Romanian-based audio brand Meze Audio has announced the release of Liric – its first closed-back planar magnetic headphone.
The Liric are powered by Rinaro’s Isodynamic Hybrid Array Driver, which has been re-engineered for portable use.
The over-ears have a pretty unique look, with big earcups and a design that makes use of high-grade magnesium, leather and aluminium. Each material is said to have been chosen carefully to complete the other, with the magnesium parts of professional photo cameras reference for a tactile feel and strong build quality.
Meze Audio states that the Liric is made for “discerning audiophiles who want to enjoy their passion both in and outside the house or while commuting”, with comfort levels to ensure they can be listened to for hours on end.
The Liric’s M24 driver was designed exclusively for Meze Audio, scaled down to fit the headphones and tuned to deliver an audio experience that’s similar to its larger counterpart in the top-range Empyrean headphones.
The Liric also feature a closed-back design to help preserve the “original clarity and emotion” of your music, with the closed-back design physically limiting the amount of external noise that could affect the listening experience.
The MZ4 driver uses Rinaro’s Phase-XTM system to minimise phase nonlinearity issues that are often found in closed-back headphone designs. This patent-pending technology is said to help improve spatial imaging accuracy similar to its open back counterparts.
Antonio Meze, Lead Designer & Founder of Meze Audio said: “We’ve been wanting to do a portable planar for a while, and following two successful collaborations with Rinaro, it was a natural next step. Naming it LIRIC was not a game of chance. It was an ideal metaphor to paint the authentic, vivid and poetic sound disguised behind its sculptural silhouette.”
Pavlo Shymanovych, Founder of Rinaro Isodynamics commented: “It’s been a complex and challenging project to scale down our award-winning technology into a closed-back headphone design. After almost 3 years of intensive work alongside our partners at Meze Audio, we have achieved that goal – with LIRIC, the flagship sound goes truly portable, representing a new milestone in the application of the Isodynamic Hybrid Array technology.”
The Meze Audio LIRIC is available to pre-order at mezeaudio.eu and UK retailers for £1,850 / €2,000 / $2,000.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
