Meze LIRIC – Portable Isodynamic Hybrid Array Headphone

MEZE X RINARO COLLABORATION

Time flies when you’re having fun! Together with Rinaro Isodynamics, we are adding a third model in our collaborative lineup. LIRIC raised a true challenge for both companies: how can we create a planar closed-back headphone that will change all standards in the audiophile world. Fusing Meze Audio’s industrial design capabilities with Rinaro’s technological development, LIRIC brings a new flavor for all the active audiophiles that like to take their music on the go.

Meze Audio

For the past 10 years, Meze Audio has been developing audiophile headphones and earphones renowned for their timeless design, pure comfort and engaging, vivid sound. From looks to technology, Meze Audio products are designed to surpass all short-living trends and become heirlooms, rather than just headphones. Today, founder Antonio Meze and his skilled team design and develop their products in Baia Mare, Romania, in the spirit of their original ‘no-compromise’ vision.

Rinaro Isodynamics

Rinaro originated in the USSR (today’s Ukraine) during the Cold War, as part of a state-funded acoustic technology research program. With government backing and access to advanced testing facilities, the team was able to focus all of its efforts on planar magnetics. A field they have continued to innovate in for the last 30 years, since the collapse of the USSR. In the last decade, Rinaro have expanded their capabilities and capacity with the development of state-of-the-art R&D and manufacturing facilities in Ukraine and Poland. The new facilities have been a driving force in the creation of the revolutionary Isodynamic Hybrid Array technology found in Meze Audio EMPYREAN, ELITE and LIRIC headphones.

AWARD-WINNING TECHNOLOGY IN A PORTABLE FRAME

LIRIC features the state-of-the-art technology developed by Rinaro, re-engineered for day-to-day use. The MZ4 Isodynamic Hybrid Array driver was scaled down and tuned to deliver an audio experience in-line with it’s larger counterparts found in Empyrean and Elite.

Combined with the closed-back design, it helps preserve the original clarity and emotion of your favorite music through enhanced sound and minimized external noise. Each driver is entirely hand assembled and tested in Rinaro’s industrial facility in Ukraine.

• [MZ4] CASING
  • Reinforced polymer housing designed to withstand the demanding 10,7N load generated by the Hybrid Magnet Array.
• [MZ4] ISOPLANAR DIAPHRAGM
  • Weighing only 0.08g with a large active area of 3507mm2.
• [MZ4] HYBRID MAGNET ARRAY
  • Symmetrically placed on either side of the diaphragm our neodymium magnets are arranged into a Hybrid Array to create a 0.3 Tesla Isodynamic magnetic field required for a uniform activation across the whole diaphragm surface.

MZ4 ISODYNAMIC HYBRID ARRAY DRIVER

• ULTRA LOW DISTORTION
  • Total harmonic distortion (THD) measures under 0.15% in the whole frequency range.
• LIGHTWEIGHT
  • 71g combined driver weight designed to create a headphone that offers comfortable listening on the go.
• Phase-X™ SYSTEM
  • Improved ambience and spatial sound imaging through innovative technology.
    Patent pending
• ULTRA HIGH RESOLUTION AUDIO
  • Upper frequency limit of audio reproduction is 92,000 Hz.
• EASY-TO-DRIVE
  • 100dB@1mw/1kHz; 30Ω
    Can be driven by almost any portable source without needing amplification.
• SCALED FLAGSHIP ISODYNAMIC HYBRID ARRAY TECHNOLOGY
  • One of the most sophisticated and advanced planar magnetic technologies in the world has been scaled down for portable use.

Phase-X™, A REVOLUTION IN SOUND IMAGING

• An innovation to the MZ4 driver is the Phase-X™ system created by Rinaro as a way to minimize phase distortion issues, typically found in closed-back headphone designs. This patent-pending technology helps deliver an immersive spatial sound imaging. The Phase-X™ system improves the accuracy of spatial imaging, in-line with its open back counterparts, especially noticeable on binaural recordings.

EAR PAD AIR FLOW SYSTEM

• New for the Liric is the introduction of an Ear pad Air Flow (EAF) system, developed by Rinaro, which reduces the weight and size of the Liric headphone through optimizing it’s acoustic volume. Precision cut air vents which run from the Liric ear cup chamber into the ear pads allow the MZ4 driver to utilise acoustic volume from the ear pads as well as the ear cup chamber. This significantly reduces the required size of the ear cup chamber allowing Liric to keep a compact and truly portable closed-back headphone profile without compromising on the acoustic performance.