Lime Ears Terra Review2024

Polish manufacturer Lime Ears, with its headquarters in Warsaw, produces both generic and personalized in-ear monitors for artists and music lovers. The Terra, their most recent offering, is a universal product that retails for €1099.

One 7mm titanium dynamic driver and five balance armature drivers—two for low-mids, two for high-mids, and one for upper treble—make up the 6-driver hybrid product Terra, which has a 4-way crossover.

Emil from Lime Ears sent Terra over for inspection. Emil, who works as an audio engineer, described this as an all-arounder IEM that was tuned for heavy rock music as well as a lot of the related music on my playlist, which includes jazz, trip hop, and rock.

In comparison to other IEMs, the metal shell is slightly larger and has a light green anodize coating. Despite my smaller ears, it is still quite comfy to wear. The faceplate has a glittering, multicolored display that changes color according on the light and viewing angle. Photographs simply cannot capture its beauty.

The product comes with normal 2-pin cables, and the one I received was a 2-wire copper cable with hardware connections made of gunmetal gray metal. There is a 4.4mm balanced jack at the end of the cable. This wire is incredibly manageable and non-tangling. It is lightweight, supple and soft, and does not obstruct movement, which is another reason I adore it.

The unit with the Cadmus 8W or CODE 24C cables can be purchased from Effect Audio directly at a bundle discount thanks to Lime Ears’ partnership with them.

Terra also includes a green spherical leather casing. The IEM and cable are protected by the soft suede interior, which also can provide space for a few tiny extras like cleaning brushes and tips.

Sound Impressions

The sound profile of the Lime Ear Terra is well-balanced, with a well-extended treble, a somewhat forward upper-mid-range, and an enhanced bass-range. I would generally describe this as an IEM that is tuned well for an all-arounder and has a small V shape. The mid-bass is fairly near to what I consider optimal, although some people who are accustomed to a leaner Harman-preference tuning could find it a bit heavy.

The Terra offers a rich and full-bodied sound thanks to its nicely balanced bass range and slightly recessed mid-range. Kick drum hits and bass guitars are both heavy. The bass end is more euphonic and rich than swift and agile, in my opinion. It’s large without being bloated, however some people might find that its transparency is a bit lacking. Textures can occasionally sound a touch smeared, but mostly when compared to higher-end items.

The Terra’s treble and mid-range are pleasant to listen to and soothing. Although there is a small recession to the mids, the upper-midrange and treble tuning are extremely lovely and suit my tastes. Because of this, it is an excellent all-arounder that is free of fatigue, glare, and sibilance. Instead, it is realistic, balanced, and fluid.

The past several weeks, I’ve been playing with Lime Ears Terra’s new fantastic throwback CD, “Songs of a Lost World” by The Cure. Terra sounds great on this “modern-Disintegration” album. The opening bass and guitar intro on the song “Warsong” has a layered, hazy atmosphere that sounds great on the Terra. The impact of the kick drums is audible, and the several guitar effects are skillfully arranged here with minimal overlapping blobiness. It nails the intricacy of this track’s initial section with sufficient bass depth and good detail. Additionally, Robert Smith’s vocals sound fantastic on this IEM.

I think Terra controls her vocals on Emmylou Harris’ “Wrecking Ball,” a timeless Americana folk song from the early 1990s. It sounds reasonably realistic, if not slightly recessed, and there is no sibilance or straining. This is because, in my opinion, the Terra coupling in this song makes the bass and low-end a little too high. This isn’t an issue on the next song, “Goin’ Back to Harlan,” though, because Harris’ singing and the bass levels are much more in harmony.

Lastly, since Emil first introduced me to this IEM through conversations about grunge music from Seattle, where I’m from, I wanted to talk about how the Terra sounds on “Hunger Strike,” one of my all-time favorite grunge songs from Seattle by Temple of the Dog, a super band before they were a wonderful band.

For the uninitiated, this band was founded as a tribute to Mother Love Bone’s main singer, Andrew Wood. Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, two members of the original grunge music band Green River, were part of Andrew Wood’s brief band. The members of Mother Love Bone, along with his roommate and close friend Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden) and Matt Cameron (of Soundgarden and later Pearl Jam), recruited an unidentified man named Eddie Vedder to provide backup vocals and another friend, Mike McCready, to play guitar on a few of the songs on this tribute album.

As a result of this record’s success, Vedder and McCready joined Mother Love Bone’s surviving members to form Pearl Jam. Matt Cameron joined the band a few years later after Soundgarden broke up. If you haven’t noticed before, the Seattle rock scene of the 1980s and early 1990s is incredibly entwined.

Now let’s return to the Terra and “Hunger Strike.” Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, accompanied by the Pearl Jam lads’ backup band, deliver a back-and-forth vocal assault on this single. The Terra complements Cornell and Vedder’s gritty vocals quite well because of its well-balanced tuning, which is manly owing to a little recessed mid-range and has a slight focus in the mid-bass area. As they ought to, both vocalists project authority and control.

The swirling guitars behind them are all doing their thing without any worries of overlapping muddiness. Though not as loud as what I have heard on other IEMs, Cameron’s drumming has impact and thunder. Nevertheless, this song has enough demonstrative intensity to be really entertaining.

Some Comparisons

The $6000+ Subtonic Storm is the IEM I often use on a daily basis. The bass of the Storm is not as full and filling as that of the Terra, but it is more controlled and piercing. Although the Storm is a much more expensive product, I personally like its bass capabilities better.

Terra’s mellow treble and mid-range tuning really appeals to me. It makes me think a little bit of the Empire Ears Odin I used to own. The Terra sounds more intimate and accurate, while Odin had an airier treble and a touch more zing in the upper-mids.

I rotate the IER-Z1R, Symphonium Titan, and Hidition Viento in relation to more reasonably priced items in the Kilobuck line.

The Titan has a significantly larger and richer bass shelf than the Viento-B Custom, yet it still offers smoother mids and treble. The Terra takes that reference sound and adds more body at the expense of less incisiveness, but the Viento-B is unquestionably a reference-tuned IEM.

It is similarly tuned through the mids and trebles to the Symphonium Titan, in my opinion. The Titan is distinguished by its enormous bass shelf, yet they are like siblings: Terra is the large, brave one, and Titan is the calmer, more steady one.

Lastly, there are many parallels between this overall tuning profile and the Sony IER-Z1R. However, the Z1R has a touch more zing up top and a greater subbass impact. Although it is more dynamic than the Terra, its largest flaw is its strange fit and large IEM shell form, which make it impossible for me to wear for extended periods of time, regardless of how many comfort-enhancing modifications I apply.

Comfort is not an issue with the Terra.

Final Thoughts

With the Terra, Lime Ears has performed admirably. It is designed to be an all-around player, and I believe they succeeded in that regard. I used it for every song in my wide-ranging music collection, and I never found it to be lacking. If I had any criticisms, I would say that the bass texture is a little mediocre for its price range, but the tuning is excellent overall. The slight criticism is ultimately insignificant because there are no problems with timbre, tiredness, or sibilance here.