[MrButchi]

Lime Ears is a Polish manufacturer established in 2012. The founder, Emil Stolecki, was featured alongside with Jerry Harvey (JH Audio), John Moulton (Noble) and Piotr Granicki (Custom Art) at the just-over CanJam Singapore.
 
Aether is his latest wonder.
 

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[size=24.57px]Technical Features[/size]
 
- Five-driver construction (single sub, double lows, single mid, single high)
 
- Four-way passive crossover (sub, lows, mids, highs)
 
- Triple-bore design (sub, lows, mids+highs) with VariBore - in opposition to previous designs (LE2, LE3SW) Aether has three sound bores with different diameter designed to further shape frequency response, in addition to acoustic filters placed in bores
 
- A switch between a more/less subs-rich signature.

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[size=24.57px]Design, Pricing and other blablabla[/size]
 
You can get some ideas about build-quality and designs on Lime Ears' Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/limeears/
 
The base price is 1150€, with  in any color with Lime Ears metal logo or without additional graphics, in a crushproof, waterproof and dustproof case with set of necessary accessories, and with a detachable 3,5mm gold-plated jack cable.
 
The following customization options are available :
 
- Additional color to the design (20€)
 
- Laser engraving (30€)

- Wooden faceplates (60€)
 
- Carbon fiber faceplates (60€)
 
- Time Machine faceplates (80€)

- Additional color e.g. different faceplate colors or different shell colors (20€)
 
- Spare cable: clear/black (40€)
 
- Spare carrying case (25€)
 
On to you guys, what did you think of it in Singapore ?
 

Reviews

Deezel177 : http://www.head-fi.org/t/799706/lime-ears-aether-ciem-flagship-discussion-review-and-impressions-thread/15#post_12449967
 
MrButchi : http://www.head-fi.org/products/aether/reviews/15581

 

[rushofblood]

I can't overstate how much I love my Aethers. If you like a musical, lush yet not overly thick and still insanely resolving signature, the Aether stands on its own in the TOTL CIEM category, with insane soundstage airiness and fantastic resolution besting that of other well regarded monitors like the K10, Solar (which I just got to try today), Zeus and Layla, amongst many others. A must listen, with great tonality to boost all of its aforementioned qualities.

 

[MrButchi]

I really like your description. I'm preparing a little something on the Aethers for the coming month, but I really find your one sentence description spot on!

 

[284033]

The Aethers have been getting more and more popular with the customers here in Singapore. If I am not wrong, it is one of the top CIEM in terms of popularity at e-earphone in Japan.

 

[Mimouille]

I can't overstate how much I love my Aethers. If you like a musical, lush yet not overly thick and still insanely resolving signature, the Aether stands on its own in the TOTL CIEM category, with insane soundstage airiness and fantastic resolution besting that of other well regarded monitors like the K10, Solar (which I just got to try today), Zeus and Layla, amongst many others. A must listen, with great tonality to boost all of its aforementioned qualities.

I have heard this so many times, my X are much better than all the TOTL.

First of all, comparing a CIEM you own vs. A demo you tried briefly is not really a solid comparison. Anyhow, would you care to elaborate?

 

[rushofblood]

I have heard this so many times, my X are much better than all the TOTL.

First of all, comparing a CIEM you own vs. A demo you tried briefly is not really a solid comparison. Anyhow, would you care to elaborate?

Valid complaint, sadly I don't have ready access to all those models in custom form. I do find that for almost all of the IEMs where I've been able to try a demo unit and subsequently try a custom version (whether my own or force fitted), the custom almost always brings improvements which I attribute to there being more space in the shell to fine tune driver placement. I do spend probably too much time at local stores and am thus pretty familiar with the demo units, at least, which I've mentioned prior; probably clocked at least an accumulated hour on each save the Solar.
 
If you're asking for an elaboration on the Aether, speaking to Emil from Lime Ears at Canjam did reveal that he tuned them to sound like large room monitors and it is as such that a key part of the tuning is the spatial air that was tuned into the signature. While the Aether presents a less than flat signature with a touch of warmth, the first thing that most people notice is the air, and the resolution of the monitor which is surprisingly high especially given its slight warm tilt. They sound very balanced in switch down mode; compared to the old UERM as a reference, the bass is just about as prominent and tightly controlled, the mids are lusher, more engaging and yet extract more detail, and the treble regions are smoother and damped more than the UERM, but it packs sufficient quantity to satisfy most save for diehard trebleheads, and what's there is sparkly and detailed as well. Bass switch up mode bumps up the bass response and leaves the rest of the frequency ranges untouched (mistakenly thought before that it boosts the treble too), providing a guttural punch in the sub and mid bass which still remains reined in and does not bleed into the other frequencies. The airiness of the monitor is also bolstered by the large soundstage size; these really do feel out of the head when you're listening to them even without the aid of aftermarket cables.

 

[Mimouille]

Thanks, these are indeed interesting. And did you find them more resolving than the Zeus?

 

[d3885u]

Really looking forward about the comparison vs Customarts Harmony 8pro too.

 

[rushofblood]

Thanks, these are indeed interesting. And did you find them more resolving than the Zeus?

To my ears, yes, and the Zeus is one of the models where I've been able to hear a few pairs of demo units and force fit a couple of custom pairs too.

 

[tkteo]

Awaiting reply from Emil...

 

[MrButchi]

Really looking forward about the comparison vs Customarts Harmony 8pro too.

This will be the main comparison point of my review

Note to all: following CanJam Singapore, Emil is out 'til March 7

 

[d3885u]

Wow that would be awesome...cant wait to see... @mrbutchi

 

[jelt2359]

I've had my Aether for a while now. Very nice, especially in the treble- raw and detailed. It will be in my next flagship comparison review.

 

[MrButchi]

Ok so my review is coming up. Expect it somewhere this week-end / early next week.

 

[MikePortnoy]

  Ok so my review is coming up. Expect it somewhere this week-end / early next week.

 
Some comparisons would be nice. This custom monitor seem promising.