Cable
The standard cable that comes with the Lime Ears ANIMA is a boutique cable. It’s Khanyayo cables in cooperation with Viking Waeve Cables who are responsible for this lovely creation.
The cable itself is a Khanyayo Graphene-coated Silver Plated Copper cable, with 144 strands (0.05mm) terminated with a 4.4mm balanced plug. This to maintain smoothness, detail, and extraordinary staging. The Y-splitter features crushed Bello Opal particles and it’s a very nice touch made by VWC.
Check out the boutique cable here and here on Instagram.
Price & Accessories
As previously mentioned, the Lime Ears ANIMA sells for €3.400 Euro. The ANIMA comes delivered with the following in a new style of case. Pelican boxes were extremely popular last decade, but here we have a beautiful, top quality, handcrafted, genuine leather storage case.
The other accessories are:
– A cotton pouch
– 3.5mm adapter
– 2.5mm adapter
– Comply Foam tips set
– SpinFit CP145 tips set
– Final Audio E tips set
– Cleaning tool
All-in-all it’s a complete package for the price level. We did only get the leather storage case shipped to us, so we have no idea what the actual consumer package looks like.
Sound – Intro
For the part on sound, we used the Comply Foam tips. The ANIMA was used together with a whole series of amplifiers, DAPs, dongles and DAC/AMPs (see later). At my office the dCS Lina stack (ROON + Tidal) is right next to me, so the ANIMA was used most with that super high-end setup. On-the-go the P6 PRO is my preferred source (more on that later).
According to Emil, the designer of the ANIMA and owner of Lime Ears, the Anima is all about space. He wanted to ANIMA to be lively, airy and breathing. Another goal of his was to create a holographic image of unsurpassed extension in its width, depth and height.
The full Lime Ears description is as follows:
Starting with subsonic rumble provided by dynamic driver, through heavy but precise punch presented by armature subwoofers, textured lows, gentle, laidback, mids and well defined high mids, Anima tops your experience with sparkly, yet elegant highs iced with breath and air provided by electrostatic super tweeters.
Slightly W-shaped response provides fun listening experience maintaining monitor-like technical qualities. Shifting from track to track, precisely reflecting timbre and tonal balance of the original recording.
Let’s find out if any of that makes any sense!
Sound – General
The Lime Ears ANIMA always produces a big sound, and it has a spacious and open feeling. You don’t have the typical intimacy here and that’s always a good thing in my book. ANIMA’s sound stage is excellent in both width and depth, and it comes with excellent layering from top to bottom.
The ANIMA is a strong technical performer, but it never forgets to be natural and musical in the delivery. Note decay and note extension are a pleasure to the ear. The ANIMA is always in perfect control, no matter what type of music you throw at it. Excellent PRaT, energy and liveliness are key characteristics for this insanely dynamic IEM.
For what precision is concerned, the ANIMA also scores high marks. It is a revealing IEM that will show you all the micro details as long as you use a high resolution source & source file. But it’s more than that. The ANIMA doesn’t just give you all the detail there is, it does it in an engaging, natural and musical way.
The ANIMA – for what colouring is concerned – is more neutral, though the bass region has some warmth in its delivery. The mids section, is natural, with a smooth presentation and a bit of vocal focus, but not too much. The upper end is estat energetic, lively and extended without ever sounding “too sharp”.
Lime Ears describes the ANIMA as having a W-shaped signature, and that does describe it very well. They did a great job with the crossover, and they have managed to make all of ANIMA’s technologies work well together, and that’s audible right from the start.
Sound – B/M/T
ANIMA’s bass can’t really be called neutral when it comes to amount and weight, but it’s not a bass heavy IEM either. What you do get is a good amount of bass at all times, with a nice punch and kick. When big bass is needed, the ANIMA will show it to you, and it will reach down low with great sub rumble.
“Precise acoustic filtering results in powerful yet extremely clear, textured and dynamic subwoofer frequencies.”
Bass here is both good in quantity as in quality, though if you’re looking for a fully neutral bass presentation, you might be somewhat overwhelmed here. The regular bass appreciating user however, will absolutely adore the bass tuning in this IEM. Bass is spacious, vibrant and has great depth accompanied with excellent layering. I don’t recommend using bass heavier sources.
The mid section perfectly connects to the bass section, with the same weighty presence. The mids are nicely spacious and airy with excellent separation. The mids are both wide and deep and the layering also here is impressive. There is a small focus on the vocals, putting them just a little more to the front, but not too much. It does make them a tad more exciting. Mids are natural, smooth and have a lovely texture. Note extension and decay is at the level of a reference monitor.
Treble is spacious and extended, without any direct roll-off. The EST drivers bring that lovely sparkling, energetic feeling to the treble which we all love. It’s more precise and lively treble than it ever is aggressive or sharp. Of course, if you like soft treble, an EST treble driver IEM maybe isn’t the best choice for you, but I absolutely love them. The treble section also perfectly contrasts the bass presentation and nicely matches the vocal presentation
Overall, it’s a super impressive tuning and a perfect mix of technicalities and musical enjoyment. A true high-end monitor.
The article continues on the fourth page, click here or use the jumps below.
Page 1: Lime Ears, ANIMA, Features
Page 2: Design & Build quality, Comfort & Isolation, tip selection, specifications,
Page 3: Cable, Price & Accessories, Sound
Page 4: Sources, Comparison, Conclusion
