Kinera Celest Plutus Beast

TONALITY: 7/10
TECHNICALITIES: 8/10
TIMBRE: 6.5/10
SOUNDSTAGE: 8/10
IMAGING: 8.5/10
MUSICALITY (Subjective): 6.5/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8/10
ACCESSORIES: 8/10
SOUND VALUE: 7.5/10

Celest is sister company of Kinera, aimed to offer a budget solution for audiophiles seeking new acoustic tech that more often found in pricier IEMs. They have released a budget 50$ 1SPD+1DD hybrid as well as the well acclaimed Pheonixcall 1DD+2BA+2SPD tribrid that I've reviewed lately and found indeed very impressive in technical performance.

Today I will review the Plutus, which is another tribrid using 1SPD+1BA+1 bone conduction driver this time, making it the cheapest tribrid with BC out there. This was quite a big deal to me, and i’m grateful Kinera finally send this review sample to me after it was hold off by hifigo for near 6 months now.

Let's see how it sounds to my ears and if the sound value meets some kind of musicality too.


CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES



The Plutus is made of basic plastic, not thick resin. It's light and feels sturdy enough but I would be worried about dropping it on a hard floor or stepping on it lightly.
The backplate design is quite magnificent and shows again how good Kinera is when it comes to aesthetics.
On top there is a 2 pin connector, it's not recessed and will match most 2 pin cables apart QDC.
The nozzle is quite thick and it’s long enough for deep and shallow fit, though deep fit is mandatory to get proper bone conduction transmission.

The included cable is of good quality and can be chosen in a balanced 4.4mm plug which is a big plus.Its a 5N silver plated copper, its 4 core braided and has a total of 48strandes. Construction feels very good and urgent cable upgrade isn’t necessary due to decent quality of this cable.



When it comes to packaging, we have a sober presentation and a generous amount of accessories. We have a small round carrying case of good quality. 6 pairs of silicone ear tips. A cleaning too. The nice balanced cable and the Plutus Beast (Pi Xiu) mythical creature medaillon. All in all, more than decent accessories, construction and design.

SOUND IMPRESSIONS



The tonality of Plutus sits between V shape and bright neutral with slight bass boost, it’s not a basshead nor the most fun sounding IEM, sense of clarity is magnified with the bone conduction driver that focus on mids presence and mid bass texture and dynamism.

These are the kind of IEM that sound bright both in and out of your head, thanks to the bone conduction driver for adding extra sound layers richness, though it does concentrate upper mids presence energy and will be too much for treble sensitive people.

These aren’t lush and warm sounding IEM, nor thick and natural in timbre nor particularly airy and open in spatiality, it’s an intimate and focused listening experience with plenty of attack bite and crunch but not a very extended treble in terms of sparkle and air. The drivers mix is quite exotic and the bass part being dealt both with BC and SPD driver, it again focuses more on energy of attack than its natural release like rumble density and longevity.

Yep, we are in speedy and exciting musical territory here, which is hit or miss depending on the music style you listen too.

The bass is certainly unique in its flavor, it’s fast and boomy, effortlessly textured and when we get an impact we have a hint of concentrated energy that helps define the mid bass presence and kick drum rendering.
Bass lines feel a bit compressed in articulation, in the sense it doesn’t resonate nor extend deep, it’s magnified in grunt vibrancy and not very transparent even if not very thick. Headroom isn’t wide and underlines the compression of dynamic release.
The punch feel more in your head than hitting the eardrum, this had an extra dimension to musicality but it doesn’t mean bass resolution is incredible, we have a mix of euphony from square planar driver that stricken bass to lower mids with hint of warmth that stay in the back of sound layers, canceling the possibility of perfectly black background but helping cohesion of 3 drivers flavors.
Though punchy, it’s not hard energetic impact and feels a bit diffuse in sound pressure, i can’t pinpoint the kick it’s physical and a bit sloppy in impact definition.
Cello and double bass sound a bit boxy and dark, again, we have the physical presence being extracted effortlessly but the presence is euphonic and distorted.
Unique bass for sure, but not something that I find addictive or appealing tonaly and dynamism wise.

