This is a comparison between the planar magnetic Letshuoer Ember and Kiwi Ears Astral. The Ember is rather bassy, and I wanted to compare it to a warm-neutral earphone, so my choice landed on the Astral.
Letshuoer has recently introduced the Ember, a limited-edition flagship single-driver planar magnetic IEM. While it closely resembles the S15 (released in 2023/24) in design and features a driver of the same size, Letshuoer states that the driver is entirely new. The Ember is limited to 999 units and is typically priced at 499 USD.
The Astral is a fairly neutrally tuned hybrid driver IEM. It features a 10mm dynamic driver for the bass and balanced armatures for the rest of the frequency range. Two dual (4 in total) balanced armature drivers handle the midrange, while a dual balanced armature tweeter covers the highs. The Astral is typically priced at 299 USD.
You can read my full Astral review here
LETSHUOER EMBER SPECIFICATIONS
- Driver: 14.8mm custom planar magnetic driver
- Impedance: 30 Ohms
- Sensitivity: 103dB
- Frequency response: 20Hz~40kHz
- Housing: titanium alloy shell + aluminum alloy faceplate
- Cable: 26AWG, 4 core, UP-OCC monocrystalline copper
- Cable connectors: 0.78mm universal dual pin connector
- Cable termination: 4.4mm balanced gold-plated jack
- Included: ear tips and puck shaped storage box
Current price and availability:
KIWI EARS ASTRAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Drivers: 1 Dynamic Driver and 6 Balanced Armatures (3 dual)
- Setup: 1 DD bass, 4 BA mids and 2 BA tweeters.
- Impedance 23 Ohms
- Sensitivity,: 105dB
- Cable connector: 0.78mm 2-Pin
- Cable: 1.2 m with 3.5mm & 4.4mm interchangeable jacks
Current price and availability:
- Kiwi Ears: Astral
- Linsoul: Kiwi Astral
- Amazon: Kiwi Astral
LISTENING COMPARISONS
Associated equipment:
- Amplifier: Topping A90
- DAC: RME ADI-2 DAC FS
Sandermosem by Maridalen
The Ember is darker in tone and has more mid-bass presence, while the Astral leans more neutral. Both offer excellent resolution, but the Ember feels a tad more refined.
Blessed Feet by Tord Gustavsen Trio
The Ember is warm and smooth with excellent detail and imaging. The Astral is quite similar here, slightly less dark in tone, though the two are close in both tonality and overall quality.
Dancing in the Dark by Jørgen Dahl Moe
The Ember is smoother, lusher, and warmer; I prefer it here. The Astral is great too, but brighter in comparison.
Golden Horn by Joe Lovano
The Ember is dark and smooth, deliciously so; the bass is rich but not overpowering. The Astral is not too far off, but not as creamy, and with a more neutral bass presence.
Alt e bra by Building Instrument
Both IEMs are highly resolved and spacious sounding, with the Ember being a tad darker.
Cloud Wars by Medeski, Martin, and Wood
Here they sound quite different. The bass is stronger with the Ember, while the Astral sounds generally crisper and brighter.
Take On Me MTV Unplugged by a-ha
Both render this excellent track and Morten Harket’s wonderful vocals very nicely. The Ember is again smoother, lusher, and darker, while the Astral is more neutral. There is no bass on this track, so that is not a differentiator here.
Yours by Bull Laurence
The mid-bass is stronger on the Ember. It is also more lush, dark, and laid-back, but still very refined. The Astral has less spatial presence, even though it is generally perceived as brighter.
Mango Drive by Rhythm and Sound
This track has a very deep and challenging bass. I think the Ember handles it extraordinarily well and more cleanly than the Astral, not surprisingly.
Limit to Your Love by James Blake
I love this song – the contrast between the gentle vocals and the insane bass line is fascinating.
Again the vocals are a bit brighter and crisper with the Astral. And while both handle bass well, I find it to be cleaner (impressively well handled, actually), and unsurprisingly more powerful, with the Ember.
WRAPPING IT UP
Sound Signature
The Ember is a bass-heavy, laid-back IEM, while the Astral is tuned to be neutral to warm.
Treble
Both have great treble quality and neither is especially bright or overly crisp. However, the Ember is darker, and I tend to find it even cleaner.
Midrange
The midrange is tuned differently. While the Astral is not an especially crisp or brightly tuned IEM it’s relatively neutral. The Ember is darker and smoother.
Bass
This is where the largest difference lies. The Ember has a very present bass shelf which includes the mid-bass, with all bass being pretty much boosted. The Astral is very different; the bass follows a more standard natural/neutral “Harman curve” tuning.
In essence, the Ember is significantly bassier than the Astral. Whether you prefer this or not is a matter of personal taste, but the Ember is far from neutral. That said, pulling down the bass with EQ works very well.
Soundstage and Imaging
The Astral is a tad laid-back in sound signature even though it is relatively neutral, the Ember even more so. Still, both have a large soundstage and great imaging. However, as with every laid-back earphone, the imaging is more subtle than with more treble-intensive gear.
Detail, Dynamics, and Timbre
Both earphones deliver a high level of detail, but I am most impressed with the Ember. The difference is not very large, but the Ember feels more refined and subtle.
When it comes to dynamics, the frequency response curves of these two IEMs are so different that it is hard to generalise, as it largely depends on the track.
It is easier to generalise on timbre. The Astral is quite neutral in many ways, but slightly laid-back compared to many other more “truly” neutral IEMs.
The Ember is darker, lusher, and warmer. Again, the frequency response curves are quite different, and which sounds more “natural” depends somewhat on the track.
CONCLUSION
The Kiwi Ears Astral and the Letshuoer Ember are both great IEMs that are not too far from each other in overall quality. Still, they are quite different.
The Ember is darker, warmer, and lusher, with a traditional bass shelf that makes it noticeably bassier on most tracks. The Astral is significantly more neutral.
Both offer excellent resolution, but the Ember feels more refined overall and has better bass control. It is the more coloured option, but for me, it is also the more intriguing one.
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- AliExpress: Ember
- Amazon: Ember
- Kiwi Ears: Astral
- Linsoul: Kiwi Astral
- Amazon: Kiwi Astral
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