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OVER-EAR HEADPHONES


MEZE AUDIO LIRIC II HEADPHONES: REVIEW

Meze’s LIRIC 2nd generation closed-back audiophile headphones deliver a very
impressive upgrade over the original.

By

W. Jennings

Published

June 23, 2024
   
   
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The Meze Audio Liric Closed-back Headphones landed on my review desk back in
2022 and whilst there was a lot to enjoy about them, it was my final conclusion
that they were a step behind competing products like the ZMF Verite Closed and
Kennerton Rognir Planar Headphones.

In fairness, the Liric was also substantially less expensive than either of
those other models and instead provided a good middle ground between models like
the Audeze LCD-XC and Focal Celeste.

The Liric had a treble forward tuning and despite my preference for headphones
that are very open at the top end, at times it could be a bit fatiguing and as a
result the Liric was a polarizing headphone; reviewers either loved or hated the
tuning without much of a middle ground.

Antonio Meze has proven to be very receptive to his customer base (who are far
more important than reviewers) and Meze has proven to be a company that adapts
very well to changing preferences.

The Romanian company builds some of the best headphones in the world, and they
have always been willing to take a hard look at their own products if the market
suggests that something could be better.

We’ve seen the results in the progression of Empyrean to Empyrean II to Elite
and now with the transition from Liric to Liric II.

According to Meze, the new iteration took longer to bring to market because they
tried a number of changes based on customer feedback. They wanted the Liric II
to be that much better.

Meze Audio Liric (left) vs. Liric II (right) Headphones


WHAT’S NEW?

So what differentiates the Liric II from its predecessor?

Outwardly, the biggest change are the stunning Macassar ebony earcups which are
not only more aesthetically pleasing, but also play a role in the retuning of
the sound.

The earpads have also been upgraded; the Liric II also features a 4.4mm
(connector) terminated hand-braided premium balanced cable instead of the 1.5
meter standard cable that came with the original.   

What hasn’t changed are the velvet lined hard-shell case for storage and
transport, the pouch for cables, the 3 meter 3.5mm single-ended cable, the
.25-inch and airline adapters, and the 2 year warranty.



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I would have preferred to see the lengths of the two cables reversed as the
4.4mm premium cable is a bit short for using with desktop setups and the
standard cable is longer than needed when mobile, but this is purely personal
preference.

Inside, the Liric II uses the MZ4 Isodynamic Hybrid array driver that was
originally designed for the Liric which can be thought of as a scaled down
version of the driver found in the Empyrean and Elite.

The MZ4 has a nominal impedance of 61 ohms, a sensitivity of 100dB (1mW/1Khz), a
frequency response of 4Hz to 92kHz, and a THD of <0.15%.  

Rinaro has not been idle though and the new version sports what Rinaro has
trademarked as Phase-X, spatial sound imaging. With all the hype around spatial
audio right now, it’s easy to misconstrue the aim of this new technology.

The goal of Phase-X is to reduce phase distortion and enable faster transient
decay. Phase distortions, reflected sound from the cup, and slower transient
decay all contribute to the lack of soundstage heard in most closed back
headphones so eliminating these issues helps the Liric II present a wider and
more realistic sounding soundstage.

The term “isodynamic” may confuse some as the driver is a planar driver but
unlike most planar drivers, the Rinaro drivers sport two distinct voice coils on
the diaphragm (thus the hybrid designation).



The top two-thirds of the diaphragm sport a switchback coil trace that is used
for production of lower frequencies whilst the bottom section has a spiral coil
that is better at producing the higher frequencies.  

The combination of two distinct coils on a single diaphragm is unique to the
Rinaro drivers and helps them avoid some of the issues commonly found with
single coil designs.      

Whilst using the same stock driver as the original, the Liric II introduces the
Quarter Wavelength Resonator Mask which is a grill designed to cover select
openings in the driver frame and help attenuate some the peaks above 7kHz that
were fatiguing when listening to the original.