Then the mids are mostly lean and bright, with concentrated energy in upper mids so they feel loud but not refined, it’s grainy and plastiky in timbre, acoustic instruments sound artificial but both male and female vocal are well bodied and forward in presence.
It seems Plutus specializes in vocal and nothing else, which means piano, saxophone, trumpet and cello will sound half cooked and off tonaly.
Back to the female vocal, they are bright and upfront, very focused, more so than other instruments. Their slight instance of sibilance and they are borderline shouty, it’s quite aggressive and the BA timbre is on the rough side.
I really struggle to find anything positive about mid range, it’s not clean nor open, it’s intimate yet not immersive or cuddling enough for pleasant listening, we can say it’s near monitor in rendering yet again not crisp enough in imaging and instrument definition to be applause in that aspect.

Then the treble isn’t as extended or impressive as expected with such tribrid. It seem Celest goes all lower treble presence boost with Plutus and forget to add air and sparkle as well as proper attack edge so macro dynamic feel properly open and sharpened.
It’s a fast and aggressive treble with the main focus in the lower treble region where presence grain and loudness peaks are magnified.
The snare drum is very aggressive and pops up in track with authority, but this can be spiky too and fatiguing.
Percussions aren’t very crisp, they are euphonic and noisy, fast in attack but without proper definition, so the complex rhythm part will be a bit messy especially if a lot of cymbals crash. They have boosted resonance too that is border line splashy. It’s energetic and excited in both attack speed and release.
Acoustic guitar will sound loud and a bit spiky, this can do the same with double bass in the sens string pulling attack will pop up loud in soundscape and underline texture of the snap, in other word, the (non harmonic) presence of instrument is again too boosted like it is for all high pitch instrument that can dominate the mix in loudness energy, this make me often play with volume to avoid shouty spike aggression.
This means that clarity is boosted and tweaked, for acoustic guitar the result is rather pleasant, i could say the same for harp and even some percussions part but this is overal not very well balanced treble and quite rough in attack sustain-release.

The soundstage is impressive in term of holographic intimate cocoon, like a mini hall you hide it, it’s not very wide and a hint taller, but most of all it’s deeper due to center stage being a bit recessed, so it’s between a tunnel like and mini-hall like spatiality.

The imaging is above average for the price, it’s easy to pinpoint instruments especially those in high frequencies range, but since presence is ‘’monitor like boosted’’ attack lead of bass instruments like double bass or electric bass is easy to pinpoint too.


COMPARISON



VS BQEYZ WIND (1DD+1 BC-220$)

The Wind is warmer, bassier and more mid centric as well as more natural and cohesive in smoother balance.

The Plutus is more energetic and V shape in balance with greater treble boost and focus as well as similar roll off pass 10khz, so both this IEM lack sparkle and extension in treble but Wind has more mid range focus as well as notably deeper bass response.

Everything sounds thinner and more boxy with the Plutus, we can say shoutier and brighter too from dryer and snappier bass response to crunchier and edgier treble, sense of speed is more magnified than relaxed balance of the lusher sounding Wind.

Bass is thicker and weightier with the Wind, it's more boomy-boxy with Plutus, bass line are fuller and more natural in tone with Wind while thinner, more recessed and unbalanced in lower harmonic with Plutus, this make plutus feel notably more rolled off in sub bass than more vibrant, rumbly and wide in headroom bass presentation of the Wind.

The mids are wonkier, shorter and thinner with the Plutus, it’s more recessed yet louder in upper mids and shout release for female vocal, this mean its more prompt to sibilance and fatigue too, presence is more centered and compressed too, which make vocal of Wind wider and more immersive, nearer the listener while smoother and less unbalanced in loudness energy too, i can’t enjoy vocalist with the Plutus while i adore them with the Wind, this is the same for piano which is more artificial and recessed sounding with the Plutus while all brass instrument like saxo are more wonky and bright sounding too.

The treble is edgier, brighter and more aggressive with the Plutus, it’s more resonant and brilliant too, it’s a notch airier and attack speed is faster. WInd is smoother and darker with less micro details like texture spike boost, it’s notably less fatiguing and better balanced, violin sound thicker and more natural with wider presence while harp and acoustic guitar has more body, lusher tone and less spiky brilliance, so less resonance boost too.

The soundstage is notably wider and taller with the Wind, while deeper like a tunnel with the Plutus.

