Liric Impressions
I had them now for a few days and since they are so addicting I listened A LOT to them.
For comparisons I have the bigger Brothers Empyrean and Elite.
First question one might have: Is it a closed Empyrean or Elite?
And the answer is neither, they have their very own signature. Tonality wise they are still closer to the Elite than the Empyrean.
The Empyrean is the warmest and thickest of the lineup. The Liric has a leaner and more defined structure not unlike the Elite. Upper Bass and lower mids are slightly recessed, which makes them the most V shaped of the bunch, however they still retain a natural close to neutral balance.
Treble is sparkly and energetic but luckily they are not bright, Meze house sound is still there just in a new flavour.
The Mids, due to being recessed can't live up to the bigger Brothers though. To be fair the mids are what the other Mezes excel at and both of them cost significantly more.
Not that they are bad on the Liric, it's just that I am used to the bigger Brothers, which makes it an uphill battle to begin with.
Soundstage is remarkable, most of the time I forget that they are closed. If it weren't for the Isolation, which reminds one of the closed nature. Imaging and detail are good, but the open Models are superior here, the Elite by a significant margin even.
Comfort is absolutely on par with the bigger Mezes, which is quite surprising.
No other company could match the Elite comfort and Meze did it with a second, completely different Design.
The pads feel very nice to the touch. This time without alternatives though.
Now I saved the best for Last, the Bass!
Are they V-Moda like basscannons?
Of course not, they are still tuned for audiophiles but with tastefully elevated Bass.
While the Empyrean has also elevated Bass the distribution is different.
The Empyrean has a bump in the mid to upper Bass Region, while the Liric has it in the Lower Region. It has exceptional subbass, in quality, quantity as well as extension.
Even with the elevation it always stays textured and well controlled.
It's super addicting and for me the unique selling point of the Liric.
To me it seems certainly stronger than on the open models and I don't really understand why most others call it neutraly tuned.
The Elite still has by far the best impact (not only of the Meze but all planars I ever heard), but has to admit defeat in the subbass.
Overall the signature is very energetic engaging and Musical. Just like we're used to from Meze, the Liric gets you toetapping in no time.
The First closed back from Meze is a great success in my book. The subbass capabilities pleasantly surprised me and I can't describe how happy I am to have chosen the Liric over the CRBN (which will still come in like a year...)
Even though they are much more affordable than my other cans, they will certainly receive equal headtime.
Where should Meze go from here?
If I could wish for a new Meze headphone, it would be another ultra high end flagship. It would certainly have the mid Bass to treble region of the Elite but with the Liric subbass.
The Elite did nearly everything perfect in my book, except for the subbass. Now the Liric perfected that one.
Sure it's not possible to combine all the strengths of their open and closed backs into one headphone, but maybe they manage to translate more of the Elites strengths into a higher tier closed back, while keeping the Lirics subbass. At least that's my dream.