LETSHUOER ASTRALIS: Silken Planar Sound Star

During the Classical antiquity in the Roman society, there was a famous fatalistic phrase “Fata Astralis” which means that your fate or destiny is determined by the stars in Classical Latin as on how some Romans view it with their extrinsic religiosity along with their strong philosophical outlook that they simply accepted their life events as if that they are already predestined by the mandate of the Parcae (the three goddesses of Fate on Roman Pantheon) on which are the will of the gods on how your life revolves around until your passing in this mortal realm.

 “Astralis” means that it was revealed by the stars as it seems a suitable and  appropriate name for the LETSHUOER's latest IEM model. And with LETSHUOER drawing down the final curtain of its popular S12 series as they will start a new chapter of their newest line-up model that also features a planar driver technology but with more enhancements and using better components. This is its latest model, The LETSHUOER ASTRALIS.

The LETSHUOER ASTRALIS features a proprietary latest generation of planar magnetic driver which is larger compared to its previous generation as it has 15.5mm of diameter size and also it is structurally different compared to the previous generation of planar magnetic drivers as it has a ring-type design with a round planar diaphragm with a magnetron sputter film on its voice coil in support with an elastic PTR membrane so and then suspended in dual magnetic array made of four layers of symmetrical annular magnet made of high-grade neodymium magnet. Also there are some incorporation of some breakthrough in the driver technologies these past years, particularly the SPD driver which mimics the performance of a true planar magnetic driver but it has a better power efficiency for better signal transmission and makes it less prone to oxidation and reduces any chances of clipping and unwanted harmonic distortion. With the implementation of those components to the latest architecture design of its patented mini-orthodynamic driver, it will ensure an optimal acoustic performance like faster transient response, better extension on its dynamic range, low resonance and greatly reduces distortion as it delivers a deeper bass, clear and rich midrange yet natural and accurate timbre on vocals and instruments and then, a gleaming and detailed highs with sufficient airy extension.

The advanced planar driver was then encased in a solid yet lightweight CNC-milled aerospace-grade aluminium alloy in an ovular-shaped shell chassis that underwent some anodising and sandblasting process to achieve its matte-like burnish surface for good resistance from light scratches,nicks and fingerprint marks. On its faceplate, it has a blue accent with some geometrical patterns on it that takes almost ¾ of its surface area to give that sophisticated look. The shell chassis itself has two small vent holes that serve as an outlet for excessive air pressure generated from its highly efficient driver as it regulates the air flow within its acoustic chamber. And like all LETSHUOER sets, it still applied a 0.78mm bi-pin connector as its interlocking mechanism for its detachable cable for easy attaching and unfastening and also, more stable connection.

As for its stock cable, out of the box, LETSHUOER provided a high quality, premium cable to be paired on ASTRALIS earpieces, and it is pretty sturdy, flexible and less prone to entanglement and kinks as it is made of multi-strand high purity silver-plated copper wiring conductors that was constructed into a four-core structure and it was braided to enhanced durability and less prone to breakage, and at the same time for dissipating microphonics and interferences that affects the signal integrity on transmitting lossless audio signal output.  And like the previous planar magnetic IEM models, it features a modular termination plug that allows us to swap different types of plug outputs for better compatibility to the wide range of hi-fi source devices from USB DAC/Amp dongle to desktop-grade amplifiers.

Another thing in connection with the cable was that LETSHUOER also included DT01 PRO, a USB Type-C to 3.5mm DAC/Amp dongle adapter. This dongle has a TTGK DAC Chip and it is capable of decoding PCM format up to 24bit/192kHz, but it doesn’t have support for DSD format.

When it comes to its auricular wearability, with fairly lightweight shells, it offers comfortable wear in the lugs for a long listening session without having any listening fatigue. Concerning its insertion in my lugholes, it seals well that I have an excellent passive noise isolation that was able to block unwanted external noises from the outside.

Like the previous models of LETSHUOER planar magnetic sets, its product packaging is well-furnished with accessories inside of its packaging box that we can use for our listening session. The inclusions are of excellent quality that I can attest on LETSHUOER's choices of accessories that will be bundled along the IEMs on its packaging box.

