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

Review Of The Celest Plutus Beast​

Introduction​

Celest is a sub-brand of Kinera, a business that I admire for their handwork on their goods, especially how they position and name their IEMs, which makes them appear extremely appealing to frown at, but the best part is their sound tuning, which has gotten a lot of attention from audiophiles. Now that I've tried a few of their IEMs, I can say the same thing about Celest, and I truly feel the quality they deliver to their fans/consumers is exceptional for the price. I must note that they are well-known for their in-house SPD driver, which they incorporate into every IEM they create, but they have recently developed a bone conduction driver, which they have put in their most recent release, the Plutus Beast. I recently got hold of them for evaluation, but before we go any further, I'd want to clarify a few items.

Disclaimer​

*Since this unit tour was organised by the lovely people at HiFiGo, I am grateful to them. And as I've said in all of my evaluations, the same is true for this one: all of the concepts I've expressed below are entirely my own, original ideas that haven't been influenced by anyone else. If interested, go to this link.
*I am not associated with the connection, and I receive no financial assistance from anyone.
*For the remainder of the review, I will refer to these IEMs as “Beast.”
*I am using different Ear-tips for convenience and better versatility.
*Finally, I will only evaluate the Beast based on their performance, even though I will explain how it feels and seems physically and aesthetically.

Specification​

Beast configures a tribid driver arrangement that includes a custom balanced armature driver, a second generation SPD driver, and an in-house 10mm bone conduction. The shells are constructed of plastic and have a distinctive pattern that resembles the club head of a golf club. Even after hours of listening to them, I had no problems with the fit or comfort. When it comes to print and handwork, both Kinera and Celestial manufacture some of the most gorgeous IEMs in the world. The Plutus beast is no exception, as the faceplate has a lovely gold hand paint job and Celest etched. The IEM comes with a 5N silver-plated copper cable with two pin connectors on one end and a 3.5mm straight termination plug on the other, as well as a selection of eartips in various sizes and types, a carrying case, and a metal bookmark. The impedance is 8 Ohms, the sensitivity is 108dB, and the frequency response ranges from 20Hz to 20kHz.

***Above Image Credit***

Sound​

The Beast's sound is more of a V-shape than balanced, with booming bass and energizing highs, making it a really dynamic and entertaining concert to listen to.This may be the only uniquely designed IEM available in this price range, raising the question of whether they sound as well as competitors.It is not the finest sounding IEM, but it provides a unique experience when compared to other clinical or analytical IEMs, which are not as enjoyable. To be more specific, I have tried all of Celest's IEMs and have fallen in love with them all because of their unique approach to keeping the listener happy and interested while listening to music. However, the Beast tackles rivals and produces a highly pleasing response, which may be preferred by many. Let me go into the specifics.

Treble​

In particular, the lower treble produces a forward, lively sound from the treble region. It's a dark presentation rather than one that's very long or airy sounding, but that doesn't mean the details are unclear or lost in that sense. The upper treble area has a quiet and laid-back response which enables for the mid range and the lower treble region to sound more forward in the mix and allow for a strong exposure of the elements in the mix. The gap between the lower and higher treble area is considerable in terms of energy since the lower treble has a forward and safe response. The clear and vibrant auditory impression created by the instruments and voices enables that aggressive and enthusiastic response. As a result, the treble area is presented in a relaxed, vibrant, and forward manner overall.

Mid Range​

The mid range is the most noticeable in the mix because of the high and effective energy and presence it has in the mix, as well as the vocals' and the instruments' clear, close response that comes across as highly expressive. Because of this, the bass, which is powerful and heavy, is balanced so that there is never an overabundance of emphasis. The singers and instruments seem more revealing and natural because the upper mid range resonates with the lower treble and creates an energizing response. In contrast, the lower region energy may have made the sound seem deep and thick. A pleasing and distinct tone is produced by the instruments as well as the voices. However, I have noticed that occasionally, especially on hip-hop and EDM tracks with a lot of bass, the vocals used to get a little lost. The lower mid range contributes warmth to the mix despite seeming rather muted. The exposure of the instruments and voices in the mix is somewhat hazy. Consequently, the mid range area has a pleasant, clear, and forward-sounding overall presentation.

Bass​

The Plutus is a true beast when it comes to bass. I mean, I know the IEM's BC allows for a low-mid response, but it sounds much better in the lower notes than in the mid range.Thanks to the BC driver, the punches sound nowhere near as clean as I had anticipated, and the bass is strong and thumping with emphasis in the sub bass range. Although there is a noticeable meaty presence in the mid-bass region, it doesn't sound bloated.The forceful smashes and thumps attempt to maintain control while occasionally overwhelming.Nevertheless, the clarity and texture are not as finely described, and the bass quality is not as outstanding as anticipated. Thus, the bass area is presented in a thumping, rumbling, and hefty overall manner.

Technical Performance​

In terms of technical details, I believe the Beast resolves issues about averagely. Granted, there are rivals who do better and others that perform worse than these, but it was difficult to sound overly technical for an IEM with such a reaction. Let's get into further depth.

Soundstage, Sound Imaging & Separation​

The stage is not extremely vast and far; rather, it seems more intimate and close to me. This makes the imaging more accurate, if not very crisp. Because it might be difficult to tell where the sound is originating from, the difference between the notes decreases.

Speed & Resolution​

The features, particularly the macro details, are beautifully displayed and the resolution is high, but the tiny details are difficult to hear. Although the note assault and decay are not very fast-paced, they do prevent the response from sounding clumsy or intrusive.

Sound Impressions ​

Sources​

Sony WM1A - The response sounds were more spacious while listening to Beast with WM1A, feeling similar to the Snowynight combo, but not as forward in the mid range. Even the bass sounded more polished with greater control over the mid-bass and overall calmed vigor. The details are more revealing and have a better handle over the expressive.

Tempotec V6 - When listening to Beast with V6, the emotive qualities of the Beast in the lower treble and higher mdi range seem more clear and personal. The answer sounded more lively and captivating even though the treble and bass seem a touch restricted.

Aful SnowyNIght - While listening to Beast with Snowynight, the midrange response seems more sharper since the notes, particularly the female vocals and percussion elements, are more clearly defined. The bass felt more controlled, but the treble sounded the same. I thought the midrange sounded spacious, but not as expansive as when combined with the M2. However, this duo was more entertaining to listen to.

Colorfly CDA-M2 - While listening to Beast with M2, the response seems more expansive, and the forwardness of the top frequencies feels stepped back, making it sound more airy and better positioned in my opinion. However, it did lessen the clarity of the notes, which I feel was owing to the raised noise floor in this combination. However, the less forward approach made it sound much more comfortable and warm, since the bass seemed as if nothing had changed except for the lack of drive.

Tracks​

Millet - Anytime Anywhere
Anri - I can’t stop the loneliness
Kohana Lam - A Few Sentimental
Kohana Lam - Loving Me, Loving You
Uru - Kimino Shiawasewo
Uru - Kamihitoe
Kujira Yumemi - Kenka
Majiko - Kokoronashi
Anly - Sukinishinayo
Kohama Lam - A Few Sentimental
Kohana Lam - Loving Me, Loving You
Miliyah - Kono Yumega Samerumade
Rokudenashi - The Flame Of Love
Yu-Peng Chen - A New Day with Hope
Yu-Peng Chen - Another Hopeful Tomorrow
Yu-Peng Chen - For Riddles, for Wonders
Valentino Khan - Satellite
Kai Wachi - Happier By Now
Jawns - Erotica
ISOxo - how2fly
Kai Wachi - Happier By Now
Weeknd - Popular
YUNGBLUD - When We Die(Can We Still Get High)
Bring to Horizon - Kool-Aid
Middle Kids - Bend
FLETCHER - Leads Me On
Loathe - Aggressive Evolution
The Weeknd - Save Your Tears
Sigrid - Burning Bridges
AURORA - Black Water Lilies
AURORA - Runaway
X Ambassadors - Renegades
Lupe Fiasco - Words I Never Said
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Can’t Hold Us
Goyte - Somebody That I Used To Know
Jay-Z - Run This Town
Lady Gaga - Poker Face
Lady Gaga - Just Dance
Ladytron - Ghost
Travis - Love Will Come Through
LINKIN PARK - Somewhere I Belong
DJ Shadow - Six Days (Remix)
Hoobastank - The Reason
Ricky Martin - I Don’t Care
Tool - 7empest
Tool - Vicarious
A Flock Of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song
Zack Hemsey - Vengeance
Elton John - I’m Still Standing
The Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin
Micheal Sembello - Maniac
Guns N’ Roses - Sweet Child O’ Mine
A.R. Rahman - Kun Faya Kun

Conclusion​

To sum up this review, they are a fantastic set of IEMs with a lively and pleasurable sound. After all, hardly many IEMs have a true V-shaped tuning that sounds secure and uncluttered. They are offering an IEM that will keep you happy and involved for the price. Therefore, I suggest these IEM to anyone looking for an alternative way to experience a fun-sounding IEM that will stimulate them with a different kind of bass.

Introduction.

Kinera has supplied Celest Plutus Beast to the Australian Audio Reviews Downunder tour group for honest assessment. We would like to thank Kinera for trusting us with their creations!

What does the name mean you ask? Its a name taken from Chinese mythology. Plutus Beast is a distinguished character according to the myths, it is believed to be the “Heavenly creature of Fortune”, and among other things it is often regarded as a symbol of wealth.

Specifications

Plutus Beast is a tribrid IEM with a Bone Conduction Driver + 1BA + 1 SPD™ ( Square Planar Driver) It has an impedance of 8 ohm and a sensitivity of 108dB. It is supplied with a 5N copper silver-plated cable with 3.5mm / 4.4mm Balanced plugs. It comes with a set of Celest vocal ear tips and a set of balanced tips. The case is a small circular leather item with a zip closure. The IEM has 3D printed integrated moulded shells with hand painted face covers.

The sound

How do the three drivers handle the audio spectrum? Firstly the Second generation square planar driver (SPD) is full range and works with the other two drivers, The bone conduction driver provides a full warm deep bass response with good sub bass extension while the SPD provides a fast punchy bass and mid bass , seamlessly blending with the other drivers and providing a coherent pleasing bass response. Bass does not bleed into the midrange and the IEM keeps good separation and transparency in its midrange. The customized BA drivers handle the upper frequencies with good extension and present high frequencies in a pleasing gentle and non-fatiguing way. Trebleheads may wish for more energy and sizzle.

Together with the planar driver the detail and imaging are very good. I can position instruments in the sound mix easily. The sound stage is nice and wide with a great sense of space and depth. The SPD gives great clarity and the details in the music are quite planar like. There is no hint of any planar timbre. The mix of the three drivers really does create a spacious and coherent sound that I really enjoy.



Plutus Beast really shines on well recorded music. The Love over Gold album by Dire Straits is really exquisite. The bass thunders below the sparkling piano and of course Mark's distinctive guitar. If I wanted to improve the mix the vocals could be a little more forward and have a little more thickness. Overall, the music really shines with Plutus. Modern music with strong bass is the Beast's forte. Biig Pigg “Feels right” has the correct solid impact and a clean, energetic punch. This IEM excelled with EDM style music. Daft Punk's “Get Lucky Club Mix” from Random Access Memories will rock your head with the bone conduction driver!

Gentler music such as Tom Petty singing “Crawling back to you” from his Wildflowers album works really well. An ensemble of great musicians well recorded, great drums and Toms fragile voice up front sounding like he is in your head.



Conclusion

Celest Plutus Beast. Who is it for? Bassheads should apply if they also like a clean transparent mid/treble presentation to complement the thump. The BC driver does give a strong bold authoritative floor to the music, but the sound is also balanced. Vocal lovers might find its mid-range a little regressed but be pleased by the excellent details and sound-stage.

Plutus Beast works best with well recorded music, especially modern pop and dance music with a solid beat. I found the Plutus Beast response improved with a Hidizs S9 pro Matha dac that I am using. The S9 has plenty of power and adds warmth and thickness to the sound that was lacking with my Hiby R3 saber. (neutral and transparent). Give the Beast a good feed and it will reward you with a powerful yet balanced musical experience. I like this one!

Celest has been on a roll with one successful release after another. For those who don’t know, Celest is Kinera’s sister brand that targets the more budget conscious audience. The most expensive Celest product so far was Phoenix Call which is sold for 129 USD. Plutus beast is the second priciest product Celest has released and sold for 89 USD. Celest also has a number of other successful IEMs like Wyvern, Gumiho and Pandamon and also other accessories like gaming cables with boom mics.

Disclaimers​

Celest Plutus Beast was provided to me by Kinera for review. As I always say, everyone is biased one way or another so take everything you read with a grain of salt. Also I will try to be more concise and to the point in my reviews from now on without worrying about the word count etc. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments and I will try to answer them to the best of my abilities.

Build and Accessories of Celest Plutus Beast​

Plutus Beast comes in a simple package like the rest of their line, however it has everything you will need plus a metal bookmark in the usual Celest fashion. Included two sets of tips, the carrying case and the cleaning tool leaves nothing to be desired. Included cable is not very good but it’s serviceable. You can choose either the 3.5 mm or the 4.4 mm option while ordering depending on your needs.



