I'm buying this, if it's anywhere close to IE800.
Mathi8vahanan,
I am glad you mention this because I would like mention a few thing as co-developer of the Lyra.
We started the Lyra project almost 2 years ago with a certain other ceramic type IEM* as a loose starting point. This ceramic IEM was my most used IEM at the time because of many features such as ease of use, size, looks and most importantly the dynamic driver sound. I really liked using my certain ceramic IEM and they went with me everywhere I went. I feel like there is a "cat" and "dog" types for IEMs with regards to universal IEMs where "cat" loves dynamic driver sound and "dog" favors balanced armature (BA's). I find my self in the "cat" category and its the type of sound you going to get with a good dynamic driver IEM, I describe it as a very deep smooth natural relaxed, low fatigue delivery in the music. Not that I am totally against BA's, the BA is going IMO have more focus, have a more precise and accurate sound in many ways. I guess in the end like with everything in this hobby its a a personal preference as to what make it click for you. BA and Dynamic technologies both have their distinct advantages and disadvantage, to me the mechanical resonance issue with BAs weighs large on me.
Back to this certain other ceramic IEM, I wanted to take all the good things about this certain other ceramic IEM, spice them up just a little, then do away with all the things I did not like. Things I liked were the ceramic shell, for looks, size and for what the material did to the sound. For fun we tried, polycarbonate as well as liquid metal, the exact same ID shell as the production ceramic. There was no contest the ceramic was better that the other materials sound wise, Sennheiser knows what they are doing for sure
. The polycarbonate, liquid metal and ceramic all had the same frequency response but they sounded different.
The dynamic driver that is ported (tuned vent). The sound really has a tight low end response that I really like, with good high freq extension, but again just a liquid natural sound.
Things I did not like on this other ceramic IEM, no detachable cable, no detachable cable
... very poor fit, no interchangeable ear tips.
I think we kept the overall type of this other ceramic IEM sound but gave it just a little more pop, so it is not as flat as this other certain ceramic IEM, I feel like the Lyra is more fun-er sounding. We upgraded the cable to a MMCX standard, and we do make a fully balanced version (2.5mm 4 pole) to the stock cable as a direct replacement. We make the stock cable as well it is a huge improvement over a normal stock cable. So if you want to go balanced with the Lyra its very easy.
We feel the ergonomics are far better, fit is very good, we include generic foam tips, then also Comply set, as well as silicone. I know very well you can have the very best IEM on the planet but if the fit is no good the sound will also be no good so we wanted to make sure the IEM fit well and included a lot of tips.
Yes, the Lyra is not inexpensive however we put a hell of a lot into the project, we designed the product locally grown, had a number of extremely talented engineers working on the driver, there is nothing off the shelf used on the Lyra, had all the tools made for it and spent a long time tuning it to make it in the same "end zone" as something on the level as this other ceramic IEM. That was our goal and I think we achieved it.
So thats my story, I love my other ceramic IEM, just wanted to take the things I liked and change all the things I mentioned above and add our design ID to the product. Me and the Campfire team are super happy with the product and we hope more than anything the IEM aficionados at head-fi will as well.
Thanks
Ken
*was not allowed to state the specific IEM
