Disclaimer: The Astrotec Lyra was provided for the purposes of this review. I paid nothing for it and have no obligation to return it to the sender. It goes for like 165$. You can find out more about it here.
15mm is a lot of driver to cram into a single concha. Lyra just fits into my ears without falling out. It’s a tight fit. My wife’s tiny ears are right out. Yours? If they’re normal to large, you’ll have no problem shoehorning them in.
In 2015, finding a high-quality earbud is about as hard as finding value in the STAR WARS parody popularly known Revenge of the Sith. But high quality earbuds exist. But some look as funny, and cheap, as a Darth Vader monster-stepping out of ankle shackles in front of a cackling Igor Palpatine.
“Noooooooooooo!”
The Stuff
Lyra’s nothing to laugh at though. Like The AX-60, it is solid and shiny. There’s rubber in two sections: the tiny stress gubbin out of which the cable runs, and the hard grip over which you pull wind screens. And, I suggest using the screens. Without them, and unless your ears are made of gum, Lyra will Houdini out at every opportunity. And with the windscreens in place, the sound is thicker, more powerful, and ore alive than ever.
The cable is the same grey thing that we saw in the Astrotech AX-60. It is thick, resilient against touch noise and body oils, and it is light. Lyra’s metal chassis weighs it down, making tangles when pulled from storage, but untangling it isn’t a real chore.
In Lyra’s horribly cheap pressure-fitted aluminium carrying case are: ear guides to help Lyra stay put when worn over the ear, and more wind screens. The ear guides are beasts; they either pin your glasses to your head, or pry them out at strange angles, sucking your lenses closer to your greasy eyebrows (if you have Neanderthal in you). And since metal neck cinch does its job, they serve no purpose.
Lyra is as well-machined as it is solid. It is mostly free of hairline blemishes. Hard-to-press crosses punch through the grill. The effect is high-class. The microscopic metal pebbles swarming the back are a bit less high class, but at least they’re free of blemish, and resistant to scratching.
Overall, this is a nicely made earphone. Does it look good? I don’t know. I think its shape is too arbitrary, and less thought went into fit than went into style.
Sound impressions after the jump:





dalethorn
Lyra is currently $99 on Massdrop.
ohm image
Thanks for the update, Dale. I’ll have to mention that.
digitldlnkwnt
Question: They look well made, but based on your impressions they sound like ill-fitting and rather uncomfy IEMs.Given the fit is only “so-so” and given that fit is literally everything, especially where bass is concerned with an IEM, I’m not sure why you recommended these. I can improve the bass on any IEM by pressing it a bit tighter to improve seal, but i can’t walk around that way.
ohm image
I’m not sure where you got the idea that I ‘recommend’ these. They’re okay, sometimes good, seldom great. They’re so-so. A nice try.
digitldlnkwnt
Mostly from the last paragraph, but perhaps I miss interpreted.
dalethorn
These are IEM? Look like earbuds to me.
digitldlnkwnt
Same difference unless you want to play the marketing term game. They go in your ears correct ?
dalethorn
IEMs have to seal in the ear canal and contain special tips for that purpose. No such eartips for earbuds, and, much less critical accordingly.
George Lai
Hi Dale. Then there are the half-in-ears like the Dunu Titan-1.
dalethorn
I would definitely regard that as an IEM since it has the obvious eartips. Whatever the case, if it connects to the ear canal it’s trouble for me, so those that don’t touch the ear canal and don’t have those tips – earbuds. Seems to me to be the major distinction, unless someone has a chart breaking it down.
George Lai
The Lyra is definitely an ear bud of course. I tried the Titan-1 as, like you, I can’t use universal IEMs with ear tips. The unique thing about the Titan is that the bulk of the weight is taken up by the ear bud portion resting in your ear, whilst, if you use a smaller than usual ear tip, I figured that the ear tip is more to help the positioning or stability of the whole device. Try a demo, Dale. I was pleasantly surprised.
dalethorn
Thanks George – I have both of these on my list. It should be an interesting learning experience.
independentskeptic
I’m a fan of earbuds as IEM’s have never felt comfortable. Any comparisons to other earbuds like Yuin?
ohm image
I don’t have any Yuin about which to comment. Sorry.
golov17
Fully gree with review, thanks ????
golov17
Agree, btw, sorry ????