Reviews by Newsee
About myself:
My usual music genres are pop, rock, jazz, a bit of electronic. I noticed lately that I mostly preferred songs are with female voice with not too busy strings and lots of bass in the background. My last discovery is Jennifer Warnes, absolutely stunning.
My tonality preferences: I like it warm. I do not need upper mids and treble energy. My ear channel acoustics gives me plenty.
Bass shall be there, a lot. Deep, moderately controlled.
I love the sound of my Empyreans including the"recessed highs" and "elevated midbass". I am looking for a similar sounding closed back, even if I have some aversion against closed back sound. What usually disturb me most is some sort of reverb which is easyest to pick after single drum hits.
Take my jurney with Liric with this info as background.
I have never written a formal review before. As part of the Liric tour I would like to share my experiences more in form of a story rather than a review.
https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/8744464
Almost all of the songs on it are showing the most important elements already at the first 30 seconds, so it is easy to go through when multiple HPs are involved in test.
So everything was ready for further experiments, and a beautiful Verite Closed was also available for audition - it had to go through the same parcours.
When already in the process, and Lyric is also available, then let's go for it, best is direct comparison
What an experience!
What remained im my memory is about the stage (strangely, because normally I do not care too much about it. Maybe because my current lineup gives me good enough result).
If I compare to a FullHD television (16:9) , where some old programs (4:3 format) gives the picture only in the middle, left and right black bulk - that was the Stealth. Same FullHD TV with movies gives the black bulk up and down - that was the VC. FullHD with picture overall- that was the Liric.
Soundwise the Stealts was a bit flat for me. Sweetest was the VC. Best (deepest?) bass - Lyric. If some sharpness in the tonality was not there, the Lyric would have been the overall winner. Most noticed in the "September in Montreal" from Anne Bisson on the above mentioned list.
Unboxing - with great excitement. I would not loose too much words on it, many did already. Wonderful experiment, Meze knows how to design down to the last details. The big box, the carry case, the accessory pouches, and the Lyric itself - a joy for the eyes and to touch.
Comfort - top notch. Light to wear, disappears on the head immediately. I think I have an average head, apart of a lenghty bump in the middle which could cause a hotspot, but not with the Liric.
Three notes about the ergonomics:
1. The light weght invites the lazy to handle the thing with one hand only - which works, but in that case the height rods are slipping out of the set position. With two handed handling it does not happen.
2. The Lyric has some anti pression holes on the cup. When on head without sound, they generate some funny wind noise on the move. With music it is not audible.
3. Setting the height: the most comfortable when set so that the space around the ear is evenly distributed. However, I noticed that it sounds better, if I pull it up a little, that it pushes the earlobes up a little. Might be personal. (I just tried the same trick with my Empyreans while writing this - works the same way)
The cables:
Two almost identical cables, difference is just the length - does it make sense? They are good looking, fit to the HP, not microphonic - but why not a balanced cable with multiple heads/adaptors. Or at least one of them. Many, who likes good HPs on the go has a good player/stick with balanced out. The Lyric benefits from power. On mobile eqipment the balanced out almost always has more power.
In the tour set a beautifully braided balanced spc cable was included, originally designed for the Meze Audio 99. It emphasized the brightness, which is not my preference, therefore it did not get the listening time what the aesthetic would have required.
Sound:
First impression: it does not sound like a closed back. The typical closed back reverb that mostly disturbing me does not exist. Soundstage is wide open.
Bass: clean and deep. No midbass hump as on the Empyrean. It justified the assumption and rendered all the bass passages of the songs on the tailor-made playlist with ease and fidelity. My favourite became the "Blue Jeans" from Natty Bong. That bass is just addictive. And it can go even deeper, as in the "Keep The Wolves Away" from Uncle Lucius on "And You Are Me". I suppose that must be the subbass area.
Mids and highs: It is clean a crisp. Let's say when I set the volume level where the bass is (very) satisfactory, it sometimes tends to produce brightness that I do not like. I suppose it is in the area of upper mids. Not my favoirute tuning. As I read on the Empyrean thread that many people was lacking energy in this range, I suppose they will be satisfied with the Liric.
Equipment pairings
I mentioned earlier that the Liric needs power. On every equipment I had to turn the volume a bit higher than with the Empyrean. Let me share my notes that I made with different equipments, climbing up the quality ladder.
LG V60:
- volume almost at max (69 out of 75),
No harshness, deep, highs, have I ever heard anything this good on this?
Lotoo PAW S2
- now we are singing. Mids arrived. "I am my fathers doughter"
Hadouk "soft landing" - very good.
Nardis - the snag drum is not up to, but everything else are. Volume 70 of 100.
When paw S2 is connected to R8 (does it make any sense?) , 62 is enough, there is much more bass then when connected to the LG V60.