Earpieces of Plutus Beast are made out of resin. Unfortunately I haven’t tried Phoenix Call but from what I gathered, their shell shapes are identical. Art on the faceplates is gorgeous as always. I can’t say they are the best fitting or the most comfortable IEMs I’ve ever used. When I used them with smaller tips, I could insert them deeper in my ears and get the benefit of the Bone Conduction driver inside. Yes, Plutus Beast uses an additional Bone Conduction driver per side, along with their SPD 2.0 and Balanced Armature drivers, again one of each per side. Bone conduction makes a springy sound whenever you touch the shells which might be annoying at first, but when you securely insert them in your ears and play your music, you forget that there was such a thing in the first place.

Sound of Celest Plutus Beast​

Tonality​

Plutus Beast is not the most balanced IEM tonally, and that’s not the point. It’s more about showing its power and what it is capable of. You can think of it as a technology demo or a prototype maybe. Does it mean it sounds bad? Absolutely not. Let me explain:

Bass on the Plutus Beast might be the sole reason to buy these IEMs. Thanks to the BC driver, Plutus Beast produces one of the most tactile, authoritative and nuanced bass there is, at least close to its price range. The only IEM that performed close to it was BQEYZ Wind, which also utilized a BC driver. Unfortunately I only demoed Wind for a short time a while back and couldn’t compare them head to head.

There is a discrepancy in Plutus Beast’s midrange, lower mids are too recessed compared to upper mids, or rather upper mids are too pronounced and shouty. While female vocals sound intimate and emotional, overall timbre takes a hit and Plutus Beast sounds dry and tinny. Male vocals could use a little bit more body too.



Treble on Plutus Beast is mostly relaxed but there is a very narrow peak between 7k and 8k which shows itself occasionally. Other than that, it lacks air and feels kind of closed in.

Like I said in the beginning, Plutus Beast isn’t exactly tonally balanced, but specific genres sound lovely with these. I especially enjoyed listening to Funk, Soul and Acoustic performances.

Technicalities​

Technically, Plutus Beast competes well in its price range. It has fine resolving capability. However timbre isn’t very natural because of the tuning quirks I mentioned. Headstage isn’t particularly big either. Comparisons should shed more light to Plutus Beast’s technical attributes.

Comparisons​

Celest Plutus Beast vs. BQEYZ Winter​

BQEYZ Winter is another IEM that fashions a Bone Conduction driver, however it works mostly in the midrange and lower treble so each provides different benefits. I wish I had BQEYZ Wind with me for comparison which would make more sense in terms of Bone Conduction utility.

• In the bass region, Plutus Beast beats Winter hands down, it has more impact, more rumble, more nuance and more authority in the bass.Winter doesn’t have a huge bass however, by itself it has a commendable bass response thanks to its 12 mm dynamic driver.
• Winter is more balanced. Plutus Beast is undoubtedly shoutier. While female vocals are mostly close and intimate, male vocals feel distant and lack body on Plutus Beast.
• Neither is particularly harsh or sibilant. Winter has more energy, air and snap in the treble. Plutus Beast’s treble is more relaxed and a little blunted.
• Plutus Beast has a pretty good resolving capability but unfortunately still not as resolving as Winter. Plutus Beast has more details in the bass region, Winter on the other hand, is more detailed in the mids and treble areas.
• Headstage on Winter is wider, deeper and imaging is more precise.

Celest Plutus Beast vs. Audiosense AQ4​

Audiosense AQ4 has been one of my go to IEMs for pure bass enjoyment without sacrificing overall tonality too much. Of all the IEMs I have, it made the most sense to compare even though it is a more expensive choice.

• AQ4 has a more boomy and pillowy bass. Plutus Beast’s bass has more authority, a faster decay and better control. Bass on Plutus Beast is also more nuanced.
• Their lower mids tuning is similar but upper mids emphasis on Plutus Beast throws off the balance. As a result AQ4 again has a more natural warmth and body in the lower mids. In the upper mids, again Plutus Beast is much shoutier while AQ4 is more relaxed. Guitars, piano, string instruments and such are also more emphasized on Plutus Beast.
• Both have rather relaxed treble, moreso on AQ4 but it has better treble extension.
• AQ4 has a much better timbre. It’s also more resolving in the mids and treble while Plutus Beast is more resolving in the bass. But AQ4’s more relaxed treble might not highlight some of these details even if it renders them.
• AQ’s headstage is slightly wider and much deeper than Plutus Beast’s. Imaging is also again more precise.

Conclusion​

Plutus Beast isn’t an all rounder, that’s for certain. It could have been more balanced. In fact when I tried to EQ it, I got rid of almost all of my gripes. But as it is, it’s more of a genre specific IEM. Bass on these is to die for. Soul and Funk performances sound lovely. So if you want the cheapest IEMs with Bone Conduction drivers, or if you love your bass above all else or you are fine with using EQ, Plutus Beast is an IEM definitely worth a try.

First, I would like to thank Hifigo for giving me chance to try this unit.

Disclaimer, This review is based on my Opinion and my taste.



Celest Plutus Beast is IEM that using Tribid Configuration ( BC for unde have 1 Bone conduction driver + 1 BA driver + 1 Square planar driver ).
Note :
- I am using Stock Cable and Kinera Leyding for cable and Divinus Velvet plus Dunu S&S for eartips
- Source i use is Fiio M11Plus

Impression​

Bass :
Bass is the highlight here because of BC, The 3D Effect is so nice, only lack slightly on the control. Texture, hit, rumble is great too althought at some track especially busy, Bass will bleed to other area especially mids.

Vocal :
Vocal is clean, slightly forward, somehow feel quite energetic too. For high Volume, especially at female focal will be quite shouty.

Treble :
Treble is on Dark and Smooth Side, slightly lack air / extended. Because of the treble, instrument feel hidden at song and feel quite metallic, suited for long listening tho.

Soundstage :
Soundstage at Plutus beast just average, quite lack of resolution, imaging still ok and separation just average too. For the busy track, imaging and separation can feel quite mixed.

Conclusion​

Celest Plutus Beast sure have unique sounding, have bass with nice 3D effect due to BC, Slightly forward vocal, an inoffensive dark treble but I like it. If you want to find unique sounding but still sounded fun you can aim for Celest Plutus beast. But if you used to Natural sound or timbre, better tried it first because it can sound unnatural.


OOT, i really liked this keychain, one of the best addon that i ever have,

Thanks to Hifigo and gadgetgod for organising the review of the Celest Plutus Beast.

Overview

The Plutus Beast is a stunning looking iem with an almost spherical curve to the overall shell. The faceplate looks fantastic.

Build
The Beast is an all resin iem with a fairly lightweight body. However, they do look like they can get damaged quickly if not babied. The black background helps the faceplate graphics stand out in a stunning manner.

The nozzles are chonky and require fairly large ears to get a good fit. As a result, the Bone conduction may or may not work for you. I was able to fit it in to get a good contact for the bone conduction.

Cables
The cables that the review unit came with were similar to the Letshouer Chimera cables with a similar modular termination on the source end and a 2 pin into the iem shells. The cables are well built and thick, with very good non conduction of microphonics.

Sound impressions
Due to the overall size of the nozzles, I paired the Beast with a small silicon ear tips. This helped with the BC driver contact and hence plenty of bass slam/rumble.

Bass (4/5)
Due to the BC drivers, the bass was strong in this one. However, that may not mean too much as the bass does come across as being muddy and oftentimes bleeding into the mids. However, the rumble and slam could be felt at a slightly higher level than the UM Mest 2 (Unfair comparison I know).

Mids (3.5/5)
Due to the BC drivers, there is a bit of bass bleeding into the mids. Along with a strong treble, the mids take a slight back seat in the presentation. So not the best for vocals and mid favored music

Treble (4/5)
Due to the EST drivers serving up the treble frequencies, there is plenty of extension in the treble sections. However, there is also a sense of harshness in some of the steel guitar and string tracks. Poor recording do make their presence felt.

Conclusions
The Plutus Beast is a lovely looking iem, that could have been tuned a bit better. I compared it against the BQEYZ Wind, which sport a simiar setup, and that was tuned a bit better for a more balanced sound.

First of all, I'd like to thank Kinera for their generosity and trust in me and for sending me this beautiful IEM in exchange for my honest thoughts and review, but you can rest assured that all I say here is of my own volition, and I didn't get paid to do this.

Kinera is an audiophile company based in China. They make high-quality in-ear monitor earphones, costing from as low as 30 dollars to as much as 3,000 dollars, and most of which, if not all, have a lore behind the product name.

The Plutus Beast (90 USD) is one of the most unique IEMs to come out on the market of late. It is a tribrid, meaning the driver configuration consists of 3 types: a Square Planar Driver or SPD, as the main driver, which Celest pioneered the use of on their previous model; a Balanced Armature or BA driver, for the high frequency; and a low frequency Bone Conduction Driver or BCD, per channel.


Bone Conduction Driver or BCD, is a kind of transducer that converts audio signals into vibrations that travel along the bone structure to the cochlea inside the ear and are then interpreted as a signal by the brain.


I would like to clarify that this is not the same BCD as the one on the CVJ Konoka IEM. Because I've read some people confuse the two, the Konoka uses a vibration unit, not BCD, the vibration unit on the Konoka only works in a very narrow band near 100 Hz in my measurement graph (see photo), and the bass sound quality is nowhere near as good as the Plutus Beast.



I use the black/red eartips that came with the Plutus Beast, as well as the stock cable, They are high quality enough for the price that I see no practical reason to change them.
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Avoid paring it with bright-sounding dac/amps, particularly those with ESS Sabre chipsets, as they can trigger upper midrange glare. I tried it with my Topping G5 and Hidizs S9 Pro Martha, both of which have ESS Sabre dac chipsets, and I didn't like the pairing. I love it paired with the Moondrop Dawn Pro dac/amp, which has a Cirrus Logic CS43131 converter chip, so it's the one I used in the sound analysis. It also sounds very good with the warm sounding Fiio Ka11 dongle dac/amp.
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And before I forget, this set really needs at least 24 hours of burn-in, because after the burn-in, the cloudiness to the sound has gone, the sound stage has expanded by a lot, and the micro details have come out.


Tonality, timbre, and sound signature:

Mild V-shape with laid-back upper treble; the timbre is kind of warm and dark, this has an old-school and analog vibe of sound presentation.

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Technicalities:

It has good imaging, a big sound stage, especially on vocals, and good layering and separation, but due to the warmer treble, it is not the most resolving.
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Power handling, sensitivity, dynamics, and distortion:

This set can take a lot of power without sounding distorted; the sensitivity is slightly above average and is easily driven by the dac/amps previously mentioned. It has an energetic and engaging sound and likes to be played loud.
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Bass:

This is the best part of this IEM; it sounds to have more bass than the graph would suggest. It is thick, textured, and realistic sounding; it is midbass focused but not devoid of sub-bass; overall, this is one of the best sounding bass I have heard; it's not technically perfect, but I love the way it sounds, and I attribute all that to the addition of the Bone Conduction Driver.

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Midrange:

Most of the time, it is warm. There is some elevation in the upper midrange, as can be seen in the graph, but it doesn't get in the way of me getting lost in my enjoyment of music listening.
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Treble:

Dark, laid back, and warm, but the upper treble is still audible and open sounding.


Vs. Kinera Celest PhoenixCall (130 USD);
I think this is kind of the polar opposite of the Plutus Beast, The beast has better bass, IMO, while the PhoenixCall has better treble. The sound of the PhoenixCall is near the standard sound tuning, while the Plutus Beast is more specialized. If you ask me which one to get, I'd say get both. I think they were made to complement each other, to be used at different times and depending on the mood of the person.

Vs. Hidizs MP145 (160 USD);
The MP145 is a planar IEM that is also warm but with more resolution and technicalities in the treble. Compared with the Plutus Beast, the MP145's bass sound is on the boomy side, the Beast has more tactile and articulate-sounding bass, and the midrange sounds a little laid back on both, with the MP145 a little more so. The resolution may be a little better on the MP145 but the Beast is very close behind. As for recommendation, if you want a more conventional sounding set, I'd recommend the MP145, but if you want something different, the Plutus Beast.

Vs. Simgot EA500 (80 USD);
The EA500 with the red nozzle sounds boring in comparison to the Plutus Beast, IMO. With the black nozzle on the EA500, it sounds more exciting and can now rival the Plutus Beast, The EA500 is brighter and as energetic sounding as the Plutus Beast, I cannot listen to the EA500 for more than an hour due to its lean sounding note weight and the in your face flat sound stage; ultimately, I enjoy listening to the Plutus Beast way more than the EA500.

Pros:
+ excellent-sounding bass that has to be experienced.
+ textured and tactile sounding bass.
+ warm-sounding treble.
+ non fatiguing, good for long listening sessions.
+ unique overall sound signature.
+ easy to drive.
+ great power handling.
+ 80s old school vibe sound style.

