Lime Ears Terra Review

Lime Ears is a polish company based in Warsaw that makes both universal and custom in-ear monitors for musicians and audiophiles alike. Their latest product is the Terra, and it is a universal product that goes for €1099. 

The Terra is a 6-driver hybrid product featuring a 4-way crossover and consisting of one 7mm titanium dynamic driver, and 5 balance armature drivers (two for low-mids, two for high-mids, and a single for upper treble). 

Terra was provided for review by Emil from Lime Ears. Emil is an audio engineer by trade, and described this as an all-arounder IEM that was tuned for a lot of the similar music on my playlist (rock, jazz, and trip hop) in addition to metal rock music.

The aluminum shell has a light green anodize coating on it and is on the slightly larger size when compared to other IEMs. It is still very comfortable to wear, even on my smaller ears though. The faceplate features a colorful glittery display that changes color depending on the light and angle of view. It's really stunning and photos will not do it justice.

The product comes with the standard 2-pin cables and the specific one that came with my unit is a 2-wire copper cable that has gunmetal gray metal hardware connectors. The cable terminates with a 4.4mm balanced jack. This cable is very easy to handle and does not tangle. I really like it as it is also lightweight, soft and supple, and does not get in the way.

Lime Ears also has a collaboration with Effect Audio and there is an option to get the unit with the Cadmus 8W or the CODE 24C cables at a bundle discount from Effect Audio directly.

Terra also comes with a round leather case in green color. There is a soft suede interior that will protect the IEM and the cable, and may have some room for some small accessories like tips and a cleaning brush.

Sound Impressions

The Lime Ear Terra has a well-balanced sound signature that has an elevated bass-range, a slightly forward upper-mid-range and a well extended treble. In general, I would refer to this as a slightly V-Shaped IEM, that is tuned well for an all-arounder. Some may find the mid-bass to be a little heavy if they are used to a leaner Harman-preference tuning, however it does fall closely in-line with what I consider ideal.

The Terra's bass range has a nice balance to it, coupled with the slightly recessed mid-range, gives it a rich and full-bodied experience. Bass guitars are heavy, and so are kick drum hits. I would characterize the low end as more euphonic and lush than quick and nimble. It's big, but without bloat, but some may find it a little lacking in super clear transparency. Sometimes textures sound a little smeared, but that is mainly in comparison with higher-tier products.

The mid-range and treble of the Terra is smooth and an easy, relaxing listen. There is a slight recession to the mids, but it is accompanied with a really nice upper-midrange and treble tuning that fits my preferences well. This makes it a wonderful all-arounder that does not have any glare, sibilance, or any fatigue. It is, instead, smooth, well-balanced, and realistic.

I've been jamming with The Cure's new outstanding throw-back album, "Songs of a Lost World", the past few weeks with the Lime Ears Terra. This "modern-Disintegration" album sounds really nice with Terra. On the track "Warsong", the opening bass and guitar intro is a fuzzy, layered soundscape and it comes across very well on the Terra. You can feel the impact of the kick drums and the various guitar effects are intricately laid out without too much overlapping blobiness here. It has enough good detail, and bass density that captures the complexity of the opening part of this track. On top of that, Robert Smith's vocals sound great on this IEM too.

On Emmylou Harris' "Wrecking Ball", a classic americana folk track from the early 90s, I find the Terra keeps her vocals in check. No sibilance, no straining, and it sounds fairly accurate, if not a little recessed. That's because I do feel that the bass and low-end of the track is a bit too elevated in this particular song with the Terra pairing. On the following track, "Goin' Back to Harlan", this is not a problem though, as the bass levels are much more balanced and in-line with Harris' vocals.

And finally, since Emil introduced this IEM to me with discussions about Seattle (where I am from) grunge music, I had to discuss how the Terra sounds on one of my all-time favorite Seattle grunge tracks, "Hunger Strike" by the super band before they were a super band, Temple of the Dog. 

For those who never heard of this band, it was started as a tribute to Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Mother Love Bone. Andrew Wood's band was short-lived but featured members of original grunge rockers Green River (Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament) in it. Together with his close friend and roommate Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden) and Matt Cameron (of Soundgarden and future Pearl Jam) , the members of Mother Love Bone, enlisted the help of an unknown dude named Eddie Vedder to help do backup vocals and another friend Mike McCready to play guitars on several of the tracks on this tribute album. Well, following the success of this record, Vedder and McCready joined the remaining members of Mother Love Bone to form a band known as Pearl Jam, with Matt Cameron joining several years later after Soundgarden broke-up. And if you haven't notice by now, the Seattle Rock scene of the 80s and early 90s is all intertwined together and its glorious.

Okay, back to the Terra and "Hunger Strike." This track features a back and forth vocal onslaught from Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden) and Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam) with the backing band of the Pearl Jam boys. Since the Terra has a nicely balanced tuning with a slight emphasis in the mid-bass region, manly due to a slightly recessed mid-range, it does really well with the gritty vocals of both Cornell and Vedder. Both singers come across with power and control, as they should. The swirling guitars behind them are all doing their thing without any issues of overlapping muddiness. Cameron's drumming has impact and thunder, but not as thunderous as I have heard on other IEMs. Still, there is enough demonstrative force there to make this song very enjoyable.

Some Comparisons

My normal daily-use IEM is the $6000+ Subtonic Storm. The Storm's bass is more incisive and controlled, but it is not as full and filling as the Terra. I personally prefer the Storm's bass qualities more, but it's a significantly pricier product. 

I like Terra's smooth tuning through the mid-range and treble a lot. It reminds me a little bit of the Empire Ears Odin that I owned for a long time. Odin had a little more zing in the upper-mids and an airier treble, while the Terra is more intimate and more accurate sounding.

In comparisons to more similar-priced products in the kilobuck range, I have the IER-Z1R and the Symphonium Titan and Hidition Viento in my rotation.

The Titan has similarly smooth mids and treble as the Viento-B Custom, but with a much fuller and bigger bass shelf. The Viento-B is definitely a reference-tuned IEM, and the Terra takes that reference sound and adds more body with the trade-off of less incisiveness.

When I compare it with the Symphonium Titan, they are similarly tuned through the mids and treble. The Titan has a massive bass shelf that sets it apart but they are like siblings -- one is quieter and more stable (Terra) and the other is the big bold one (Titan).

Finally, with the Sony IER-Z1R, there are a lot of similarities here in the general tuning profile. The Z1R has a bigger subbass impact though, and a little more zing up top. It's more dynamic than the Terra is, but its biggest weakness is its huge IEM shell shape and weird fit that makes it very hard for me to wear for any lengthy period of time, no matter how many mods I throw at it to improve comfort.

Comfort is not an issue with the Terra.

Final Thoughts

Lime Ears has done a good job with the Terra. It is tuned to be an all-arounder, and I think they met that task. I used it across my diverse library of music and I did not find it lacking for any song. If there were any nitpicks, I'd say that the bass texture is just a bit average in its price range, but the rest of the tuning is really solid. There is no issues with sibilance, fatigue, or timbre here, and so the small critique is minor in the end.

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