WATCH FULL REVIEW HERE: https://youtu.be/HW4GmS-qZLo

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：

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!