Cons:
- The dark tonality will not suit all people.
- not for analytical listening
- Polarizing

I love it. The carefree, 80's old school vibe of sound that I get with the Plutus Beast is a rare find in today's market, which is mostly composed of mainstream and conventional-sounding IEMs. I applaud Kinera Celest for their bravery in making the Plutus Beast the way it is, using a combination of drivers that has never been done before and the unique in today's market, tuning. If you are tired of buying IEMs that sound similar to your old one, that follow a certain tuning, and have the urge to find something different, to listen to some genre or just to get lost in time while listening to 80's, chillwave, synthwave, ambient, lounge, vaporwave, space, lofi, retrowave mixes, etc. in my case, then I wholeheartedly recommend the Plutus Beast.

Happy listening! Cheers!

02-25-2024

I would like to thank @gadgetgod for sending this unit as part of the review tour.

Also, I’m not a seasoned reviewer or a seasoned audiophile, so whatever I say are purely my observations and your results may vary.

I’m not the one to usually focus on specifications and numbers. I focus more on how happy I am with the equipment’s sound and that’s it.

Introduction:

The Kinera Celeste Plutus Beast, priced at $89, boasts a tribrid driver setup featuring a bone conduction driver, balanced armature driver, and SPD driver. Its 3D printed resin shell, offers a rounded and comfortable design with customizable hand-painted faceplates available in 2 colors from what I understand.



The soft, tangle-free cable is offered in two versions: 4.4 and 3.5, catering to different preferences.

The case is compact and may be a little too compact as I feel it does not provide any headspace for the IEMs but I definitely liked the pseudo brown leather look. The case definitely adds convenience for travel.



Sound:

Sonically, the Plutus Beast delivers a forward upper mid-range and slightly smooth treble, impacting the naturalness of vocals and instruments. Although the bass energy is somewhat subdued compared to the upper mids, and the treble energy lacks in the upper range, the earphones maintain a neutral signature. However, some people may desire a bit more bass presence.

Despite these nuances, the Plutus Beast impresses with its bass quality and clean mid-range transitions.

While the treble presentation is generally smooth, it could benefit from a touch more energy. The soundstage, though average in width, offers decent depth. Just enough to not feel that the stage is completely closed in.

I felt that the imaging was quite alright but I do have to mention that the placement on instruments in the stage didn’t feel particularly anchored in their positions.

Conclusion:

From a technical standpoint, the Plutus Beast does well within its price range, offering good overall performance. However, its tuning prevents it from claiming the top spot among sub-$100 earphones.

Introduction:-

Hey everyone, today we have the Celest Plutus beast. Its a $89 tribid iem from Celest. It is nice to see a not harman tuned iem at this price point.

I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.




Before I start the review I want to say huge thanks yo Hifigo for sending this review unit and all the thoughts and opinions you are about to hear are my own.

You can buy them here (Unaffiliated Link) :-

HiFiGo Web：https://hifigo.com/products/kinera-celest-plutus-beast

Amazon JP：https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CR63TMB2/kinera+celest+plutus+beast/

Amazon US：https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR5QNDD9/kinera+celest+plutus+beast/

Aliexpress：https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006408658667.html

I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.

So lets get started!

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Build Quality, Comfort and accessories:-



1. The packaging as it is from kinera and its sister brands is really good.


2. It comes with the iem, a beautiful cable, a good looking tan cloured case, cleaning brush and the celest vocal tips and the balanced tips. It also has the usual lore about the name of the iem and a key chain. I personally really like this and am a fan of this.


3. They are a bit big on your ears when compared to most iems, but they are quite comfortable to wear. Although super long wearing session would be a pain to use


4. The shells of the iem are made out of resin and is of very high quality also I quite like the faceplate design. I would have preferred without the name, then again that's just me.


5. The cable is quite supple and very nice too.


6. They have 1 Bone conduction driver + 1 BA driver + 1 Square planar driver

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Sound Impressions:-


1. The overall sound impressions it gives me is that of a v shape but with its own unique taste to it.


2. I used all the stock setups for my review. With me using the balanced tips for the review


3. There is a slight BA timbre in some places


4. They are very easy to drive with smartphones too


5. I will be using the Hiby FC6, Fiio BTR5, IFI Hip Dac 3, IFI Go Blu, Colorfly CDA M1, Colorlfy CDA M2, Muse Hifi M4, Fosi Audio N3, Aune Yuki, Hiby M300, Akliam PD4 Plus, Kinera Usb C dongle dac, Razer Usb c dongle dac & My smartphone



Bass-

1. The bass is here very good


2. It is very thunderous and very impactful


3. When listening to Waltz by Sunny or Crack Crack Crackle by classy, the bass of these tracks and the attack of the bass is really crisp and punchy. This is what I would expect form these tracks.


4. The overall bass is more sub-bass focused than mid-bass. There is a bit of mid-bass bleed.


5. When listening to Hollow 16-bit remix by Bjork there is a huge rumble at around 20 second mark and that feels so good and has this fantastic rumble which is great to listen too.


6. But do remember one thing, that the iem needs to touch your ears or else the bass doesn’t really come across like I described.



Mids-

1. The overall vocals are a bit recessed.

2. When listening to male vocals like the ones from Chris Cornell, Bill withers etc. their thick velvety voice come across really well. It sounds really lovely as the texture of their vocals is really good.


3. Now female vocals are quite good, they have good forwardness. But they sound a tad bit unnatural, now this is to be expected as it is quite hard to balance between a thick male vocals and a shimmery female vocals


4. At higher volumes the upper mids could get a bit fatiguing and could be a bit shrilly.



Treble-

1. The overall treble is quite laidback


2. The treble after the upper mids does fall off a bit


3. I could describe the treble here as dark and is a great for someone who is very treble sensitive.



Technicalities:-

The overall technicalities here is a bit affected as they are not the best at it. If you want a highly resolving iem then this isn't for you, but it makes a great alternative for those who are very treble sensitive.



Soundstage & Imaging:-

The soundstage here is average as it has a decent enough depth and width when it comes to that. The imaging is just serviceable and nothing great, the left to right transition is quite slow and not that crisp.



Gaming Test:-

Now when gaming the gunshots or anything quite happening during a scene the bass was really hearty and I felt that thump on my head. But the average soundstage and imaging was not the best and not most resolving when trying to understand the situation of the game.

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Comparison & Recommendation:-



1. v/s Phoenixcall – They have a more better soundstage, imaging and also resolution when compared to the Plutus beast. But the plutus beast has a much better bass quantity and quality than the phoenixcall. Although the plutus beast almost $40 cheaper.



2. v/s GeekWold GK20 – Gk20 are the exact polar opposites as they are a clean sounding v shaped iem, while these have quite a big shelf of bass and the over resolution lacks when compared to the GK20. Both are priced quite similar.



3. Well overall I think they make a great iem if you are looking for something very dark sounding or something which isn't treble fatiguing.



4. I think so its nice to see a change from the usual harman tuned iem, while this isn't a basshead iem but it just skirts with the basshead territory



5. The fit could be an issue for some as they are bit bulbous specially if you have smaller ears



6. So that was my review, i hope you liked it. Thanks for stopping by, have a great day ahead! Bye!

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If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.

Again a big thanks to Hifigo for making this review possible.

Have a great day ahead

A short review. There are a lot of reviews out there, so just a different perspective of not a "reviewer" and no "unbiased opinions of free samples" (I purchase all items in this hobby with my own funds, driven by curiousity, and express my personal opinion that is only personally biased; as in no BS, such as proclaiming "no BS" by some self-delusional courtesans of this hobby...)

My motivations for getting the Plutus were the following:
1) To experience a BC driver with their deep bass;
2) To enjoy great beatiful art and aesthetics of Kinera;
3) To explore another different and less conventional sound signature of Celest IEMs.

All three points above worked out well.
1) The bass is deep, visceral, palpable - well extended in the sub-bass, punchy but not sluggish or tubby (as in CCA Rhapsody of the recent IEMs), without much of the midbass (as in otherwise excellent TRI I3), and dominant but not totally overwhelming - that worked out perfectly well for me.
2) The aesthetics, design, packaging, all the attention to details are totally top-notch as expected from Celest. For instance, the case hues are matched really nicely and the material (be it leather or a very good substitute) is great, for one of the best IEM cases in my experience.The cable is less compared to that of Phoenixcall, but perfectly functional 4.4 mm, and it would be hard to expect more for the overall $89 (I paid $87 for the record) overall package.
3) The sound signature is the most L-shaped that I have experienced in IEMs for a unique addition to my collection. Then with the treble released by simple modding - the resulting L-toward-V sound signature was most enjoyable.

The source was Kuang Pai Plus 4 that ended my DAC quests. TRI tips (that also ended my tip quests).

I did hope that the BC bass of an adapted DD driver (vs. piezo crystals of an alternative BC implementation) could work well for reproduction of pipe organs. Indeed, the physicality and the extension of the BC bass of Plutus are impressive there. I really enjoyed the organ of the Mormon Tabernacle, with Richard Elliott majestic rendering of Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor!

For the overall tonality, string quartets rendering of "as is" Plutus was OK, but nothing to write about - cello tonality is adorably (to me) bass-skewed, violin overtones are noticeably covered, and violas reproduced not the greatest I'vheard (violas, arguably, are the hardest to reproduce, if one is looking for a good timbre gauge (I can attest to it as a former technical assistant of an orchestral viola player)).

Physical fit of the shells are very nice for me - being deep and slightly less wide than that of Phoenixcall - so great seal and resulting isolatiom, and no any adjustments were needed for me to enjoy Plutus without long-term (2 hours) discomfort.

I further went to compare Plutus with other Celest IEMs that I have

I noticed more treble extension of Gumiho (it gave me a chance to appreciate Gumiho nice soft tuning again), so I thought whether the treble could be freed.
In order to get there - I opened the nozzle screens, and indeed a black nylon (or polyester) mesh was covering the nozzle entirely.
i removed the mesh (a simple needle does the job, just lifting both screens and mesh slowly to let the sticky glue flow well moving slowly is the only "trick" that can be mentioned) and then put back the sceens.
Mesh filter (right) and the nozzle screen (left) above.
The BA is firing directly into the nozzle, as pictured above.

I really enjoyed the resulting signature with the filters removed that gets more treble - both in magnitude and some extension. The modified sound signature gets closer to (or at least noticeably towards) "V"-shaped the bass is still the star.
I do have some different meshes for modding, but I did not feel to modify the resulting treble - it may be a touch rough, but I really like it this way, and would not mind a bit more treble.

Now, cables need to be touched upon (and electrons moving through them), as in most reviews in this hobby.
After a lot of pondering and tinkering - I settled on a 24-core cable for Plutus, so that electrons could flow more freely: blue ones for electrons carrying the treble information, and the bronze ones - for the electrons delivering mighty visceral bass to shine.
Not unimportantly, this cable came from HiSenior T4 for the proper preconditioning and fine aligning of the metal nanostructures - with the resulting splendidly enhanced overall finesse and especially more refined harmonious mids


A final thought: comparing Plutus with few other recent hybrids that I have - for the imaginary "hybrid of hybrids" - Plutus BC lows plus mids and highs of Penta "BA-looking" compact planars can make a mighty beast of an IEM - Kinera is definitely in a position to make one, the only question is the price tag... to end the musings here.

Overall summary of the stars: before the simple modding, I felt "4 stars" for the sound, plus possibly extra 0.5 star for the overall aesthetic positive experience.
After the modding - Plutus became solid 4 5 stars for me, with 5 overall stars not being much of a stretch.
Settling these oscillations on 4.5+ stars.

Disclaimer

• Huge thanks to HiFiGo for providing the opportunity for me to review the Kinera Celest Plutus Beast. I really do appreciate it. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own, and are not influenced in any way.
• Please take this review with only a grain of salt, as everyone's hearing, fit, and gears may differ, so our experience may be different.

Price(MSRP)

• $89.00

Source(s)

• Truthear Shio
• FiiO KA13
• Jcally JM6 Pro

Ear tips

• Acoustune AET07

Packaging

• Kinera Celest Plutus Beast.
• High quality hard case with a really nice texture
• 3 pairs of Celest 221 Vocal silicone ear tips (S, M, L)
• 3 pairs of Celest 608 Balanced silicone ear tips (S, M, L)
• High-Purity 5N Copper Silver-Plated Cable.
  • Comfortable, lightweight, and not overly thin
  • Has some memory on it, not the softest cable but it only tangles a bit sometimes.
• Metal dragon-shaped bookmark
• Cleaning brush

Build Quality

• Full resin shell but doesn't really feels cheap.
  • Have a stunning design on the faceplate. (Subjective)
• Shell size is very small considering the driver setup.
  • It also has a springy feel to it if you tap on it lightly.

Fit

• Nozzle has average width but is slightly on the shorter side.
  • Do note that it is a slightly shorter resin nozzle, certain ear tips may slip out.
• Fit was very good, I am able to wear these very comfortably throughout the whole day without even feeling them in my ears.

Tonality

• V-shaped
• Warm, shouty, dark

Bass

• Sounds very different from the graph based on my listening experience.
• Sub bass is more prominent than the mid bass.
• Sub bass has a very deep rumble and very good texture to it, as if it can be felt.
  • I'm guessing that its the bone conductor making this happen.
• Mid bass on the other hand is more toned down, but still having decent slam and texture
• However, the mid bass is on the boomy side, and it does lacks definition, as it sounds very smoothed over.
• Quantity is more than sufficient, but I don't think it hits a bass head level just yet.
  • It is definitely on the fun side though, and it sounds more than the graph suggests.
• Overall, the bass is extremely fun to listen and experience. It is definitely a highlight of the Plutus Beast to me.

