[koover]

After hundreds of hours I've realized the high's are more prominent than before and the bass less intrusive, making this cans perfect for my ears. It can be the placebo effect or the result of the burn-in?

Probably a little bit of both.

 

[nadezhda 6004]

Built my balanced cable for the 99C this evening.

What is the name of the jacks which are connected to the headphones? I wanted to make a balanced cable myself too.

 

[Dobrescu George]

After hundreds of hours I've realized the high's are more prominent than before and the bass less intrusive, making this cans perfect for my ears. It can be the placebo effect or the result of the burn-in?

Sonic adaptation rather than burn-in, especially if you used only them for a long while. Ear can adapt to feel natural with a new sound after a while, even something really bright can seem natural after a while.

They don't change with time AFAIK and As far as I tested.

 

[Dobrescu George]

What is the name of the jacks which are connected to the headphones? I wanted to make a balanced cable myself too.

3.5mm TR jacks I think

 

[nadezhda 6004]

Del

 

[nadezhda 6004]

3.5mm TR jacks I think

Can I have a link to buy them from online?

 

[Lurk650]

Just a heads up, Antonio Meze told me on IG that a lot went into designing the new Rai Penta (shell design took 2 years) so it will be over $1K. Matching the Empyrean. No more budget gear for now I guess.

 

[tienbasse]

Just a heads up, Antonio Meze told me on IG that a lot went into designing the new Rai Penta (shell design took 2 years) so it will be over $1K. Matching the Empyrean. No more budget gear for now I guess.

I didn't want to start with pricing discussion but since you do.
I sincerely hope they will follow their new TOTL IEM and headphone with more affordable models, because it is very difficult to live exclusively by selling TOTL models, especially when you have just become famous for selling "budget" gear. Bold move.

 

[Lurk650]

I didn't want to start with pricing discussion but since you do.
I sincerely hope they will follow their new TOTL IEM and headphone with more affordable models, because it is very difficult to live exclusively by selling TOTL models, especially when you have just become famous for selling "budget" gear. Bold move.

Yes, I agree. Very bold move...even more so that another member who went to CJ Singapore just told me he wasn't impressed with the Rai Penta, it has too much upper mid boost that gave off sibilance. Hopefully it will receive more tuning before release for those willing to buy it.

 

[Bansaku]

I didn't want to start with pricing discussion but since you do.
I sincerely hope they will follow their new TOTL IEM and headphone with more affordable models, because it is very difficult to live exclusively by selling TOTL models, especially when you have just become famous for selling "budget" gear. Bold move.

I didn't want to start with pricing discussion but since you do.
I sincerely hope they will follow their new TOTL IEM and headphone with more affordable models, because it is very difficult to live exclusively by selling TOTL models, especially when you have just become famous for selling "budget" gear. Bold move.

Yes, I agree. Very bold move...even more so that another member who went to CJ Singapore just told me he wasn't impressed with the Rai Penta, it has too much upper mid boost that gave off sibilance. Hopefully it will receive more tuning before release for those willing to buy it.

I wish Meze all the best, but I can't see how they expect to retain their loyal fan base moving forward with extravagant $1000+ premium IEMs and $3000 planar headphones, ones that the vast majority of us could never afford. In all honesty, I am not too excited with Meze's upcoming line-up; I was, literally drooling and couldn't wait for more news, until I found out the pricing. How can I be when I will never have a chance to own a pair?! Here's an analogy on how I feel: I was excited when Hifiman announced the HE 560 and 400i, both cans I could afford (now own the HE 560), but could care less about the Susvara; Why should I care and/or be excited about headphones that cost 4 months pay? Hell, why on earth are headphones priced higher than a 4K OLED 65" TV, or twice as much as a new 8th gen Intel system complete with a freak'n GTX 1080i and monitor?


Ah well, at least I will always have the 99 Classics to remember Meze by...

 

[Shane D]

I echo your feelings! I love the 99 Classics but will never use IEM's and certainly can't afford the planars.

I will be VERY happy with my Classics.

Shane D

 

[Lurk650]

I wish Meze all the best, but I can't see how they expect to retain their loyal fan base moving forward with extravagant $1000+ premium IEMs and $3000 planar headphones, ones that the vast majority of us could never afford. In all honesty, I am not too excited with Meze's upcoming line-up; I was, literally drooling and couldn't wait for more news, until I found out the pricing. How can I be when I will never have a chance to own a pair?! Here's an analogy on how I feel: I was excited when Hifiman announced the HE 560 and 400i, both cans I could afford (now own the HE 560), but could care less about the Susvara; Why should I care and/or be excited about headphones that cost 4 months pay? Hell, why on earth are headphones priced higher than a 4K OLED 65" TV, or twice as much as a new 8th gen Intel system complete with a freak'n GTX 1080i and monitor?


Ah well, at least I will always have the 99 Classics to remember Meze by...

Exactly but of course I'm sure the Rai Penta will be the same as the Empyrean and be in limited quantities and profit enough money to hopefully design more budget IEMs then recycle the process. Start off budget, build a couple high end, then reward your starting fan base by giving them more bang for buck gear. *fingers crossed*

 

[Bansaku]

Exactly but of course I'm sure the Rai Penta will be the same as the Empyrean and be in limited quantities and profit enough money to hopefully design more budget IEMs then recycle the process. Start off budget, build a couple high end, then reward your starting fan base by giving them more bang for buck gear. *fingers crossed*

This too had crossed my mind, however the way I see things is that you can sell 5 headphones for $3000 or 17(ish) for $1000 and still make the same profit after cost. It's not like they are made of Unobtanium. There will also be higher demand for a less expensive product, thus will aid in sales AND cost; the more volume a supplier moves the cheaper the material becomes.

As someone who has been in hi-tech manufacturing for 20 years, this strategy simply doesn't make sense to me, considering there is no "middle ground". It's like Chevy going from a Cruiz to a Corvette to raise capital for the Malibu. Will loyal Chevy users a) suck it up and get the Corvette, (b) wait for the hopeful eventual release of the Malibu or (c) jump to Ford and purchase a Taurus? Or we can take myself as an example: Super excited about the Empyrean as my next purchase was going to be a planar, started saving what I could, saw the proposed price and bought the HE 560. If the Empyrean were $1000 (what many had speculated) I would have continued saving until their eventual release.

What Meze should have done is release a planar in the same class as the PM-3 or HE 400, or an IEM akin to the IE80 and not the IE800, and work their way up from there. Just makes perfect logical sense.

EDIT: I just want to make it clear. I am not bitter that I will never be able to afford the Empyrean, it's that I, like others, think this is a BOLD strategy to play on, and a risky one too for Meze to undertake. They may have gained popularity and name recognition, but they are no Sennheiser or Audeze (yet).

 

[mbwilson111]

I will be VERY happy with my Classics.

...and I will always keep my Neo. I have no interest in super expensive headphones.

 

[MezeTeam]

Guys,
the RAI Penta that you saw at CanJam Singapore is part of a new series of IEMs to be released throughout 2018.
RAI Penta - to be launched this summer at about $1000 - is the big brother of this series and will be followed by RAI Solo (which you might know as Vert), the more affordable version of IEMs. We think it will be somewhere in the $300 price range.

We have a lot more other cool projects on our design table, but we're not yet ready to spoil the surprise.