I'm not foreseeing any problems with sending mine back, certainly at Meze expense and I'll let you know how long it takes. If you are in the US then I don't know if DHL will do a pick up as they have stopped deliveries from Europe to the US because of you know who but I would certainly get in touch with Meze about the problem.
As you have the Poet already is there a fairly significant difference, other than the open factor, that makes a worthwhile difference between the Liric and the Poet?
I think it's easy to initially consider them something like a 1A & 1B, but they are different flavors to the Meze house sound. Do keep in mind, anything hereon is my opinion, and will not be described entirely analytically. I would also not refer to either of these headsets as analytical in nature. My testing on both was done with the same 4.4 balanced Meze Furukawa copper cable.
The Poet would best be described as gentle, sweet, smooth & forgiving.
Liric, while still smooth, is a bit more aggressive and darker, with more emphasized bass.
Poet will take a track and smooth out every note. High cymbal crashes do not overstay their welcome. Bass is present in quality, but not quantity. You will hear what you are intended to hear, and not any more--however, this also seems to be a more source-dependent headphone than Liric. The inherent qualities of Poet remain the same regardless of the source, but you can more easily tune to your liking (sans EQ) with different source pairings. I would consider the Poet a Meze-sweetened version of the Sennheiser HD800 (original, I have no experience with newer iterations)--but with the caveat that the soundstage doesn't open up much more than Liric. It is wider, and deeper, but it is the most intimately staged open back I've experienced. Jazz and vocal-oriented music sound fantastic.
Liric will hit you with bass much harder, and treble has a bit more harshness. Rock & metal are much more enjoyable with the Liric. I don't feel that the bass ever becomes too much, but I would say where quantity is a bit higher, quality is lower--Poet makes the bass musical, but less filling. Vocals can be a little more grating, because of tighter sound staging due to the closed back nature. My
feeling is that these closely match the Sony MDR-Z1R, as a planar equivalent.
Comfort-wise, Poet is the one that sits most comfortably, but needs to be handled more delicately due to the Dan Clark style floating headband system. Liric's headband is much more rigid, but not uncomfortable. It does feel a little heavier. Liric, and the case it comes with, are better suited for portability.
I'm sure I've missed some good A/B comparisons here. But ultimately, to answer the questions if there's a fairly significant difference--I think it's significant enough to consider them complementary. I picked up the Liric as I loved the sound of the Poet, but my girlfriend did not when I was listening to music at night. I also did not like Poet for my heavier/denser music--sometimes I do want a little bite, and Poet will not bite at all. Neither one will be an all-in-one option, as far as I'm concerned--I like both sound signatures enough to keep both.
For a more "audiophile" oriented version of what my feelings are, I suggest
this review from Headfonics.
In regards to my previous issue with the earpads, I contacted Bloom Audio (who I purchased them from) and they contacted Meze for me. Meze will directly send me a replacement without the issue once Bloom receives the Liric I'm sending back to them (with a prepaid label) and confirms the defect. I find this to be great customer service from both companies and a solid resolution for my particular case. I'm curious how Meze will handle shipping, however, due to the DHL block in effect for products over $800 value.