Midrange

• Lower midrange is quite warm and rich, but can potentially be bloated or muddy if you prefer a cleaner signature.
  • Male vocals sound pretty lush and very well bodied, and they are quite forward in the mix.
• Upper midrange is overly energetic and not very smooth.
  • Female vocals sounds very forward, which pops out very well from the strong lower frequencies, but this can easily be too shouty to some. It also has some huskiness to it due to the warmer lower midrange.
• Timbre is odd and unnatural due to the strange combinations of the warm lower midrange, overly forward upper midrange and downward treble slope.
• Overall note weight and density is on the thicker side, most instruments and vocals have some weight and lushness to them.

Treble

• Treble is on the darker side, plus it is very smooth and inoffensive.
• However, treble extension is very poor, basically not airy at all and it can sound a little "dead" or lifeless.
• Details can be a little hard to pick up as the overall treble presentation is already dark, and the poor treble extension made it worse.
• Overall, the treble presentation is very safe and smooth, perfect for long listening sessions but it also lacks some sparkle and air in them.

Technicalities

Resolution

• Resolution and detail retrieval is subpar.
• Having a warm, dark-ish signature like this further hurts the detail retrieval, and transients are not as fast and incisive.

Soundstage

• Staging is also average in terms of width, but it goes fairly deep.

Imaging

• Imaging and accuracy is average as well, I'm able to pinpoint position but more of a stereo, left and right presentation.

Separation

• Separation and layering is subpar.
• Vocals and instruments get blended and congested fairly easily once the tracks get really busy.

Conclusion

• As a conclusion, I think that the Kinera Celest Plutus Beast is a very unique IEM in this price range which specializes on the bass and bone conduction department.
  • I personally really enjoyed the sub bass rumble that is assisted by the bone conduction driver on this set, where nothing else comes close to it in this price range.
• It is recommended for people who wants to try out bone conduction drivers without breaking their bank account. It is also perfect for people who are into a less conventional tuning which is on the warm, shouty and dark side.
• However, if you're into a more conventional, natural tonality, and a shoutlet/timbrehead, I advice to look for something else instead.

Non Affiliated Link

• If you are interested after reading the article, feel free to check out the non affiliated link below.
  • HiFiGo Web:
    • https://hifigo.com/products/kinera-celest-plutus-beast
  • Aliexpress:
    • https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006408658667.html
  • Amazon US:
    • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR5QNDD9/kinera+celest+plutus+beast/
  • Amazon JP:
    • https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CR63TMB2/kinera+celest+plutus+beast/

Thanks for reading!

Introduction!
Hello friends!
Today we’ll talk about tribrid headphones from the company Celest called Plutus Beast, and the headphones come in a very well-designed box with the model name and company logo at the top.

And here the technical characteristics of the headphones are indicated and a short story is written about why this model received such a name and, briefly, according to myths, the Plutus Beast is considered a celestial creature of good luck and is often considered a symbol of wealth, well, that is, I think it’s clear now why this model received such a name again everything according to the canons of ancient mythology.

Well, a very interesting combination of drivers is responsible for the sound here, namely 1 bone conduction driver with a diameter of 10 mm, one reinforcement driver, and a proprietary square planar SPD driver. Well, the sensitivity of the headphones is 108dB and they received as much as 8ohms impedance, so I’ll say right away that The headphones are very easy to drive.
Let's take a look at what's included!
And the first thing that greets us in this box is headphones and a leather case.

The headphones are made of a slightly transparent dark resin, and the front panel has a golden, eye-catching Celeste logo, but there is also an additional pattern of small iridescent blue and white crystals, and of course, there is a 2-pin connector installed here for connecting the cable, and next to it there is one compensation hole, and on the inside you can see that square planar spd driver a little, I think it’s clearly visible!

And the sound guide here is not very large and quite standard, so there are no problems with the fit here, since the headphones fit very tightly and everything is fine with sound insulation, although the case here is really very large, but don’t be afraid of it.

Accessories!
Now we come to the accessories, which are in an excellent leather case with the inscription Celest!

And here there is such a very good 4-core cable that doesn’t get tangled much, it has 2 pin connectors for connecting to headphones, and a regular 3.5 jack, but when ordering you can choose a balanced 4.4 if you need it, and I’ll say right away that I used headphones It’s with this cable, well, of course, there are two sets of ear pads that are in these bags, and they’re pretty standard, but you can use headphones with them without any problems.

But that's not all, here with this beast there is such a beautiful bookmark, a brush for cleaning headphones and very large instructions in two languages!

How do these headphones sound?
Now let’s talk about the sound of this model and what they decided to surprise us with this time, and first of all, I’ll immediately say that again this is not the usual Harman tuning that we very often see because, as you can see in the company’s frequency response graph, it’s clear here traces its own special view on tuning to satisfy different taste preferences of listeners.

And I would like to start with the fact that upon first listening, it becomes immediately clear that the headphones are made with an emphasis on low frequencies and mids, but the highs here noticeably recede into the background and there is especially clearly a strong decline after 10 kHz, which is of course strong darkens the sound.
Low Frequencies:
But let's start with the low frequencies, which here are presented as confidently massive with a deep, solid sub-bass and quite distinct punch in the mid-bass, but the textural elaboration, in my opinion, leaves much to be desired. I would like to get more transparent and clear audibility of the bass saturation harmonics due to saturation, Otherwise, he still plays, firstly, too warmly, and secondly, too tightly, although the control here is normal, but the attack and decay are quite ordinary without any records.
Mid Frequencies:
The mid frequencies in them are noticeably and very thoroughly emphasized, so the vocals here occupy a wide position of the image in space and, together with the drums, are clearly brought forward towards us, and this is already a fairly familiar presentation and I have already gotten used to it, and I think you too, but here timbrally, the vocals here are conveyed very warmly and smoothly and, surprisingly, they have quite sufficient transparency and quite good intelligibility of timbres and clarity of transmission of various overtones
and the drums here have a very clearly defined attack and transients and leave behind a fairly good aftersound in terms of duration, but still, personally, I would like the upper middle area to be less accentuated, but this is probably a matter of taste, since I know that many people like this more daring and emotional presentation, but still lovers of neutrality will probably give preference to other models!
High Frequencies:
And we smoothly moved on to high frequencies, which here feel very warm tonally with a very small, slightly noticeable highlighted sparkle due to the rise to 8 kHz, but as for me, the presentation of these headphones does not at all go towards hard analytics and some kind of super obvious technicality where you you need to directly disassemble all the music, all the percussion and cymbals, but here, on the contrary, immediately after a couple of hours of listening, it becomes clear that these headphones have received a simply musical and very fun taste setting for lovers of bass and not bright high frequencies!
Yes, they don’t show you a lot of details here, and they hide most of the problems of the recordings, so you can even listen to regular streaming services or MP3s, if of course you use this format, but I would like to make this area more transparent and airy, and of course the decline after 10 kHz I think it will be noticeable by ear for many.
Stage and stereo panorama:
The sound stage here is pretty standard, not super stretched, it’s quite normal width and depth.
My conclusion on these headphones:
Celest Plutus Beast turned out to be beautiful and interesting tribrid headphones with a very fun tuning without any hard analytics or extraction of details, but simply for smooth and a little dark listening.
Link where you can buy them!
HiFiGo Web：https://hifigo.com/products/kinera-celest-plutus-beast
Amazon JP：https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CR63TMB2/kinera+celest+plutus+beast
Amazon US：https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR5QNDD9/kinera+celest+plutus+beast
Aliexpress：https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006408658667.html
I will be glad if you subscribe to my YouTube channel and watch this full review on CELEST PLUTUS BEAST!

Celest Plutus Beast Review: THE BEAST AWAKENS!​

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WATCH FULL REVIEW HERE:

PRICE: $89​

PROS:​

• Beautiful aesthetics
• Fun, engaging sound
• Deep, textured bass
• Engaging, forward mids
• Fatigue-free treble

CONS:​

• Not the most natural timbre
• Might come across too shouty
• Shape might be a hit or miss
• Not the most detailed or technical sounding set
• Mids might be too recessed on certain mixes

WHO THIS UNIT IS FOR:​

• People who like a deep, rich, and textured bass
• People who enjoy Celest’s interesting tuning philosophy
• People who want a beautiful looking IEM
• Treble sensitives

WHO THIS UNIT ISN’T FOR:​

• Shout-sensitive people
• People who want a bright, sparkly set
• People who want technical set
• People who want a natural timbre

RECOMMENDED GENRES:​

• HipHop
• R&B
• Funk

SHORT REVIEW:​

Sporting a unique tribrid set-up, the Plutus Beast provides a deep and rich bass presentation with an energetic, engaging, and forward upper midrange with an inoffensive and relaxed treble to top it all off. It might come across as a little shouty and the treble just a little too tame and dull on some tracks, but the bass energy reigns supreme which is impressive considering this doesn’t have a DD. Beware timbreheads and shoutlets, however. RECOMMENDED WITH CAVEATS!

CELEST, THE BOLD ONES​

When I think about a brand that has been providing some of the most unique IEMs in recent times, I always mention Celest first as they have been going absolutely nuts with their IEMs. From the brand that brought the “revolutionary” SPD, they’ve come out with a brand new release that has got to be one of the most peculiar names and driver configurations in the market. It was certainly a head-turner, but can it do more than just turn heads? Let’s talk about the Celest Plutus Beast!

DISCLAIMER: This product was sent over by HiFiGo and managed by Neil Clark of Practiphile. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity. I was not paid. Rest assured, my thoughts and opinions on this product will be of my own honest opinions and will not be affected by the facts beforehand

Audio is a very subjective hobby and as much as I try to objectively explain my thoughts and opinions, your mileage will vary. My preferences will also affect how I perceive the gear that I review. Sources and other accessories will also modify your experience. Lastly, my reviews should always be used only as a guide and not as the definitive bible. Trust your ears to know what’s good.

THE ORIGINS OF THE BEAST​

Working under the same company under Kinera and QoA, Celest has been making waves in the market due to its patented SPD drivers and, quite frankly, insane driver configurations. Starting with their release of the SPD back in 2021, they’ve been on quite a roll refining and improving their drivers, but also not being afraid to try unorthodox tuning styles and driver configuration.

The Celest Phoenixcall was a tribrid featuring a single dynamic driver, 2 balanced armatures, and 2 microplanars aka their patented “SPD” drivers. All for $129. Now, they’ve come up with an even more peculiar driver configuration on the Plutus Beast. This thing features 1 Balanced Armature, 1 SPD, and 1 Bone Conduction. All for $89!

This will be my 3rd IEM from Celest, and if anything, I know for a fact that I’m always in for a surprise when testing out their products.

UNBOXING:​

Before I talk about the unboxing, the name Plutus Beast has to be talked about. What seems to be a rather odd and potentially cringy naming scheme is actually based on Chinese Mythology of one of the five auspicious mythical creatures named Pi Xiu which, in English, is called the Plutus Beast.

Without explaining the entire lore of the Beast, it is a beast with a tiger body and dragon head and tail that patrols the heavens and safeguards the celestial realm from all kinds of bad things.

You have to appreciate Celest for putting in the effort in the lore of their IEMs. From their first IEM and even their gaming cables, all have well-written and thought-out stories to tell with their products. You literally never see that in any other brands (with certain exceptions) which goes to show how much Celest cares about the experience they provide their customers.



Anyways, the experience itself is quite straight forward unlike the Phoenixcall. The box is covered in a paper sleeve with a rather clean front of the box with the Plutus Beast name, the driver configuration, and an awesome lava-like print in the background.

The back of the box contains the lore of the Plutus Beast as well as the specifications, accessories, and other details.



Removing the sleeve reveals Chinese characters printed on the box. Removing the top then finally reveals the Plutus Beast sitting on their foam throne with the golden brown carrying pouch found below.

Here is a full list of the accessories:

• A pair of Celest Plutus Beast IEMs
• 6 Eartips
  • Celest 221 Vocal Eartips x 3 (SML)
  • Celest 608 Balanced Eaertips x 3 (SML)
  • 5n Copper Silver Plated Cable @ 3.5mm (with option for 4.4mm)
• Storage Case
• User Manual

For how much the Plutus Beast cost, I’m quite satisfied with the included accessories. The ear tips are still the usual Celest ear tips that came with the Pandamon which I absolutely dislike, but might work for you. I ended up using the tried and tested ear tips that complement both the Phoenix and the Plutus perfectly due to their shape, the Tangzu Sancai. Honorable mentions are the TRN T tips and KBEar07s



The carrying pouch, contrary to its aesthetics, is actually different from the one that came with the Phoenixcall. I initially thought it was the same until I looked closer and found that the Phoenixcall case is just a tad bit larger and more macaroon-shaped compared to the traditional circular shape of the Plutus. It’s a rather small, circular carrying pouch with webbing on the inside. Very pocketable but not the most sit-resistant case.



Also, the metal bookmark comes back once again with a rather beautiful dragon-headed Lion in the image of the Plutus Beast itself. Absolutely beautiful and is a treat for those who enjoy having collectibles with their IEMs.



