Hello Head-Fiers,

First off I want to take a moment just to clarify where this review is coming from. I am a normal, everyday, down to earth person, with no sponsorships, affiliations, followers on social media (I mean literally zero), etc. I purchased these IEMs with my own money and no one is asking me to do this review. Probably nobody needs me to do this review. Why am I doing this? Wait. Where am I?
Okay now that we’ve cleared that up, here goes:

Right now I am listening to “The Wolf is Loose” The opening track on Mastodon’s Blood Mountain. I am running on a balanced 4.4mm Zonie cable through an iFi hipdac2 with neither the power match or bass boost engaged. My source is an iPhone 13 Pro Max.

It’s impressive. There is just so much definition and detail with these. Would I like a little more sub bass and mid bass? Yes. But it’s definitely there and it’s pretty clean and punchy too. The mids, upper mids and treble are really fantastic here. And I know if I hit that bass boost… I’m just truly attempting to describe these without too much additional coloring, but as you probably know, the hip dac2 is a bit warm. The Stellaris needs that. Trust me. The $10 iphone dongle does not cut it with these. Don’t even bother trying it.

With John Coltrane’s epic and legendary (and finally platinum almost 60 years gone by) A Love Supreme, it’s like you’re sitting in the studio with them (or bar in the case of the live Seattle recording). They almost rival my Focal Elegias in that respect. Almost. Keep in mind we are talking about a 14.5mm planar magnetic driver in a $100 IEM. Like I said, impressive.

Back to the metal genre, my favorite band of late is Spiritbox. Courtney LaPlante and the boys lay down some seriously complex tracks; from super heavy to light and melodic; much of the time in the same song. It takes a very detailed IEM to retrieve all of the layers in a coherent fashion and the Stellaris accomplishes just that.

Chris Stapleton’s gritty, soulful and engaging baritone sounds fantastic as does Ana Netrebko singing “Dido’s Lament” and the like. Yes, they’re versatile as well.

So what exactly is wrong with them? Well let me tell you. First, I had to do some serious tip rolling in order to find the “best” sound. It ended up being the Zeos Render tips for me, but you may prefer something else.

Second, a fairly deep insertion is required, or these things are going to sound thin, metallic and hollow. You absolutely have to get this part right.

C (just making sure you’re still paying attention) they’re bulky and heavy. It’s not a big problem once you have them settled, but getting them there takes some effort.

Fourthly (lol) think of it like being used to drinking a nice smooth buttery California Chardonnay (most decent $100 IEMs) and having someone switch you to an Austrian Gruner Veltliner with crazy crisp high acidity without telling you. Yes, it still has wonderful flavors, but the texture is going to make you go “What the actual ____ is that?!?!?”

So do I recommend them? YES! But only if you’re ready for something different. The qualities are fabulous, but the presentation is, well, out there… The strange and beautiful Stellaris.