Imaging is about on par with both but different in presentation since sound layers are wider and closer to the listener with the Wind. Presence separation in stereo positioning is better with the Plutus which has edgier definition of instruments but smaller and closer presence too. For the wind, sound layered are wider and more transparent even if thicker, i would use the Wind for post production and final mastering cohesiveness while the Plutus for technical monitoring.

All in all, tonaly wise the Plutus is less well balanced, wonkier in musicality, more artificial and thinner in timbre as well as more boxy in musicality, while for technical performance it have an inferior bone conduction driver and more excited SPD and BA drivers that ultimately show the price different in techs quality.

CONCLUSION



The Plutus Beast is quite a technical beast for sure but feel more like a rushed experiment than properly fine tuned IEM.

Those are sure not made for natural timbre seeker or lush mid centric tonality lover, nor for treble sparkle seeker. As well, i feel these shine more with instrumental music due to boomy bass response when it come to attack punch.

Yet, Celest push sound engineering in sub-100$ market making available a tribrid with bone conduction driver, in that regard, I really respect this company yet as always I feel they need to improve in tonal balance since cohesive tuning is harder with different drivers flavors, which is evident here especially between bass and mids response.

Anyhow, the Celest Plutus Beast offer great imaging and resolution for the price as well as an energic and captivating musical experience.

Recommended for those seeking exotic musicality on a limited budget.


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PS: I want to thanks Kinera for sending me this review sample. As always, i have zero affiliation or $ compensation and these are my honest subjective audio impressions and opinions.

Intro:
This IEM was actually delayed for quite a while, I wanted to discuss it, so I could celebrate the birthday of the person who lent me this IEM.
I got this iem on loan from Uncle Harmoko Lie.

The build quality of this iem is fairly solid with good cables. The housing is made of resin plastic which is quite premium when I hold it
Unfortunately, the fitting is not comfortable for my ears. This long nozzle makes the iem tend to be picky about eartips
Using the default medium/wide bore tips doesn't fit my ears. It just felt right when I used the Divinus Velvet tips

Apart from the fitting, another problem that is a bit annoying is the vibration sound of the bone conduction when it enters my ear. The sound is quite annoying, it feels less well controlled compared to the BQEYZ Wind with the same driver.

This IEM is easy enough to tow a cellphone or other source that doesn't have a lot of power
This IEM can be said to be one of the cheapest tribrid iEMs in its class. The driver configuration is 1 bone conduction+1dd+1ba

Moving on to the sound impressions...

Bass:
I can say that the tonality of this iem is warm, rather dark.
The bass has quite a large quantity and is boomy. This bass sensation feels like a bass sensation from bone conduction, but the bass is more focused on the mid bass compared to the sub bass

Unfortunately, even though we focus on the mid bass, the bass quality is not good in my opinion. Both in terms of texture and detail. The bass feels less punchy and full. The presentation feels hollow and seems pillowy or lacks impact.

The sub bass extension fortunately feels quite good with a typical bone conduction rumble that has a good vibration. Although typical sub bass tends to be wide and spaced out to the right/left. It doesn't extend to the point where it feels like that.
The bass control is just adequate, it feels a bit bleak in the lower mid area. The speed is also just normal in my opinion

Mid:
The mid position of this plutus beast is more backward than the bass because this IEM is tuned vshape.
The lower mids are tuned from the driver bone conduction, similar to the bass. This makes the lower mids thick but unfortunately the male vocal presentation is a bit strange in my opinion. The timbre feels less natural even though the weight is already quite thick with good emotion and sweetness.

It feels like the timbre in the lower mid is a bit off compared to the upper mid which is more natural and looser in presentation. The difference in timbre between the two, which is less coherent, can be felt in duet songs like the song Afgan ft Lyodra - Ada.

For the uppermid, it feels like I'm using a good BA driver, so the timbre execution isn't plasticky with minimal peaks and sibilance.

Treble:
The treble presentation is more backward or laid back than other frequencies with a dark character
This dark character makes the treble feel a little less sharp and intense. So the treble feels rolled off, but relaxed and polite. It feels good to listen to for a long time because of the safe treble

What's unique is that the treble on this Plutus beast is tuned using a DD driver and is actually coherent with the BA driver in the uppermid. This is a bit strange because the only thing that makes it incoherent is the bone conduction driver.

