Allow me to quote the following from my review of the Meze LIRIC 1st Generation:

The Meze Audio Liric is an exciting set of headphones most people will not like; nor should they get it. In fact, I am sure even Meze Audio would acknowledge several engineering and design challenges came up in making the Liric the portable-first set of headphones it is. So the niche its aiming for is to provide the best-possible sound output for the music aficionado who can both afford the Liric and is always on the go. Imagine taking the Liric rather than one of several ANC headphones with more compromises than I have fingers on both hands with you on a long plane journey, for example. Now imagine you are the type to book a business-class or first-class suite and would rather pull out the Liric than whatever branded set the airline boasts is luxury. Then you get to say "nah mate, these are luxury," and you'd mean it, too.

Funny how things have changed in the two years since then. We now have premium over-ear wireless headphones that have been designed for that very "luxury travel" use case. The IEM market has also exploded to where there are truly excellent options at various price ranges, be it wired or wireless, and these are certainly more portable than full-size over-ear headphones. Yet we are also seeing more and more people hankering for headphones such as the Meze LIRIC that are closed-back with good isolation, relatively low in profile, and also easy enough to drive off even portable sources. It has got to the point where other brands are interested in a slice of this pie as the audiophile market expands and customers decide they want more and can afford to pay for it. Clearly the original LIRIC did well enough for Meze to put out a new version, so perhaps it is safe to assume that the $2000 price point in itself was not stopping sales.

If we take that as gospel, then the Meze LIRIC 2nd Generation is likely to have similar, if not higher, levels of success as the original one did. Meze has added some quality of life improvements here, be it with the included premium cable as part of the accessories, a total of two cables of different lengths for different applications, easily detachable ear pads and, more importantly in my books, by using an updated driver setup that addresses the potentially fatiguing and sibilant sound the original LIRIC displayed. I also dig the new ear cups too with the Macassar ebony adding a touch of class while still retaining the overall clean aesthetics. The mids on the LIRIC 2nd Gen are also improved from before, although the overly emphasized upper treble relative to the low/mid-treble can be a dealbreaker for some—I had to apply EQ filters to get around it. This is definitely the best closed-back set Meze has ever made and, in a vacuum containing only Meze products, would be an easy recommendation. Trouble is there is tough competition out there and the likes of the DCA E3 selling for the same price makes it tough for me to say I'd spend my money on the LIRIC 2nd Generation. Your mileage may vary though so go through the relevant reviews in detail to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of all the headphones you are considering before making a purchase decision.