Skylab
Reviewerus Prolificus
INTRODUCTION
Before I even received this product for review, I knew this was going to be a challenge. Since there was a certain head-fier, who shall remain nameless, who was making it his number one mission in life to “promote” the Lyra at every possible opportunity, I was worried that most head-fiers would be unable to decouple that unfortunate behavior with the product itself. Of course, it is not the fault of the product, and I have no reason to believe that the actual manufacturer, Casea, had anything to do with that head-fier’s behavior. Indeed, my emails to the Czech Republic manufacturer were all very professional, timely, and in easy to understand English.
It was me that approached Casea about getting a unit for review. My preference for review units is loaners. I have a strict policy about not accepting “gift” review units/samples. After the review period, I ether buy the review unit, or return it, or in some cases where it made the most sense, I have simply given away the review samples here on head-fi. In this case, Casea asked me to purchase the unit up front, at a typical Reviewer discount, which is what I ended up doing. This was taking a bit of a risk on my part, but I was so curious to see whether the Lyra was what it had been cracked up to be that I went ahead and did it.
DESCRIPTION
The Lyra is a nice looking product. It certainly seems well built generally, although my review unit did develop a small problem fairly quickly – the volume knob wasn’t really turning the pot anymore. After a couple emails to Casea, it was quickly determined that the problem was likely a set screw inside the amp. And after opening it up, that was indeed the issue, and no big deal to correct. It also gave me a chance to take a picture of the internals, which appear to be quite nice:
The Lyra Mk II “Digital” is an integrated DAC/Headphone Amp/Preamp. I tested it as an integrated unit, as well as just a DAC. It has just a coaxial digital input, and even that is on a BNC connector, although a BNC to RCA adapter was included. I used my Denon CD player as the transport, alternating also my iPad using the USB Camera Kit and a NuForce uDAC to convert between USB and Coax. The Lyra also has a single analog input, one set of single-ended outputs labeled “preout”, and one labeled “output”, which I assumed would be fixed level for using it as just a DAC, but this too was under the control of the volume pot – so there is no fixed-level output – a mistake IMO. It’s a sort of odd combination of full featured, and not – I would love to have seen another analog input (although that would have required a manual switching mechanism), and a toslink digital input in addition to the coax. Given the Lyra’s +/- $1200 asking price (pricing in USD is approximate since the pricing is provided only in Czech Koruna).
In terms of technical details, the Lyra will output 640mW into 100 ohms for headphones – which was plenty sufficient for the headphones I used with it, which were the LCD-2, HE-5LE, and the Beyer T1. The SPDIF receiver is the CS8416; the DAC chip is the AD1955, which will support up to 24 bits and 192kHz sample rates, although I have no idea what the Lyra would do if fed that – I fed it only 16 bit 44.1 kHz. The buffer is the AD8066. That’s about all I was able to glean from the website.
AUDITION
I spent the majority of my listening time using the Lyra as an integrated amp/DAC, and the comments below about the sound refer to that configuration, unless otherwise noted, although my time listening to the DAC via my speaker stereo indicated that the basic sonic traits are common to both amp and DAC. I primarily compared it to the Meier Concerto driven from the Yulong D100 DAC. This combo costs about the same as the Lyra Mk II Digital, and both the Concerto and the D100 are excellent products that I think highly of.
The Lyra can best be described as highly transparent, clean, and what I think most people would call “fast”, although I don’t like that term much. The sound if quite enjoyable overall, but it leans slightly to the bright side. It’s not painfully bright by any means, but even after 200+ hours of break in, the sound was brighter than the Meier/Yulong combo, both of which I found to be essentially neutral tonally. The brightness manifests itself as a little extra sheen on vocals, and a little extra sibilance on some vocals. This was more of an issue on some headphones that others. I found it most problematic on the HE-5LE, which otherwise sounded really good on the Lyra. On the T1 is was noticeable but not intrusive. On the LCD-2 is was actually kind of synergistic. I liked the LCD-2 quite a bit on the Lyra – this was a really nice combination.
