Once Bowie has told to the whole world about astronaut who has too deeply got into interplanetary air / Ether
...
"This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today..
Can you hear me, Major Tom?.."
Well it is fine, we land. Today I will tell about another Ether in whom, however, it is possible to soar - to soar in search of an excellent sound and to find it, because before me wonderful custom earphones from the Polish Lime Ears brand – Aether (that Efire!), already got huge popularity at fans of a high-quality sound.
Text: Alexey Kashirskey aka Hans Barbarossa
We thanks the Lime Ears for the provided sample for listening
Specifications
- Drivers: 5 BA drivers; 1 superlow, 2 low, 1 mid, 1 high
- Crossover: Hybrid 4-way crossover
- Sensitivity: approx 110 dB/mW
- Impedance: 46 Ohm (@1000Hz)
Your personal Aether
For the order CIEM it is necessary to visit the website of limeears.com, to choose the model interesting you, design and, and make the order. Then it is necessary to you need to contact with center of hearing, to make the ears-impressions, and to send them to limeears laboratory.
After this, it remains only to look forward to the arrival of their exclusive custom in-ear monitors.
Exterior, set and ergonomics
The CIEMs are delivered in reliable plastic black "PELI CASE". From above this suitcase the sticker with brand logo and a name of the happy owner of Aether. Sideways there is a black metal carbine which tightly it is possible to fasten a box to jeans or a backpack.
In a case there were CIEMs with a nice wattled black cable (2pin, jack L-shaped 3,5mm), the draining tablet, the device for cleaning sound tubes and the business card of the client of Lime Ears.
Separate praise deserves the appearance of my CIEM: on their acrylic body in universal dance intertwined multi-colored nebulae and constellations, there flashes supernovae and the old suns are extinguished. The picture is complemented by two noteworthy gold logos on the right and left earpiece. Listening has not started yet, and you are already in the heavenly Ether.
On outer side of each CIEM it is placed on the small toggle-switch which is responsible for increase in low frequencies. I when listening don't use usually similar pieces, but this time and they could surprise me.
Within each CIEM fit five BA receivers and also on the hybrid four-band crossover.
Whether it is necessary to say that Lime Ears Aether have sat down in my ears as if there and were all life...
Okay, enough to make love, it's time to listen to music!
Sound
Listening was carried out on my devices: MyST DAC 1866OCU V.2, iBasso DX200, Lotoo paw Gold and iFI micro iDSD Black Lable.
With all the devices, the earphones played at an extremely high level. In general, the ears have perfectly become friends with all devices, the sound handwriting has changed slightly depending on the source, giving Lime Ears Aether its unique shade.
Cables: HanSound Audio AGNI (the fastest, detailed and clear sound. Minuses: on records with emphasis at high frequencies it can be a little bright), HanSound RedCore (very balanced sound), Brimar Kaiser 8x (the balanced powerful sounding with a corporal basis, good dynamics and detail), Effect Audio EROS II (well balanced and very melodious sound), Penon OS849 (driving giving), & stock cable (the reference, neutral sounding).
Kind of it was unexpected, but in a case with Aether, having played enough with all higher the listed cables, I have returned on a stock. Though I can't but note that each of them mixes the unambiguously positive color with sounding of these CIEM.
Low frequencies Toggle-switch
In a condition of the «OFF» toggle-switch (down) you receive an accurate, collected bass with direct shot and good high-speed characteristics. Here it is more linear, quantitatively there isn't a so lot of it, but to quality of working off there are no questions, it goes level with with all other frequency range.
In the «ON» position of the switch there is an accurate increase in low-frequency register. The bass is accented, the blow gets more massive and corporal form, reducing thereby the general lightness of space. But there is it extremely correctly: the quality of LF practically doesn't suffer, and mid-frequency and high-frequency ranges remain same, as well as at the switched-off toggle-switch. The bass isn't inflated as the pompous turkey-cock, and doesn't encroach on others space, and fulfills everything accurately and precisely, without losing control, and only harmoniously filling sounding with depth and a pressure. Here low and high frequencies introduce expressivity to an overall picture, and the main musical field - mid-frequency range - remains untouched.
Sounding of Aether extremely musical, clean and neutral. CIEMs
give out a sprawling stereopanoram with the high level of specification.
Each pinch of strings, voice roulade and indeed all instruments breathe and sound spacious, diligently drawing in detail small dabs a sound picture, transferring musical mood extremely precisely and melodiously.
Lime Ears Aether smoothly and technically play all the musical stuff on the positive. Indeed, you slide in the Ether!
For example
Adam & the Ants "Kings of the wild frontier"
Switch down.
Peals of two drum sets together with a relief bass, quickly and precisely triplets drive in into us a Burundi rhythm, forcing to be started up in ritual dance. Back vocals scattering out of head limits, with bark and squeal leave up. Adam Ant is expressive and refined:
«I feel beneath the white
There is a redskin suffering
From centuries of taming..»
And then, with a grinding sound, the embroidered guitar of Marco Pirroni leaves with his riffs, like a surgical scalpel, cuts out the composition, and gives it even more aggression. The general atmosphere is heated, filling with small sound images, which saturate the total mass, commanding the rhythm.
No little thing escapes our hearing: everything is clear, fast and accurate. It's really very cool!
We translate the switch to ON, and the drums with the bass begin to sound more juicy and heavy. The working and accuracy of the impact did not change, but at the same time it acquired a more embossed, thick and massive manner, with a better rendering of the depth of the virtual space.
You can note the transition from analytical to musicality, but without interference in the midrange and high-frequency range.
With any genre Aether they cope without any problems, they are able to work out the most complex compositions, beautifully outlining all micro- and macro nuances, without brewing out of them an incomprehensible mess.
At any tumbler position, the Aether produces a beautiful sound: from light neutral, transparent to more bodily, deep and musical.
It is necessary to note the extraordinary width of the virtual space. This is probably one of the most spacious sounds that I have ever heard in the in-ear headphones.
«In the dry residue let me know»
LF - accurate, fast, technical and well-textured. Depending on the switch, they can be more neutral or gain massiveness and corporeality.
MF - neutral, smooth, extremely detailed, with good texture transfer and excellent high-speed characteristics. The middle is accurate and technical, it's just beautiful!
HF - clear, clear, slightly cool, airy and detailed. In those compositions where there is an accent in this range, they can exquisitely designate themselves as an elegant "spark", in other cases they clearly act out their own, harmoniously merging with the middle, and complementing it. Here everything else can depend on the "voice" of the source, but in any case, it never turns into a global problem, but sounds more like a "chip" adding a general picture of air and positive.
Conclusion
Lime Ears Aether - wonderful CIEM. This is a pure and genuine sound, which, like an adrenaline wave, fills the listener with an sea of explosion and positive emotions. It is an opportunity to switch between the analysis of small nuances, and full immersion in the thick musical atmosphere of the composition. Aether are designed to get euphoric from music. Separately, we note the highest performance of CIEM.
Well, an important point, of course, is the price. On the LE website, it starts from 1 150. And this is the case when every penny returns to the buyer in the form of fine notes straight from Ether
Pros
Sound, ergonomics, appearance, and workmanship.
Minuses
Price.
