Meze Elite

Testing was done with V222 and V850.

Highs:
Probably the weakest point with these, but not too shabby. Violins, symbals and female vocals sound enticing, flutes also. The only thing that these can't do is electric guitars. Those need some sparkle and I have not found a planar that can do those well. ADX5000 was better in this regard in my opinion.

Mids:
Mids=Vocals in my mind, so how are those: Slightly forward, how I like them. Detailed, warm with a satin finish. Female and meale vocals sound excellent to my ears.

Lows:
Bass is extended and has impact. Not the most detailed, and for example Diana V2 and DCA Stealth beat these in that department. But man is the bass fun.

Resolution:
Enough in my opinion, some may disagree here. Yes I have head more detailed headphones, like CA-1a, but resolution is not everything for me when it comes to enjoyment.

Soundstage/Imaging:
Big, grandeur sound. Imaging is also good, instruments have a lot of air between them. I have tried playing FPS with these but placing sounds was sub optimal in those.

In the end:
These are not the most detailed or have the best imaging but boy these sound fun. Comfort is excellent, tough weight does hurt this a bit, ADX5k was slightly easier on the head as it was half the weight. The colouring and smoothness makes for a pleasant listening experience. I occasionally forget that I'am listening to anything and suddenly some song comes up, and I just stop and stare the screen with blank toughts. It's like I focus on the song but without thinking anything special about that spesific song, if it makes sense.

Price to performance: While these sell for 4000e, I bought a new set for 3250e. So that in mind these are 5/5 under 3400e, 3400-4000 I would give these 4,5/5 and 4000+ would yeald 4/5.

In 2017 I had my first encounter with Meze, a new brand of headphones from my home country, Romania, who launched the 99 Classics which is still one of the best budget choices, not to mention beautiful pair of closed back headphones under 500$.

At that time I had a pair of Audio Technica M50x which looked totally unattractive compared to Meze’s first creation. The wooden cups looked absolutely elegant and gave the sensation of a premium product, the golden accessories completed this feeling altogether with the headband that looked so thin yet effective. My first thought was that this had to be a prototype, as they looked tailor made for someone or an occasion. But no, they were only the first model of this maker who declared from the beginning that “normal or usual” is not a word to be found in their philosophy.

Soundwise they had a good bass response, warm mids and pleasant highs. Voices sounded nice, guitar chords had weight, drums were felt physical by my earlobs and the highs had enough clarity without causing ear fatigue. I still like them today and I’m really considering getting a pair for late night sessions when open back designs are too noisy.

As years passed, our maker started to show his talent in terms of design, used materials, innovations and soon creations like Empyrean or Elite shocked the audiophile audience and became immediately everyone’s favourite topic of discussion.



Last year it was a blessed year for me, not only because I made giant steps in gaining experience in headphones and equipments but also because I got the chance to really “met” the Meze Elite. And I say “really” because it was not the usual test at a dealer or fair, but because I met it in their favourite environment: surrounded with equipments from Chord, Trafomatic, Ferrum, Burson, Flux Labs – all there to help me achieve the best performance that they could possible offer. The owner – a mad scientist who worships digital to analog converters and makes the best tonic gin I have tried so far, is no other than Sandu V who takes us in an audiophile journey with every article that he writes on Soundnews.org



After trying every combination of DAC’s and headphones amplifiers, it was clear that the Chord Dave and Trafomatic Primavera was the winning combo so in the next days I only focused on these two.




It didn’t matter that models like Hifiman Susvara, Audeze LCD4 or LCD5 were present, nor Erzetich Phobos v2021, Sennheiser Hd800s and even Kennerton Rognir. No, it was only one that got my attention and enchanted my soul. It was only one that put me into a state that I didn’t felt the need to drink water or stretch my legs for more than 4 hours in a row. And it is ironic cause, on one hand they are so beautifully crafted and you can’t get enough by looking at them, and on the other they sound so amazing that you want to keep them on your head as much as possible. The peak of this 3 day session listening was reached in the moment when I played for the 10th time Scorpions – Still loving you. It didn’t matter that I was already knowing the lyrics by then, when the guitar and drums started my eyes where in tears. And it may not be the first time when music has this effect on me, but it’s the first time when a pair of headphones does it. In that moment I knew that these are THE headphones for me.