Technical:
Overall, fortunately, this Plutos beast is technically quite good for its price.

In terms of detail, resolution and micro detail, it is at the same level as the 7Hz Sonus and Hidizs MS3. Yes, although the detail is somewhat smoothed out the effect of the dark treble. Luckily, this Plutus beast has good dynamics and doesn't feel like it lacks dynamics like the Hexa or Q1 Pro.

The stage from Plutus feels quite wide with less depth, and a good stage height.
If only the depth of the stage was good, the stage would definitely feel wider and more balanced.
This is also helped by the imaging which is quite good and precise.

The separation and layering of this Plutus beast as expected feels a bit lacking, because the depth of the stage is also lacking with the bass presentation being boomy and bleak to other instruments. Apart from that, the clarity is just sufficient, with just normal transient speed. So for me, making busy songs with a fast tempo is still not suitable for Plutus Beast.

Outro:
Plutus Beast is an IEM that actually has potential. The driver is good but the execution is still not perfect in my opinion.
As long as I try and use it, I actually can't say that this is a bad IEM, because if you listen to it casually without paying attention to the sound tuning aspect, this is an IEM that is suitable for listening while doing activities.

But in the future, perhaps my advice to the Celest or Kinera team is that there is no need to rush to release a product with the addition of a bone conduction driver with a tribrid configuration. Just take for example the BQEYZ Wind, which only has dual driver bone conduction+dd, the sound feels much more mature and coherent than this Plutus Beast.
I'm just hoping, who knows, in the future there will be a Plutus Beast Pro inspired by Wind's tuning.

That's enough of my personal impression. It's been a long time since I made a long impression. Thank you

Kinera Celest Plutus unusual product ana I'll tell you why now Firstly, it has a unique driver layout of one armature, one dynamic driver and one spd driver

When I first ate I read the gear sold and I thought that the ones given to them would be bright and very light, well I was wrong. We'll talk about sounds a little later

Let me start with the fact that the shells are printed on a 3D printer. They have excellent ergonomics and a good angle in relation to the ear canal

Samshel is very anatomical and comfortable, it will fit almost any ears. Perhaps it’s not suitable for the little ones, but this is not a problem with Plutus, but with most of the headphones that are worn behind the ear

The sound guide has an even longer length than most of the ones on the market and this is a very strong point of it, because many other manufacturers have too short a nose, because of this sound insulation suffers, accordingly sound quality and, of course, pass suffers

The cable is quite soft and reliable and it is also aesthetically pleasing. I think that there is no point in changing the cable for this data and it is unlikely that improving the cable will improve the sound itself

It seems to me that in this case the cable corresponds to the IEMs itself, and sometimes some manufacturers put in the kit a standard cable of lower quality than what they themselves supply in order for the buyer

Now let's come to the most important aspect, namely the sound. I said it before. I expected the sound to be very bright, given that the two drivers are, in principle, designed for good transmission of high frequencies. Chance Plutus prepared a surprise for me

I would call the sound of the plutus warm, neutral and moderately natural, considering the budget of the IEMs and the drivers in them.

Plutus reproduces live instruments well, copes well with electronic music, mid-level separation of planes, very comfortable high frequencies, mid frequencies have moderate texture, low frequencies are quite low, but not maximum, but again, with a given budget, the sound characteristics and their timbre signature, very good

The tuning is natural, perhaps even tending to the Harman curve. I would call the overall sound signature comfortable and soft, not causing discomfort from listening to your favorite music for a long time

The data they give is intended for mid-level sources expensive sources will not give a greater increase in sound, but again, listening to the data they give on very low-class sources. You won't enjoy them

They cope with absolutely all styles of music, they are not picky about the quality of the material. But of course, it is advisable to listen to the music in them in high quality material

To summarize, I want to say that this is a unique driver circuit that provides quite comfortable sound in excellent housings with excellent design, this is a solution for those who have a limited budget, but want to get acquainted with multi-drivers from a respected brand with high quality production. And very pleasant sounding

I am sure that IEMs will not make you bored and will only cause positive emotions from listening

#Kinera #Celest @Kinera @Celest