LETSHUOER CADENZA 4 REVIEW

>>I am brazilian and I speak portuguese, so forgive my english, I’ll use translation tools to help<<

INTRO:

Finally, the long-awaited moment has arrived! I was really eager to test a hybrid earphone from LETSHUOER. I’m a big fan of their products, they’re one of the few companies that focus not only on sound quality but also on overall product excellence, including design, packaging, accessories, and more. While I’ve previously listened to LETSHUOER’s planar and dynamic driver IEMs, I’ve always been partial to hybrid earphones. For me, the combination of drivers provides the best balance between technical precision and musical enjoyment. So, here’s my chance to dive into the LETSHUOER Cadenza 4.

Price: $249 USD
Colors: Silver/White

Letshuoer Reviews: S12, DT02, D13 (portuguese), DZ4, S15 (english)

LETSHUOER LINKS:

https://amzn.to/45qrJ35

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdW0WDd

SPECIFICATIONS:

Hybrid: 1DD + 3BAs

• (1) 10mm dual-chambered beryllium coated DD per side
• (3) 1 Sonion BA + 2 Knowles BA per side

– Frequency range: 20Hz – 40kHz
– Sensitivity: 102dB
– Impedance: 15Ω
– Termination Plug: Modular (2.5mm, 3.5mm, 4.4mm)(L design)
– Connectors: 2pin 0.78mm
– Cable size: 1.2m (detachable)
– Cable:  392-strands HP silver-plated monocrystalline copper
– Shell: HeyGears 3D Resin + aluminum alloy (faceplate)
– Earphone weight: 5.4g (one side)(without eartips)
– Cable weight: 30g (with 4.4mm plug)
– Cable weight: 29.2g (with 3.5mm plug)
– Cable weight: 26.3g (without plug)
– Total weight (packaging, iems, etc): 452.4g
– Packaging size: 10.5cm [H] x 15.5cm [W] x 8cm [D]

UNBOXING:

PHYSICAL ASPECTS:

Construction: Here we can start by saying that whoever had the LETSHUOER DZ4 will have an idea of ​​the construction of the Cadenza 4. And whoever had the LETSHUOER S15 will have an idea of ​​the complement that comes with the product, that is, the modular cable, the unboxing experience, etc. The fusion was perfect, the shell of the DZ4 is very good, then the shell of the Cadenza 4 is also very good (they are very similar). The shell was made by the 3D printing company called HeyGears, all the shells that this company makes are of excellent quality. The faceplate of the Cadenza 4 is made of metal (aluminum), as on the DZ4 and also on the S15, only the design changes.

The S15 unboxing experience is that of a premium product, and here at Cadenza 4 they repeated the same concept, changing only small details, such as the color of the packaging, cable design, etc., but the success is repeated. For me, it is without a doubt one of the best unboxings I have ever received. But to not say that it was all 10 score, I think the company made a mistake putting a sticker on the envelope containing the earphone’s leaflets (manual, warranty card, etc.). What happened was that the sticker became very glued and there was no other way than to tear the envelope to access the contents. A small mistake that can be easily fixed by them, thus preventing the packaging from being damaged during unboxing. But other than that, I have nothing to criticize, a very well-made product.

Even more about the construction of the Cadenza 4, according to the company, we have an IEM with 3 acoustic tubes to pass sound, and an electronic four-way crossovers to separate frequencies between the drivers. The acoustic tubes were made using a 3D printer and are 50μm long.

Eartips: Look, we have a pleasant surprise here. Follow along. First, to say that the eartip kit was very good, it came with two types of silicone eartips, in sizes S/M/L. The types are: Vocal (transparent) and Balanced (gray). These “Vocal” are more focused on the wide bore style, and I confess that they aren’t really my beach, but I could see that they are great quality eartips, better than those I usually see on other IEMs. Well, the company also added one of my favorite eartips, the Balanced ones (gray), they are simply very good. I remember after reviewing the LETSHUOER S12, I asked the company to sell them separately… unfortunately they thought it was not viable to launch this product. Now, they’re back here at Cadenza 4, so just happiness! They are really good, very soft, and have a great form, very universal. There’s no mistake, I carried out the review using the Balaced in size M. I continue to insist that the company should sell these eartips separately.

Cable: Here we also have a very positive point about the product, the Cadenza 4 cable is very good. Starting with the modular system with the 3 main connections: 2.5mm balanced, 3.5mm Single Ended, and 4.4mm balanced. The system used is very good, easy to change plugs, everything is very simple and hassle-free. Until today, both the S15 modular cable and the Cadenza 4 modular cable have been the best modular cables I’ve ever tested. Regarding the material of the cable itself, the plastic coating on the cable is perhaps the only point to be criticized, although it isn’t a bad thing, it’s just that it gives a feeling of “transparent plastic sensation” (difficult to even explain). But other than that, I only saw positive points: it’s a light cable, there’s no microphonics, it doesn’t get tangled, it doesn’t take up memory, and it’s easy to roll up for storage. The earhooks are great, smooth and with good curvature. The chin slider works very well. I even liked the Cadenza 4’s cable more than the S15’s cable… the Cadenza 4’s is a little lighter and more malleable, and aesthetically speaking, I like silver-plated cables.