Kann (OG):
Perfect match. Bass comes through in full, highs are slightly tamed by the warmth of the Kann. Just perfect. As dac from LG V60, or AK connect + mconnect of iPhone. (I do not have local music stored on the Kann).
Volume 92 of 150.
More bass, more mids, punchier than S2.
Fiio X3ii:
Power 83 out of 120 - what? As good as Kann OG? Not after direct comparision. Mids are missing a bit. But still, impressive.
Kann Cube:
Less warm bass, more treble, more details. 89/150
Hiby R8:
58/100
Cleaner bass.
I was listeneng to the Liric mostly on this due to the mobility, ease of use and the quality droving power of the R8.
R8 with MHA200
Softer deeper bass, softer overall.
Burson Conductor 3XR:
Wider image, cleaner.
Rockna WaveLight + MHA200:
Even deeper, still soft bass, even more detail.
By a lucky coincidence the Rockna WaveLight was by me for home auditioning during my share of the Liric tour.
Looking back on this list, I can see that the Liric is showing very clearly the sonic properties of the equipment it is connected to. A feature of high end headphones. Some say 'the Liric scales very well'
Gaming rig: Khadas Tone2 Pro + BX2+ : ahoj! No brightness! Background music, effects (like explosions), as enjoyable as with my goto can LCD-3, or even more - without any complain from family. Not the slightest even from 2 meters distance.
Comparision to Empyrean:
I would say one can hear that they come from the same house. This shall not lead to the conclusion that they have the same frequency characteristics though.
Subbass goes deeper and more obvious due to lack of midbass thump. In upper region there are more energy. Of course the Liric can not race in opennes against the open back older brother. (Or sister? I always think about it as feminine).
Let me say good by with my favourite picture, my dream triumvirate.
Many thanks to Andy and the Meze crew to give me the possibility to take part in the tour.
My usual music genres are pop, rock, jazz, a bit of electronic. I noticed lately that I mostly preferred songs are with female voice with not too busy strings and lots of bass in the background. My last discovery is Jennifer Warnes, absolutely stunning.
My tonality preferences: I like it warm. I do not need upper mids and treble energy. My ear channel acoustics gives me plenty.
Bass shall be there, a lot. Deep, moderately controlled.
I love the sound of my Empyreans including the"recessed highs" and "elevated midbass". I am looking for a similar sounding closed back, even if I have some aversion against closed back sound. What usually disturb me most is some sort of reverb which is easyest to pick after single drum hits.
Take my jurney with Liric with this info as background.
I have never written a formal review before. As part of the Liric tour I would like to share my experiences more in form of a story rather than a review.
Prolog
I happened to be around my favourite HP shop (k55.ch) so I jumped in for a quick snip of air and a comparision between T+A Solitaire P and Meze Elite. I was surprised by the new shop setup. The listening room was moved, became more space, more light, more comfortable sofas, more HPs on display. Among many, a pair of DCA Stealth. As the tour Liric was on the way to me I thought it would worth to listen to some high end closed back sound to have a reference point. Plans changed, Stealth on head. To exclude the shortcoming of the south part of the chain I choose Dave direct as source, fed from my Hiby R8 on USB. Based on Head-fi readings I was expecting some harsh sound, but no. It was nicely balanced, clean sound. Someone mentioned (@Thanatos) that Lyric has very strong subbass. As I had the Stealth on head, which according to the rumors has also very deep bass I put together a new test list from my recent favourites, which I thought would fit the Liric:https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/8744464
Almost all of the songs on it are showing the most important elements already at the first 30 seconds, so it is easy to go through when multiple HPs are involved in test.
So everything was ready for further experiments, and a beautiful Verite Closed was also available for audition - it had to go through the same parcours.
When already in the process, and Lyric is also available, then let's go for it, best is direct comparison
What an experience!What remained im my memory is about the stage (strangely, because normally I do not care too much about it. Maybe because my current lineup gives me good enough result).
If I compare to a FullHD television (16:9) , where some old programs (4:3 format) gives the picture only in the middle, left and right black bulk - that was the Stealth. Same FullHD TV with movies gives the black bulk up and down - that was the VC. FullHD with picture overall- that was the Liric.
Soundwise the Stealts was a bit flat for me. Sweetest was the VC. Best (deepest?) bass - Lyric. If some sharpness in the tonality was not there, the Lyric would have been the overall winner. Most noticed in the "September in Montreal" from Anne Bisson on the above mentioned list.
Main act
I got home - a box waiting.Unboxing - with great excitement. I would not loose too much words on it, many did already. Wonderful experiment, Meze knows how to design down to the last details. The big box, the carry case, the accessory pouches, and the Lyric itself - a joy for the eyes and to touch.
Comfort - top notch. Light to wear, disappears on the head immediately. I think I have an average head, apart of a lenghty bump in the middle which could cause a hotspot, but not with the Liric.