A year passed since then, and in a sunny morning a courier knocked at my door and brought a special delivery from no other than Meze, my favourite headphones maker. The package contained their newest flavour for the Elite – Tungsten, which is a very nice surprise in person, as it looks so cool that it surpassed the Aluminum version in my preferences.



But first, let’s start with the packing. It came in a double box with lots of air bubbles to protect the precious cargo. After opening I see a surprise – they are coming with the new suitcase, one that looks so discreet and has a more ergonomic design while the leather handle gives a final touch of elegancy. I also like how they matched the color of the locks with the one of the headphones.



Inside – one of the most beautifully crafted pair of headphones, a pair of hybrid ear pads and the new Angled Alcantara earpads, which by the way scream of high quality. And don’t forget the cable, for which I chose the copper PCUHD one, because in my opinion these sound very musical and engaging and that’s exactly my taste when it comes to sound signatures wheter it’s headphones, DACs or amps.



MINI XLR COPPER PCUHD PREMIUM CABLE



Build & Tech inside

While the design of the Elite remained the same as on the Empyrean, there are some differences that separates these two both at the inside and on the outside. The MZ3SE driver is the result of more than 3 years of research and development from Rinaro Isodynamics and it represented quite a breakhthrough in the industry, being one of the most sophisticated and advanced planar magnetic technology in the world.

The Rinaro Parus is an innovative low mass acoustic diaphragm constructed on an ultrathin biaxially oriented semi-crystalline film. Pretty neat, huh? That brings an total harmonic distortion under 0.05% in the whole frequency range and it’s really easy to drive too, at 101db@1mw/1khz and 32 Ohm you can use them without a dedicated amp, although these will shine the more you feed them with quality signal and power.



Besides the fancy high-tech details, these drivers use a different voice coil configuration which allow them to create a better distribution of the sound intensity at high frequencies when directed at the auricle and ear canal. The driver has two separate areas and the logic is that the bass frequencies are non-directional while the highs are directional, so the upper part of the diaphragm will deliver the bass while the lower part which has a round shape sits right in front of your ear canal, so the high frequencies will reach the target easily. How translates that in day to day listening? You get to hear the most balanced and relaxed sound in the whole spectrum of frequencies that is being delivered so smooth that you may start to listen a track or two but that is gonna transform into two or three albums listening session.
The way they present music is simply staggering and you find again, if lost, the simple joy of listening an album without skipping tracks, it reminds you to be present, to enjoy and feel every emotion that music has to offer or awake in you. And one more thing, that part with the separate zones for bass and highs? I have never heard and felt such a kick and energy from drums before, I literally start laughing because I couldn’t believe it while my feet was toe tapping already. Pure simple joy.



Comfort

Another difference from the Empyrean are the ear pads and while you might think that something such insignificant can’t influence a listening session that much, well you are wrong. The ear pads are a key component in delivering a perfect representation and comfortable too, and these comes with two pairs of them. Elite Tungsten are delivered with a pair of hibryd earpads (perforated Alcantara interior and real leather exterior) and the new Angled Alcantara earpads, which not only they look so exquisite but they also offering a different representation of the Meze Elite sound signature.



Comfort levels are incredible on every Meze models, Elite are no exception...



And if you think that having two pairs of earpads could bring some issues with the swap operation, Meze and Rinaro thought at that in advance and developed an invisible locking system, which uses the magnetic field generated by the driver to hold the earpad in place whilst also redirecting the magnetic field back into the driver and improving driver efficiency, increasing output by 1db or 12%. And while you may not notice this increase, you will notice how easy is to swap the earpads and change your sound signature, while maintaining the high level of comfort at all time. I cannot ask myself how come nobody used this kind of system on earpads until now ( yes Audeze, I am looking especially at you and your glued earpads) cause when I am considering to buy a pair of headphones I’m always looking at their build and components and how easy is to find replacements for parts that require to be changed after a while (like earpads and headband) and I am happy to report that Meze Elite (and all their models) are fully serviceable and you can find and replace each component easily.




And since I mentioned it, the headband on Empyrean and Elite is another work of art and ingeniosity. Made from carbon fiber and with a real leather headrest, it was designed for maximum durability while being ultra-light at the same time.
The Patent-Pending suspension wings support system is elongated and curved at both ends, descending further on the side of the head and distributing the weight of the headphone evenly, for an utmost comfortable listening experience. I love the sound signature of my LCD2Classic but at 550g they can’t be used more than 2hrs.
Their weight and clamp force that varies when lowering the position of the rods puts too much pressure on my ears and my head and you simply can’t focus on music listening. On the other side, the listening sessions with Elite got me to 4 even 5hrs, and that is something. At 420g and non-existent clamp force no matter the position of the rods, they are the winner for me at this chapter.