Fit and comfort: Anyone who had the DZ4 and enjoyed the IEM will certainly also love the Cadenza 4, the shell is practically the same. So, I had no surprises, excellent fit and comfort (in my ears). The shell is very anatomical, it has a more vertical fit, while the S15 has a more horizontal/diagonal fit. 100% stable IEM in my ears. Impeccable comfort, I had no pressure points. I consider it to be a great IEM for spending long hours listening to sound. The Cadenza 4 is an IEM that I consider to be very light, just 5.4g. The insertion I found to be average to deep (partly because of the eartips), and the isolation I found to be very good. I had no sensation of internal pressure in the ear canal… of course, this is very subjective, but I think that the Cadenza 4 isn’t an IEM capable of generating this situation, precisely because it isn’t a large earphone.

Accessories: In addition to the modular cable and eartips, the Cadenza 4 comes with a rigid carrying case with screw closure. It’s also part of the positive points of the product. Anyone who follows the reviews here knows that this is exactly one of the carrying case styles that I recommend. The only detail that I had already noticed since the DZ4, then the S15, and now the Cadenza 4, is that it takes a long time to screw the case to open the lid… I think the company could have improved this, to the lid releases faster, and closes as well. I even had to skip this part in the unboxing video, otherwise I would have spent a lot of time just unscrewing the case lid.

SOUND ASPECTS:

I understood the sound of the LETSHUOER Cadenza 4 as Neutral with a slight Bassboost (emphasis on the bass region). For me, the IEM has a very correct sound, and I think that this is the type of sound that audiophiles are looking for, something without excess and faithful to the recordings. For my taste, I like IEMs that are a little more energetic, and with just a little more bass than the Cadenza 4, but in no way did I find the IEM boring or without bass, that’s not it, the proposal of the earphone that it really is a more neutral, natural. The Cadenza 4 is a very coherent earphone that you can listen to for hours and hours without getting tired, because the sound is very comfortable. It’s an IEM that I think is a mix between the musical and the technical. >Note the details of the chosen output in the amplification paragraph.<

The LETSHUOER Cadenza 4, along with the LETSHUOER D13, were the IEMs that I liked the most among those I heard from the company… speaking personally, my taste, because the LETHUOER S12 and LETSHUOER S15 for me were very technical IEMs, and in some situations I missed a warmer and more musical sound, something I found with the Cadenza 4 and the D13 (in relation to the aforementioned). Leaving the LETSHUOER family, I think the Cadenza 4 is a great upgrade for those who have the Truthear Hexa and thought it had too much sub-bass, so the Cadenza 4 can correct that boost from the subs and also manage to bring more technicalities.

Bass:

Quantitative: I consider the bass of the Cadenza 4 to be moderate. The IEM has a slight boost in the bass region (sub-bass and mid-bass), which makes it sound – to my ears – like a very coherent earphone, the presentation is always “linear”. You’ll have a bass that doesn’t stand out, it’s not the star of the show, it always follows the recording. But don’t think that they are anemic bass, on the contrary, the boost brought exactly the correction so that the bass wouldn’t be like that. Now, I think that this would not be an IEM for bassheads, in that sense the LETSHUOER D13 itself would be the most correct option. Although, I enjoy more fun bass and I didn’t feel frustrated, I could live with the Cadenza 4 easily. I didn’t feel any roll-off, the extension is good. It’s possible that you can listen to many musical genres with the Cadenza 4, because of course this is something subjective, I just wouldn’t go with EDM and Hip-Hop (my opinion).

Qualitative: The bass is controlled, versatile, linear, has a good texture and brings a little physicality. Don’t think that because it’s a neutral IEM that the bass will be thin, that’s not exactly what I noticed here, they have body, and add a slight touch of warmth to the presentation. The definition is good/ok, and I agree that they aren’t the fastest bass I have ever heard, the company itself has 3 other IEMs that deliver more technical bass, namely the S12, D13, and S15. The impact is audible, but it’s not that strong, but it faithfully reproduces the beat of a bass drum, for example. It’s not boomy bass, it’s not bloated, and it doesn’t invade the midrange. Truly, the Cadenza 4’s bass is a part of a whole, and each part respects the other.