A good example of this was listening to Nightwish’s “Passion and the Opera”, there was terrific detail, and the sound was very dynamic and punchy. Via the LCD-2, the sound was really enthralling on this track. On the T1, there was a little too much tizz on cymbals and a little too much extra sibilance on Tarja Turunen’s vocals. Again, this was pretty subtle, but it was also pretty consistent. I just got the new MFSL remaster of Little Feat's "Waiting For Columbus", a record I have played literally hundreds of times. There was more high end evident on the Lyra than I recalled ever hearing, but since this was a new remaster, I had to check it out on the Meier, and indeed, the Lyra gave a little extra air and sparkle to this record than the Meier did. In this case, I preferred the Lyra's presentation, even though I know the Meier's is really more "correct".
Whenever there is a coloration in an amp, extra care will be required in matching with headphones, although this is always critical. The Lyra is not a good match with headphones that are already themselves just a little on the bright side. It’s a better fit with headphones that are just a touch warm/dark.
Aside from that, there is a lot to like about the Lyra’s sound. Bass was detailed, tight, and very, very deep, when called for. But I found repeatedly that the Lyra is a little bit lightweight in the mid-bass, when compared to the Meier/Yulong combo, but that actually could be just perception caused by the slight treble tilt. Mids were very flat, and clean, but there is definitely no extra warmth there – just plainly and cleanly rendered. The complex instrumentation in Pelican’s “Autumn Into Summer” sounded very natural, and it was easy to pick out the individual sounds in what is often a very dense mix.
Soundstaging is really very good – width is especially good, but depth was also good, and lateral image placement and specificity was outstanding. This was one of the Lyra’s stronger suits. The newly remastered Grateful Dead Box Set "The Warlocks - Hampton 1989" really benefited from this - this live concert recording was terrifically rendered in terms of the image. I was fortunate enough to see the Grateful Dead at Hampton Coliseum, and while that was 20+ years ago, I was able to go right back there when listening to this recording on the Lyra.
The other strong suit was transparency. The Lyra does provide a wide-open, clear window on the music, that I did find very appealing. Transparency is one of my principal needs in an amp – I would rather have an amp that is transparent than one that is grainy and thick sounding, even if the grainy and thick one has the slightly flatter frequency response. So in this regard I found the Lyra so be a big success, and at times I enjoyed the Lyra very much.
On the other hand, I would also prefer an amp that is slightly lush sounding to one that is slightly lean sounding. And in that regard, I was less that completely sold on the Lyra, especially given that I thought the Meier Concerto/Yulong D100 combo offered slightly better overall performance at a similar price. But of course, those are MY preferences, not yours. If a highly transparent but just slightly bright sounds appeals to you, then the attractively built, powerful Lyra Mk II Digital might be just the ticket for you.
I also want to make it clear that I think the Lyra is very competitive in terms of the sonics it delivers in its price class, in my opinion and experience, and that my attempt to describe the Lyra's sonic signature should not be overblown. When we are talking about products at this level, the colorations are subtle shadings. For me they are meaningful, but for some they might not be.
CONCLUSION
There is enough here for me to like that I will continue to use the Lyra periodically, but given the price and the slight coloration, I cannot give the Lyra an unqualified recommendation. I think it’s the kind of component that will have to be carefully integrated into a whole system. There were CD’s that sounded absolutely stunning on the Lyra, but others that were just brighter than they should have been.
I have no idea what Casea’s return policy is, and I’m not even sure what their plans are for selling overseas. The ways in which the Lyra excels – transparent and powerful – make it worth auditioning if you somehow get the chance, especially given the very nice and relatively compact packaging. Bring your favorite CD and your own headphones with you, though, so make sure that the sound is for you.