Overall, a solid set of accessories for the price. I will always have my gripes with the wide-bore ear tips that the Celest products provide, but I know some people like them. I don’t.

A cleaning tool would’ve been a nice inclusion of some foam tips, but it’s a pretty solid set of accessories nonetheless.

BUILD & FIT​

Let’s finally unleash the beasts! These beauties house a peculiar driver configuration of a single 10mm Bone Conduction driver to handle the lows, a single balanced armature for the highs, and a full range second generation SPD all housed in a 3D printed Resin cavity from Heygears.



The first thing that anyone can (arguably) judge an IEM for is its aesthetics. And damn you have to admit the Plutus Beast looks like a beauty in photos. The design is apparently hand-painted to exhibit the noble, luxurious, and divine character that the Beast embodies.

They did a fine job with the faceplate of the Plutus Beast. I will say that I would’ve liked a little bit more design above the Celest logo, but that’s just me wanting a perfectly balanced and filled faceplate. Otherwise, it’s such a pretty IEM to look at.

The shape is akin to the Celest Phoenixcall to a perfect t. Besides the nozzle of the Plutus Beast has a metal mesh, they are virtually identical.

This means the fit is also exactly the same. This may or may not be a good thing as the shape that those two have are quite unique with a somewhat teardrop-style shape. It fit my ears absolutely perfectly, but I had to make sure I was using the right ear tips.

And that’s where the problem of this nozzle design lies. Getting ear tips to fit without slipping is hell. The most compatible ear tip for this shape is the aforementioned Tangzu Sancai and I ended up using the same tips that I used for the Phoenixcall on the Plutus Beast. And guess what, due to the widening of the ear tip due to the thicker nozzle of the Phoenixcall, the Sancai fit like a glove unto the nozzle of the Plutus Beast. I tried other tips like the KBEar07, New Bees and even TRI Clarions to no avail. Just goes to show how good the Tangzu Sancai is for certain IEMs.

So essentially, the Plutus Beast is a carbon copy in terms of the physical qualities of the Phoenixcall but diverts aesthetically. This means that depending on your ear shape, this will either fit like a glove or not fit. It’s an odd shape but a shape that is very effective when it fits. It’s also super comfortable for long listening sessions and has no driver flex or air pressure build-up.


Whether you prefer the clear shell where you can see the tubes and drivers from the Phoenixcall or the art piece that the Plutus Beast is all up to you.

However, it should be noted that having a good fit on the Plutus Beast is even more important than the Phoenixcall as the bone conduction requires you to be in contact with the shell as much as you can to get the most out of the bone conduction driver.

Where the two divert is the cable. The cable that the Plutus Beast comes with is a 5N Silver Plated 4 Core copper cable terminated to 3.5mm or 4.4mm and a connector of 0.78mm 2 pin.

It’s a rather basic looking and feeling cable which is in stark contrast to the colorful bubblegum color of the Phoenixcall. Nonetheless, it’s a pretty good cable. It’s thin and lightweight and the material does not irritate my sensitive skin.

It’s a little tangle-prone and the material worries me as it reminds me of the kinds of cables that stiffen up badly over time, but I cannot confirm or deny that.

The interfaces are pretty good being made out of an aluminum alloy. It’s not heavy-weight premium alloy, but a functional and sturdy-feeling interface. The chin cinch isn’t the best or most effective, but it works most of the time if you have it tucked tightly under your chin.

Overall, the build of the Plutus Beast is adequate enough for the price. It’s a resin build, so don’t expect this to feel premium to touch as only a few resin IEMs I’ve tried feel really premium to hold. Comfort will be a hit or miss and tip rolling is very important to get the best fit and seal on these which, due to it’s bone conduction nature, is even more important than the Phoenixcall. The cables are adequate and fit the shells aesthetically and comfort-wise.

SOUND​

Celest IEMs are like a box of chocolates, you never kind of tuning you’ll get. This is why I was quite excited to listen to these as soon as they arrived, and boy did they surprise me!

Sound Signature:​

The Plutus Beast has a V-shaped sound signature with boosted low-end and upper-midrange energy. It’s a rather steep sounding v-shaped that makes vocals occasionally hollow and upper mids borderline shouty. This is contrasted with the rather rolled-off upper treble making the overall sound on the warmer and darker side with an emphasis on the upper mids.

Drivability:​

With an impedance of 8ohms (yes, 8) and sensitivity of 108db, you can expect these to be very easy to drive. However, I found myself cranking the volume on these by quite a lot due to the subdued treble and bass focus. You can listen to these at lower volumes, but I found them to be quite dull and dead-sounding.

This also translates to sources. A lower-powered source will drive this decently but might come across as a little stale and dry-sounding. With proper amping, you can bring out the bass nuances while also smoothening the upper midrange. So despite its low impedance, I highly recommend listening to these with at least a dongle DAC or something more powerful to get the most out of its sound.

Bass:​

This is the highlight of the Plutus Beast. With the Beast featuring a bone conduction driver, you can only expect the bass of these to go deep. And deep it goes. These provide an impressively deep bass presentation with solid nuance and texture without any boominess or mud. There is a very healthy balance of midbass and subbass with the subbass going deep enough to provide deep rumble and midbass to give richness, texture, and punchiness to the mix.

Jacob Colier’s Hideaway sounded absolutely wonderful on the Plutus Beast. You could both feel and hear the deep bass in that track that does not intrude with the detailed guitar strumming.

My only nitpick would be that the overall bass presentation just feels like it lacks a little bit of naturalness with the decay. I couldn’t put my finger on it initially until I compared it to the Letshuoer D13 which has one of the best bass presentations I’ve heard in the budget range. The perfect speed with amazing texture.

The Plutus Beast exhibited a bass presentation almost too tight for what it was trying to do. It goes deep, it’s nuanced and clean, but decay’s just a little too fast for my tastes. It doesn’t sound entirely natural.

I’ll go more in-depth with the comparison later, but the quality bass of the Plutus Beast is fantastic with solid depth and nuance, but decay’s too fast to sound natural to my ears.

Mids:​

The mids of the Plutus Beast is, expectedly, on the recessed side. On simpler and less bass tracks, it can sound a little bit midcentric in a sense due to the nice amount of body and in the lower mids. But on busier tracks and tracks with a lot of upper midrange energy, the mids can start to sound pulled back and very distant.

I was pleasantly surprised with how good the note weight was on these. I never found these to sound dry (with proper amping). Instruments and vocals in the lower midrange sound full and rich with liveliness.

The upper mids are very nuanced with a lot of detail and richness. It presents instruments and vocals in the upper mids with more energy and intimacy which ends up throwing the mix upfront.

Them Changes by Thundercat is a perfect example with the bass guitars having such a thick and rich sound that perfectly compliments Thundercat’s vocals. Each bass note can be heard and felt which makes the overall mix sound alive in the Plutus Beast.

However, the upper mids are where the Plutus beast might start to cause some problems for some people. It’s undoubtedly forward and borderline shouty. Now I’m all for shout. I enjoy a little bit of shout every once in a while. You might even call me a shout-head. But the contrast between the lower mids to the upper mids is too drastic and messes up the overall timbre over the midrange to put too much emphasis on the upper mids and not enough on the lower mids on certain mixes.

However the Illusionist Shakes the Dice by Lie and a Chameleon is a perfect example of this with Cham’s vocals and the electric guitars being so forward that it ends up masking some details of the guitars in the lower mids.

Overall, the Plutus Beast is not the IEM to go to if you want to have the most natural-sounding midrange. There’s a good amount of nuance, but it might come across as unnatural or too forward sounding. On simpler mixes, the mids are nicely bodied with good note weight and nuance. But throw too much energy in the upper mids and you’ll be entering shout city that’ll mask the rest of the mids.

Treble:
And this is the part that really made me cry upon listening to the Plutus Beast, both in a good and bad way.

The treble of the Plutus Beast is quite rolled off with microdetails lacking but keeps the treble energy tame and relaxed. This is perfect for treble-sensitive people, but I unfortunately love a lot of treble and this was the first thing that I scoffed at when listening to the Plutus Beast.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the treble presentation of this is bad. The tamer treble brings out the bass more based on my experience which allows the texture and nuance in the lower frequencies to shine. However, I also found the upper midrange energy to contrast the rolled-off treble so much that it brought the vocals out too forward without the treble to contrast.

This is most evident when listening to a track like The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons by Lie and a Chameleon where the drumset just sounds so dulled out with each hit sound so soft.

But I can at least appreciate this in the sense that those people sensitive treble would find these wonderful. The energy is very well maintained without spikes and dips in clarity, so there’s no edginess. I also didn’t notice any metallic timbre which is always a plus considering this has a balanced armature. That goes to show that the way each driver was tuned here was tuned with intention and not just thrown in.

Overall, it’s a treble presentation I’m personally not fond of with its focus on having a smoother and more relaxed presentation. But it does allow the lower frequencies to shine and make it perfect for treble-sensitive people.

Technicalities:​

Before I talk about the usual stuff, I just want to talk about dynamics for a second as I think it would be fitting to talk about in this section as it is often dictated by the quality of the driver itself.

As mentioned in the bass section, the bass of the Plutus Beast is on the faster side which means the dynamics just feels ever so slightly too smoothened out. The dynamic range is solid for what it is and better than some hybrids in this price range but feels lacking in really going deep between notes.

As for the usual stuff, the stage isn’t the widest and is quite average. Not too wide, but not overly compressed. There’s still a solid sense of depth, especially in the bass region giving it a somewhat more expansive feel.

Separation and Layering is surprising as instruments never sound congested, although the upper mids forced some of the instruments to sound a little too distant on certain mixes which might give the impression of good separation without the fundamentals. But most of the time, even in more complex tracks, instruments and well separated with good layering which surprised me.

Imaging isn’t the most fantastic with decent enough 2D left and right panning but not much for front and back as well as up and down imaging. It’s to be expected, especially for in-ears. But I thought it should still be mentioned.

REAL WORLD USAGE:​

Casual Use:​

The Plutus Beast is quite a nice IEM to use for casual browsing due to its very snug and comfortable fit allowing me to wear this for hours on and. Its tuning is also surprisingly good for just watching videos as the upper midrange emphasis makes some harder-to-listen dialogue sound pretty audible.

Gaming:​

Gaming on these is neither terrible nor good. I can crank up the volume pretty high on these which makes them solid for games where I really wanna hear the nuances, but the treble being as subdued also causes some sounds to sound absolutely dull, especially on more environmental tracks. The depth of these adds points to its overall viability as a gaming set, however, and I really enjoyed gaming on these as a whole.

COMPARISON:​

Vs Letshuoer D13​

This might be an odd and left-field type of comparison, but hear me out. These are two bass focused sets with overemphasized upper mids and ridiculously rolled of treble to contrast.

The difference? D13 proves that dynamic drivers are still superior in providing a more natural presentation on the bass. This was one of the things that irked me about the Plutus as I liked its tuning more than the D13, but the D13’s bass was considerably more natural sounding than the Plutus Beast.

The attack, sustain, and decay were perfectly done on the D13 without crumbs left over. The Plutus left me wanting more due to how tight the bass decayed which made the overall bass presentation too clean.

However, tonality is definitely ahead on the Plutus Beast. The upper mid and mid-treble emphasis is better done on Plutus, although both are shouty. The D13 has such an awkward and weird-sounding vocal presentation that sounds shouty and nasally that the Plutus Beast doesn’t have to the same degree.

Vs Celest Phoenixcall​

Compared to its older sibling, the Plutus Beast is a considerably different sounding IEM to the Phoenixcall. While the Phoenixcall exhibits this weird v-shaped sound with midbass and mid-treble emphasis, the Plutus Beast takes the opposite approach and puts its energy in the subbass and upper mids.

Honestly, there’s not a lot to compare with these two as they’re completely different. The bass of the Plutus is better extended and nuanced than the Phoenixcall, but the Phoenixcall has considerably better detail retrieval and resolving ability. The two sets end up ironically being the yin and yang twins of the Celest lineup due to their complimentary sounds which, if you wanted a completely different sound from the Phoenixcall, then the Plutus beast would be a perfect complimentary set.

Vs Celest Pandamon​

The first of the second generation SPD, the Pandamon is and has been my reference neutral set due to how good the timbre of this thing is.

When I saw the graphs of the Plutus Beast, I initially thought that it would be a reincarnation of the Pandamon.

But boy, was I wrong. The Plutus Beast was a complete departure from the Pandamon’s neutral tuning as it brought the energy on both the bass and upper mids up. It essentially took the Pandamon’s sound and tweaked it to have a more fun, engaging and energetic sound.

Pandamon still sits ahead in terms of timbre as the Plutus suffers from an overcooked upper mids, but the Plutus is considerably more fun sounding than the Pandamon which makes it better for more genres.

CONCLUSION:​

Celest, you never fail to surprise me. The Plutus Beast is a beast in its driver configuration and making it work. The beautiful shells contrast the aggressive sound signature that brings out such a deep and nuanced bass and forward upper midrange to provide such an engaging and energetic sound. However, it’s definitely not the most natural or detailed-sounding set due to the somewhat overcooked upper midrange and poor treble extension making the treble region sound a little bit dead. I also took a small issue with the fact that BC bass couldn’t really compare to the more natural decay of DD bass, but it’s a personal nitpick, and surely people will appreciate how tight and rich the bass of the Plutus Beast is as I genuinely think it does.

