Meze 99 Classic

I think Tylls' review really nailed it. I was pretty surprised by the amount of bass these have though.The bass is also the weakest point of these, but only when compared to the mids and treble which are fantastic - bass stays out of the way mostly. Not sure if this are great portable headphones - too bulky, but they are very sensitive while maintaining their dynamics very well even from weaker sources. I do find them pretty comfortable as office headphones and they isolate pretty well.

 

The fit is important, though.

They have good bass quantity when properly positioned (sealed). It is a bit loose, though.

 

Clem, do you have a pair?

 

They do. I was just surprised by the amount of bass. It's slightly loose, but not uncontrolled sounding. Awaiting thr bigger pads to arrive next week.

 

I do.
I'll probably take them with me for my trip to Canada next week. I can ship them to you afterwards.

 

Does anyone have a currently working 10% off code? Would really appreciate it

Edit: found a 20% off code: MARIUS20

Edit 2: no longer works

 

I got my pair of Meze 99 yesterday and so far I'm really impressed by the sound quality. A steal for $300!

 

You got the bigger pads?

 

No I got the small pads.

 

Just received my pair. Still need time with them but first impressions are they suit me sonically. Right now I'm hoping that the bigger pads will help with the comfort. While I find the suspension system very well implemented, my ears barely fit in the cavity of the pads, so they touch the inner siding. The clamping force is also a bit high for my head size (medium sized head), but im hoping some light stretching helps with that. Comfort is very important to me now, especially in a portable. If the larger pads dont fix these issues for me, this might be a deal breaker.

Other than those quibbles these are fantastic so far.

 

I can say that the larger pads does really increase the comfort as the cavity is bigger. How much depends on your ears size I guess, but these are still snug.My ears also do not get so warm with the bigger pads.

 

How did you guys get the bigger pads already?

 

From what I was told, the larger pads will be available in a month or so. Might be just for US buyers, not sure. They had me email them my order # and put me on a list. Mine shipped with the normal pads.

 

IMHO - YES!!!!

& sure, I really dug the EL-8 (and one day I'll find out why my pair sounds so different - my OG pair - which has now been heard by others too - Thank God I wasn't that crazy)

but, I heard the SINE prototype 2 yrs ago - and thought that was NEXT! and it shoulda been - because they would've gone from the (in eyes of consumers) big-ass high-end "I look like Mighty Mouse when I wear em but I love em" audiophile cans - to a SLICK company move... Also, IMHO...

and, I just used my SINEs on the plane to Canlanta - they seal well for me - but it really depends on the size/shape of your ears too.
I also heard a VAST change w/ my new DHC leads for the SINEs - un-leashes their dynamic range over the stock black hardly better than old school MDM cable
- getting CIPHER for em (have it on my Titanium EL-8s) hopefully at Newport!!!!

full report coming ASAP

 

Anybody who could compare these with the Momentum 2 who is not named Tyll?

 

I have never heard the Momentum 2 but I can tell you that the Meze are MUCH better than the original Momentum.

 

I liked the look of the Meze, but not it's sound quality. Too bass heavy for my ears. That's why I didn't keep them.

 

If "better" means an overall cleaner looking-glass into the music (from transient speed + attack to tonal realism and dimensionality)
- I second that!

The Meze also change considerably with break-in. I noticed a bump in the bass too - but after 150+ hours of music following a few days of pink noise and tone sweeps the sonic signature seemed to even-out across the frequency spectrum.

I'm going to send the 2nd cable that came w/ the 99Classics to Peter at DHC - since the connectors are apparently hard-to-find, I'm just gonna give the long lead up in order to hear the cans with some DHC action... Looking forward to exploring what I hear!

 

I listened to the Meze 99 Classic loaner through a combination of Gungnir Multibit --> Laconic Night Blues Mini (NBM) or Vali 1 and also through my iPhone 6+.

Build quality and clamp/suspension is very nice, as reported in other reviews.

For my ears, the pads are a supra-aural fit, which becomes unbearably uncomfortable after ~15 minutes (probably less if wearing eyeglasses).

Out of either the Vali 1 or the NBM this headphone sounds anywhere from decent to weird as hell. Weird as hell happens with piano or male baritone. A great example is "Fake Empire" from The National's "Boxer". It literally sounds like Matt Berninger is singing inside a wooden barrel.

I took some measurements, which are also weird as hell. The blue line is the Meze 99, moved down a few dB to make 1kHz line up with the other measurements, while the others are my HD650s for reference. No matter what I did I got a very similar strange FR plot on the Meze 99, so I did some quick HD650 measurements to make sure something wasn't off, and also included some historical 650 measurements from a while back. Nope... either the coupler on my measurement rig causes the Meze 99 to measure in a strange way (my measurements sure don't look like Tyll's) or these measurements 'splain why the Meze 99 sounds so odd to me.



From my iPhone 6+, things get better. The "singing in barrel" effect on "Fake Empire" is less pronounced, and since I can't plug my 650s into my iPhone I don't have a convenient point of reference. Even so, the tubby bass and somewhat hollow character is still there, just less noticeably so. With other tracks, the Meze sounds similar to to other descriptions I've heard: fun but somewhat overdone bass, discontinuity between bass and midrange, and strong and clear but not totally overbearing treble.

I'd comment more on the upper midrange and treble, but I seriously can't get past the strange stuff happening in the lower registers.

I feel like a dummy for having to ask, but am I doing something wrong here? Seriously. Does this headphone require some special setup to sound really great? Is it incompatible with the equipment I'm using? Am I focusing on the one track that brings out the worst in the headphone?

 

[QUOTE="

I feel like a dummy for having to ask, but am I doing something wrong here? Seriously. Does this headphone require some special setup to sound really great? Is it incompatible with the equipment I'm using? Am I focusing on the one track that brings out the worst in the headphone?[/QUOTE]

Sometimes we simply hear things differently - and its something that a test result can't explain either. Harry Pearson, Founder of The Absolute Sound magazine, the man who coined the term "high-end audio" - and literally created much of the verbiage many of us use today (like "soundstage", "dimensionality", for example) never published a test result in TAS for this reason.

I mean peeps will argue this and almost everything else til the end of time. Honestly, I didn't expect to enjoy the Meze so much! And when I did, and found out Tyll dug em too - I was even more surprised!! Usually we're on totally different sides of the spectrum. Though, this year we're both lovin' ETHER-C, SINE, and the Meze thus far!

Yeah - hey, there are TONS of cans out there - find a set that'll make ya smile...

**oh, NOT "Brand Master" for Questyle no mo! Bruce and I are much better friends than co-workers. He's awesome, and the reason I worked for QA was because I dig their stuff - but that's over. I'm sure Marv's just busy but he knows**