Lyre V2 | @dicktango
RaynAudio Lyre Impressions
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of demoing the Raynaudio Lyre, and I thought I'd post some impressions.
We'll start with the build. This is a deceivingly good-looking headphone. I do not think the pictures do it justice. It has a good bit of 3d printed areas, but the 3d printing is extremely solid and integrated well. The 3d printed plastic is well finished and feels very solid. The wood grill cover is a really nice touch too. The pads are very plush and comfy, clamp force is reasonable, and the headband fits without any pressure points. Overall, the Lyre is quite comfortable and well built. The included case is pretty cool too, and it's nice that the black/orange logo aesthetic is present on the case for fun, but not the headphone where it might be a little bit too much.
As for sound: This is the most neutral headphone I've ever heard. An absolute blank slate. This might sound boring, but it's more revealing. Well produced music sounds absolutely incredible, and you don't end up with a mismatch of headphone coloration with weirdly/badly produced music making things worse. This is possibly the easiest headphone I've ever tried when it comes to putting it on, pressing shuffle on my library, and enjoying the music. The Lyre disappears in a way that very few headphones do.
It's flat and extended through the bass, textured, agile, and perfectly blended into the mids. The midrange is effortlessly natural with plenty of separation, and just enough energy to keep things from getting boring. The midrange energy does a lot to give the Lyre some punch/dynamics that you might assume a super neutral headphone may lack.
By far the most impressive part of this headphone in my opinion is the treble. It is absurdly even. I don't get any notable peaks or nulls, meaning the treble comes across as detailed and smooth as I've ever heard. Frequently, perception of detail and smoothness in the treble oppose each other, but Rayn has managed to get the Lyre to do both extremely well.
Overall I'd consider the Lyre to be dynamic, textured, extremely natural, detailed, and effortless. As a speaker guy, headphone soundstage doesn't do much for me, but this headphone does not put the sound inside your head at all, and the separation between different sounds is excellent. Imaging is also spot on, which makes me suspect that Rayn driver matches very strictly.
Comparisons
The Sennheiser HD800 has worse extension, less bass texture, less natural midrange, and less detailed treble. It does sound a bit further out of your head, and it has more midbass, but the punchiness is quite similar, and overall, I find it to be a duller listening experience.
The Hifiman Arya Stealth is an absolute mess compared to the Lyre. The bass bleeds into the midrange, the midrange timbre is subpar, and the treble has quite a few peaks and nulls. With EQ, I really like the Arya Stealth, but I was not able to get the Arya Stealth to sound as neutral with months of EQ work as the Lyre is out of the box.
For an unfair comparison, my significantly EQed Ananda Unveiled (my daily driver) sounds a bit better overall to my ears than the Lyre without EQ, but still worse in some ways. The Lyre remains more natural in the timbre and even through the treble. The midrange is less congested, and it makes the Ananda UV sound like it's working too hard at times.
Oh yeah, and you can EQ this thing
This headphone is not only the dream for someone wanting their headphone to give them as close to the recording as possible, but also for someone who wants infinite customization. When EQing most headphones, you're trying to both correct for issues (e.g. poor timbre, messy treble, bloated bass, etc.) as well as adjusting things to your tastes.
You can make this headphone bassier with a bass shelf, warmer with a peak filter in the low-mids, more vocally forward with a filter in the mid-mids, spicier with a filter in the upper mids/low treble, more seemingly detailed with a filter in the mid treble, airier with a filter in the upper treble, and brighter with a treble shelf. Mix and match, play with the details, and get exactly what you want without having to worry about how the filters interact with the coloration/flaws of the default tuning. You can very easily set up multiple EQ profiles to suit specific genres/production styles, and the Lyre do the job of multiple headphones without having to even take them off your head.
I added simple bass and treble shelves since I like my gear a bit v-shaped most of the time, and the headphones integrated them without throwing off the balance or overshadowing any other part of the FR. With EQ adjustments, this thing is up there with the best multi-kilobuck headphones I've ever heard.
If I had €1200/$1400USD (or even more really) for one headphone, there's nothing else I'd even consider. The moment I look to pay over a grand for a new headphone, I'll be going to Rayn.
