Lime Ears Aether R Essential – Drop Exclusive

Oct 26, 2020

Sure I would agree if there were any differences the spot beyond just placebo/bass. A bad headphone is a bad headphone, compare a 200 dollar pair of iems to 2000 you’ll find 0 difference unless it’s DD vs BA and even then besides the bass it’s all the same. For example, compare a $200 pair to a $2000 pair if they are both using dd or BA, they will sound the same. The price doesn’t make the difference, the parts do/construction do. My point being that you can find headphones that are using virtually the same exact parts and as a result sound the same, at 10% of the price with 95% similar sound quality. Look, I buy everything I’m a huge shopping spree person I’ve basically been on a shopping spree for the past year I order like three or four things a day, I LOVE spending money, but I don’t love getting blatantly ripped off. Sure if you’re a rockstar engineer etc yeah why not, but for 99% of “audiophiles” aren't having their life better by buying expensive iems/headphones, it’s all in their head.

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carlsan

146

Oct 26, 2020

No problem, thanks. Think the comments were out of order when I looked at them with this browser. best.

Oct 23, 2020

To clarify a bit where we're coming from in this drop. Imagine. Zero cables. Zero accessories. Half the price. Full performance. This is Aether Essential, made exclusively for Drop community. Our mission was as simple as it gets - we wanted to offer you our bestseller and customer's favorite Aether R for half the price. Yes, half. Our award winning, beloved and well known full BA flagship. No cutting corners, no trying to cheap out on the drivers and craftsmanship, which could have sacrificed quality. Aether Essential is indeed identical to Aether R, with one, and ONLY one difference - the lack of switch (it's permanently in "on" position which means a pinch more of this lovely low end most of us like so much). In order to offer you a true flagship experience for such a low price, we needed to get rid of as many things as possible, without changing the Aether itself. That's why, when buying the Aether Essential, you're getting the IEMs in a soft pouch and...that's basically it. Where's my cable? - You'd probably ask. Well, we believe that the majority of you already have some 2pin cables laying around, so you can use one of these. Most of our customers are changing the cable for an aftermarket one anyway. So if you don't have a 2pin cable, just get the one you want. Also, because of that you won't have to pay for the 3,5mm cable included in the box and just not use it, as you're using a balanced 2,5mm or 4,4mm device. The choice is completely up to you. Where's my box - You'd unbox the product and just hide the box in your closet, at the attic etc. You're not using an item, which you have paid for. That's why Aether Essential is sold without an actual package. You won't use it anyway, so you just don't have to pay for it. It doesn't sacrifice the quality of the product you're buying, and you won't use it anyway - why pay for such a thing? Where are my eartips - Okay. Our Aether Essential (and every single IEM we sell actually) can fit 99% of eartips on the market. We're sure you have plenty laying around, who needs another couple of pairs? Also, since everyone wants to use their own favorite eartips, whether it's SpinFit, SpiralDot, Comply etc, you're not paying for the eartips you don't want. For the money saved you can just order an extra pack of your favorite eartips. Nonetheless, all of it comes to one more thing, which is very important for us - the environment. Most products come with a lot of accessories which you probably won't ever use. Ten pairs of silicone eartips, lots of paperwork, plastic boxes...we can go on. We skipped all of this, and you're paying for just the thing you want and need the most - the earphones themselves. You're saving money, and together with us - you're saving the environment. What's not to love about that? We know it all might just sound crazy and unacceptable for you. But we just want you to do one thing - look at the price. That's our 1300$ model for 650$. Compare the Aether Essential to any 1300$ Aether R and we promise you that you're getting the exact same sound as everything in the IEM is exactly the same. It's probably everything you'd really want from that kind of product. And here it is.

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toniidesu

320

Dec 11, 2020

Thanks! Tagging @suncrusher195 since I saw they had asked about warranty a few times.

Dec 11, 2020

toniidesuThank you, just noticed @suncrusher195 comment. And to make it clear for all the readers (so they won't have too look further) I've edited comment above to add that they indeed come with 1-year warranty.

Davescleveland

Dec 13, 2020

Got these yesterday. They are good. Not mind blowing but in my opinion better than the k10u which I don't like at all. Needs more bass. Not as deep of a soundstage as I prefer. Tame the treble a bit. Very very clear though. Comfortable fit. Beautiful looking.

