In this review, I’ll try to determine whether the Letshuoer Mystic 8 truly is the cat’s meow. The unit costs $989 USD.
Disclaimer: Letshuoer is not related to Headfonia. They sent me the Mystic 8 free of charge to be featured on Headfonia.com.
Letshuoer
Founded in 2016, Letshuoer is a personal audio venture headed by an ex-engineer of Panasonic, Danny To, and his business partner, Jeff Wong, who has many international business management positions under his belt.
Later joined by other, no less capable team members, Letshuoer has been an Asian hifi staple.
The company is most known for its S12 Pro planar IEMs, which impressed Nanotechnos when he reviewed them in 2023.
Together with the 7Hz Timeless (now superseded by the Timeless II) and the HIDIZS MP145, they were the first volley of affordable large-format orthodynamic IEMs.
Since then, Letshuoer has worked on an extensive line of custom IEMs and more high-end offerings like. I’m talking about IEMs like the all-metal Cadenza 12 and the more relatively mid-budget Mystic 8.
That’s the one we’re looking at today.
Letshuoer Mystic 8
As an ex-marketing director myself, I know the importance of telling a good story. You want that your customers have something to relate to when they think about your products and brand.
Letshuoer Mystic 8 is especially story-rich with its “Phantom Cat” as the visual representation of their sonic signature.
To be honest, I chose to review these IEMs to see for myself how much of a gimmick the cat theme is. Turns out I was wrong!
The Letshuoer Mystic 8 is an 8-driver IEM with all of the sonic band handled by Sonion and Knowles balanced armature drivers.
The IEM sports a 3-way electronic crossover and 4 acoustic tubes that meet at the very tip of the nozzle. Electronic input is a common 0.78mm 2-pin connector that sits flush with the body of the ear shell.
The ear shell itself is a real eye-catcher. It’s CNC-milled from a titanium alloy coated with a glossy black anodizing. In hand, it’s a good bit heavier than the usual acrylic shells, but not as heavy as steel shells.
The faceplate is especially intricate, featuring a milled figure of the Phantom Cat with a crystal in its eye.
The background behind the cat silhouette is also metal and is painted in black and white swirls.
We’re approaching jewelry territory here. The Mystic 8 can be purchased from Letshuoer, Linsoul, and other retailers.
Features:
- 8 balanced armature (4x Sonion, 4x Knowles) vented shell acoustic formula
- 3-way electronic crossover
- 4 output ducts
- Precision-CNC titanium alloy shell
- 20Hz-40kHz frequency response
- 18ohm impedance
- 109dB/mW efficiency
- 126dB/V sensitivity
- 0.78mm 2-pin flush connectors
- 1.25m single crystal copper, 8-wire, round braid
- soldered 4.4mm jack
Casing
The Mystic 8 ships in a medium-sized sleeved cardboard box. As expected, the front cover is adorned with the Phantom Cat visual and the swirly background.
The glossy sleeve can be opened, so there’s no need to struggle with sliding it off. This is something ThieAudio needs to take into account – their sleeves fit so snugly that I’ve seen plenty of people just end up cutting them or tearing them up.
After removing the sleeve, we can open the two flaps of the cover and see what’s inside. Immediately, we’re greeted by the gorgeous faceplates of the Mystic 8 and the rubber top of the carrying case.
Inside the case, we get the cable and the cleaning tool. Overall, it’s one of the better metal can cases as the top is rubber, and you don’t have to screw it off or on.
The case will easily hold the IEMs, a couple of extra tips, and maybe even a small dongle.
On the right side, we get a curious-looking box that houses the jewelry that comes with the Mystic 8. Yes, you read that right – we get a steel chain necklace and a steel ring to complete the Phantom Cat look.
The chain is actually pretty nice and would suit many guys. The ring is more polarizing.
First, the elongated cat looks different from the Phantom Cat on the box, and the IEMs and the size were too small for my burly booger hooks.
Letshuoer tells me that, alternatively, one can wear the ring on the chain necklace, Frodo style.
Build Quality
Letshuoer have pulled all out stops here, and the IEMs themselves feel quite luxurious. Maybe I’ve become jaded over time, but it’s hard to impress me with acrylic ear shells.
These days, even $120 have nicely printed shells with interesting faceplate art. When I see kilobuck IEMs go the same route, I can only sigh.
The Mystic 8 have CNC-machined titanium alloy shells, so color me interested. The machining is very well done, with no imperfections to speak of.
The finish on the metal is glossy black, probably anodized or PVD-coated. So far, I haven’t managed to get any scratches on the finish, but your mileage may vary depending on how often you keep the IEMs stored together with other hard objects.
The faceplate features an intricately milled visual of the Phantom Cat, complete with a crystal for an eye.
The deepest part is the swirly background, which looks like a separate metal part. It’s not too garish like some designs found in higher-tier IEMs and remains understated unless you look really close.
I appreciate the effort, and my only reservation is regarding how the faceplate architecture will collect dust and other dirt.
Letshuoer have bundled an interesting cable with the Mystic 8 – it’s an 8-wire design with small gauge individual wires in a loose braid. After the Y-splitter, the cable has 4 wires going to each of the earphones.
The isolation is a bit rubbery, likely silicon-based. Initially, I was concerned about the cable catching dust bunnies from my clothes, but somehow, it has stayed quite clean.
As for termination, the cable has a soldered 4.4mm connector. I know that some will lament the decision to forego swappable ends.
The accessories that come with the Mystic 8 are great as well. Included are three types of ear tips, with narrow and wide bore options being the most distinct.
Most of my listening was conducted with the wide-bore tips, as I found that they made the positive traits of the Mystic 8 stand out more.
The puck-style metal case works fine for tucking the IEMs in, but there is not enough space for much else save a tiny Apple-dongle-style DAC.
Comfort & Ergonomics
Despite sporting no less than 8 BA drivers per ear, the Mystic 8 have maintained a cat-like slender shape.
The metal ear shells aren’t small but should fit most ears, a far cry from the chunky hybrid flagship-sized ear shells.
My ears were very much in agreement with the shape of the shells even if they were a bit heavy. After all, titanium is denser than acrylic.
The nozzle is all-metal and has a nice retaining lip, so tips should hold pretty well even with ear oils and sweat lubing things up.
People with particularly small ear canals can have problems as the nozzle is right in line with other contemporaries.
As with most all-BA IEMs, the Mystic 8 like a deep insertion, and the shell geometry accommodates that.
I urge everyone to get the tips in as deep as they can for the best performance.
Isolation
The Mystic 8 is a ported design, so isolation can be very decent but falls short of ANC headphones and IEMs as well as sealed IEMs like the Etymotics products.
Of course, the port aids the low-end response and avoids creating high-pressure pockets during insertion.
Overall, I had very little to complain about, with the Mystic 8 being my daily driver during noisy commutes and workshop hours.
The only reservation I have has to do with the tuning of the Mystic, but for that, read the next section!
Sound Signature and Technicalities
My main testing system for the Letshuoer Mystic 8 was the Topping x Holo Centuarus driving the DROP + SMSL HO150 and two portable rigs – the (trans)portable FiiO Q15 and the cheerful Snowsky Retro Nano.
Again, the practicalities first – driving the Mystic 8 isn’t hard at all, and the IEMs aren’t so sensitive that especially low-gain sources are required.
The 4.4mm-terminated cable, of course, puts most non-dedicated sources out of question as those typically sport 3.5mm outputs.
The same goes for most cable-type dongles, but believe me when I say that you’ll want the highest-quality source you can get with the Mystic 8 because these IEMs scale like crazy with just about every signal chain upgrade.
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