As I’ve expected Celest to try something weird in their releases, I was pleasantly happy to see what the Plutus Beast became. It’s unique in almost every single way, but I’m not going to deny that it still needs refinement. Lowering the upper mids just a bit and adding a little bit more air would’ve done these very nicely. I can at least appreciate their improvements in their SPD as the full-range SPD did a pretty decent job keeping coherency in the three drivers that Celest used.

Keep surprising us Celest, and deepen the lore even more!

Thank you for checking out my full review of the Celest Plutus Beast. Big thanks to HiFiGo for sending over the Plutus Beast and for Neil Clark for managing the tour. If you would like to buy your own check out the non-affiliated link below:
HiFiGo Web：https://hifigo.com/products/kinera-celest-plutus-beast
Amazon JP：https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CR63TMB2/kinera+celest+plutus+beast/
Amazon US：https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR5QNDD9/kinera+celest+plutus+beast/
Aliexpress：
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006408658667.html


If you have any questions or concerns, contact me on my Facebook page or at obodioreviews@gmail.com

Enjoy music and have a great day!

DISCLAIMER

I would like to thank HIFIGO for providing the Plutus Beast.
It can be gotten here: https://hifigo.com/products/kinera-celest-plutus-beast (no affiliate links).





INTRODUCTION



For fans of ancient mythology, the Plutus Beast - also known as Tianiu, Bixie, or Baijie - is a prominent celestial being that guards the heavenly realms. In Chinese customs, it is regarded as a highly auspicious animal, with a tiger's body and the tail and head of a dragon. This beast symbolizes wealth, and is said to have awesome might.


SPECIFICATIONS

• Driver configuration: 1 x 10 mm bone conduction driver + 1 x balanced armature driver + 1 x 10 mm square planar driver
• Impedance: 8 Ω
• Frequency response: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
• Sensitivity: 108 dB
• Cable: 2-pin, 0.78 mm cable; 8 core silver-plated copper cable; choice of 3.5 mm or 4.4 mm termination
• Tested at $89 USD

ACCESSORIES

Other than the IEM, these are included:
- Celest 221 "vocal" eartips (S/M/L)
- Celest 608 "balanced" eartips (S/M/L)
- Cable
- Leatherette carrying case
- Cleaning brush
- Metal bookmark

For a sub-$100 USD IEM, the accessories are quite premium.




While no foam tips are included, we have 2 variants of silicone ones. The all-black Celest 221 tips AKA "vocal" tips are wide-bore, and increase treble air and soundstage. The narrow red-bore Celest 608 "balanced" tips boost bass with some compression in soundstaging.




The stock cable is a 2-pin 8 core silver-plated copper cable, with 3.5 mm (single-ended) or 4.4 mm (balanced) terminations available. This cable is quite well-braided, with a chin cinch and minimal tangling. However, there are microphonics present on it.




Next, we have a round clam-shell leatherette carrying case. It is semi-rigid, with the internals containing webbing and a soft material to cushion the contents. Kinera has also provided a cleaning brush, which is a nifty tool to remove debris and ear wax.

Last but certainly not least, we have an awesome metal bookmark of the Plutus Beast itself. A very nice touch to bring the ancient mythology to real life!

The rest of this review was done with the stock cable and stock Celest 221 "vocal" silicone tips. No aftermarket accessories were used, so as not to add any confounders to the sound.


BUILD/COMFORT



Fashioned from dermatologically-friendly resin, the housings are 3D-printed from HeyGears. Users can select between an elegant gold or sophisticated blue hand-painted faceplate, and the shells are a real looker. They are painstakingly crafted thru a process of drying, soldering, UV insulation, polishing, oil removal, and UV curing.

Despite being on the bulbous side, with a longer nozzle, comfort is surprisingly decent, with no issues wearing it for longer listening sessions. MMCX connectors tend to have a shorter shelf-life than 2-pin ones, and I'm glad that the Plutus Beast supports the latter termination.



Being a vented IEM, isolation is nothing to write home about. Sadly, I encountered slight driver flex on my set, but this is partially dependent on ear anatomy and type of tips used, so YMMV.


DRIVABILITY

I tested the Plutus Beast with the following sources:
- Apple dongle
- Cayin RU7
- Fiio K11 DAC/amp
- Fiio KA13 dongle
- Hiby R3 Pro Saber 2022 DAP
- Khadas Tone Board -> Schiit Asgard 3 amp
- Questyle M15 DAC/AMP dongle
- Sony Walkman NW A-55 DAP (Walkman One WM1Z Plus v2 Mod)
- Sony Walkman NW A-55 DAP (Walkman One Neutral Mod)
- Sony Walkman NW WM1A DAP (Walkman One WM1Z Plus v2 Mod)
- Smartphone

This IEM is easily driven even from weaker sources, and amplification is not 100% essential.

However, take note that due to its 8 Ω impedance, the Plutus Beast pairs best with sources with a 1 ohm or less output impedance, due to the rule of 8ths. Pairing it with a high output impedance source will skew the sound signature, making it very boomy and bloated in the lower frequencies.


INTERNALS

The Plutus Beast sports a unique driver setup:

• 1 x 10 mm bone conduction driver handles the low-end.
• 1 x balanced armature driver takes care of the treble. No info is provided on the BA brand/type.
• 1 x 10 mm square planar driver is a full-range driver, covering the entire frequency spectrum from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.

These are arranged in a multi-magnet array, which is touted to improved magnetic flux for driving the voice coil.


SOUND & TECHNICALITIES


Graph of the Kinera Plutus Beast via IEC711 coupler. 8 kHz is a coupler peak.

Tonally, the Plutus Beast has an L-shaped bassy profile, which is very "fun" sounding. It literally makes listeners just want to shake their heads and let their hair down.

This IEM hits near basshead quantities, with a huge visceral rumble that rattles down to the chest noted on bass heavy tracks. The graph above just shows a modest bass shelf, but the bone conduction tech inside can't be fully gleaned on graphs - BC drivers need to be touching the ears/skull bones to transmit resonances - and the bass here is actually more marked than graphed.

In terms of quality, texturing is average, though bass speed is acceptable for such copious bass amounts. We can't get away from some degree of mid-bass bleed in view of the prodigious bass, but the bass is generally well-controlled for the amounts it pumps out.

The lower mids are a tinge recessed, but this area is lush due to the huge bass washout. Upper mids hit a 9 dB ear gain -at louder volumes (Fletcher Munson curve), this region may be slightly fatiguing on some tracks, but if used at low to moderate volumes, it is just at the border of shoutiness versus forwardness.

The Plutus Beast is a safe IEM for the treble-sensitive. It is relatively sibilant free, with an early roll-off in the upper frequencies. This translates to a smooth treble, though there is some loss of resolution. Trebleheads may want to look elsewhere, but fans of a darkish signature should be quite at home.

Timbre-wise, the Plutus Beast has a slight metallic overtone for acoustic instruments, which is probably from the BA and square planar driver. It is not the worst offender in this department, but timbral-freaks may want to keep their expectations in check, and it certainly cannot be compared to DD type timbre.

In the area of technicalities, the Plutus Beast is more down-to-earth instead of a celestial champion. Resolution and micro-detailing are average, partially a function of the nerfed treble, and imaging is just serviceable. Soundstage is above average in all dimensions at least, though instrument separation is a bit muddy.

Overall, this set has an unusual signature. Verily, it is a breath of fresh air amongst the usual Harmanish sidegrades, in furnishing a grand-sounding bass heavy signature, which complements genres like OSTs and bass heavy ones like EDM and hip-hop. But for purists who do not want a big bass, they may find the tuning not to be their cup of tea. Certain genres like classical and acoustic music may not jive well with this L-shaped profile.


COMPARISONS

Comparisons were made with other IEMs that contain a microplanar hybrid setup. Single DD, pure BA, conventional hybrids and true planar IEMs were excluded as the different driver configs have their own inherent pros and cons.




Celest Phoenix Call

The Phoenix Call from Kinera's sister company sports a DD + 2 BAs + flat planar driver. It is tuned to a more aggressive V-shape, with greater treble extension, though with sibilance present, and may not be a kindred spirit for treble-sensitive folk.

The Phoenix Call is more expensive, and has improved technicalities, with a more expansive soundstage, better micro-detailing, imaging and instrument separation.

The Phoenix Call has a thinner note weight and a more metallic timbre though, and is slightly harder to drive.

TRI I3
The TRI I3 is a 1 DD + 1 BA + 1 microplanar IEM, with huge sumo-sized shells that make it a more uncomfortable proposition. It also has MMCX connectors, and on one side of my TRI I3, the MMCX is a bit loose (curse of the MMCX!).

The massive shells give the TRI I3 a massive soundstage, which dwarves the Plutus Beast's. The I3 is also slightly better in technicalities. However, the I3 has more sibilance and splashiness in the lower treble, with worse timbre. The I3 is notably harder to drive.


CONCLUSIONS



Kinera has tread off the beaten path with an uncommon L-shaped visceral bassy signature in the Plutus Beast. It is truly laudable to go for a different direction, with most other manufacturers pursuing a "safe" tried-and-tested Harmanish formula.

Did Kinera succeed in this ambitious project? Yes, I would say the Plutus Beast is a unique IEM, bringing head-bopping fun to the table, with a bombastic bass coupled with a darkish treble. For genres that the Plutus Beast suits, it shines energetically, with OSTs sounding very pompous, and bass-focused tracks like EDM and hip-hop synergizing perfectly. Think of a gargantuan behemoth descending from the heavens - like its namesake - and slamming into the earth with its oversized Godzilla-like claws.

For purists - or for certain music genres that demand a less intrusive bass - the Plutus Beast is arguably not the best choice, but some other commendable points are the nice packaging, beautiful shells, decent ergonomics and easy drivability.

Some areas that could be improved are as such - the Plutus Beast has a low impedance, and it may be fastidious with sources with higher output impedance, and micro-detailing and instrument separation are bang average. There are also instances of a peaky upper midrange, especially at louder volumes.

From their track record, Kinera is not a brand to crowbar copycat Harmanish sidegrades and follow preexisting trends, and always dares to try something contrasting. The Plutus Beast is an avant-garde brainchild of this exotic tuning philosophy, and for our adventurous friends who love a grandiose bass and a boisterous soundscape - and want something dissimilar to the boring Harman specimens - the Plutus Beast is an animal waiting to be unleashed.

Kinera Celest Plutus Beast​

Kinera Celest Plutus Beast
instagram: link
Prelude:
Quite recently, I wrote an extensive review about quite unusual headphones, which turned out to be tribrid phoenixcalls. As it turned out, however, Celest does not slow down even for a moment and its parent company, Kinera Audio, makes sure that their projects are equally interesting. I remember some time ago when the celest brand developed the first SPD transducer. Today I have the pleasure of presenting you my observations about the latest creation, which will be the Kinera Celest Plutus Beast. Due to the fact that I received my unit pre-premiere, I do not know the official price of this model, but I can hope that, according to unofficial assurances, it will not exceed USD 100. Plutus Beast is a model consisting of three second-generation 1BC+ BA + SPD transducers. The domes were made using 3D printing from resin.


Unboxing and ergonomics:
Celest Plutus Beast comes to us in a small package, and inside, apart from the headphones themselves, there is a beautiful, small case made of ecological leather, the cable in my case was made of four SPC conductors and ended with 0.78 mm plugs and a 3.5 mm jack, but for There is also a 4.4mm variant to choose from. The next element in the set were two sets of headphone tips and a bookmark with a motif matching the name of the headphones. This set is completely sufficient. The headphones themselves are very elegant and made of a dark, semi-transparent casing that allows us to gently see the inside of our headphones. Personally, I consider the new celestas to be little works of art and I really like their design.


Sound:
My observations will be based on connecting the headphones to Fiio K11 after balance, EarMena Angel and iBasso DC06PRO. The files I used were dense FLAC and DSD with different sampling.

Bass: Low tones are reproduced by a full-range SPD driver and enhanced by bone conduction. I must admit that I did not expect such physical and literally tangible bass. The low tones are literally physical and this is largely due to bone conduction, the bass not only goes low, but allows us to accurately and precisely feel its presence. At the same time, thanks to the smooth and natural signature of Celest Plutus Beast, the lower bands are neither tiring nor dominant. It’s a solid bass foundation full of energy rather than an overwhelming, jamming plague.

Midrange: The mid tones are beautiful and perfectly reflect the realism of the presented content. The vocals are smooth and engaging, and the instruments are well isolated from each other. Here, choosing the right tips helps a lot, in my case the HIFIGO RENDER tips worked best. Which I think is great and worth your attention. The instruments are natural and full of details. The upper midrange reflects music as it should be in a smooth and coherent way. I also like the natural tempo of the music presentation and the lack of midrange retraction in relation to the other bands.

Treble: Once again we experience a mature and coherent presentation. I really like the smoothness and huge amount of information that can be heard in Celest Plutus Beast. The high tones are not overly muffled, instead they are shaped to complement the rest of the band. At the same time, this tuning minimizes the feeling of fatigue when listening for a long time. However, if someone does not like smooth and spacious sound, Celest Plutus Beast may not be a good choice. What surprised me the most was the large sound stage, both in width and with excellent tuning depth.