The pressure equalization system is also improved to provide better chamber
pressure behind the driver and help reduce some of the warmth in the mid bass
and lower midrange that was present in the first iteration.



The combination of the two new technologies combined with the wood earcups helps
give the Liric II a voice that is quite distinct from the original despite using
the same driver.  

For all the changes, the Liric II shares the original frame and most of the
design cues remain unchanged as well with the friction sliders, the wide leather
headband with a spring steel core, and the 3.5mm ports on the cups.



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The weight has increased from 391 grams to 427 grams which can be attributed to
the new wood ear cups and new magnetic system for attaching the ear pads to the
headphone.

We compared both models and discovered that they felt almost exactly the same
from the perspective of weight and comfort levels. We could listen to both
models for rather extended listening sessions with no sense of fatigue.


LISTENING NOTES

We listened to the Liric II using a number of different desktop and portable
amplifiers because we found the original to be somewhat source dependent and
wanted to see if the new version was similar.

We also used a mixture of both cables, sometimes using both from a single source
(AK SP2000 and Cayin N6ii DAPs) just to get a good idea of what each cable
offers the listener.   

In the bass range, the Liric II has good depth but the sub bass isn’t emphasised
and won’t please those looking for additional impact. What is present in the sub
bass, has reasonable weight and some texture.  

The emphasis in the low end is in the mid bass region with a focus around 150Hz
and a decline on either side of that peak. That emphasis combined with the
elevated treble creates a moderately V-shaped tuning that is a bit different
than the original.  

The mid bass emphasis also helps add a bit of warmth and weight giving the Liric
II more body than the original. Mid bass textures are good with plenty of detail
and more than enough speed; the Liric II sounds clearer and more impactful
overall in this area.

Those who are familiar with the original Liric, will notice this difference
between the two models almost immediately.

The transition from the mid bass to the lower midrange is quite clean giving
male vocals a mixture of clarity and warmth that is not impacted by the
additional emphasis in the bass range. This is another clear improvement over
the original Liric.

The result is a midrange that has good detail while providing a very fluid
presentation.

Strings and female vocals have more than enough presence and detail without
feeling artificially pushed forward of the rest of the instrumentation.

Instruments are easy to isolate in space and have better separation than most
closed back headphones; ensembles and string quartets come across with an
improved sense of space and clarity overall which was a rather noticeable change
from both the Liric and other closed back models in the same price range.



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The lower treble follows the same pattern, generally a touch relaxed but with
good detail giving the Liric II a sound that is closer to other models in the
Meze line-up. 

While not having quite the detail retrieval or soundstage performance of the
Empyrean, the Liric II is now quite similar its overall tonality.

Through the lower treble, the Liric II is a warm, smooth listen with enough
detail to be interesting but without so much emphasis on detail to detract from
the overall presentation.

The biggest change is when we move upward into the rest of the treble range.   

The treble is moderately forward and balances (or slightly over-shoots) the mid
bass emphasis. Vocals benefit from the extra energy as this helps them cut
through the mix well. 

Percussion snap is good with snare rattle having crisp edges and cymbals having
enough energy to sound realistic. Notably though, there is a good bit of source
dependence as brighter sounding source material still shares a bit of the
character with the original Liric.

Hi-hat and some vocals could sound somewhat unrealistic or even bright depending
on the recording.

There is good air and sparkle at the top, but again depending on the recording,
sparkle can become sizzle. I appreciate a bit of treble emphasis and found the
Liric II to be a nice refinement of the original, but the treble shy may find
that it doesn’t go far enough for their ears. 

The soundstage width and depth offer a more spacious sounding presentation and
there is no question that the Liric II are better than their predecessor in that
regard, but there is only so much one can do with a closed back headphone.

