Meze Audio LIRIC Closed Back

Meze Audio LIRIC

Hi all,

Today we are talking about another Meze Audio headphone. The recently released LIRIC closed back model. After my positive experience with the Empyrean and especially the ELITE, I was curious what sort of headphone Meze would go for in terms of a closed back model, and what sort tuning it would have. The LIRIC was released a short while ago at an MSRP of $2000USD, so it is not an insignificant purchase. Let’s find out how it fared against its open backed siblings.


The Box
The LIRIC is designed to be a more portable headphone than the ELITE and Empyrean, therefore it is physically smaller, and uses a different, non suspension based headband. Also in terms of portability, it comes in a portable style case, which will fit easily in a backpack or similar type of bag. The LIRIC comes bundled with two 3.5mm terminated cables, one shorter, one longer. I would have liked to see Meze include at least a 4.4mm cable in the package, but they do have very affordable aftermarket 4.4mm cables available from their 99 series headphones, which work very well. You can also buy upgraded cables for the LIRIC from the 99 series, and I have read those will be offered in 4pin XLR shortly also.


Very nice presentation from Meze
Obviously, targeting a price point which is half of the ELITE’s, there are concessions in terms of materials and overall build quality. The LIRIC just feels a bit less “premium” than the ELITE and Empyrean. With that being said, it is still one of the best built headphones I have come across. Meze Audio really nails this aspect. Although the physical size is a bit smaller, they are still an over ear headphone, and extremely comfortable. The pads feel deep and sumptuous. They are also a light headphone at around about 400g, and not at all uncomfortable for long listening sessions. The overall isolation level is good for a closed back, but if you need ultimate isolation, I would definitely recommend something with active noise cancelling, or earphones. In terms of aesthetics, I think the LIRIC is one of the best looking headphone on the market. The understated slightly textured black with copper accents is right up my alley, and I absolutely love how they look. I mean, ultimately I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but hey, it can’t hurt either.


Understated and classy.
The LIRICs pads do not share the same magnetic attachment system as the Empyrean and ELITE, and whilst this is a shame, as its the best system I have come across, I also think Meze may have done this to achieve the sound quality and isolation the LIRIC provide. I will include a screenshot of the earpad airflow system Meze has come up with, as the website explains it better than I am able to. It is an interesting idea, and lends itself well to a spacious sounding soundstage, for a closed back. The LIRIC are not as wide and spacious sounding as most open backs, that still remains an elusive, if not impossible quality for a closed back headphone to achieve, but they are also a lot more spacious sounding than the Focal headphones, both closed and open. I think that what Meze has achieved in terms of soundstage with the LIRIC is impressive, and am curious what they might manage in the future if they continue to develop the technology.


The driver of the LIRIC is essentially a scaled down version of the Rinaro ISODYNAMIC planar driver found in the ELITE and Empyrean. I would recommend reading my ELITE review for an idea of how this driver works if you have never come across it before, or head over to Mezes website. It Is an interesting approach to planar magnetic driver design, and worth understanding if you are going to purchase these headphones.

In terms of the drivers capability, at half the price of the ELITE whilst also being physically smaller, you obviously cannot expect the same performance. And that certainly holds true. The LIRIC does not have the same technical performance as the ELITE, and even the Empyrean. It sounds smaller, less detailed, less dynamically capable. With that being said, its tuning and frequency response are better than the Empyrean, for my personal taste. The bass of the LIRIC is slightly elevated, but I never found it to be overbearing, and it is less in level than the Empyrean. They have a bit more sub bass than the ELITE. The mids sound less thick than the Empyrean also, but perhaps a bit more upper mids and lower treble than the ELITE. I didn’t find the treble too hot at any point, especially the upper treble. With that being said, I did find it the tiniest bit shouty at times, but not at the level where it was close to being a deal breaker. I suppose you could tweak this slightly with EQ, but for the vast majority of my listening, I enjoyed the LIRIC without any EQ.


LIRIC rear
I’m fortunate to be used to the sound of what are pretty much the top of the line in terms of headphones (barring Sennheiser HE1 type esoterica.) Therefore, it has to be expected that a pair which costs less than half of those headphones, will give up certain areas of performance ability. In that sense, I found the timbre of the LIRIC a bit plasticky at times, and as mentioned, a bit shouty and “boxy” sounding, especially with snare drums. The soundstage, as I mentioned earlier, is very well done for a closed back. Not the widest, but also not small. The imaging, detail, and and dynamics remind me of the Empyrean, in that they do the “macro” stuff well, but aren’t as strong at the “micro” stuff. Increasing the volume seemed to help this aspect somewhat, which was interesting.

