This could be me, having auditoned E3 extensively (~two weeks) at home and at the dealer and having auditioned Liric II’s at the dealer. I still own Aeon 2 Noire’s but E3’s are on the shopping list.For all those that are writing the Lirics off then they must all have had good auditions with them. Otherwise they are just blowing smoke. On another forum I posted that I was having the Lirics at home on audition after failing to get the E3s. One reply said that the E3 would wipe the floor with them. Judging by the remark I questioned the poster about his E3s. He didn't have a pair but did have the Aeons.
Simply said, E3’s have a high vow-factor and they do things I’ve never heard headphones doing before. From the first listen I knew they were something special. The space, extension, bass slam and reach etc. Like chesebert said, they need a proper amplification to shine. I drove them with Violectric V226 and they slam very hard with this amp. With FiiO K7, they sound less special (though still very good).
With Liric 2 I spent a lot less time. The reason being that they simply didn’t hook me up with their sound. They were more ordinary sounding headphones and lacked the vow-factor (after knowing what the E3’s can do). I drove them with Violectric also. IMO they can’t challenge E3’s and are closer to the Aeon 2 Noire’s in sound quality.