Introduction

Lime Ears is an IEM brand based out of Poland, having made a strong name for itself among many musicians from the region and beyond. It started as a 2-person company in 2012, dedicating the next few years to making custom IEMs that are useful for stage monitoring—the real reason IEMs were made and are named accordingly. While Lime Ears continues to be popular with live performance use, and indeed a lot of its product line is available in custom-fit versions, the audiophile market tends to go with universal-fit models as a safe entry to test the fit and sound signature, since it's also easier to re-sell/swap compared to a custom-fit one. Lime Ears debuted on TechPowerUp a few years ago with the PNEUMA, which has since been replaced by the newer PNEUMA V2, and today we examine its latest offering that has already been getting rave reviews from customers.


The Lime Ears TERRA is a hybrid driver set of IEMs with six drivers in total—one dynamic driver and five balanced armature drivers in a 4-way crossover. Emil, the proprietor of Lime Ears (guess what the letters E-M-I-L spell backwards?) had me try the TERRA in its final form at CanJam London 2024 before its release, and I was immediately impressed with what he had managed to achieve. This set uses aluminium shells, yet is lighter than some resin shell IEMs. It's small and comfortable, while also sporting a highly catchy synthetic opal faceplate that looks right in place in a terrarium—hence the name. I tried it again at the Shenzhen International Audio Show in September, and this reaffirmed my interest in the set to where I reached out to Lime Ears and here we are. So let's dig deeper into the TERRA and see if the hype is justified under more critical listening, and begin our coverage with a look at the product specifications in the table below. Thanks to Lime Ears for providing a review sample to TechPowerUp!

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

The Lime Ears TERRA ships in a cube-shaped product box, which is in a light green color to better fit the theme ongoing. One side has the product name spelled out in a fancy font, another has the product slogan typed on it, yet another has the brand logo itself, and we see some lines flowing around the box. All of these are in yellow to contrast nicely against the green background. Lift the lid to reveal a cube-shaped inner box too, this time in black, with the top compartment being a tray that has a thick foam sheet with a soft velvet lining. There are two machined cutouts to snugly hold and protect the IEMs, effectively presented to you as shiny jewels in a, well, jewelry box.


Underneath is a cardboard accessory box, and I appreciate every layer being easy to remove too. Lime Ears provides a user manual that goes over the setup, use, and maintenance of the IEMs, which is handy for first-time users of IEMs in general. We also get a cleaning tool—I suspect a retail set is unlikely to get a second one though—as well as a branded soft cotton drawstring pouch to perhaps put the IEMs or accessories inside for safekeeping. Lime Ears provides Spinfit W1 ear tips with the TERRA, and this sample came in sizes SS/S/M/L. I saw some reviews mention three sizes only, and some others that indicated foam tips also included with the TERRA. I am not sure where this discrepancy is coming from, but the product page only mentions the Spinfit tips and no foam tips, so I would like to think what you see here is what you will end up with. I do wish we got more ear tip options with the TERRA though, especially as far less expensive IEMs are now providing 3–4 different sets in various sizes to better ensure a comfortable and secure fit in your ears.


Lime Ear does not skimp on the storage/carry case for the TERRA, however. We get a really nice premium top grain leather case in the same light green as the product box, again fitting the theme you will see continuing with the IEMs too. The case is a round puck in form factor, not that different from many others we've seen before, yet feels so much better in the hands—I would also like to think this will last the test of time too. It can fit into some larger pockets, although most people are likely to just carry it in their bag/backpack. The truncated brand logo is placed in the top in yellow, and the stitching threads in green are a nice touch too. The case opens up to reveal the cable inside, with soft lining on both pieces for added protection, and there is plenty of room to fit the cable with the IEMs and ear tips installed.