I had a good month or so with the LETSHUOER S12 before I wrote this review, simply because I kept seeing user reviews that were all over the place. Many made this seem like the next hype train, and others thought it was overhyped; I have no idea how that's even possible for a brand-new set still having demand exceed supply. I had a good understanding of these IEMs and happily recommended them wholeheartedly at the time. After all, these could be had for as low as $120-130 a few weeks ago with social media and launch discounts. That price undercut the 7Hz Timeless significantly and even made the likes of the TinHiFi P1+ seem redundant for many. But then production issues hit LETSHUOER as everyone in the world realized things are costing more than earlier this year. Gone were the earlier discounts, and even the original MSRP of $149 was increased to $169. This is the price you will now pay to purchase the LETSHUOER S12 from authorized retailers and other online platforms, where the competition is far more than it was at the earlier, lower price. I was heavily debating whether this still deserves the Great Value award I was so sure of giving it, and the only thing that tilted things back in favor of the award is that LETSHUOER is still offering a discount if purchased directly from it, which brings the cost to ~$150, and with a combo discount on top if purchased with a newly announced portable DAC/amp that will no doubt work well with these planar IEMs.

So if you have read the review fully, understood the various strengths and weaknesses, and decided this is a set for you, note that the current discount is a pre-order discount of sorts since demand for the S12 still exceeds supply. So you will likely have to play the waiting game for these, and now that ~$150 price tag has an asterisk attached to it. There's a lot to like here still, including tangible metrics, such as the build composition and shape, and the associated high probablity of a good fit and seal in most ears. The bass response is also underrated, and it's just a fun set to experiment with different sources and EQ. Tuning is not perfect, and the technical performance is lacking compared to some similarly priced sets. It's a far more selective set than the 7Hz Timeless, which I would still rate as superior, but there's still a $50 difference (~30% increase over the S12) when comparing MSRP to MSRP. This means there remains a place in the market for the LETSHUOER S12 even after supply struggles are overcome, and I personally think every IEM fan needs to listen to a planar set at least once, so the S12 might as well be it, too.