These are the following contents inside of its packaging box:

• Pair of LETSHUOER ASTRALIS transducer earpieces
• Stock cable with modular termination feature
• 3.5mm single-ended adapter plug
• 4.4mm balanced adapter plug
• LETSHUOER DT01 PRO adapter dongle
• Eartip rack ring plate
• Three (3) pairs of “Vocal” silicone eartips in different standard sizes (S,M,L)
• Three (3) pairs of “Balanced” silicone eartips in different standard sizes (S,M,L)
• TPE round storage case
• Paperwork like quality control stub, user’s manual and warranty card

When it comes to its power output requirement, since this is a planar magnetic as we all know that these complex transducers need more power to reach its optimal volume level as they scale better with more power output, specifically current. If properly amplified, it will deliver a dynamic and a full range sound across its frequency response.

The sound profile of the LETSHUOER ASTRALIS seems to follow the tuning of the S12 Ultra along with some elements from the S08 as they are on a warmish-neutral tonality with a slight lift of its low frequency that you can describe it as an L-shaped sound signature.

LOWS/BASS:

This is the most prominent part of the frequency response that this set has. It highlights the balanced presentation of its bass response as it has a sub bass presence and well-textured mid bass slam. This is probably one of the best bass tuning that I have heard from a planar magnetic driver IEM in my opinion akin to a dynamic driver's bass attack and decay.

• The sub bass reproduction has a deep and reverberating quality that was clearly felt as these fairly low audible frequencies were generated from electronic and string instruments such as drum machines, synthesisers, low-tuned bass guitars and double-basses.
• Regarding about its mid bass texture, as I mentioned about its bass attack as on how delivers a slam which is pretty incisive and potent for planar magnetic driver as it has a full, rich and warmth characteristics that produce a well-bodied sound on some notated bass instruments and low octave male vocals albeit there are some instances of mid bass smudging across the low midrange section.
• The bass instruments like the bass guitars, double-basses, bass kick drums, a resonant yet mellow sound on bass guitars, a sombre and dull sound on double-basses and a sonorous and rumbling on bass kick attack.
• Low octave male vocals like the bass and the bass-baritone, have deep resonating voices with a dark timbre on them as they sound heavy, dense and gravelly.

MIDRANGE:

The midrange presentation of this one is fairly neutral and well-balanced as it has an ample warmth and enough energy that will deliver a smooth, lush and detailed quality on both vocals and instruments to maintain that thorough, forward and natural sound.  You might even perceive this one as midcentric sounding IEM due its a bit reduced upper mids that avoids dry, too sterile and fatiguing on a long listening session, although this tuning might sound a bit darker to some listeners who wants to have an airy, crispier and gleaming on vocals, particularly on high octave ones on both male and female, and also on instruments.

• On the male vocals, with that ample warmth on is midrange presentation, its add more depth and volume on their vocal texture as I noticed that they are reproduced in an organic manner as baritones have rich, plush and smooth sound on them as lyric baritone have mild and mellow sound, kavalierbariton singers sound steely and dramatic baritones have full and austere voice, while the tenors sound more juicy and clear that heldentenor, dramatic and spinto types have a bit weighty vocal weight with a sweet, emotive and powerful sound on them, and then on countertenors, they have a pure, tender and light sound from their falsettos.
• With regard to female vocals as on how they sound like in this tuning, the contraltos are definitely sound more natural and almost accurate on this one as they will be able to deliver a strong, smoky and deep sound from their chesty voice, a lachrymose, velvety and musky sound from the mezzo-sopranos, and then on sopranos, they have a creamy, satiny and silky which are more suitable to dramatic, spinto and some lyric types of sopranos as they sound rich, mild and full with a bit darker timbre on them that makes them a bit less ideal to coloratura sopranos as these vocals needs a brighter tuning to project their agile, shimmering and sustaining their high vocal register.
• As for the instruments, with the woodwinds and brasses as on how they will sound on this set, on the woodwind ones like the concert flutes which has a rich and soft sound, piccolos sound more mellow than brilliant, clarinets have warm and rounded sound, and then the saxophones sound a bit warm and sonorous, while on the brasses like trumpets, trombones and horns, a full and stately sound on the trumpets, while the trombones sound full and round, and then horns have a mellow and resounding sound.
• Another section of instruments which are the strings and percussions, on the string ones, guitars sound a bit buttery and warm, violins have a sensuous and sweet sound, and cellos have a thick and sonorous sound, while on the percussives, snares have hard and rustling sound on every stroke, tom-toms have a warm and resonant sound, field drums have sonorous sound, and kettledrums have a warm, rumbling and a tad booming sound.
• The pianos seem to have a warmer sound as they have a mellow, rich and tender tone in which old European pianos are known for these sound characteristics like from Steinweg and Bösendorfer.