Mids:

Quantitative and qualitative: The mids are very interesting, because they are neither too far back nor too far forward, the measure here was very well implemented, it brings a “naturalness” without losing the technical side (of course, natural is something subjective). The pinna gain sounds very consistent with the real thing, at no point does it go overboard, you always have a good projection in the mid/upper-mid range, without feeling aggressive or harsh. I think the Cadenza 4’s midrange is closer to the Thieaudio Hype 2‘s midrange than the Kiwi Ears Quintet‘s midrange… the Quintet is a little more “soft”/recessed in that midrange region. The Cadenza 4’s midrange has great transparency, definition, clarity and detail. Voices, percussion instruments, and wind instruments have excellent resolution, very realistic timbre.

Voices: As it is a neutral IEM with a slight emphasis on the bass region, the voices on the Cadenza 4 were good for both types, it was a technical tie. Now, you can have good performance for both types of voices – male/low and female/high, however, the IEM cannot be the best for either type… what I mean is, if for example If your library is mostly lower/guttural vocals, the Cadenza 4 may not extract the full potential for this type of voice, and the same happens for voices with higher timbres. It’s different when you pick up an IEM with a lot of bass and listen to a voice with a very low timbre, you feel greater depth and warmth in the presentation. That said, the Cadenza 4 manages to have a good balance on both types of voices.

Treble:

Quantitative: The treble is at the moderate level. It is another region that also brings great coherence with the real side. I looked for something wrong and didn’t find it. It’s easier to talk about an error that the IEM has than when the IEM enters that “natural” zone, because trying to explain the natural is very difficult, it enters in the subjective zone. Because I can listen to an IEM with a little more treble than this one and still find it natural… so when something goes “out of point”, or goes beyond its “natural”, then you will say what you noticed something wrong. I will say that this isn’t the IEM for those looking for a brighter presentation, the Cadenza 4 seeks to be more correct, so you will have extremely linear treble here. I didn’t feel any roll-off, the treble extension is good.

Qualitative: The Cadenza 4’s trebles are neutral, “natural”, correct, linear, versatile, controlled, have no peaks, no coloration. Great definition, great detailing, great airy. The sparkle is very consistent with reality, nothing goes beyond the point, the presentation never sounds crystalline, or too bright. This is an IEM that absolutely doesn’t cause a feeling of hearing fatigue due to the treble, great for people looking for more comfortable IEMs to listen to. And the big positive point is that quantity didn’t affect the technical quality. They aren’t harsh treble, they aren’t strident, they aren’t sharp, and I didn’t feel the presence of sibilance at any time. The timbre of the high-pitched instruments was very good, very faithful to what we hear from the sounds produced in real life.

Soundstage: I found the soundstage sensation to be very good. In fact, the Cadenza 4 is not that deep an earphone, but in terms of width and height it performs very well. The depth of the sound is standard, it neither plays as if it were glued to the eardrum nor does it play as if it were inside a cave (with echo). Comparing the Cadenza 4 with the Kiwi Ears Quintet in terms of spatiality, the Cadenza 4 is a little behind the Quintet, this is because the Quintet has less frontal midrange than the Cadenza 4, so the feeling in the Quintet is as if the instruments were more further away. On the spatiality scale: Quintet > Hype2 > Cadenza 4.

Imaging: I thought the Cadenza 4’s instrumental separation was excellent. If the Quintet performed better on the sound stage, now it is the Cadenza 4’s turn to be better. Between the two, the Cadenza 4 manages to have a slightly better resolution in the sound of the instruments than the Quintet, it was noticed that some sounds had a feeling of greater micro details, which in turn makes the presentation as a whole sound cleaner and more transparent, the positioning of the instruments becomes more precise (remembering that the quality of the recording greatly influences this aspect here). On the separation scale: Hype2 > Cadenza 4 > Quintet.

Flex driver test: I didn’t hear any flex driver sound when inserting the IEM into my ears.

Amplification: I used the FiiO M11S DAP to do this review. The output used was balanced 4.4mm and the DAP in High Gain mode. Volume was 70% of the 120% available through M11S. It was a matter of taste for what the balanced output gave me with the IEM, but I can say that the Cadenza 4 on the 3.5mm output also played easily, I didn’t see the need for dedicated amplification (powerful amps). What happened was that in the balanced output, the sound became more “lively”, dynamic, the sound actually scaled up a bit, opening up the sensation of spatiality, more imaging, and bass with more impact. Now, with the same 3.5mm output and 80%-85% volume, the sound seemed very close to me, so I think that if the person only has equipment with a 3.5mm output, everything will be fine, there will be no need to rush out and buy balanced equipment to play the Cadenza 4, Ok? I tested the IEM on the FiiO KA11 and it played easily. The Cadenza 4 will certainly play on smartphones, iPads, and notebooks. I always recommend that the person at least have a good quality dongle to play the earphones. Currently, I recommend the FiiO KA11 as a good cost-benefit dongle.

PROS AND CONS:

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