Meze 99 Classics Walnut Gold | Wired Over-Ear Headphones with Mic and Self Adjustable Headband | Classic Wooden Closed-Back Headset for Audiophiles

I wanted to love these so bad. The design is beautiful. The wood is beautiful. They are very sensitive, dont need an amplifier, work great with a phone. Unfortunately the bass is boomy and bloated and interferes with the mids. The other deal breaker for me was the comfort. The cups are too small, they touch my ears, and when I turn my head side to side it breaks the seal of the pads and does funny things to the sound. I will keep my HD6XX for home listening and IEMs for portable.

I have a number of good headphones strewn around, but these Meze are the ones Ive been enjoying most. Are they dramatically better than my Sennheiser HD6xx, or BeyerDynamic 770s? No, but they just seem a tad more lively. Maybe this is totally subjective: the walnut earcups just make me happy. These cans get a tiny bit warm after 45 minutes or so, but Im not sure any worse than the others I own. I was able to find a used pair on Amazon for about half of the new price, so I feel I lucked out. Would I feel as happy if I paid full price? Hmm, dunno, but I was prepared to spring for them and I dont think Id be complaining. I also am happy that the accessories include long and short cables.

THE BOTTOM LINE No sooner had I unzipped its clamshell case than the room began to fill with walnut; it lingered like a cologne. It also marked the beginning of one of the most elegant presentations that I have experienced. From its vintage-industrial aesthetic to arts & crafts assembly, the 99 looked, felt and sounded like something from antiquity. Mono and stereo music sounds phenomenal and multi-channel audio (downmixed of course) is surprisingly good, making games and movies more convincing. Meze 99 Classics is the best all-around headphone at its MSRP. ADVANTAGES [+] Tube amp sound (mellow, organic and peculiar) [+] Incredible dynamics [+] A well-imaged soundstage [+] Natural signature with taut bass and midrange [+] Listenable [+] Fully (user) serviceable DRAWBACKS [-] Comfort (weightiness can affect long-term wearability) [-] Microphonic [-] Inelastic (everything is bolted onto a metal frame)

To start, these headphones look very nice in person. No complaints there. As for audio generally, expect some isolation from outside noises and a competent and quick V-shaped sound signature. These are more bassy than flat, but more analytical than bloated by bass. Musical with a fast attack/decay. The closest things Ive listened to for comparison are the V-Moda M100 Crossfade, which sound very similar to me, though I think these Mezes are a little closer to neutral than the V-Moda.

Since I bought these as a gift, I can only speak on behalf of the feedback I have heard from who I got them for. This person is not an audiophile, but he can still hear the difference between cheaper headphones and great headphones. The thing that he loved most was the comfort, followed by the sound quality. He uses them for meetings online, games, and listening to music, and he says it is great for all three. The included mic is also great, and I can confirm that personally from being in meetings where these headphones are used. Overall, I would definitely buy these again, for myself or again as a gift. The design of the walnut and gold is amazing in my opinion, and looks great in real life

Great overall frequency response, better than my speakers. Nice and comfortable. These are not noise cancelling.

Just buy them if they are available. Nevermind all the yakkity yakk. Theyre worth way more than $309. Could be your final stop. Need at least 70 hours of break in for the bass to shine right. But then... Oh yeah, theyre beautiful too. Update 08/14/2021: Purchased an ifi Hipdac and so I wanted a balanced 4.4 cable. Well Meze has their own. Just wow! If you want the bass to tighten up and sound clear, taut, and punchy and on and on and on… Just get the 99 Classics, the Meze balanced cable, ifi’ s Hipdac, an Apple CCK and/or ifi’s USB-C to female USB-A for the iPad Pro and you’ll find instant bliss I promise! For around 7 bills for all of the above you’ll get off the Audiophile Nervosa bus forever! Using an iPhone 12 Pro Max and an iPad Pro 2019 version. Did I say JUST WOW!

I love how ridiculously gaudy they are. The sound is good but I dont think they sound noticeably better than Audio-Technica ATH-M50x. And at almost half the price, Id have to recommend the latter. For reference: I have probably a little-above-average ear for sound. I used to do amateur soundboard mixing, and I like to think I appreciate a good variety of music. That said, I would not consider myself an audiophile.

First of all, let me say right out of the box that these headphones impressed me. The Build is great the comfort is the best I have ever had. Now as for the sound if you just want to listen to music and not worried about every little detail then these are for you. I should mention that yes there is a lot of bass but its not overpowering at least not to me. the highs are crisp without fatiguing the mids are smooth. The overall sound is just fun. These headphones are for just relaxing and listening to your favorite tunes.