HIGHS/TREBLE:

The treble response of this one is definitely on a smoother side as they have these even, glossy and inoffensive treble tuning with a rather adequate airy extension but definitely not the airiest one that I have heard in a planar magnetic IEM. For sure that it will be pleasant to listen to this type of treble presentation if you are a treble-sensitive but if you are a treble-headed audio enthusiast, you might find it dull and lacking in brilliance.

• It has some slight bump somewhere on the presence treble section just to give enough clarity and definition on the attack on the instruments and articulation on the vocals but not that sharp but rather a bit blunted and a punchier one.
• There's not a hint of sibilance, piercing nor stridency sound although it is still induces a bit of a metallic sound due the nature of the planar magnetic driver but compared to the previous generation of planar magnetic drivers, they sound less zing-y, tizzy and dry as we usually describe on a typical description planar timbre.
• On its brilliance section, it has enough sparkle which became a trend for the previous LETSHUOER sets, like the S15, S08, S12 Ultra and Ember as they try to make it sound it more polish rather than more scintillating, and also it has a moderately airy extension.
• As for the treble-clef instruments, cymbals sound lustrous and undulating, hi-hats have warm, raspy and resonant tone its chick-y sound, glockenspiels sound dulcet and wafting, and then the celestas sound soft and mellow.

SOUNDSTAGE, IMAGING & OTHER TECHNICALITIES:

Since this is a planar magnetic IEM, expect competent technical capabilities on this one and it delivers accordingly on this aspect. Overall, the ASTRALIS offers a remarkable technical performance from its sound/speaker stage size up to scale and contrast on its macrodynamics.

• The perceived sound/speaker stage size, it has a moderately spacious spatial acoustic field as it has a fairly wide lateral span, a good height ceiling and an immersive depth as it has some good distance from front-to-rear in an acoustic environment.
• In relation to its perceived soundstage, its stereo imaging projects a 3D-like holographic presentation with good depth and a well-layered soundscape in which I was able to pinpoint the placements of musical elements like vocals and instruments with good separation that playing some complex tracks will be an easy peasy on this one.
• Since this is a planar magnetic driver albeit it is the latest generation and a proprietary one, it has an excellent coherency performance as it has a speed, low distortion and superior detail that  it has a fast transient response on it bass attack/decay and then its clear, precise and detail sound on its vocals and instruments with a minimal to none of blurring.
• On its resolution, this part of the technical aspect might have some concerns as it has some contrasts between the macrodynamics and microdynamics, as the former has a solid scale on highlighting the variances of its volume and  dynamic range on both chorale section and instrumental passages from its quietest section up to its loudest level, while its microdynamics, while it has less sharp definition for a planar magnetic on extracting fine details, grains and other subtleties from an audio track like instrumental reverb tails, vocal delays, notational attacks and audio textures.