Comparisons:


Kinera Celest Plutus Beast VS Phoenixcall ($129)
Kinera Celest Plutus have much more bass, and the lower bands in them are more physical thanks to the use of BC. In contrast, Phoenixcalls present a less smooth signature with greater extension in the upper frequency ranges. Personally, I think that both headphones are great, if you prefer a smooth sound with physical bass, be sure to listen to the Kinera Celest Plutus Beast, and if you prefer more aggressive high tones and higher resolution, the Phoenixcall will also be an interesting listen.

Kinera Celest Plutus Beast VS celest pandamoon (59USD)
Pandamoons are the debut of the celest audio brand when it comes to a fully independent SPD transducer. What surprised me most about them was their great and natural sound despite the low price. However, due to their open design, they did not provide proper insulation. Kinera Celest Plutus Beast represent a slightly higher level, and thanks to the closed construction, they provide excellent insulation and are perfect for urban hiking. At the same time, I find the sound of the Kinera Celest Plutus Beast more entertaining and slightly more resolving. However, pandamoons are much more equal in sound.


Render tips:
I decided to include a special paragraph here dedicated to hybrid nail tips developed by HIFIGO. First of all, they impress with the quality of workmanship and the great insulation they provide. At the same time, they do not wear out, unlike foam tips, and provide great sound experiences, which also puts them higher than foam ones and allows me to rate this solution as the best compromise between silicone and foam tips.

Summary:
Kinera Celest Plutus Beast are excellent headphones full of new technologies and interesting solutions. As for the sound, it is entertaining, spacious with great bass and midrange. However, please remember that the overall signature is slightly warmer and much smoother. I believe that it is worth getting acquainted with these headphones because, in addition to their great sound, they represent excellent workmanship and provide very good insulation and high wearing comfort. When it comes to build quality, this one is also very good. If I were to look for weak points, I would like a little more sparkle in the treble, but this is not a defect, just a personal preference. If you are curious about these headphones and would like to see for yourself how they sound, I leave a link to the official HIFIGO store where you can order them. Additionally, although the Kinera Celest Plutus Beast are headphones that benefit from better amplification, they are still not excessively demanding on current and can be powered by an ordinary pocket amplifier or a pocket music player. This increases their functionality and usefulness in urban space, ensuring greater mobility.
Link to headphones:

link to render tips:

​

Introduction​

As many of you probably know, Celest is under Kinera’s hat and aims to provide value-for-money IEMs that have a different music approach when compared to your average Harman-ish tuning. Every IEM from the brand is also related to a mythology beast, and this is another thing that differentiates Celest from other brands.
The new product from Celest is the Plutus Beast, a set that features a tribrid configuration using their patented SPD, a balanced armature and a bone conduction driver. It’s basically the cheapest tribrid set featuring a bone conduction driver and this is the reason why many are waiting for some reviews about these.

The Plutus Beast have a lore, like any every other set from Celest, but since you can find every detail of the mythology behind them on HiFiGO's website, let's get straight to the review: I cannot wait to share my impressions anymore!

Disclaimer: the Celest Plutus Beast were sent to me by HiFiGO free of charge so that I could write an honest review. This review represents my personal opinion on the set and it is by no means a promotional or paid content.
At the time of the review, the Celest Plutus Beast were on sale for 89$ at HiFiGO's Official Webstore, Amazon US, Amazon Japan and Aliexpress.

Click to expand...

Technical Specifications​

• Driver Configuration → Tribrid (1 x BC + 1 x BA + 1 x SPD™)
• Impedance → 8 Ω
• Sensitivity → 108dB
• Effective Frequency Response Range → 20Hz-20kHz
• Cable → 1,20m 5N copper silver plated cable with 0.78mm 2-PIN connectors
• Plug Type → straight gold plated 3.5mm jack connector

Packaging​

Celest always do their best to well package their products and the Plutus Beast come in a very good looking box that contains:

• The Celest Plutus Beast
• 3 pairs of Celest 221 Vocal Eartips (Black) + 3 pairs of Celest 608 Balanced Eartips (Red)
• The detachable 3.5mm cable with 0.78mm 2-PIN connectors
• A very nice pleather carry case
• A Plutus Beast metal bookmark
• User manuals and instructions (why the FAQ paper card is only in Chinese? Makes no sense)

Design and Build Quality​

The Plutus Beast are not very showy or fancy IEMs but they certainly look great in their polished, refined and small shells painted with contrast(y) colors and glitters.
The shells are very smooth and have no sharp edges and their thickness is slightly more pronounced under the nozzle rather than on the outer edges.
The nozzle is not the smallest around but I’d say it’s on the average size for nowadays’ standards, and the grill shows a lot of care to small details since the order of the holes resembles a flower and his petals around (these are the kind of nuances that sometimes matter when you want to know how much a company cares about providing refined and well thought products).

Cable​

The stock cable is sturdy but it’s a bit on the stiffer side; a softer cable would have been even better and more comfortable around the ears (not that it isn’t comfortable, but it’s definitely improvable in terms of overall feeling).
The chin slider has a pretty large diameter, but somehow works properly and I find it even better than many other chin sliders.
There is no microphone or remote control on the cable.

Comfort and Isolation​

Comfort is very good since the shells are small and don’t have any sharp edges; plus, the stock tips are very good so it’s also easy to fit these properly. Isolation is good as well.

Sound​

GEAR USED FOR THE TEST

• DAC: Topping E30
• AMP: Topping L30
• Mobile phones: Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, Xiaomi Mi A3, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
• Moondrop May’s DSP cable with PEQ=0
• Dongle: Apple Type-C dongle, Truthear SHIO
• Portable DAPs: Benjie S8/AGPTEK M30B
• Other sources: Presonus AudioBox iONE, Elgato Wave XLR, KZ AZ10

Do they need an amplifier?
The Celest Plutus Beast don't need an amplifier thanks to their average sensitivity and lower than average impedance. The low impedance, though, means that the Plutus Beast will have a small background hiss when plugged to sources that don’t have low output impedance when nothing is being reproduced, so beware of this if you’re annoyed by this kind of behavior.

Sound signature
The Plutus Beast has some bass emphasis and neutral lower midrange, with forward upper midrange and very rolled-off treble. The combination of these tuning choices lead to an inoffensive and impactful tuning with an upper range that is darker than average.

Lows
The sub-bass and bass are of very good quality: nice extension, very good impact, overall nice body and good textures. The bass is punchy, tight, pretty fast indeed and delivers what’s necessary without struggling on most occasions. It’s not a basshead set, since it would need even more bass for that, but tracks in which the bass is “the star of the show” really shine on the Plutus Beast as they guarantee a very satisfying and dense low-end.

Mids
The bass to lower mids transition isn’t the cleanest around, and this also because the bass and sub-bass power translates into added warmth in the lower midrange, also helped by the treble roll-off. Male vocals, in fact, sound very warm, but they are sometimes not as incisive as they should due to the fact that the added warmth and the treble roll-off tend to smoothen them a bit.
The upper midrange sounds forward with intimate female vocals that sound in front of the listener, even though they can occasionally get hot or nasal and lose some naturalness. There’s no sibilance though, which is good news.
For sure, the upper midrange is more forward than the average Harman-tuned IEM, so it’s a love or hate situation here as it depends on your average playlist: if you listen to a lot of rock music, for example, these may become very hot depending on the recording (and on the volume).
Instrument layering is just ok but it’s more of a relaxed and timbre-focused approach rather than a clinical one, so very complicated tracks seem to “ask for a bit more space” in many cases.

Highs
The highs are not absent, but the very noticeable and aggressive roll-off lead to a very intimate, dark and smooth presentation that makes the Plutus Beast less versatile. In genres where spatiality, air and soundstage matter, in fact, the Plutus Beast won’t be the best set to use.
The detail retrieval mostly relates to macro-details rather than small nuances, so if you’re searching for the most detailed set in this price range you should probably consider something else. Instead, those who are very sensitive to treble will find the Plutus Beast very appealing and smooth, even though the upper midrange glare cannot be left out of the equation.

Soundstage is relatively small also due to the signature leading to an intimate listening experience. In its small size, though, it’s well rounded with decent spatial cues and in fact imaging is mostly on point, even though it lacks a bit of precision when it comes to properly differentiating vocals and instruments at different depths. Let’s say instruments are positioned where they should be but it’s millimeter-precise, that’s all.

What’s the impact on sound that the stock tips have?

• Celest 221 Vocal Eartips (black): slightly less low-end, less warmth in male vocals, clearer and more energetic female vocals, a bit more details and clarity when reproducing instruments
• Celest 608 Balanced Eartips (red): a bit more bass than black filters, warmer male vocals, slightly less nasal yet less engaging and intimate female vocals, a bit less details and clarity overall

Some comparisons (with Celest 221 Vocal Eartips)​

Celest Plutus Beast vs Moondrop May​

Very different.
The May are U-shaped with elevated bass response, more treble sparkle and a more lively and open sound. The Plutus Beast have a more mature tuning, a darker treble, and vocals are less upfront (they really sound a lot less “standard” than the May, that instead go for a very common sound signature).
Bass quality is better on the Plutus Beast, but the May are overall a bit more natural sounding. Technical performance would be on the same level if the Plutus Beast had a tad more treble, but out of the box the May have a bigger soundstage and a more precise imaging. Also, instrument separation is clearer.
Both are built very well and both are comfortable, but the Plutus Beast insulate in a better way from external noises.
The May come with a DSP Type-C cable, whereas the Plutus Beast come with a standard 3.5mm cable, and both are of good quality.

Celest Plutus Beast vs QoA Vesper 2​

Both sets are warm and tend to sound darker than most competitors.
The Plutus Beast have a faster, more impactful and more textured low-end, with more forward and energetic (yet more fatiguing and shouty) vocals and a bit more detail overall.
The Vesper 2 sound darker with a leaner midrange and slightly more neutral (yet less engaging) vocals overall. Details are very similar, but the treble is a bit leaner on the Vesper 2 whereas the Plutus Beast are a touch less closed-in.
Soundstage is intimate on both sets, imaging is slightly superior on the Plutus Beast.
Both are very well built, both are extremely comfortable and both come with good cables and a nice set of tips. The Vesper 2 insulate a touch better.

Celest Plutus Beast vs Celest Pandamon​

The Celest Pandamon were truly overlooked when it was their time to shine, and I think it’s a shame because their performance is still great for their price. Their design is too “childish” for most hobbyists out there, so that’s maybe one of the reasons why they didn’t get the attention that they (still) deserve.
The Pandamon sound more neutral in general, with a less prominent low-end and more treble. The detail retrieval of the Pandamon is also slightly superior due to the fact that the treble is a bit more open since there’s less bass quantity and warmth. The Plutus Beast, on the other hand, are a lot warmer and more intimate with more impactful and tactile bass.
Vocals are more intimate and warmer on the Plutus Beast, more neutral and more open-sounding on the Pandamon.
The soundstage is wider on the Pandamon and the imaging is a touch better on the Pandamon as well thanks to the fact that there’s less bass overall.
What differentiates them in terms of sound is definitely their timbre, since the Plutus Beast are a niche product and it’s really clear that the tuner’s intention wasn’t to make an “all-rounder”.
Build quality, design, comfort, isolation and stock cable are miles better on the Plutus Beast.

Celest Plutus Beast vs Celest Phoenixcall​

The Phoenixcall were released before the Plutus Beast and became popular because of their superbly designed shells.
They are more V-shaped than the Plutus Beast, with brighter, more extended and more detailed highs, superior resolution, bigger soundstage and better imaging. The Plutus Beast, instead, go for a more relaxed and non-fatiguing approach, with more intimate vocals and an overall warmer and darker presentation. The bass on the Plutus Beast is a notch better, both in terms of impact and textures, and male vocals sound slightly fuller than on the Phoenixcall also thanks to the warmth given by the low-end.
In the end, the Phoenixcall are targeted to those who want a very dynamic, fun and resolving IEMs with a brighter top-end and a more versatile sound, whereas the Plutus Beast were truly designed to appeal those who are more into fatigue-free mature tunings with forward vocals: they are basically sidegrades and the trade-off lays between technicalities and timbre.
Build quality is awesome on both sets but Phoenixcall’s design is much more captivating and they also come with a better cable. Comfort is great on both for me but probably the smaller shells of the Plutus Beast may be better for those with small ears. Last, but not least, the Phoenixcall win when it comes to isolation.

Celest Plutus Beast vs Celest Gumiho​

The Celest Gumiho were the first IEMs from Celest, and already a lot of time has passed since their release.
The Plutus Beast are more refined overall, with totally absent BA timbre, better bass quality, more mature and warmer male vocals and more intimate female vocals. The Gumiho have more details, better treble extension and better soundstage, but this comes at the cost of some splashiness, and the more one increases the volume, the more the BA timbre is noticeable. One thing to say, also, is that vocals sound better on the Plutus Beast, even though their timbre is not the most natural around.
Build quality, cable, comfort and isolation are better on the Plutus Beast.

