New Meta with a twist but is it worth it? | Juzear Light Shuttle Review
Introduction
When I heard that Super Review had tuned this IEM, I was looking forward to listening to this as I find myself having similar interests with him in tuning preferences. It's his second collaboration with Juzear after the Harrier, and the Light Shuttle is tuned with Squiglink.
Its a new meta derivative but with some significant changes, lets see how it fairs out in detail
Test Gear
Tanchjim Space Pro
Zen Stack
Usual Test Track Playlist
Build & Design
The Light Shuttle features a light weight resin shell with an overall ergonomic shape to it. This shape actually provides me a snug fit overall.
If we look at the faceplate, we can see that Juzear has done something different. The recent releases featured a full resin faceplate but here the Light Shuttle goes for a combination of CNC Aluminium + Resin. It features an iridescent design that shifts color when the light hits it. This does almost remind me of the Odin for some reason, mostly because of the different colors.
The faceplate also features a small embedded border along the design with an embedded gemstone in the corner.
Talking about the accessories - Similar to the Nebula and Fiesta, we can see a similar accessory package -
- Modular Cable (3.5mm and 4.4mm)
- 7 Eartips
- Protective Carry Case
- Cleaning Cloth
- Light Shuttle Acrylic Standee
The cable is of the same one which comes with the Nebula and like I mentioned in the Nebula Review, I am not particularly a fan of this cable mainly because it doesn’t behave that well.
Talking about comfort - Since it has a relatively smaller shell size than the Fiesta, these fit me really well. But still, I would say people with smaller ears should definitely try this before purchasing. For eartips, I used the K bear Coffee Eartips as well as the Tri Clarion.
Overall I really dig the design & overall package that the Light Shuttle offers.
Specifications and Driveability
The Juzear Light Shuttle retails for around $190 or 19,000 INR and it features a 7 Driver Setup consisting of a single Dynamic Driver (DD), 4 Balanced Armatures (BA) and 2 Micro Planars.
Some Technical Specs
- Sensitivity - 113dB
- Impedance - 32 Ω
As for driveability, in my listening it definitely needed a little bit more power from what I would normally need. Any entry level dongle DAC can easily power these up.
Sound
The Juzear Light Shuttle features a tuning which we are very familiar with at this point, its the New Meta Tuning. However, the light shuttle offers slight variations which I would describe as very tasteful and musical.
To sum it up I would say that the tuning is mostly neutral with a bass boost and some treble flair. I also wanted to mention that this was tuned using the Squiglink Community feedback and user data.
Let's go into the details starting with the low end.
Bass
The Bass is being handled by the sole Dynamic Driver and I must say that it does the job really well. It has more of a sub bass presentation and it kind of deviates from the traditional New Meta tuned IEMs. Basically you get more BASS!
The bass is full of rumble, it feels full bodied and meaty. The midbass however lacks a bit of attack in some tracks but the sub bass delivers extensively with great texture and no significant amount of bass bleed.
This kind of sub bass atleast from the graphs were seen in the Davinci or the Mega5est (close enough), but in listening the sub bass here sounds more authoritative and if you personally ask me, this amount of sub bass is a bit too much for me mostly because I feel overwhelmed.
Midrange
For me the midrange is very balanced and mostly neutral. The vocals & instruments feel natural to your ears and it has enough body. The lower midrange would appear a bit tucked in compared to other New Meta tunings but in listening sessions I didn’t feel them to be lacking when it comes to male vocal presentation.
Upper mids aren’t shouty in any regards and female vocals feel natural as ever. The instrument separation here could have been better here but it's alright.
Overall the 4 BA drivers handle the midrange pretty damn well
Treble
The treble is here handled by the BA & Planar drivers and this is easily the best thing about the Light Shuttle for me is the Treble. It has great extension and perfectly balances out being exciting as well as not sibilant.
It's definitely not the brightest but it has enough air and presence in the mid treble to provide you with nuances in your tracks.
For my preference I would have loved a bit more emphasis in the lower treble but that's just my subjective thought but for most people out there this treble would really satisfy.
Technicalities
Overall the Resolution is excellent throughout the frequencies, and the detail retrieval is decent for the price. There are definitely better IEMs at this price range which give you more details but this is alright.
Soundstage is excellent with a pretty tall and wide characteristic to it, however the imaging is average/a bit above average.
Layering and Separation is good for the price as well but like i mentioned above i would have preferred the separation to be a bit more distinct in some tracks.
Comparison
I would like to compare this to another New Meta IEM in this price range which is the Crinear Daybreak.
The build quality is just superior on the Light Shuttle.
Bass
In terms of overall balance of bass, I love Daybreak more. But realistically it comes down to preference, where if you are a subbass enthusiast go for the Light Shuttle, if you like midbass more then go for the Daybreak.
Midrange
Here it was closer than I imagined. The daybreak as well as the light shuttle have clean and clean vocals and even though the lower mids on the Light Shuttle tend to be a bit tucked in compared to Daybreak, in actual listening sessions the Light Shuttle had more of a heft in that region.
Treble
I love the treble presentation on the Light shuttle more as like I mentioned above, it clearly establishes between safe and sparkly. On the Daybreak however it can seem a bit too much sometimes, and it comes down to your preference here.
Technicalities
Not much difference to be honest
Overall, the biggest difference you're gonna feel is the bass presence and the treble. For me the biggest difference is definitely the low end.
For me the Daybreak is more of an all rounder as it has a more balanced low end compared to the Light Shuttle, but if you are someone who craves a bit more sub bass presence, Light Shuttle is definitely the one for you out of the two.
Conclusion
To me the Juzear Light Shuttle has been one of my favorite derivations of the New meta tuning. Even though the sub bass is a bit too much for me, I appreciate the change among the see
Although I am surprised Mark went for this tuning as generally he loves more of a clinical and natural sound signature, but yes he also appreciates a tasty well done low end.
I would give the Juzear Light Shuttle a rating of 4/5
I would like to thank HiFigo for providing this unit for review. If you liked this review, please consider liking and sharing and follow me for more reviews like this 🌸