ for the rest of my life I will, for sure, be picking Unicrom from all the other V-shapes I have tried, it just gets the job done, is well balanced and I can actually enjoy it in a personal level.
 
 
 
Is it a new benchmark in the price range? Is the best iem I have hear under $100? Again, no, but what Unicrom do is, is a well-made, a well thought out set that I can actually see myself recommending to people looking for things like an upgrade or even as an allrounder / daily driver set under $100.
 
 
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# COMPARISONS
I don’t want to make this too large, but I did promised to compare this set, something that I don’t do often, but in this case, with how so much competition is in the sub $100 price bracket, and with other similar tunned iems, I think it’s a helpful thing to do.
 
 
 
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**- Dunu Titan S2:** Similarly comfortable fit for me, S2 has more full feeling vocals while keeping the lively feeling to them, treble is also more sparkly than Unicrom, but it has some less amount of bass so it could feel a bit brighter, Unicrom does sound a tad bit cleaner, so it does better in terms of a funny engaging sound but they are ultimately just 2 flavors of similarly performing sets, Unicrom might feel a bit more open than S2 but technical performance is pretty much the same, only separation being more obvious on Unicrom.
 
 
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**- Dunu Kima 2:** Kima 2 has more treble so it feels a bit more open than Unicrom, more notably airy, but surprisingly Unicrom has the more lively vocals, Kima 2 just comes across as less energetic, more relaxed, and less bassy than Unicrom, it does have fuller, more controlled vocals so if you like that, Kima 2 is still the clear vocal winer for me, in technical performance though, they are pretty close, maybe Kima 2 is just a bit more resolutive
 
 
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**- Artti T10:** This is a close one, both are similarly V-shaped, but right out of the bad, getting a good seal isn’t as easy as on Unicrom, clarity do is better on T10 given that it has more treble and is fairly smooth with it, but vocals feel more pushed to the back, bass is also less punchy on T10, it doesn't sound bad, mind you, but Unicrom does make it feel a tad weaker when compared, soundstage, similar to Kima 2, feels more open too, and in technical performance T10 has a small edge in resolution and detail retrieval, but for separation it feels like a tie.
 
 
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**- Artti T10 Pro:** T10 pro has the better bass here for sure, but is not a big gap, treble is also quite more notably splashy when compared to Unicrom and even normal T10, vocals are nothing special and comfort is similarly tricky as T10, both are kind of V-shaped, but if I had to pick on to use with EQ, ill go for Unicrom, technical performance is also on the same level for both iems.
 
 
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**- TRN White Tiger:** Ill be straight, Tiger almost feels like the budget version of Unicrom, despite stock being near the same, treble is more sparkly but also way less controlled than on Unicrom and it doesn’t make it that much more open on soundstage though, bass is pretty similar but it fills less punchy overall thanks to the better seal on Unicrom, mid-range is also similar as both aren’t that pushed to the back, but thanks to the smoother and crispier sound on Unicrom they feel more approachable, Unicrom is an small but almost direct upgrade from the Tiger, specially in technical performance across the board.
 
 
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**- Kefine Klean:** Unicrom has a bit better resolution, but they aren’t that far off, bass quality is a bit better on Unicrom too, but because of the tuning, Klean has more presence of the bass, fuller vocals and a bit more sparkly treble, technical performance in general, specially separation, Unicrom does have a notable edge over Klean, but Is not a big upgrade from one to the another, I naturally like the tuning on Klean better though, which makes me more biased towards it.
 
 
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**- Kiwi Ears Cadenza:** As of right now I don’t hand Cadenza in my hands anymore, however, for better or for worse I remember the experience of using it, Unicrom reminds me a lot of it but it does feel notably better, more technical, Unicrom has more bass so is more balanced to my ears, although if you find Cadenza any bassy, it could be too bassy for you, do I recommend it as an almost direct upgrade? Yes I do.
 
 
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# Accessories
 
 
The box the Unicrom comes in looks fairly eye-catching but I was actually surprised on how premium it felt when opening, since after removing the cardboard sleeve, the box closes with a magnetic kind of latch, when open you can see the earpieces well-presented above its carrying case and bellow it is the rest of documentation and accessories inside 2 black boxes.
 
 
 
- The cable is a Pula branded “high-purity silver-plated copper cable” that has a 0.78mm 2-pin IEM connection with an interchangeable plug system with both 3.5mm and 4.4mm jack connections included in the package. If you ask me this is from the best stock cables I have seen on a sub $100 iem, is lightweight, doesn’t tangle much, is flexible and feels sturdy, the screwable connection system is similar to Dunu cables but they aren’t compatible. The “screwable latch” is smooth metal so it could be a bit tricky to use at first.
 
 
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- The included eartips aren’t anything special however it doesn’t mean they are bad, Unicrom comes with 2 sets of eartips, the clear ones seem to be a bit more of a wide bore, while the dark blue ones seem to be a narrow bore, both came in S, M and L sizes and both felt quite comfortable in the ear, they are very usable, which despite it being an obvious thing to say, not all budget iems come with as decent as those.
 
 
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- Finally, in the box comes a dark green solid carrying case that also use a magnetic latch to close, it is compact, it feels sturdy, and despite the size, feels spacious enough for perfectly carrying your iems plus anything else you would need, even a larger dongle DAC like Dawn Pro or DTC480 (yes, I managed to fit them too).
 
 
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Unicrom doesn’t come with too much inside the box, but it does come with jut all you need to use them to the best of their capabilities, these accessories are well paired with this set and is nice to see it when a lot of other sets, even more expensive ones, feels like they get handicapped by the accessories.
 
 
 
 
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#Conclusions
 
 
I might sound a bit too optimistic throughout the review when talking about Unicrom, but is very refreshing to test an iem that, despite not being my preference, it really feels like the brand knew exactly what they were doing when producing them, everything just makes sense for the most part I can realistically see what kind of public would want to get one.
 
 
 
If you want an energetic, clean, and funny sound, if you want comfort, if you are upgrading from the Kiwi Cadenza or the TKZK Ouranos and felt like wanted a bit more bass, if you feel other V-shapes are too sparkly, if you just want a well-rounded, energetic set, Unicrom is your pick under $100, simple as that, and I can stand behind it.
 
 
 
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***Thanks a lot for reading, the Budget Knight bids farewell, wishing you the best, good luck. – O.E.***

Pula Unicrom Review – A V-shape I can actually enjoy.