By Bias is a funny thing sometimes. When I was told that there was a set of headphones coming to me from Romania, I was skeptical at first. I have only met a few people in my life from the Eastern European country, and I really had never thought of it as a place where you might go to seek out high-quality audiophile gear. One trip to Meze Audio’s website, though, and my mind was quickly changed. The headphones that this Romanian country produces are some of the best-looking I have seen to date. Meze Audio uses a macassar ebony wood for the earcups that makes each set unique, as they are using real wood. If you’re not familiar with macassar ebony, it is an exotic hardwood native to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, and it is known for being very smooth and having a striped pattern that goes from dark brown to jet black.
While most headphones, to me, look like industrial designs made mostly out of plastic and metal, Meze has chosen to use a lot of wood-grain finishes in their designs and it really stands out. The second-generation Liric is a closed-back-style headphone that uses what Meze audio calls a “Rinaro Isodynamic Hybrid Array driver” (in simplest terms, it uses two different coils, one to handle bass and lower midrange, and a different driver to that takes care of the mid to high frequencies), which has a reported frequency range of 4 Hz to 92 Hz, has an impedance of 61 ohms, and are 100 dB, SPL/mW at 1kHz-sensitive.
What Makes the Meze Audio Liric Closed-Back Headphones So Special?
- The Meze Audio Liric headphones are incredibly comfortable. The typical complaint about closed-back headphones is that they are not comfortable to wear during long listening sessions. This is not an issue that I experienced with the Meze Audio Liric headphones. On many occasions, I wore them for four or more hours without experiencing any discomfort or fatigue.
- Meze Audio includes all the cables you might need. The review sample I received included a 1.3-meter hand-braided 4.4-mm cable, and a three-meter soft cable with a 3.5-mm jack. This goes along with an airplane jack adaptor and a 6.3-mm jack adapter as well.
- Meze Audio’s case will ensure safe travel. The hardshell case included with the headphones is extremely solid and I expect durable as well. If you’re someone who travels a lot, you can feel secure that your headphones will stay safe, even if your backpack or briefcase is getting tossed around.
- The Liric uses Meze Audio’s QWRM technology. The QWRM (Quarter Wavelength Resonator Mask) was designed to attenuate high-frequency peaks that come in above seven Khz to provide a smoother and less fatiguing listening experience. This is a distinctive difference between the second and first generations of the Liric headphones.
- The passive noise-cancelling of the headphones is impressive. As a person who primarily works from home and has four kids under the age of 12 roaming the house, being able to block out the noises they are making is important at times. The Meze Audio Liric, in spite of not having active noise cancellation like you get from wireless headphones, did a fine job of dimming the chaos that ensued all summer, allowing me to still be productive with my work.
Why Should You Care About the Meze Audio Liric Closed-Back Headphones?
If you’re someone who is looking for a high-end set of headphones that delivers for you, not just sonically but also stylistically, then you might want to look at the Meze Audio Liric headphones. These headphones are also ideal for anyone who uses their headphones for long listening sessions (possibly while you work).
Some Things You Might Not Like About the Meze Audio Liric Closed-Back Headphones
• If you loved the original Liric headphones, Meze Audio did change the sound signature. Many will say that this is for the better, and it looks like Meze Audio took the feedback from their user base to make these less fatiguing at high frequencies and also to make the sound more neutral and a bit warmer than the original.
• The headphones might not fit best on smaller heads. In my excitement for these headphones, I asked my wife to try them on. Her head is substantially smaller than mine and her only complaint was that she felt like they didn’t fit her well.
Listening to the Meze Audio Liric Closed-Back Headphones …
I tested the Meze Liric closed-back headphones while writing the review, using the Questyle Sigma DAC and headphone amplifier with my MacBook Pro, using Qobuz as the audio source.