Imaging is extremely good with movements easily tracked and instruments easily
pinpointed in space. Layering was also good as well, which makes seating the
orchestra straight forward.  The resulting seating chart is a bit narrower than
expected, but with the clear nature of the presentation, each position is very
well defined.




SOURCE NOTES

As noted above, the Liric II is somewhat source dependent, but that dependency
is centered on the source file rather than the device chain. We used the RME
ADI-2 by itself and paired with the Pass Labs HPA-1 Headphone Amplifier and
found the Liric II well driven and well-mannered with either source.

Stepping up to the dCS DAC did improve the Liric II qualitatively and is capable
of rather impressive detail retrieval when the source is up to the task. We also
paired the Liric II with the Auris Euterpe fed by the RME DAC.  This combination
had ample power but doubling down on the warmth by adding a tube component
detracted from the note weight and wasn’t my favorite pairing.



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We tried a couple additional tube amps including the X-duoo Ta-26 and the Drop
Ta-84 and found the same general pattern with all three amps.

This allowed us to use a mix of 6SN7, 6922, 12AT7, and 12AU7 pre-amp tubes and
6AS7, PL95, and EL84 power tubes to determine if that would be a good option for
listeners who prefer to use tubes in their signal chain.

The end result was that the Meze Liric II is a warm sounding pair of headphones
that loses clarity and detail when you go down this path. It would not be our
preference considering the overall results.

Portable gear showed similar results with the Astell&Kern SP2000 turning in the
best performance. The SP2000 may be primarily designed for IEMs, but it turned
out to be a great pairing with the Liric II providing enough detail to bring out
all of the capabilities of the headphones and enough power to deliver big bass
and soaring treble when needed.

The Fiio M11 Plus was a good match as well, but didn’t deliver quite the level
of clarity or detail retrieval of the A&K DAP.

We also tried a Cayin N3Pro to see if the tube results in desktop devices would
be similar to portable devices and indeed, the N3Pro in tube mode was not as
good as the solid-state mode when paired with the Liric II.

How about something like the Korg Nutube? The Cayin N8ii in tube mode was a good
pairing; it lost a bit of detail, but gained additional body and a bit of
soundstage size in the process.

How about the current range of Dongle DACs?

The Questyle M15 worked well with the Liric II using the balanced cable.  Detail
levels were good and there was more than enough power and speed. This was my
favorite pairing of the dongles.

The iFi Go Bar was also a good match although I didn’t find it quite as detailed
as the M15, overall.

The Astell&Kern HC2 dongle was not as good a match as the 43198 chips are a bit
warmer than those found in the other dongles and just added another layer of
coloration that was not required.


FINAL THOUGHTS

Does the Meze Audio Liric II offer enough of an improvement over its predecessor
to be considered a success and is it worth the money?



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The Macassar ebony earcups completely change the design and perceived value of
these closed-back headphones and there is no question that they fit well and can
be enjoyed for many hours without any sense of fatigue.

Do they offer the ethereal clarity of the Empyrean?

Very few headphones achieve that rather lofty goal and to expect a closed-back
headphone to come close would be unrealistic.

There is an increase in warmth, but the overall tuning offers a more balanced
sounding headphone with excellent dynamic capabilities and strong levels of
detail retrieval.

The overall presentation is also clearer sounding with an increased sense of
soundstage depth and width.

The treble shy may still feel the tuning is a bit too much of a good thing at
the top end, but it’s hard to argue that the new tuning is more refined than the
original.

As long as one is careful with their choice of amplification; the Meze Audio
Liric II gets one closer to the “house” sound that made this Romanian company
one of the most respected brands in high-end headphones.

A very impressive upgrade over the original.

Where to buy: $2,000 at Crutchfield | Headphones.com | Meze Audio

RELATED READING:

 * Focal Stellia Headphones: Review

 * HiFiMAN Unveils Audivina Closed-back Planar Headphones

 * Beyerdynamic T5 Headphones (3rd gen): Review

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