Three notes about the ergonomics:
1. The light weght invites the lazy to handle the thing with one hand only - which works, but in that case the height rods are slipping out of the set position. With two handed handling it does not happen.
2. The Lyric has some anti pression holes on the cup. When on head without sound, they generate some funny wind noise on the move. With music it is not audible.
3. Setting the height: the most comfortable when set so that the space around the ear is evenly distributed. However, I noticed that it sounds better, if I pull it up a little, that it pushes the earlobes up a little. Might be personal. (I just tried the same trick with my Empyreans while writing this - works the same way)
The cables:
Two almost identical cables, difference is just the length - does it make sense? They are good looking, fit to the HP, not microphonic - but why not a balanced cable with multiple heads/adaptors. Or at least one of them. Many, who likes good HPs on the go has a good player/stick with balanced out. The Lyric benefits from power. On mobile eqipment the balanced out almost always has more power.
In the tour set a beautifully braided balanced spc cable was included, originally designed for the Meze Audio 99. It emphasized the brightness, which is not my preference, therefore it did not get the listening time what the aesthetic would have required.
Sound:
First impression: it does not sound like a closed back. The typical closed back reverb that mostly disturbing me does not exist. Soundstage is wide open.
Bass: clean and deep. No midbass hump as on the Empyrean. It justified the assumption and rendered all the bass passages of the songs on the tailor-made playlist with ease and fidelity. My favourite became the "Blue Jeans" from Natty Bong. That bass is just addictive. And it can go even deeper, as in the "Keep The Wolves Away" from Uncle Lucius on "And You Are Me". I suppose that must be the subbass area.
Mids and highs: It is clean a crisp. Let's say when I set the volume level where the bass is (very) satisfactory, it sometimes tends to produce brightness that I do not like. I suppose it is in the area of upper mids. Not my favoirute tuning. As I read on the Empyrean thread that many people was lacking energy in this range, I suppose they will be satisfied with the Liric.
Equipment pairings
I mentioned earlier that the Liric needs power. On every equipment I had to turn the volume a bit higher than with the Empyrean. Let me share my notes that I made with different equipments, climbing up the quality ladder.
LG V60:
- volume almost at max (69 out of 75),
No harshness, deep, highs, have I ever heard anything this good on this?
Lotoo PAW S2
- now we are singing. Mids arrived. "I am my fathers doughter"
Hadouk "soft landing" - very good.
Nardis - the snag drum is not up to, but everything else are. Volume 70 of 100.
When paw S2 is connected to R8 (does it make any sense?) , 62 is enough, there is much more bass then when connected to the LG V60.
Kann (OG):
Perfect match. Bass comes through in full, highs are slightly tamed by the warmth of the Kann. Just perfect. As dac from LG V60, or AK connect + mconnect of iPhone. (I do not have local music stored on the Kann).
Volume 92 of 150.
More bass, more mids, punchier than S2.
Fiio X3ii:
Power 83 out of 120 - what? As good as Kann OG? Not after direct comparision. Mids are missing a bit. But still, impressive.
Kann Cube:
Less warm bass, more treble, more details. 89/150
Hiby R8:
58/100
Cleaner bass.
I was listeneng to the Liric mostly on this due to the mobility, ease of use and the quality droving power of the R8.
R8 with MHA200
Softer deeper bass, softer overall.
Burson Conductor 3XR:
Wider image, cleaner.
Rockna WaveLight + MHA200:
Even deeper, still soft bass, even more detail.
By a lucky coincidence the Rockna WaveLight was by me for home auditioning during my share of the Liric tour.
Looking back on this list, I can see that the Liric is showing very clearly the sonic properties of the equipment it is connected to. A feature of high end headphones. Some say 'the Liric scales very well'
Gaming rig: Khadas Tone2 Pro + BX2+ : ahoj! No brightness! Background music, effects (like explosions), as enjoyable as with my goto can LCD-3, or even more - without any complain from family. Not the slightest even from 2 meters distance.
Comparision to Empyrean:
I would say one can hear that they come from the same house. This shall not lead to the conclusion that they have the same frequency characteristics though.
Subbass goes deeper and more obvious due to lack of midbass thump. In upper region there are more energy. Of course the Liric can not race in opennes against the open back older brother. (Or sister? I always think about it as feminine).
Epilog
It could be a perfect closed back for me, if it was not for the bright scent time to time. What makes me thinking is that during HP shop audition it was less obvious. Do I have to invest in a Dave? Would 100-200 hours of burn-in help? Or a different cable? Due to the superb (sub)bass performance, the comfort, the wide stage and not at last the optic, my hands are still itching to give another chance to this beauty.Let me say good by with my favourite picture, my dream triumvirate.
Many thanks to Andy and the Meze crew to give me the possibility to take part in the tour.