When testing headphones, one of the tracks I enjoy playing is “Blackstar” (Qobuz 44.1 kHz) from David Bowie. The epic near-10-minute title track from Bowie’s final album before passing away in 2016 opens in an avant-garde jazz style, with Bowie’s vocal functioning more like a chant and the dreary backing for the first four-and-a-half minutes. In the second half of the track, you get more of Bowie’s signature glam rock sound. The drum track was well-defined in the first half of the track, with drum, cymbal and snare hit beautifully defined. The bass that was produced from the kick drum had lots of weight. As the tempo moved to be more upbeat in the second half, where higher frequencies were more present, there wasn’t any harshness and it wasn’t fatiguing, even across the longer length of the track.
Another track that is great for testing out headphones is The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from their legendary White Album (Qobuz 44.1 kHz) from 1968. While The Beatles and their music require no introduction, this track is particularly noteworthy, as it features a guitar track from Eric Clapton (who was a close friend of George Harrison at the time), which gives the track a different flavor than most of the music. The piano track that opens the song sounded clear and realistic. The soundstage details are wide, with the guitar tracks, drums and Hammond organ easy to place in the recording. Harrison’s double-tracked vocals on this sounded fantastic and were placed slightly out in front of the rest of the instruments.
The last track I used was “Nearly Lost You” by Screaming Trees (Qobuz 192 kHz). This grunge track from 1991 features all the things that I love about the genre, with the fuzzy guitar sounds and faster time signatures. While Screaming Trees are not always the first act that comes to mind for people when they are thinking about grunge bands from Seattle (realistically, it might be the fourth for me), their music has held up very well, possibly because it hasn’t seen the radio airtime that so many of their grungy Seattle brethren did. While listening to this track with the Meze Liric headphones, again, the high frequencies of the guitars came through smoothly, and Mark Lanagan’s signature gritty vocal style is put on display in front of the rest of the track, while the guitar, bass and drums all had their own space, which easily brought them into focus.
Will the Meze Audio Liric Closed-Back Headphones Hold Their Value?
Headphones can be difficult to gauge the value of in the used market, but certainly, if you take care of your headphones and keep them in good shape, they can retain value. Meze Audio’s headphones in the used market appear to retain a remarkable percentage of their value based on the price sellers want for them. Based on that, I don’t think it would be crazy to think that you could get half of your value back after a year or two, should you wish to move to a different set.
What is the Competition for Meze Audio Liric Closed-Back Headphones?
If you’re looking at headphones in the $2,000 price range, you might also consider the E3 from Dan Clark Audio ($2,000). These headphones feature the company’s Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System, which was previously only available in their higher-end models, as well as their fifth-generation planar driver, which is reported to produce distortion under 0.1 percent.
If you are looking for another premium closed-back headphone, you might consider the Focal Stellia ($3,000). The famed French brand provides another stylish design in a bronze color. The Stellia uses a pure beryllium “M-Dome driver,” which is also reported to produce less than 0.1 percent distortion and is extremely lightweight. The Stellias also feature very low impedance at just 35 ohms, so they can be easily driven by a laptop or cellphone directly without needing a headphone amplifier, although I suspect if you are spending $3,000 on your headphones, you likely would prefer one.
If you’re looking for an open-back headphone, you might consider the Mod House Audio Tungston ($2,000). I had the opportunity to test these headphones out with the Orchard Audio Valencia (review pending) and I was very impressed. They were very light and produced an incredibly open sound. In terms of impedance, they are the opposite of the Focals. The double-sided driver version I tested had 150-ohm impedance, and were only 80 dB/mW-sensitive, which makes them amongst the most power-hungry on the market, However, I assure you, with the sound I was able to hear from them, they are worth it.
Final Thoughts on the Meze Audio Liric Closed-Back Headphones …
The Meze Audio Liric headphone is one of those items that I wish I didn’t need to send back. I was able to test these headphones across no less than five different headphone amplifiers that ranged from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars, and they performed magnificently in each instance. If you’re someone who wants to make a statement and stand out with your choice of headphones, I would strongly recommend the Liric. Their sonic qualities and comfort will ensure that you enjoy every minute that you have the headphones on.