As always this is just my opinion, formed with my ears and various predilections.
Before I even received this product for review, I knew this was going to be a challenge. Since there was a certain head-fier, who shall remain nameless, who was making it his number one mission in life to “promote” the Lyra at every possible opportunity, I was worried that most head-fiers would be unable to decouple that unfortunate behavior with the product itself. Of course, it is not the fault of the product, and I have no reason to believe that the actual manufacturer, Casea, had anything to do with that head-fier’s behavior. Indeed, my emails to the Czech Republic manufacturer were all very professional, timely, and in easy to understand English.
It was me that approached Casea about getting a unit for review. My preference for review units is loaners. I have a strict policy about not accepting “gift” review units/samples. After the review period, I ether buy the review unit, or return it, or in some cases where it made the most sense, I have simply given away the review samples here on head-fi. In this case, Casea asked me to purchase the unit up front, at a typical Reviewer discount, which is what I ended up doing. This was taking a bit of a risk on my part, but I was so curious to see whether the Lyra was what it had been cracked up to be that I went ahead and did it.
DESCRIPTION
The Lyra is a nice looking product. It certainly seems well built generally, although my review unit did develop a small problem fairly quickly – the volume knob wasn’t really turning the pot anymore. After a couple emails to Casea, it was quickly determined that the problem was likely a set screw inside the amp. And after opening it up, that was indeed the issue, and no big deal to correct. It also gave me a chance to take a picture of the internals, which appear to be quite nice:
The Lyra Mk II “Digital” is an integrated DAC/Headphone Amp/Preamp. I tested it as an integrated unit, as well as just a DAC. It has just a coaxial digital input, and even that is on a BNC connector, although a BNC to RCA adapter was included. I used my Denon CD player as the transport, alternating also my iPad using the USB Camera Kit and a NuForce uDAC to convert between USB and Coax. The Lyra also has a single analog input, one set of single-ended outputs labeled “preout”, and one labeled “output”, which I assumed would be fixed level for using it as just a DAC, but this too was under the control of the volume pot – so there is no fixed-level output – a mistake IMO. It’s a sort of odd combination of full featured, and not – I would love to have seen another analog input (although that would have required a manual switching mechanism), and a toslink digital input in addition to the coax. Given the Lyra’s +/- $1200 asking price (pricing in USD is approximate since the pricing is provided only in Czech Koruna).
In terms of technical details, the Lyra will output 640mW into 100 ohms for headphones – which was plenty sufficient for the headphones I used with it, which were the LCD-2, HE-5LE, and the Beyer T1. The SPDIF receiver is the CS8416; the DAC chip is the AD1955, which will support up to 24 bits and 192kHz sample rates, although I have no idea what the Lyra would do if fed that – I fed it only 16 bit 44.1 kHz. The buffer is the AD8066. That’s about all I was able to glean from the website.
AUDITION
I spent the majority of my listening time using the Lyra as an integrated amp/DAC, and the comments below about the sound refer to that configuration, unless otherwise noted, although my time listening to the DAC via my speaker stereo indicated that the basic sonic traits are common to both amp and DAC. I primarily compared it to the Meier Concerto driven from the Yulong D100 DAC. This combo costs about the same as the Lyra Mk II Digital, and both the Concerto and the D100 are excellent products that I think highly of.
The Lyra can best be described as highly transparent, clean, and what I think most people would call “fast”, although I don’t like that term much. The sound if quite enjoyable overall, but it leans slightly to the bright side. It’s not painfully bright by any means, but even after 200+ hours of break in, the sound was brighter than the Meier/Yulong combo, both of which I found to be essentially neutral tonally. The brightness manifests itself as a little extra sheen on vocals, and a little extra sibilance on some vocals. This was more of an issue on some headphones that others. I found it most problematic on the HE-5LE, which otherwise sounded really good on the Lyra. On the T1 is was noticeable but not intrusive. On the LCD-2 is was actually kind of synergistic. I liked the LCD-2 quite a bit on the Lyra – this was a really nice combination.