I very much feel that the overall package however, combined with very competent tuning is entirely worth the asking price. If you need a closed back headphone, and don’t want to spend $4000 on the DCA stealth, or $5500 on the Hifiman HE-R10p, then the LIRIC makes a serious case for itself. Also, if you need a physically smaller, and more portable headphone, the LIRIC makes a very serious case for itself there as well. It is built wonderfully, with great materials, and has a more enjoyable tuning than the Empyrean. It’s a punchy, slightly “fun” sounding headphone. I see what Meze Audio was trying to achieve with the LIRIC, and I think they have managed it very well. I’m not as experienced with closed back headphones as I am with open backs, but I can’t think of a closed back that I have tried that I enjoyed as much as the LIRIC. I think that if you take note of your use case, and feel that the LIRIC fits it, its is very much worth consideration. Whilst the LIRIC doesn’t match up to the performance of its open backed Rinaro driver based siblings, it also costs half as much, and brings a lot of their good qualities to the table, whilst also being isolating, and portable. That makes for a very interesting and compelling package.


I’d love to see Meze make an ELITE/Empyrean full sized closed back, with the driver and tuning from the ELITE. I think that would be up there for the best closed back, regardless of price. Until then though? The LIRIC does the job, and does it well.

 

While impressions that it's "good but not as good as the Empyrean" are functional, any chance you could compare to the like of other planar headphones like the LCD-2 Classic, or even some of the more popular dynamics? "Shouty" brings MrSpeakers to mind, plus some of the Foster headphones e.g. the TH-X00 Ebony.

 

I haven't heard the newer LCD-2C (closed or open,) so can't compare there. Also haven't heard the new LCD-XC, but the Liric has better tuning than the old old version I heard. Much more even keeled and less muffled and weird sounding. It was so long ago I can't remember the sound that well in terms of details. Also a long time ago, but the LCD-3 was way warmer, but that was a 2016 model so that may have changed massively. Thats why I mentioned I was less experienced with closed backs on a whole, and I also don't feel its fair to compare it in absolute terms against the top end headphones, as the price difference is massive. I also don't feel comfortable directly comparing it to things I haven't personally heard vs based off of others opinions or graphs.

Comparing to the Eikon, the LIRIC has better resolution and transparency, but it's not a huge difference. I think the Eikon has better timbre, and is punchier, perhaps due to it being a dynamic. Eikon has less treble presence from what I remember. The meze is much better in terms of ergonomics, weight, and comfort however. I think choosing between the Eikon and the Meze would be down to your use case. If it's all at home, and you don't care about weight, get the Eikon, if you need easier to drive, comfortable, and more ability to take it places, get the Mezes.

The AEON 1 closed (I haven't heard the 2, or the noire) is much worse all round. Less detail, less dynamics, worse tuning.

Sundara has a much better sense of space but lacks a bit in terms of detail and transparency in comparison. HE6seV2 I would say easily beats it in terms of detail and transparency, but is a huge bitch to drive and is open backed, so sort of apple and oranges.

 

Someone just send me a trade offer for this on head-fi in exchange for my iDSD Pro... I haven't tried out closed backs in a while other than my trust old HD25's. I'm curious about this, but wonder if I should take the plunge... or more importantly, is there enough hype on this that it is easily recyclable for something else?

 

I’ve been involved in a listening tour organized on Head-Fi by Meze & Andy Kong. I thought it'd be of interest to post here since I don't think most will get a chance to hear them.They were generous enough to allow us about 2 weeks with the Meze Liric to put it through it’s paces and I did indeed enjoy my time with them. There’s a lot of info already out there about the Liric construction and design so I’ll only touch on that as necessary. For more information, check out Meze’s dedicated Liric website: https://mezeaudio.com/collections/all/products/liric

Fit and Comfort

One thing I’ve always appreciated about Meze is their design aesthetic. Every headphone I’ve seen from Meze has been pleasing to my eyes, and the Liric is no exception. From the angle of the extension yoke rods to the gold air vent hole on each cup there is a look to these headphones that I find wholly appealing. Also consistent with my experience with Meze, the Liric is very comfortable, even after long listening sessions. They are light at 391 grams (less than a pound) and more importantly the weight is well distributed. I felt no hot spots or other discomfort, though noggin size (or lack thereof) may play a deciding factor here. As always YMMV.

Review Details
Before I offer my listening impressions, I’ll start with a little about myself and other points of interest. I’m over 50 years old and have less than perfect hearing. I’ve been a music lover for as long as I can remember, and my preference leans toward the warm side of neutral. I’m a huge believer in the “my ears/your ears” axiom, and I believe the signal chain makes a difference. Feel free to liberally add as many mental IMOs and YMMVs as you want while reading.

My chain for playback is various WAV, FLAC, & MP3 files from my refurbed HP Elite Desk via USB to a Bifrost 2 to either my ifi Pro iCan (1st version) or ZMF Pendant (also 1st version). The Liric sounded wonderful from both the Pendant as well as the ifi, but I had a slight preference for the Pendant and did the majority of my listening utilizing that amp. I felt no need to burn in the Meze since it is a review loaner and likely has a couple of hundred hours on it already.

Sensitivity and Isolation

I found the Liric to be very easy to drive, and it sounded excellent from both my (old) Samsung A10 as well as a Fiio M6. I won’t go into much detail there since I rarely use headphones on the go and I did almost all of my listening with my desktop setup. Suffice it to say that for portable use, the sound was very engaging and satisfying, at least with the equipment I had on hand.

