This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the Lily Audio Genesis One open back headphone. It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs US $1,200.
The headphone is as light as it can be while at the same time, sports the largest cups I have ever seen! It is very comfortable to wear. The pads are quite think though which made it a bit challenging to mount on the test fixture. Member supplied them with balanced XLR cable which is what you need as a minimum (see measurements below).
Lily Audio Genesis One Measurements
No matter what I tried the sharp drop off in sub-bass existed so I think that is part of the design:
We have good bass response and decent compliance with the target until about 1.5 kHz. Then some kind of resonance sets in, causing significant peak. Then things settle down and then go off the scale above 6 kHz. That region is not reliable in measurements so I am just noting that.
Relative difference to our target shows that precise EQ will take some work:
Clearly we are going to have some brightness to deal with.
Forgot to mention that to get to 94 dBSPL I had to nearly max out the Topping A90 on high gain! This is one insensitive headphone:
It required almost 11.2 volts to reach just 94 dBSPL. At that level, we have copious amount of distortion:
Normally the red line would be 104 dBSPL. Here, it actually represents 84 dB. I would say that is about the usable level of loudness. We are talking 30 dB shortfall in dynamic capability compared to most headphones!
Distortion is mostly symmetrical as indicated by third harmonic:
Not good... Not good at all.
Impedance is very high which is the reason you need an amp with very high voltage output:
Group delay is chaotic, no doubt due to large cups but maybe also resonances/diffractions:
Lily Genesis One Headphone Listening Test
I maxed out the volume on my everyday Topping DX5II with balanced output yet this just produced mild level of loudness. I kept wanting to crank up the volume but there was none. As a reference, my everyday headphone which is not the most sensitive in the world, is -35 dB! So I fed the output of the DX5II to the aforementioned A90 and that allowed me to get maybe 30% more volume before the headphone started to crackle. So forget about any partying with this headphone. It is just not going to delivery on any reasonable level of loudness.
Within those constraints, my first impression was that of brightness, naturally. So dialed in a filter quickly and listened:
Had my son do some listening and he preferred it with the pink filter as well. I then boosted the upper bass and lower midrange which provided good bit of warm. The two combined, added fair bit to the experience. A more precise set of filters may do better.
Once there, I really enjoyed the spatial qualities until static set it.
Bass performance was good but again, at such low levels that you had to squint with our ears to hear them.
Conclusions
It is nice to see a new concept here in headphones. Alas, the technical execution is barely there. Frequency response is not right and distortion is through roof. Amplification requirements are almost at the edge of what is available. I wouldn't put a speaker amp on it as the A90 was already capable of driving it to max excursion.
I can't recommend the Lily Genesis One. Comfort and spatial qualities are there. With EQ, the sound is good as well. But paying so much money and get so little dynamic range doesn't make sense to me.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The headphone is as light as it can be while at the same time, sports the largest cups I have ever seen! It is very comfortable to wear. The pads are quite think though which made it a bit challenging to mount on the test fixture. Member supplied them with balanced XLR cable which is what you need as a minimum (see measurements below).
Lily Audio Genesis One Measurements
No matter what I tried the sharp drop off in sub-bass existed so I think that is part of the design:
We have good bass response and decent compliance with the target until about 1.5 kHz. Then some kind of resonance sets in, causing significant peak. Then things settle down and then go off the scale above 6 kHz. That region is not reliable in measurements so I am just noting that.
Relative difference to our target shows that precise EQ will take some work:
Clearly we are going to have some brightness to deal with.
Forgot to mention that to get to 94 dBSPL I had to nearly max out the Topping A90 on high gain! This is one insensitive headphone:
It required almost 11.2 volts to reach just 94 dBSPL. At that level, we have copious amount of distortion:
Normally the red line would be 104 dBSPL. Here, it actually represents 84 dB. I would say that is about the usable level of loudness. We are talking 30 dB shortfall in dynamic capability compared to most headphones!
Distortion is mostly symmetrical as indicated by third harmonic:
Not good... Not good at all.
Impedance is very high which is the reason you need an amp with very high voltage output:
Group delay is chaotic, no doubt due to large cups but maybe also resonances/diffractions:
Lily Genesis One Headphone Listening Test
I maxed out the volume on my everyday Topping DX5II with balanced output yet this just produced mild level of loudness. I kept wanting to crank up the volume but there was none. As a reference, my everyday headphone which is not the most sensitive in the world, is -35 dB! So I fed the output of the DX5II to the aforementioned A90 and that allowed me to get maybe 30% more volume before the headphone started to crackle. So forget about any partying with this headphone. It is just not going to delivery on any reasonable level of loudness.
Within those constraints, my first impression was that of brightness, naturally. So dialed in a filter quickly and listened:
Had my son do some listening and he preferred it with the pink filter as well. I then boosted the upper bass and lower midrange which provided good bit of warm. The two combined, added fair bit to the experience. A more precise set of filters may do better.
Once there, I really enjoyed the spatial qualities until static set it.
Bass performance was good but again, at such low levels that you had to squint with our ears to hear them.Conclusions
It is nice to see a new concept here in headphones. Alas, the technical execution is barely there. Frequency response is not right and distortion is through roof. Amplification requirements are almost at the edge of what is available. I wouldn't put a speaker amp on it as the A90 was already capable of driving it to max excursion.
I can't recommend the Lily Genesis One. Comfort and spatial qualities are there. With EQ, the sound is good as well. But paying so much money and get so little dynamic range doesn't make sense to me.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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