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Dec 23, 2020

I completely agree with what you’re saying, but that doesn’t change the fact that these iems are not remotely bass-centric and have paltry bass response, making them a sort of “dud” in terms of music listening for the vast majority of listeners, which is fine but there are limitations to lower-count BA iems, that cannot be disputed. For example, my V14 uses better drivers than the Lime Ears Aether R, more drivers, and can be even further EQ’d and due to its already gigantic soundstage (arguably top 2 widest soundstaging iems on the market), and insane ultra-high resolution, when you crank up a strong V on the EQ of the v14 you get top soundstage, insane bass (DD-like) and still great resolution after the loss due to there being a V-shape now. So what I’m saying is 14 flagship curated balanced armatures vs 6... I know you guys have a great reputation when it comes to tuning, but I don’t think tuning can get you that far ahead where a 6 BA set is going to match a 14 BA set, it’s the laws of physics. This is, yet again, assuming we’re comparing apples to apples, and not apples to oranges. 14 BA is better than 6, always, every time, if they are using equal part numbers, construction and tuning. Unless you guys have some huge and special balanced armatures that nobody else has, these are just another amazingly tuned 6 BA paltry bass, decent soundstage decent iems. Compare these to the MEST, the MEST would take these iems and make chocolate cookies with them. ;)

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GrandNagus

Jan 26, 2021

League544I agree that the V14 is stronger on the low end than these. But the price is several hundreds of dollars higher. And the UM Mest is fuller and a bit more detailed all around, but again, these cost twice as much. I think the bass from the Lime Ears is not "paltry," just not as impactful as these more expensive models. To revisit the same old controversy, it is not necessarily a simple matter of "14 is better than 6," as design plays a big part in terms of how effective an IEM is no matter how few or many drivers are included. I think the Lime Ears are nicely balanced, deliver a rich, balanced sound signature, and are well worth what is being asked for here in Drop.

pott

145

Oct 23, 2020

Interesting to offer these without a cable! You may want to add more detail on the connector then: looks like 2 pins, is it 0.75 or 0.78?

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GrandNagus

Oct 27, 2020

It's possible there are Chifi IEMs that are as good or better for this price or lower; there are many, many on the market and I find it hard to judge relative quality from reviews unless something is really bad or "the very best there is." But I do know that basing one's evaluation of an IEM pretty much on the number of drivers is simplistic and ignores other factors including design, engineering, workmanship, choice of parts, etc. Some really good all BA IEM's have relatively few drivers (e.g., Campfire Andromeda and Sony IER-M9 have five drivers each) and these cost considerably more than what this Lime Ears model is selling for on Drop. There some really good IEM's that use only one BA driver and some bad ones that use four or five. This doesn't even broach the subject of hybrid IEMs that use dynamic or electrostatic drivers. As for your "environment" argument, this is, please forgive me, just *reductio ad absurdum* nonsense not worth responding to in detail. Were I to buy this item (I am still undecided), I would purchase a cable and use ear tips I already have on hand. A pretty good cable might cost me $60 or $70. The purchase overall would comprise a total investment of $720 plus tax, as opposed to $1300. I don't need to spend any more on a box, extra ear tips, and a cute carrying case in order to feel like I got a "complete product for my money." If you don't like the deal, then pass on it. Please. Again, if there are Chifi IEMs out there that are as good or better for $720 please tell us about them. The ThieAudio Voyager 14, which I know is a good IEM, is $999.