Sound Performance


As I was saying in the intro, Elite were a love at first sight for me when paired with Chord Dave & Trafomatic Primavera. But how would they sound on other setups, that don’t necessarily cost an arm and a leg? I took my time and tested them on my phone, on Bluetooth dongle, in my own desktop headphone setup consisting in Flux Labs Acoustic FCN-10 Dac & Headphone Amplifier, on Ferrum Wandla DAC & Flux Labs Amplifier and Trafomatic Head2 tube-based amplifier.



At 101 dB (1 mW / 1 kHz) and 32 Ohm these will sound as good as their source and amplification is capable of. On my phone they got to be quite loud and could make some relaxed auditions with enough headroom and an decent amount of details. Clearly, I can’t say much about soundstage, transparency or resolution at this level, but they always get to show a small dose of musicality and fun sound.

Moving on to Bluetooth dongles like Fiio BTR5 and BTR7 things started to look and hear better, the bass had kick and control, voices sounded better and the presence of the highs was way cleaner, with details and smooth edges.

But I was anxious to test them on my solid state amp, as I know from experience that planar magnetics may be highly sensitive on one side, but they always sound better when you feed them with a generous amp and detailed DAC. Luckily Flux Labs Acoustics offers 16W per channel in Class A and that felt since I pushed the play button on my playlist.




























A sudden transformation occurred and the result was instant toe-tapping on every song I played, especially energic ones like rock or electronica. Things like slam, delicious layers of bass that pushed big amounts of air in an instant and made my ears flopping and put a stupid smile on my face were an easy task now. Faster decays and excellent detail retrieval? You got it! So, after long sessions of listening, impressed by how they sounded with my internal DAC from Flux, based on an AKM4493 chip, I started to wonder how high can you go with them. And for that, I got the help of a new toy from Ferrum called Wandla, which is currently one of the best chip based DAC, an ESS 9038Pro.





From that moment, the sound begin to change dramatically. It became airy, it had definition, very delicate in the top region of the highs, it had depth, energy, fast transients, weighty low end, grip and tight bass and midbas, spacious and of course, what I loved at Elite from the first time, the juicy and musical sound signature.

Firstly the bass became cleaner, from down low to midbas, it could hit and disappear in an instant, or it could sustain low passages effortless giving me goosebumps. But what impressed me was that warmth and weight that felt all this time, without bleeding into the midrange area. It’s not my first pair of headphones with excellent abilities in the low end and bass area but it’s the only one that does so clean and fun at the same time.



And while you thought that bass it’s their strongest part, well hold on because the midrange area is next to talk about. Until a couple of years ago, I was a basshead in matter of headphones, as I had closed back headphones with V sound signature mostly, so midrange area was not so important to me.

After I listened some audiophile level headphones and different types of DACs and amplifiers, I started to put more price on the natural way of an equipment to express music. Elite have their own way of expressing this, and I got to fall in love again with my instrumental albums, especially rock ones.

The way that voices are reproduct, the way that guitar strings are resonating and zinging or the way that air instruments play is just phenomenal. I never knew how much emotion and feelings put Freddy Mercury in Queen albums or how much effort put Brian May or Roger Deacon to practice until they got those energic and vibrant moments.

The treble area was something smooth and delicate on any source and amp that I have plugged them. They never sounded harsh or grainy, sibilance was something out of the question and edgy character also. Instead of these, I discovered transparent and resolute highs, with plenty of information and micro details, that always felt rich and velvety, not thin but sweet.

The depth and the representation of the soundstage was impeccable, I was able to pin point at locations of the artists and instruments and being able to submerge in each song from my playlist.



One important aspect that I want to treat now is how Elite let you calibrate your sound with the help of the two pairs of earpads. The hybrid ones, which are my favourites , are the perfect choice if you want to live and feel the music that you are listening to. The bass is at its best and gives you a state of joy that you maybe feel it when it’s friday or saturday night and you’re going to a party.