PEER COMPARISONS:

LETSHUOER S12 ULTRA

• The last model of the S12 series line-up, and a preceding model before the ASTRALIS that also features a planar magnetic driver.
• It uses a bit smaller planar dynamic driver of an older generation yet a proven design that LETSHUOER keeps refining it and then encased in reuleaux triangle-shaped aluminium alloy shell.
• This one is fully-packed with contents inside of its packaging box, including a good quality stock cable with termination feature, a TPE round case, two types of eartips and DT01 PRO dongle.
• Like the ASTRALIS, It has a warmish-neutral sound signature but with less pronounced lows.
• The bass response of this one was attenuated a bit compared to the ASTRALIS as less rumbling sub bass and a bit tighter mid bass that makes it even more balanced sound, a balanced midrange with a hint of warm, rich and lush sound that makes males vocals sound more bodied and fuller, and then a smooth but a tad less extended airy treble.
• It has similar technical performance with the ASTRALIS, from a perceived roomy soundstage size and a well-layered holographic stereo imaging, but it seems that it still has sharper definition on its microdynamics.

HIDIZS MP145 PRO

• The successor of the highly-regarded MP145, and like the ASTRALIS, it also has a planar magnetic driver inside.
• It still uses a 14.5mm planar magnetic driver which is heavily modified by HIDIZS to achieve that power efficiency with high sensitive output due to its strong magnetic flux that it only needs standard gain output of amplification that makes it easy to drive and then, the driver was housed in a large shell structure with a ventral grooves-like pattern on it given that its overall design was inspired from a whale.
• The product packaging of this set was fully-furnished with quality accessories inside like high quality stock cable with a swappable termination feature, three types of eartips, and a soft-padded PU-leather storage box.
• Since this is a HIDIZS model, it features a detachable tuning filter nozzle system as it is their main specialty as it offers three types of tuning profiles; a balanced mild-U shaped sound, a warm U-shaped sound and a bright mild U-shaped sound.
• On the red ring tuning nozzle (a balanced mild U-shaped sound profile) it has a punchy but less rumbly bass response, a slightly recessed midrange presentation with ample warmth but it has more energetic and lively sound to female vocals and instruments like strings and woodwinds due to the accentuated upper mids that makes more open and somewhat forward sound, and then bit brighter treble with more air on its brilliance section.
• In terms of technical performance, it also has a perceived spacious soundstage size which I think it's a bit even wider than the ASTRALIS, a well-defined layering on its holographic stereo imaging and a bit sharper definition on its micro-detail retrieval.

KIWI EARS AETHER

• One of the latest planar magnetic driver IEM from KIWI EARS and it is also in the same price point with the ASTRALIS.
• It also features a large 15.3mm planar magnetic driver inside of its composite shell chassis with a modified UIEM-type design.
• Inside of its packaging box, there’s a lot of contents inside, including a leather storage case, three types of eartips and a good quality thick stock cable but it doesn't have a termination plug feature.
• This one has a balanced-neutral sound signature with a tinge of bright tonality.
• It has a balanced bass quality as it has depth and rumbling sub bass and an ample mid bass texture that delivers an incisive and snappy response, a neutral midrange with a balanced texture with some transparency and tidiness on it as it has enough warmth and energy that delivers a natural yet a bit lively sound on vocals and instruments, and then a bit shimmering, lustre and airy treble response.
• In regard to its overall technicalities, compared to the ASTRALIS, this one has a more spacious sound/speaker stage with also a well-layered soundscape in a stereographic imaging presentation and a sharper definition on its microdynamics, although it still has that planar-y timbre characteristic that is perceptive to my ears as it has still those zing-y, metallic and a bit buzzing end sound.

It seems that the era of the S12 series is over as this storied series of product line-up also defined LETSHUOER as a one of the big wigs in the battle of planars for the past  few years as they release a successive models and most of them have some positive feedbacks from the audio community in terms of tonality and technical performance. But now, with the introduction of this model, LETSHUOER takes a new approach on how they tuned it that they take some cues from the previous models like the S15, S08 and S12 ULTRA and incorporated it to their proprietary planar magnetic driver as they try achieve that balanced yet more organic which has a strong transient and visceral impact akin to a responsive of high quality dynamic driver while maintaining an exceptional technical performance of an orthodynamic driver, in which I think that they successfully implemented it along with a reasonable price that they offer that make this product more compelling.

LETSHUOER ASTRALIS is now available at LETSHUOER’s official online store. And I just provided a link below for those who are interested in this product.

