About Me
I am a 52 year old audophile, from Bradenton Florida. I have been in this hobby, for about two years. The sound from headphone blew me away, and I dived down the proverbial rabbit hole and have not come back up. I use headphones to cope with pain from a back injury. Furthermore headphones allow me to hear the sound, without out side distractions. I suffer from a cognitive hearing disorder and headphones have allowed me to over come this problem and to enjoy music for the first time, in a very long time. I am a temporarily unemployed vcr repairman and improv pirate actorEquipment Used
Source
MacBook Pro
Tidal
OPPO BPD-103
ONKYO CD Player
Queststyle QP1R
Dacs
Schiit Audio Yggdrasil
Schiit Audio Gungnir Multibit
Music
Frank Zappa
Apostrophe: track 8: Uncle Remus
Guitar: track 3: Republican
One Sise Fits All: track 7: San Ber'dino
Led Zeppeplin : Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp
Isao Tomita
The Planets: Mars, The Bringer of War
Dave Brubeck
Time Out
Disk 1: track 3: Take Five
Charles Mingus
Mingus Ah Um
Track 3: Boogie Stop Shuffle
Track 4: Self-Portrait: in Three Colors
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Molto Allegro
Green Jelly
Cereal Killer Soundtrack
Track 2: Three Little Pigs
Kate Bush
The Sensual World.
The Headphone: The Build
I participated in the Meze 99 Classics Tour and here is the review. When I signed for these headphones, I was really impressed with the box they came in. The box is very sturdy, and has a has a clever magnet that keeps the box closed. Within the box, one will find the headphones in a nice clam carrying case, and inside the case, a small leather bag, that has the 1/4th adapter and a cell phone lightning adapter. Also in the box are two headphone cables. One cable is long and nice to use on desktop amps. The second cable, is shorter and is meant to be used with a cell phone. I thought the cables are well made, although they can be a bit microphonic, at times. If I buy myself these headphones, I will see about getting a custom balanced cable from Norne Audio. These headphones look very nice and are well made. The walnut headphone cups are very nice, although they might be a tad small for some people. The headband is covered in leather and I found it was very comfortable, no over clamping, like a medieval torture device. The twin manganese spring steal headband supports are tough and add to the natural beauty of these sexy headphones. While out and about the town, I found these cans to be quite light and comfortable to wear. Furthermore my the foam on the ears cups breathe quite well and my ears rarely got overly warm. These amazing portable closed cans do not leak out sound to much and isolate me from outside disturbances like the phone, the nagging cat, alarm clocks, or pesky storm warning alarms lol.
SPECS
Tranducer Size: 40mm
Frequency responce: 15Hz- 25Khz
Sensitivity: 103db at 1KHz, 1mW
Impedance: 32Ohm
Rated input power: 30mW
Maximum input power: 50mW
Detachable Kevlar OFC cable
Plug 3.5 mm Gold plated
Weight: 260 gr (9.2 ounces) without cables
Ear-cups: Walnut wood
SOUND
The Meze 99 Classics is a great sounding portable headphone. I found the sound to be fun, with nice emphasis on the bass, slight recessed mids, great vocals and alright non fatiguing treble. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the fun sound signature. Normally I want my headphones to sound balanced, and natural sounding. But I really enjoyed the emphasis on the bass. The bass on these cans satisfies the bass monkey, that sleeps on my back. The bass emphasis really made the guitars in Frank Zappa's San Ber'dino fun to listen too. Likewise the bass in Led Zeppelin" Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, sounded so deep and satisfying. Finally the bass made Frank Zappa's Republicans sound ominous, almost scary.Because of the emphasized bass, the mids seemed just a tad reccesed but the vocals have a texture to them and are out of this world good. The vocals by Zappa, Kate Bush and Green Jelley sounded very pallable and real through the Meze. The mids on the Meze are still smooth sounding with a slight edginess, that really made jazz sound sweet. Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus sound just right, coming through these amazing cans. The treble is non fatiguing and sounded alright to my ears.
The soundstage is wide, but not to deep. Still pretty good for a closed back can. Most of the music I listened too, the soundstage was quite nice, with a nice three-dimensional quality. Tomita's The Planest sounded quite nice out of these sexy wooden headphones. The soundstage was able to handle the different sounds and place them adequately around my ears. Only when I was listening to Mozart did I think the soundstage was a bit congested sounding.
These headphones are quite easy to drive. I used a great many amps with them, but it was overkill. Even on low gain, I did not have to crank up the volume at all, to get these cans to sing. I hooked them up to the Liquid Crimson and the Ragnarok and the cans sounded great, but I could barely turn up the volume. I was afraid these big powerful amps might damage these exquiste headphones The best device I used to make these cans sing was the QP1R, on medium gain. The QP1R made these headphones sound great, a very good synergy between these two.
Conclusion
I think the Meze 99 classics headphone is a great headphone. it has a fun, slightly v shaped sound signature, with nice emphasis on the bass The cans are quite well made and sound great. These headphones are quite portable and were a pleasure to take out and about. These cans were the only ones I have worn, where two pretty ladies
, thought I looked good wearing these sexy cans. I even had a dishwasher come out and ask about the headphones. I highly recomend these headphones to anyone who wants to just enjoy listening to music. I love my other cans but these cans fun music signature are perfect for walking around, doing stuff. When at home I use my other cans, for critical listening.
here are some pictures of these amazingly fun and sexy headphones.