The Angled Alcantara I could say they are your sunday choice, when you want a laidback listening session that offers the best stereo image that you can have.





So, that was on solid state…but what about a tubed based amp?

Enter the Trafomatic Head 2 headphone amplifier, a 10kg badboy that started my interest since I met his bigger brother, the Primavera (33kg!).



There is a thing with the big and capable amps or headphone amps that never cease to amaze me. They have this ability to move mountains while other solid states choke themselves and start to show their limits of even shut down. I recently got the chance to listen the Riviera AIC-10 and I was scared by how mean and awesome my Audeze LCD2C sounded.

Long story short, all that I said so far gets to be multiplied by 10. The sound got an even relaxed way of presenting everything with an easiness that I have never experienced before at my home. Now, not only that I had to literally turn my head to see whats on my left or right when sounds appeared out of nowhere but I also found myself looking up or down on certain tracks. Was this amp playing tricks on me? I think not…but I’m sure that Elite found their match and together brought me the opportunity to be a passenger in this trip where I was in every room or space that the songs that I listened were made.





What struck me the most is that the bass became out of this world. Rock music is not always recorded well and sounds kinda thin, especially the drums. With the help of Head2 I got to move my hands in the air and pretend I’m a drummer ready to compete with Roger Taylor. And one more thing: I have never experienced such and explosive and physical feeling of the drums and that made me listen all the rock albums and not only, from my playlist. Jazz sounded amazing too, artists like Mulatu Astatke and Mansur Brown were a delight to listen to.




So, in the end, I do believe that Meze Elite it’s a kind of magic The magic that my headphone setup was missing, the magic that music needs in order to show her magic, too.

Bravo Meze! You became a guide into this beautiful world of music and your creations are helping us discovering it.

Prologue

Without going into details three months ago I purchased the Meze Elite as I was so impressed by how perfectly they meet my personal preference in sound presentation. As a long time Empyrean owner the Elite also impressed me by the level of improvement in technical performance and balance versus its predecessor. For three months my Elites have been in daily use and I still cannot get enough of them.



I write this review as a thank you to Meze for creating such a wonderful headphone and also for the benefit of the community. The more opinions we share the better overall picture we get. I will try to bring a lot of comparisons but at times this review will be slightly more biased than usual due to my emotional involvement in this headphone.

Sonic taste, background & gear

I always liked a smoother, slightly warmer sound with focused and impactful bass and gentle treble presentation. I was always looking for headphones which are suited for extremely long listening sessions but within that package offer the highest possible level of technical performance. I really like Audeze LCD2/3/X/4, Final D8000, Empyrean and now the Elite. My aim was always to keep only one pair of headphones (ok, sometimes two) of the highest possible quality I can afford. I am not a collector, not by nature and not by wallet.



The gear I currently own is RME ADI2 + Burson Soloist 3XP with supercharger. I also tried the Elite on Chord TT2/MScaler combo.

Build & comfort

This section will be short. Both build and comfort are simply the best I have ever tried or experienced on any headphones. Perhaps the only other company that competes in build quality is Abyss, but to me they fall short on comfort. Meze really puts to shame some other multi-thousand dollar flagships in this regard.

Comfort is also unparalleled. The curved suspension headband distributes the light weight of 430g perfectly. For someone who often wears headphones longer than 2 hours (occasionally 6-8 hours) this is a major factor. To me almost every other headphone became uncomfortable after 2 hours including Audeze, Focal or Final. Not just because of the sheer weight, but the lack of thoughtful weight distribution and/or a poor ear-pad design.

With the Elite (or Empyrean) you enter the world of ultimate comfort. I cannot emphasize enough how important this is. It is impossible to enjoy a good sound if you have to readjust the headphones every 5-10 minutes or start to feel the weight after 30 minutes.



Sound

There is a unique, special quality in the Elite's sound which is hard to describe. A sweet and addictive tonality which makes you want to listen more and more. One thing is the non-fatiguing, relaxed and supremely natural sound; another thing is this lingering sweetness which spoils your ears. To me the Elites are a huge improvement on the Empyrean when it comes to technical abilities and overall balance. The new Meze flagship is well-balanced and a lot more neutral sounding from sub-bass to upper treble and it is a true flagship, top of the line performer when it comes to detail retrieval, speed, clarity and resolution.

