Letshuoer Astralis IEMs Review – Ring-Type Planar Driver Tuning
Letshuoer Astralis is a $189 USD pair of IEMS or In-Ear Monitros with a planar magnetic driver at the heart, a 3rd generation Ring-Type Planar driver and today we will explore how this type of driver sounds like, what Astralis brings to the table and how it compares to the broader market hovering around this price point.
Introduction
While I have absolutely zero affiliation with any company, I love Letshuoer products, and they’ve come a long way from being an entry-level company that I would check out just due to hype with their early Shuoer Tape Pro and old models to now creating IEMs I personally use as daily driver like Cadenza 12 2025, a pair of earphones that I consider not just brilliant, but reliable as well. You can always purchase Letshuoper products from Amazon, Aliexpress, but also from their own website and Linsoul too.
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Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4dgGDPD
Build Quality And Design
Letshuoer Astralis comes with a nice 15.5mm 5th Generation Ring-Type Planar Driver, and it uses a circular planar diaphragm. This is actually an interesting point because usually planar drivers are square. Voice coil of this driver is double-sided and Letshuoer uses a PTR Elastic film surround. Magnets are N52 type. This is all quite interesting and I know are least a couple of folks who would buy a new pair of IEMs instantly just for pursing the planar fever.
Cable is technically of an excellent quality, 216-Strand SPC, and it includes the DT01PRO 3.5mm to type-c DAC Amplifier inside the package. Astralis comes with two jack connectors as this cable is modular, one of the jack connectors being a 3.5mm and one being a 4.4mm balanced one. At the IEM side, we have a standard 0.78mm 2-Pin connector.
Technically, Astralis has an impedance of 20 OHMs, and a SPL or sensitivity of 104 dB. Both are low numbers for an IEM and they would normally indicate that it is sensitive to source noise, and that it is somewhat hard to drive, but we will test this down below. With a housing made of aluminium, Astralis feels sturdy and rigid.
Subjective Usage
Physically the Shells feel a bit heavy, metallic, but reliable, like most recent Letshuoer IEMS. Passive noise isolation is very strong, around 20 dB to 25 dB of pure passive noise isolation, while the cable is straight, does not remember kinks and is of a top quality.
Having a modular cable, Astralis feels refined, while the default eartips are of perfect quality and work wonderfully with my ears. While I don’t necessarily think they were mady for this, I’ve been able to use the Astralis to play Death Stranding 2 for a couple of hours with zero complaints. Although they feel warm inside of my ears, they never get hot nor uncomfortable.
You can expect a shall fit that will work well regardless of your ear shape and size, and Astralis is generally not sensitive to source noise, so a soundcard or entry-level DAC AMP should do just fine. Rather interesting, but there is no void and no driver flex, which is better than even some flagship planar driver IEMS. I realized that I rarely mention flex and void because they are rarely a problem now, but I have to mention it here, as most planar driver IEMS do have either or both, while Astralis has neither.
Sound Quality
Pairings – With a large collection of sources to test and pair the Astralis, I have paired it with FiiO K17, Audioengine HXL, Shanling Onix Beta XI2, Surfans F35 Music Player DAP, Shanling M7T, iBasso D17 Atheris, Burson Playmate 3, Rose Technics RT-5000, and Luxsin X9
A good combo for an entry-level price, Letshuoer Astralis works really well with entry-level sources, and it is very easy to drive, not very sensitive to source quality or source noise, making it an exceptional choice for its price point.
Overall Signature – The most ironic part for Astralis is that I discovered how good it is for gaming and games by accident, as I was playing Death Stranding II and wanted to work on the review, but still wanted to play some more, and I was blown away, as Astralis has better imaging and instrument separation than all the speakers I have currently installed, improving my game quite a bit. Apart from this, Astralis is a natural-neutral tuned IEM with a nice sharp treble, natural bass and natural midrange, but with a superb resolution and clarity for the price. Main highlight is how refined the planar driver sounds, and how it sounds super open and how it has a very low dynamic compression, sounding quite expansive and clear.
Bass – Technically, Astralis is not dead on neutral, but natural, it has a bit of warmth in the bass and a touch of mid bass emphasis, but it is far from sounding basshead like Arete II, instead it has a natural speed, natural quantity and zero compression bass that is enjoyable with all music styles. It does not really force you to hear bass, but heavy songs are rendered with full bass and it does not roll off until it does reach 20 Hz, which is surprisingly good for the price range. All in all, if you listen to OTG, Lil Wayne, or EDM music, you will hear the bass, but Astralis does not force bass into songs that are lean, like SOAD or rock and metal in general.
Voicing And Midrange – Although voices are likely the most forward element of the Astralis, they are not pushed far into the mix, it is a balanced presentation that delivers vocals balanced in relation to the midrange and the treble, creates a good contrast between sonic elements and it does not sound mid centric, just balanced – natural – neutral. There is no strong favoritism towards male or female voices, it does not make music happier or sadder, it is rather transparent, revealing, technical and slightly analytical in tuning. A touch on the warmer side, rather than cold, Astralis sounds quite open.
Treble – To my surprise, Astralis has a controlled treble, sharp and airy, but not overly harsh nor too bright. It feels like Letshuoer is one of the first companies to really take control of the Planar magnetic driver, to really keep it in check and create a sound that is enjoyable, but takes advantage of the larger diaphragm Planars have. Treble is natural, not too smooth, but has bite enough to keep metal and rock interesting, as well as EDM and electronic music, yet it is not an exaggerated tuning in any way.
Dynamics And Textures – Astralis has very low dynamic compression, and it feels like this is an advantage it has thanks to the planar driver used instead of a dynamic or Ba configuration. Textures are natural, slightly over expressed which give it a technical – analytical presentation, revealing quite a bit more detail than most of its direct competitors.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – Astralis has top control, it does not show any increase in THD at louder or quieter volumes, sounds great all across volume ranges, dynamic range and signature / tuning stays consistent at all volume levels, the most desirable type of saturation gradient for volume possible. It does not have a strong bias towards voltage or power, sounding great regardless of how the source balances power and voltage.
Soundstage – Astralis sounds quite wide and holographic, it has a strong imaging and separation, which combined with the natural balanced tuning makes it very good for gaming and watching movies, creates an immersive feeling for those. For music, it sounds quite interesting, does not have a very strong layer separation, instead it has a very strong lateral separation and imaging, being able to really pinpoint where each sound is coming from.
Value and Conclusion
With a super affordable price point, but not dirt cheap, Astralis is a good combo of a high-quality cable, delightful craftsmanship, super nice resolution and a good comfort, having a high value and price / performance ratio. It even comes with a nice plastic transport case that will protect the IEMs, and it has a collection of quality eartips that do not require immediate replacement, like arete II does for example.
I find zero faults with Astralis, it is downright great, cable, shell, isolation and design for the price, so if you’re looking for have some audio fun, Letshuoer Astralis feels like a mini Cadenza 12 2025, it is great, with no corners being cut despite the affordable price point.
PROs
- Cool design and complete package
- Modular cable included in the package
- Exceptional build quality in general
- Shallow fit that works well for most ears
- Quality eartips
- Neutral-natural sound with no exaggeration
- Superb resolution and detail, literally competing with IEMS twice the price
- Wide and airy soundstage
- Highly dynamic with little compression
- Excellent for gaming, rock and metal music
Cons
- For the price and considering everything, it has no real cons, just a good purchase in general
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4dgGDPD
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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