Oct 27, 2020

GrandNagusWell, I'd recommend the FA9 as they sound virtually identical to my v14. 6 BA like the Lime Ears, comes with an absurd amount of tips (all of them are different) and absurd accessories (their blue leather hard case AND best soft case I've ever used) and most importantly, the most legitimate, best customer service oriented company in the entire audio universe vs some small time overpriced company like LE. The reason I mention a lot of drivers being a good estimate of sound quality is because it shows that the company is willing to spend more on their components. I think you're looking at it too simplistically, and assuming that I mean that the only factor is how many BAs it has. The ones that have lesser drivers are generally older outdated tech, it's like an iPhone 6 in 2020, amazing phone, but it's old, stop charging flagship prices when you're using outdated non flagship components. Just take a look at all of the top iems, as time progresses they increase their amount of drivers, nowadays the #1 iems are quadbrids even (MEST) I have no idea why you would ever buy a basic boring pair of iems that sound identical to a cheap pair of $50 KZ ZSX. I'm not calling you stupid I'm just saying that I made the same mistake and it was a stupid decision that I made buying the FA9. The Aether R look like typical BA iems similar to Andromedas, outdated tech. The price thing is a good argument you make however for example for seven hundred bucks you can buy the Clairvoyance and I'm sure that they absolutely destroyed these actually I'm like a hundred million percent sure that they absolutely make a mockery out of these 6 BA junk iems. Also I don't know exactly what you're referring to when you bring up where I mentioned the lame excuse that they copied from Apple about "saving the environment" if you are saying that what I said was stupid then you clearly don't understand what I'm talking about because it was actually an amazing point I made. If all they have to do is remove a $20 cable and a pair of $5 tips and a stupid box and that was able to save you $600 it just goes to show you how much money these guys make and people like you perpetuate it and support it as if it's the greatest thing on Earth, save your money. Have you ever even tried a pair of kz zsx or any chifis above 50-60 bucks? Besides comfort which zsx has in spades, they're virtually the same iem using the same components, resulting in the SAME SOUND because chifi companies have figured out tuning, so what else?

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GuyInPittsburgh

509

Oct 24, 2020

So they disassembled returned units, called it a new "essentials" model and shipped it without the tangled cable or waxy ear tips that were included in the returned item box. Way to go, Drop...a new but typical low.

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Oct 25, 2020

GuyInPittsburghBut, just theoretically... If we did that, but dipped them in snake oil for three full days (and nights), wouldn't it count as they were new? Just wondering... ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ Anyways, audiophile-groaner-jokes aside. ;) I know that there can be some mistrust in the industry and there are folks worried about quality. But let's not get too discouraged. If it would be possible we'd invite you to drop by our lab to see and experience how we hand-craft these babies from scratch using crispy-fresh components of quality we would wish everybody we like to have their monitors made from.

Oct 27, 2020

LimeEarsWhat kind of armatures are you using? Custom in house or Knowles/Sonion? I know a lot of these smaller expensive brands use outdated components (64 audio etc). When was the last time these were updated? Problem with the audio industry is that they are selling iPhone 6 in 2020 and charging 1200 bucks for it and calling it a good deal. These were very well received, just want to know since it won't say in the listing.

Moonsand1

470

Oct 24, 2020

I like this approach to just offer the IEM and save some money. Maybe you could call Empire Ears and get them to do the same for the Odin. I could do without that thousand dollar bundled cable.

PCMM1

Oct 25, 2020

Moonsand1Totally agree. I love DROP to continue to use this strategy to sell the earphone and headphone.

(Edited)

Oct 27, 2020

Moonsand1The thing is that these extra accessories that come with your headphones cost them no more than 10 to 50 bucks. They include overly expensive and blatantly scam cables (scrambles) to sweeten the deal. It just goes to show you that if a company can remove just a cable and ear tips and a cardboard box and that saves you six hundred bucks, these guys are making HUGE % margins something we've most never seen before, it's insane.

ACdrew

Dec 10, 2020

I better hear in 4K for $650

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Rodmunch

179

Dec 16, 2020

My best IEMs cost more than my PC. Priorities.

Dec 16, 2020

It also costs you 650 dollars to build a computer. These iems are severely overpriced, but take an iem like the Voyager 14, 28 total flagship Sonion/Knowles balanced armature. At 15-20 an armature core, you’re looking at 420-560 usd in armatures alone for my 1000 dollar iem. Add the shell and the fact it took them 27 DAYS to make it by hand, I think what I paid was a steal. Just because it’s small or “simple” doesn’t make it worthless. But I agree the Aethers probably cost them like 150 bucks to make.

pott

145

Oct 23, 2020

The description says these do not have the stock version's fine-tuning switches. So how are they setup? On or off? More details before displaying new products wouldn't hurt...

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suncrusher195

Oct 24, 2020

Will you guys ever be producing a non-bass boosted version? I am inclined to purchase the unit but i usually prefer my IEMs more W shaped than V shaped.