There are other flagship headphones which do certain things better like an even bigger soundstage or even more obvious details or slightly higher resolution or even bigger bass impact, but to me at least none of those are this good in almost everything. The resolution, detail retrieval, speed and other qualities on the Elite are simply stunning and leave no further desires for the last 5% when the level of musical engagement is unrivalled. In this regard (as well as in comfort and build) in my opinion the Elites are the best of the best.



Technical performance

The Elite is a worthy challenger when it comes to technical performance of the best headphones on the market today. Perhaps Meze is a tad behind something like the Susvara, Abyss 1266 or Solitaire P, but not to the extent anyone should be concerned about. In case you value one or two aspects of the sound a lot higher than anything else, you might prefer another headphone. If you value the overall performance package and coherence, the Elite is hard to beat.

I will talk more about technicalities when I get to direct comparisons. For now, let me just say I find the Elite to be a huge jump over the Empyrean in technical performance.

The Elite also has a significantly bigger soundstage and clearer imaging than the Empyrean. The stage has a lot more air, the distance between instruments is bigger and the overall picture is a lot clearer as well.



Bass

I love my bass clean, impactful, extended and balanced. I recently realised, a lot of enthusiasts who describe themselves as 'bass-heads' are in fact 'mid-bass-heads'. They just want a relatively clear but strongly mid-bass emphasised bass tuning. I am not that kind of a 'bass-head'. What I prefer is a relatively linear bass with great extension to sub-bass territories which gives a contour to the low frequencies that everything is built on. I am after a sub-bass that is a foundation to everything else and hits with authority when needed. A sub-bass that is only present when the recording calls for it but when it calls for it, the dynamism and impact makes you smile. This kind of bass is equally good for orchestral music and psychedelic trance. This is one reason I absolutely loved Audeze bass and love the Elite.

The Empyrean's mid-bass hump is gone, the Elite's bass is similarly balanced to other TOTL headphones. I would call it a more elegant, more sophisticated bass tuning. That said, this bass can hit harder than you would expect. Harder than the Empyrean in fact, but only when the sub-bass in the recording hits hard as well. The Empyrean pretty much maintains a constant mid-bass level, which in comparison can be hazy and sometimes overbearing. The Elite is clearer and more impactful but only when it has to be.

I have to mention, despite the Elite being a very efficient headphone that can be run by almost any amps, they do appreciate better source and the very first sign of that is an improved fullness and quality of bass performance. (3D imaging would be second on this list.)



Mids

Due to the very well balanced tuning bass never bleeds into the mids as opposed to the Empyrean. Mids on the Elite are extremely natural and have great texture. Coming from mid-tier headphones like the popular Arya or LCD-X the lifelikeness can be shocking in a good way. Listening to your favourite vocals has never been more enveloping. The sound is not thin but also not overly thick. The texture of the voices/acoustic instruments is almost tangible. This combined with the big and clear space allows you to very easily 'see' the performers in your head.

Treble

The treble is definitely clearer, brighter and more detailed than it is on the Empyrean, but it is still a relaxed and smooth treble. It is very clear and airy in a natural way. You do not perceive any artificial treble shine/shimmer or sharpness here. The Elite does not operate with artificial treble saturation in order to enhance fake detail perception. All details are there in a natural light. Like a walk in a sunny forest as opposed to the neon lights of a tech lab.

Comparisons

Meze Empyrean

I really like the Empyrean. Apart from the same level of comfort and build quality the Empyrean is the ultimate relaxing flavour headphone. A warm and smooth sound with enhanced bass, loved by many people including me. The Empyrean's strength is not its resolving capability or detail retrieval, but a very smooth, coherent and natural sound. While the former qualities may raise some questions when it comes to the asking price, the latter qualities in my opinion justify the Empyreans place. It is definitely a divisive headphone, but I think users just need to be more aware of what they want from a headphone and what the headphone offers.

The Empyrean is a fantastic smooth listen with enhanced mid-bass. The Elite is a well-balanced top performer with stronger sub-bass but flatter/better balanced mid-bass. The Elite has significantly higher resolution and bigger soundstage with better instrument separation, imaging and detail retrieval. To my ears the Elite is simply next level.

What the Elite retains from the original Empyrean sound is the smooth naturalness throughout the frequencies. A never fatiguing but very engaging and enveloping sound that makes it hard to put the headphones down. You always want to click for just one more track and finally this addictive Meze sound has no obvious technical faults or limitations anymore.