A good example of this was listening to Nightwish’s “Passion and the Opera”, there was terrific detail, and the sound was very dynamic and punchy. Via the LCD-2, the sound was really enthralling on this track. On the T1, there was a little too much tizz on cymbals and a little too much extra sibilance on Tarja Turunen’s vocals. Again, this was pretty subtle, but it was also pretty consistent. I just got the new MFSL remaster of Little Feat's "Waiting For Columbus", a record I have played literally hundreds of times. There was more high end evident on the Lyra than I recalled ever hearing, but since this was a new remaster, I had to check it out on the Meier, and indeed, the Lyra gave a little extra air and sparkle to this record than the Meier did. In this case, I preferred the Lyra's presentation, even though I know the Meier's is really more "correct".
Whenever there is a coloration in an amp, extra care will be required in matching with headphones, although this is always critical. The Lyra is not a good match with headphones that are already themselves just a little on the bright side. It’s a better fit with headphones that are just a touch warm/dark.
Aside from that, there is a lot to like about the Lyra’s sound. Bass was detailed, tight, and very, very deep, when called for. But I found repeatedly that the Lyra is a little bit lightweight in the mid-bass, when compared to the Meier/Yulong combo, but that actually could be just perception caused by the slight treble tilt. Mids were very flat, and clean, but there is definitely no extra warmth there – just plainly and cleanly rendered. The complex instrumentation in Pelican’s “Autumn Into Summer” sounded very natural, and it was easy to pick out the individual sounds in what is often a very dense mix.
Soundstaging is really very good – width is especially good, but depth was also good, and lateral image placement and specificity was outstanding. This was one of the Lyra’s stronger suits. The newly remastered Grateful Dead Box Set "The Warlocks - Hampton 1989" really benefited from this - this live concert recording was terrifically rendered in terms of the image. I was fortunate enough to see the Grateful Dead at Hampton Coliseum, and while that was 20+ years ago, I was able to go right back there when listening to this recording on the Lyra.
The other strong suit was transparency. The Lyra does provide a wide-open, clear window on the music, that I did find very appealing. Transparency is one of my principal needs in an amp – I would rather have an amp that is transparent than one that is grainy and thick sounding, even if the grainy and thick one has the slightly flatter frequency response. So in this regard I found the Lyra so be a big success, and at times I enjoyed the Lyra very much.
On the other hand, I would also prefer an amp that is slightly lush sounding to one that is slightly lean sounding. And in that regard, I was less that completely sold on the Lyra, especially given that I thought the Meier Concerto/Yulong D100 combo offered slightly better overall performance at a similar price. But of course, those are MY preferences, not yours. If a highly transparent but just slightly bright sounds appeals to you, then the attractively built, powerful Lyra Mk II Digital might be just the ticket for you.
I also want to make it clear that I think the Lyra is very competitive in terms of the sonics it delivers in its price class, in my opinion and experience, and that my attempt to describe the Lyra's sonic signature should not be overblown. When we are talking about products at this level, the colorations are subtle shadings. For me they are meaningful, but for some they might not be.
CONCLUSION
There is enough here for me to like that I will continue to use the Lyra periodically, but given the price and the slight coloration, I cannot give the Lyra an unqualified recommendation. I think it’s the kind of component that will have to be carefully integrated into a whole system. There were CD’s that sounded absolutely stunning on the Lyra, but others that were just brighter than they should have been.
I have no idea what Casea’s return policy is, and I’m not even sure what their plans are for selling overseas. The ways in which the Lyra excels – transparent and powerful – make it worth auditioning if you somehow get the chance, especially given the very nice and relatively compact packaging. Bring your favorite CD and your own headphones with you, though, so make sure that the sound is for you.
As always this is just my opinion, formed with my ears and various predilections.