LINK:

https://letshuoer.net/products/letshuoer-astralis-hifi-in-ear-earphones-15-5mm-5th-generation-planar-diaphragm-driver

SPECIFICATION:

MODEL: LETSHUOER ASTRALIS

IMPEDANCE: 20Ω

SENSITIVITY: 104dB

FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 20Hz – 40KHz

CABLE LENGTH: 1.2m

PIN TYPE: 0.78mm 2-PIN CONNECTOR

PLUG TYPE:  (MODULAR) 3.5mm, 4.4mm

DRIVER UNIT(S):  (1) PLANAR MAGNETIC DRIVER

PROS:

● Solid yet lightweight aluminium alloy shell chassis.

● Implementation on the latest generation of a proprietary planar magnetic driver which is a slight improvement over the previous generation of some off-the-shelf planar magnetic drivers in terms of transient response and power efficiency.

● The shell offers a comfortable fitting that you can wear for long listening sessions without any discomfort.

● The packaging box is teeming with accessories inside.

● Stock cable with interchangeable termination feature.

● Inclusion of DT01 PRO DAC/amp dongle, which is sufficient to drive this set.

● Somehow it has a balanced sound profile

● Punchy, rumbly and precise bass response.

● Full and well-bodied sound on bass-clef instruments and low-octave male vocals.

● Smooth, warm and rich midrange presentation.

● A full and plush sound on baritones, a deep and strong chesty sound from contraltos.

● Natural and realistic timbre on both vocal and instruments.

● Smooth and inoffensive treble response with a good amount of air

● Absence of shrill-y, tinny and piercing on its overall sound quality.

● It has a dynamic driver-like response.

● Excellent technical capabilities.

CONS:

● It still needs a powerful source to drive at optimal performance.

● TTGK audio chip on DT01 PRO doesn't support native DSD deciding.

● Compared to the other planar sets that I have tested for the past few years, its airy extension is still modest in my opinion.

● Might be too smooth and dark-sounding to some audio enthusiasts that adheres treble emphasis tuning.

● If you are a neutral head who wants a flatter with less colouration, this set isn't for you.

● Less sharp definition on its microdynamics aspect.

TRACKS TESTED: ( * = 16-bit FLAC, ** = 24-bit FLAC, *'* = MQA, '*' = DSD, *'= .WAV)

Alison Krauss -When You Say Nothing At All *

Jade Wiedlin - Blue Kiss**

Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks **

Mountain - Mississippi Queen *

Queen - Killer Queen **

Guns N' Roses - Patience *'*

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven '*'

Sergio Mendes- Never Gonna Let You Go '*'

Pearl Jam - Daughter **

Roselia - Hidamari Rhodonite *

Assassin - Fight (To Stop The Tyranny)*

Celtic Frost- Visual Aggression *

New Order - Blue Monday *

The Corrs- What Can I do (unplugged version) *

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child *

The Madness- Buggy Trousers *

Metallica - Motorbreath **

Mariah Carey- Always Be My Baby *

Destiny's Child - Say My Name *

Malice Mizer- Au Revoir *

Mozart - Lacrimosa *

New York Philharmonic Orchestra - Dvorak- Symphony 9 " From the New World." *

Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold (Sting cover)*

Michael Jackson - Give In To Me *

Exciter - Violence and Force *

Diana Krall - Stop This World **

Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat *'*

The Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection**

Suzanne Vega – Luka **

Lauren Christy – Steep *

Ottoman Mehter - Hucum Marsi *

Diana Damrau - Mozart: Die Zauberflöte*

Type O Negative - Black No.1 *

Felix Ayo - Vivaldi: Presto **

Three Tenors - Nessum Dorma *

Mercyful Fate - Witches' Dance *

P.S.

I am not affiliated to LETSHUOER AUDIO nor receive monetary incentives and financial gains as they provide me a review unit for an exchange of factual and sincere feedback from yours truly.

Once again, I would like to send my gratitude to the LETSHUOER KATHERINE for providing this review unit. I truly appreciate her generosity and trust towards me and other reviewers.

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