Final Thoughts​

Celest is experimenting a lot and this tribrid is another well executed implementation of a brand that really brings something different (from the usual tunings and driver configurations) on the table. The Plutus Beast are an interesting set, with a mature, warm and dark-ish sound along with forward vocals, non-fatiguing treble and an excellent low-end.
Everything comes at a cost, though: the treble roll-off and forward upper midrange make less versatile and the technical chops are only average for the price range.

They literally sit in Celest’s product catalogue as a sidegrade from the Phoenixcall and as a more engaging solution than the Vesper 2, with full focus on providing a niche signature with a very unique timbre (which is good news since we see a lot of very similar and boring IEMs nowadays) that is not for everyone.

Making very unique IEMs, in fact, also means there’s the risk that a product may appeal only a portion of customers, and the Plutus Beast are the perfect example for this statement: a very unique-sounding set that will be discovered only by those who have the right library and tuning tastes to appreciate this type of tuning.

This is a review sample sent from Hifigo. The opinions are my own, but I am going to try to express them in a clear manner after having had some time on them. This isn’t a set I would buy from looking a the graph. I’ve been highly disappointed in just buying the latest craze set, but this set is fully enjoyable for me and I am loving my time with it. I was able to choose what color I wanted looking at the shells. This set has created many memories for me.



Cute story I allowed my 7 year old son to pick which version he wanted and he picked blue. A few weeks later when it came in I showed it to him and he said. “That’s what I wish I could own when I’m an adult.” Suffice it to say the little guy is a big fan of the Plutus Beast, and for good reason, it’s crazy beautiful and classy looking.

This is a funny hobby. I have a watch case, and for various reason I keep 5 iems in this case next to my desk where I spend a big of time each day. Right now I keep the NiceHCK F1 Pro, 7hz Acoustics Supernova, Gizaudio Binary x Chopin, Aful Performer 5, and you might have guessed it the Plutus Beast.

We have different types of collectors, some have massive collections and other collectors have smaller collections or just one set they use until it breaks. I am rethinking my place in this hobby as I’ve given hell into this whole YouTube thing spending a ton and exposing my time, my voice, my wallet and my thoughts to this hobby. A few things that I’ve learned in the Philosophy of Jaytiss. You only get one life, live it well. Having said that you only get one set of ears so owning an excessive amount of headphones is almost silly. Each headphone need to do something that the others can’t do. I have been gifted a few sets to do promotional work, but I also buy a lot and share my collection with a few US reviewers to try to help them.

So for get the reviewer name and responsibility that I have to others here what kinds of sets do I feel that people should have. Personally, about 5. 1 Big money set, one banger cheaper set to take with you where you won’t cry if you lose it, one old set, and a few fun sets that you enjoy. How do you break down your top 5? Personally I find a place in collection even tho this iem isn’t my perfect sound, but often it is exactly what I need to get my heart racing and feel the music.

I think as a reviewer we typically come across the race for the most linear set. I’m rethinking my approach to audio as a whole, but I think having a clear list and recommendations is important as it helps others understand my opinions in a clear manner.. So the question I am going to ask in this iem, is not… Is this iem good. But more so we are going to ask does this iem have a place in your collection. Do we judge a bear the same way that we would judge a Gizelle? No they are different, and they have a unique skill set and use. And I am going to try to give you reasons why I think this is a fantastic non-linear set.

Important songs.
Enemy from the series arcane.

Forward fun vocals, bass hits hard. Song feels fantastic, sounds smooth, like in a live concert like the world is my Oster. This transports me to another place, and unique. This is one of my favorite songs and this plays it really well, like how is this only 89 dollars well. The bass hits so strong in this song, it brings me back to my youth, away from responsibilities and into the music. So lovely.

Worship by Ari Abdul sounds airy, and spacious. Her voice comes across wide with such great air and detail, I love it so much. This has great holographic space and does great things to the music. I feel like I’m at a Concert and that’s a majestic experience that I love a great deal, with Space and air. It takes me to a new place. I feel like I’m getting the coolest detail with her vocals. I can’t describe it but love it so much.




This is a newer version of my 10 favorite songs that also work for audiofile music.

This is a copy of a bunch of good audiofile music. Some are on my favorites, but all are great to test headphone tracks. (70+)

This is my favorite overall music. 300+ songs (needs to be edited a bit)




Bass (20-60 Sub Bass, 60-250 Hz Mid Bass)

The details of the bass is strong and everything sounds right on it. The bass seems wild and fun, and untamable. It It is not lean or poor. I do find the quality of the bass is appropiate for the price and maybe even great. I have found that while it doesn’t match my target amount of bass, I do fully enjoy it. I feel the PR driver adds additional bass, but I’m not sure. This is all by ear and flow, not by science. I feel percussions on it sound great. I think a lot of this is due to the unique shell that vibrates. The iem is lush even in the bass and fun. It has this fantastic chewy viscerale timber that just sounds amazing, and I love every second of it. The bass slams and has a distinctive texture that you could only get from a Bone Conductor driver. I love my bass a great deal, and while not a basshead I find it one of the biggest killers for me. This bass is very nice. The bass response is just so good on the Beast, that I can’t describe it as I feel it goes through my body.





Midrange (250 HZ to 800 HZ Low Mids, 600-200 Hz Mids, 2000-5000Hz Upper Mids)

Midrange is very sollid and podcast come across well in this. Vocals seems fun and livly. Enjoyable yet unrelaxed. There is a holographiciness to the vocals that is impressive and wonderful. It has a real-life sense to it like I’m there with people and there is a beautiful richiness to what I am hearing and I enjoy it. The mids are probably the weaker part of this set.

The upper mids to the treble is a bit much for some, it could be more smooth. There is a little bit of unnaturalness to this iem. On some tracks it is off, and I can see how some might now like it.

Vocals seem slightly hazy in podcasts, but this is in comparison to more expensive iems. This does well in comparison to my ears to iems at this cost. This is more of a colored sound overall but generally natural smooth and clean, appropriate for the price but not the best. Vocals will pop alive and have some kick and spice during certain tracks. Yet this is a different experience of energy and a holographic experience. This has one of the wider soundstages of any iem that I’ve ever heard. Certain instruments are very special on this.


Treble (5000- 10000 Trebble/Highs, 10000 ++ HZ Upper Trebble & Air)

The treble is energetic in this set and it isn’t bad but not exactly what I’m used to. The shell and bone conductor of this iem effects this iem a great deal. In some ways, it makes it a more interesting engaging listen, in other ways it makes it a big no no.
On Hotel California I was getting some interesting reveriation that I believe was from the shell. It felt a lot like a Passive Radiator driver in many ways. Lush Holographic and having a wide sound stage are the ways that I would describe this set. The trebble is good, but some instruments sound oddly either too natural or not natural enough. It's hard to say, but it's not as safe as I'd like. It's music-dependent, but never boring.

Gaming

Gaming is great on this iem, it’s cozy and has a world-class feeling of fit to me. The staging on this iem is great with a nice open feeling. I think the imaging is good for the price with a lot of details in the treble. I do think it is comfortable, and that is a huge requirement for me.



Shell
The shell is pretty, it fits great and it comes in blue or orange. It feels pretty great in my ear, and that is important to me. I can fit pretty much any shell in my giant audiofile ears, but I think it’s cozy as can be, but this shell is special and is so easy to recommend. Fit is important and this iem fits very well and is super enjoyable.


Case
I love this case, it looks like a leather case and is very impressive. This iem is in the same range as the Ziggaat Cinno which didn’t have a case at all and was packaged the exact same as the iem that costs ⅕ of the cheaper Ziggat Nuo. I appreciate detail, packaging and a fun experience to which I can enjoy in my collection. This is the same case as the Phoenixcall but in a different color. Great choice, amazing they are doing this at this price!

Cable- The cable is pretty! I love it. It shines when I look at it from my watch case. I so often want to replace the cables that I get, but this cable feels so fantastic that I have no complaints about it especially often at this price you get an afterthought.

Tip Selection - I was pleasantly surprised with the tip selection! I feel it was adequate and I have no issues with it.

Comparisons:

Vs. Kinera Phoenixcall

Personally, I like the sound of the Phoenixcall better as it is more tame on an entire evening experience, on some tracks but on others the bass wins of the Plutus beast. Beast for vocals, Phoenixcall is more chill less engaging. The bass is better Plutus Beast is a little better, but treble mids and vocals are better on the Phoenixcall. I liked the Phoenixcall as a fun enjoyable set that doesn’t just try to be neutral. The Plutus Beast is a unique set, a specialist, a mad lad you keep around to really enjoy a few special tracks and to have a special night.


Vs Rosetechnics Quietsea
Rosetechnics has an analog leaner style that I full enjoy that reminds me a great deal of a concert experience. This is a fun experience to be had at different times that electrify a room and makes you feel that you are there and not having an intimate studio presence but a wide concert feel. Both iems feel analog and are good on certain genres. The Plutus Beast wins out on vocals and engagement.

Graph:


Sound - Final Impressions

This is a good linear set, but a great fun set. It punches above its weight on certain tracks has a holographic feeling and is engaging as all heck. I’ve listen to tracks and it has really sated me when having a bad day, or just wanted to let loose with a fun listen.

Recommended EQ: I use Peace APO to EQ on the PC. This EQ is done to my preference. I recently set up a preference curve on My Squig. So for at least iems, I can use my own graphs now. Please feel free to use the measurements as you want.. Jaytiss.squig.link
Overall this is an amazing iem that could easily be a game for most. The goal for me with an iem is to have one that doesn’t need EQ. This iem sounds crazy amazing with this eq. So technicalities I have to say it is a strong iem. Very clean and easy to EQ, if the 2k shout is hard for you.



Preamp: -20.6 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 21 Hz Gain 3.5 dB Q 0.500
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 590 Hz Gain 3.3 dB Q 0.500
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 2000 Hz Gain -6.7 dB Q 1.000
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 2800 Hz Gain 2.2 dB Q 2.000
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 3800 Hz Gain -3.6 dB Q 2.000
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 6100 Hz Gain 7.2 dB Q 2.000
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 8000 Hz Gain -5.3 dB Q 2.000
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 10000 Hz Gain -9.4 dB Q 2.000
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 13000 Hz Gain 12.0 dB Q 2.000
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 13000 Hz Gain 11.6 dB Q 0.700



Does the Plutus need Eq,? Yes, I think it needs a little less upper middle-range energy for my liking. This eq makes the iem a bit better in my eyes, and this driver and configuration has a nice tone and technicalities to it with having such an easy simple shell, it’s very enjoyable.


Gifting/who is it for: I think this is a nice hifi iem to gift to someone, my kid really likes the design and flow of it and I think it looks fantastic and sounds fun and engaging.

Pairing: I used a Quidelix 5k for mobile, my dongle Dac iBasso DC04 for my laptop, and my JDS labs Element III MK2 Boosted for my Desktop PC. I also tried the iem briefly on the Apple dongle as well. This iem had no issues being driven. Typically I only find overears to have a hard time being driven and maybe some planar iems.

So who is this for? Let me show you a little part of my ranking list where I try to talk about every iem.


So is this set for those who spend 50 a year, at $89 dollars this is a good-priced iem. For the medium people, maybe as it is a fun set, but I don’t think it’s the best linear or easiest recommendation to all, yet I encourage all to try it and experience it if they can. The 3rd is the group to which I belong to where you spend 2000-12000 a year on audio and I think this is a good member of that group’s collection. Now for the Uberr rich, I’m going to have to say maybe just get the Kinera Loki as that is a more premium set and so I’m going to tell you maybe on it, and for the fans of the series I’m going to say yes as like the lovers of the phoenixcall this is an important set.

Now first off is this iem is interesting as it is coming in at under 100 dollars with a Bone Conductor driver, a BA, and a PST small planar driver. This is an interesting driver configuration that I have not experienced except in the very expensive Kinera Loki. This is by Celestee. I can’t really afford a 3000-dollar iem, despite wanting all of them. So for a bone conductor driver to come in realistic price for me is nice. The lush presentation of this iem makes those tracks that it hits with to be so majestic and fun.

Summary-

Iems just inject goey lovely music into your brain and it’s a special part of this hobby. But if you’re willing to branch out into the unknown and try something you might find something especially unique and lovely. The space and air of this iem is majestic, the richness to the iem is unique, and I feel it is very special but holographic and I don’t say that easily about many sets. It does something for me when I listen to music that I didn’t think would be possible from a set that is 100 dollars or less. It makes me enjoy music and satisfies me down deep with a fun awesome concert-like experience that is vivid and emotional in a way that I didn’t know that I needed. This iem lives up to its name and is a BEAST. Enjoyable analog feeling for those who need a beautiful set, that doesn’t need a recable or case to be bought. This is an easy recommendation for yourself or a gift to a friend. They’ll love it, and so will you.

But we don’t always need the same set to listen to music. It’s fun to have various beautiful easy-to-fit sets in part of your collection. And this is why I think the Plutus Beast is a treasure, not because it it perfect but in its imperfections and uniqueness make it stand out in this world of AI imperfections and writing and everything sounding sterile and docile, this iem is the analog to the digital and it satisfies the beast in me. For it's price it is a unique set that is easy to fit in the ears, beautiful, and plays some tracks better than many 1000-dollar sets.

Any feedback is welcome.