Overall the Liric is good at isolating outside noise, if not class leading in that regard. I did wear it solely in my relatively quiet home which admittedly isn’t the best test for sound attenuation. It did a respectable job of drowning out dogs barking and other various noises especially with music playing, but there was always a small sense of being a part of my surroundings as opposed to being in my own world. Depending on your preferences this could be a good or bad thing. Given my usage, it didn’t bother me at all.

I think it’s worth mentioning Meze has a few design choices that may have something to do with that sense of connection. The Liric utilizes a pressure equalization valve and a proprietary ear pad air flow system which seems to add to an “openness” to the sound and I’m guessing has an impact on isolation. I can also tell you that this is one of the only closed back headphones I’ve experienced that doesn’t aggravate my tinnitus, which is a pleasant surprise since most closed back headphones do. I can’t say that has anything to do with the aforementioned features, but it would be a plausible explanation. As always YMMV.

Sound

IMO this headphone does indeed adhere to the Meze house sound. My preference is for headphones that are on the warm side, and I’ve found Meze delivers on that front consistently.

Even though the bass is more subdued than many of Meze’s offerings, it is still a bit north of what many would consider neutral. The bass does seem to be somewhat un-planar like in that I don’t find it to be particularly fast and agile. It does reach deep when called for, and it’s not so slow as to be considered sluggish, it’s just not lightning fast. I’d place it between the Empyrean and the Elite, though I only heard the Elite briefly at CanJam NYC. I still found bass to be satisfying and pleasing for my preferences.

Things sound tighter in the mids but I wouldn’t call them dry. There was good clarity and no fatigue during my listening. There is a bit of a dip around the 1-2khz region and again in the upper mid/lower treble area. I didn’t find it to be bothersome, however those craving the most linear mids will likely be disappointed.

There is extension up above 10khz, but my hearing is spotty at best in that area due to age & job related hearing loss, so I won’t be commenting there.

The Liric is not the last word in plankton, I found the resolution to be on the relaxed side and detail is discernible if not in your face. Though some may crave a more forward presentation, I found enough detail to make me feel as though I’m not missing anything. It might have more to do with the relaxed presentation than the ability to eek out fine levels of sonic detail.

Moving on to headstage, the Liric does have some unique tricks up it’s sleeve...or pads I guess. I’ll start by saying I don’t believe it’s possible to get a “closed back headphone that sounds like an open headphone”. This Meze is no exception, but as I previously stated, there is an openness to the sound that can likely be attributed to the Liric’s distinctive design. The result is a coherent image that has some width but better depth, and an airy quality that seems to give some extra room around the notes. It is a presentation I’ve come to enjoy the more I listen.

Some Comparisons

Unfortunately I have nothing on hand that would be fitting for a direct comparison to the Liric. The closed backs I have are sub $500 dynamic drivers and hardly class leading. I do have the ZMF Aeolus and an ETA “Mini” which I do think would be a couple of interesting comparisons.

Despite being an open back dynamic headphone, the Aeolus & the Liric do have some common ground. They’re both tuned with boosted bass and overall warmth in mind. I am using the ZMF Verite perforated lambskin pads with my Aeolus currently, which retains the downward sloping sound signature, but tames a bit of the Aeolus’ mid bass response. They both seem to have good extension to my ear, though the Liric goes a bit deeper and is a bit more forceful in the sub-bass region then lowers the mid bass more sharply. Aeolus overall has the tighter bass to my ears, though it’s not by a wide margin. The larger difference is in the midrange & treble regions, where the Aeolus dips around 2-4khz, the Meze rises there. Headstage interestingly is fairly similar as well, with the Aeolus just pulling ahead in all directions except depth, where the Liric admirably matches (for a closed back headphone). I’d say detail retrieval is on par with one another as neither headphone was outclassed here.

The ETA Mini is a different beast altogether, being an on ear dynamic driver headphone with a more intimate headstage, but snappier transients and better detail retrieval. I decided to include this comparison because IMO despite being $300 (at the time of writing) the sound can keep up with offerings in this price range. The Sub bass region is slightly better extended on the Liric, and is more impactful as well. The ETA mid bass does not rise as much in comparison, and is tighter and more controlled throughout. There is definitely bass presence with the ETA, but more interesting for me is there is a good amount more slam from the dynamic driver as well. From the mids on up to the treble, the Mini is more linear and revealing, feeling a bit dryer overall but never fatiguing to my ear. Headstage is definitely more the Meze’s strong suit, the ETA being more intimate overall, but maintaining very good imagery and coherence. As I mentioned above, I actually find detail retrieval to be more evident in the ETA overall, the Meze trailing even if not by a huge margin. They are very different presentations that IMO compliment each other well.

As I said at the start, I quite enjoyed my time with the Meze Liric. Antonio Meze has a knack for tuning warm and inviting headphones that are also beautiful and comfortable. The Liric is no exception, and is one of the finest closed back headphones I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. If you are at all interested in the upper end of the closed back headphone market, I think it would be a mistake to overlook the Meze Liric.