Those who generally like the tonality of the Empyrean but wish for a better balanced sound with higher resolution, bigger soundstage and an overall sound quality upgrade will simply love the Elite.



Final D8000

Another headphone I really like. The sound is very much like an improved Empyrean with clearer, tighter bass and better detail retrieval. The bass on the D8000 is big, bold, similar in quantity to the Empyrean but better quality. Overall the soundstage is smaller than on the Empyrean but imaging is slightly better. Treble is clearer too. Mids are better on the Empyrean.

When we compare the D8000 to the Elite, to me the Elite sounds clearly superior in pretty much every category. The soundstage is huge compared to the D8000 and the instruments stand out better with more air around them. The D8000 suddenly sounds a bit claustrophobic. The Elite is also better balanced across the spectrum with higher resolving capabilities.

Both the D8000 and the Empyrean are very natural sounding headphones, clearly a higher category when we compare them to something like the Arya or LCD-X (which are also great headphones on their respective level) but the Elite simply sounds even more lifelike and natural than the Empyrean or D8000.

The biggest fault of the great sounding D8000 is its comfort. They become heavy after a couple of hours and the headband/weight distribution is far from perfect. Also the earpads are somewhat flimsy and not a great touch/feel on the skin. The D8000 can be impressive at first, but when you have to adjust, touch and move around the headphones on your head this often, that simply kills enjoyment.



Audeze LCD-5

While I owned both the D8000 and Empyrean, I only auditioned the LCD-5. I owned the LCD-2, LCD-X and heard the LCD-3 and LCD-4. As I mentioned earlier, I like Audeze sound mostly for its bass. When it comes to mids and treble, I actually prefer the Empyrean. This is true for the LCD2, X, 3 and 4. The LCD-5 is simply not for me.

The LCD-5 is a very, very different tuning compared to previous LCD models. Audeze took an extremely neutral U-turn in their tuning versus the former warmish bass king LCD-4. The LCD-5 to me sounds like the ultimate studio monitor. A perfect machine that delivers technical accuracy like nothing else. I admire it but can't love it.

Solitaire P

Absolutely fantastic sounding headphones. It is a shame they are a lot more expensive than the Elite and also do not showcase the same level of build quality. The sound is very well balanced and extremely detailed but in a very effortless way which makes the Solitaire P an appealing and unique offer. I really enjoy these headphones. Yet, I would still pick the Elite due to its engaging musical qualities. There is some sort of a sweet addictiveness in the Elite's sound which I cannot describe.



HiFiMan HE1000SE and Susvara

I am admittedly not a HiFiMan fan. Build quality aside the sound of the Arya/HE1000 series is just not for me. They are good headphones, but to me the treble can be too bright. The vast and diffuse sound is an even bigger issue for my taste. Soundstage is good, but not when you loose focus. I prefer a more focused, more dynamic and more impactful presentation.

The Susvara is different from the other oval shaped HiFiMans; I actually like the Susvara's sound. It is wonderfully balanced, very detailed, a really impressive pair of headphones. Perhaps the Susvara has the more accurate presentation, but I still find the Elite more engaging and more pleasant to listen to.



Conclusion

I hope those fierce objectivists will forgive me for a more personal and slightly biased write-up. At the end of the day I was reviewing my own Elite; my personal choice of TOTL headphones. Hopefully the members who followed my journey can see beyond my enthusiasm and take away the objective points I touched on to help them choose their bestie/(beast). At this level there are not really good or bad choices, good or bad headphones in an objective way. There are only personal choices just like in a fine-dining restaurant. The Elite is an exceptional combination of many outstanding qualities: build, comfort, a musical and enveloping sound with top shelf technical performance. To my ears the Elite surpasses its predecessor the Empyrean not just by a nose. I do not think there is a better all-rounder out there for someone who only wants to keep one pair of luxury headphones.

*As most of us know, ‘endgame’ is an overused term. Usually less experienced fellow enthusiasts use it when they hear a sound that astonishes them. After having a few epiphanies like that we, more experienced users know endgame is a mirage as there is always a better sound. The price of it is a different story. The reason I still used this term in my title is because I can see the Elite fulfilling most needs. Most audio lovers wouldn’t need anything more than this.
There was always something in my previous headphones I wanted to change or improve. Not with the Elite, which is a first for me.