I can understand why these cans get so many rave reviews. The highs have the most beautiful texture to them. Crisp and detailed without any harshness or sibilance. The midrange is exactly right, with no bright peaks or perceptable recesses. I experienced no ear or head fatigue after 2 hours of continuous listening at high levels. They are surprisingly easy to drive. I like my music loud, and even running them straight from my Galaxy S8 without any external amp or DAC, I can get surprisingly loud, clean levels. The headphones are the most comfortable pair I own, out of a large collection, exceeding even the cozy AKG K701. They look beautiful, and the cans, case and cables all exude the feel of quality. The midbass is the achilles heel of these headphones. There is a cloudy bloom in this range that sounds like the resonance of the walnut enclosure. It is prominent enough and undesirable enough in character that it is a rather constant annoyance to me, unless Im listening to music mastered between the late 70s and early 80s, where there tends to be less relative content in this frequency range. Normally this would be a deal breaker for me, but the mids and highs are so gorgeous that I still recommend these headphones and rate them highly. The low bass is nondescript. It is there in proper balance, but isnt especially punchy, tight, nor articulate. It doesnt sound bad, rather its overall character simply leaves me utterly nonplussed. Some folks claim these phones are dark or rolled off in the high frequencies. I dont find this to be the case at all. They certainly dont have boosted highs like the Beyer cans, HE400i, or the venerable but grossly overrated ATH-M50X. I suspect that those who perceive the highs as less prominent are listening at low volume levels and their perceptions are colored by the Fletcher-Munson curve. This states that human ears are less sensitive to bass and treble at lower volumes. Therefore, cans with boosts in these ranges sound more balanced to those who listen at low levels, whereas a headphone like this one will sound more balanced at higher levels, as the headphone itself is indeed more balanced, and the human ears frequency response curve is rolled off at lower volumes. Lastly, my first pair had a notable channel imbalance. One drive was noticeably louder than the other, shifting the balance well to one side. I confirmed the problem was in the headphone by swapping the left ear to the right and vice versa (problem shifted to the other side of my head with the rotation of the headphone), summing the music source to mono to ensure the problem was not in the recording (balance still shifted in mono), and lastly, swapped the cables to the opposite driver (problem remained on same side of headphone). In addition to the imbalance, there was a mismatch in frequency response, as evidenced by listening to a monophonic sine sweep from 20-20kHz. There were a few areas of the range where the image drifted to one side or the other, although it was less perceptable than, for example, the 3 Hifiman planar models I own. I have ordered a replacement pair and hope to have better results with the balance. I will revise down if the second pair exhibits a similar problem. Otherwise, recommended despite its midbass tonality. The mids and highs are that good. ALL DROPS > AUDIOPHILE You are currently viewing a single conversation.Return to Full Discussion me110 3D I thought the standard version with the gold looks nicer than the MD version, and I didnt want to wait so long, so I purchased a pair at full price on Amazon. Here are my impressions: (4 Stars out of 5) I can understand why these cans get so many rave reviews. The highs have the most beautiful texture to them. Crisp and detailed without any harshness or sibilance. The midrange is exactly right, with no bright peaks or perceptible recesses. I experienced no ear or head fatigue after 2 hours of continuous listening at high levels. They are surprisingly easy to drive. I like my music loud, and even running them straight from my Galaxy S8 without any external amp or DAC, I can get surprisingly loud, clean levels. The headphones are the most comfortable pair I own, out of a large collection, exceeding even the cozy AKG K701. They look beautiful, and the cans, case and cables all exude the feel of quality. The midbass is the achilles heel of these headphones. There is a cloudy bloom in this range that sounds like the resonance of the walnut enclosure. It is prominent enough and undesirable enough in character that it is a rather constant annoyance to me, unless Im listening to music mastered between the late 70s and early 90s, where there tends to be less relative content in this frequency range. Normally this would be a deal breaker for me, but the mids and highs are so gorgeous that I still recommend these headphones and rate them highly. The low bass is nondescript. It is there in proper balance, but isnt especially punchy, tight, nor articulate. It doesnt sound bad, rather its overall character simply leaves me utterly nonplussed. The low bass is quite vibrant though, which is good. Some folks claim these phones are dark or rolled off in the high frequencies. I dont find this to be the case at all. They certainly dont have boosted highs like the Beyer cans, HE400i, or the venerable but grossly overrated ATH-M50X. I suspect that those who perceive the highs as less prominent are listening at low volume levels and their perceptions are colored by the Fletcher-Munson curve. This states that human ears are less sensitive to bass and treble at lower volumes. Therefore, cans with boosts in these ranges sound more balanced to those who listen at low levels, whereas a headphone like this one will sound more balanced at higher levels, as the headphone itself is indeed more balanced, and the human ears frequency response curve is rolled off at lower volumes. Lastly, my first pair had a notable channel imbalance. One driver was noticeably louder than the other, shifting the balance well to one side. I confirmed the problem was in the headphone by swapping the left ear to the right and vice versa (problem shifted to the other side of my head with the rotation of the headphone), summing the music source to mono to ensure the problem was not in the recording (balance still shifted in mono), and lastly, swapped the cables to the opposite driver (problem remained on same side of headphone). In addition to the imbalance, there was a mismatch in frequency response, as evidenced by listening to a monophonic sine sweep from 20-20kHz. There were a few areas of the range where the image drifted to one side or the other, although the drift was rather small and less perceptible than, for example, the 3 Hifiman planar models I own. I have ordered a replacement pair and hope to have better results with the balance. I will revise down if the second pair exhibits a similar problem. Otherwise, recommended despite its midbass tonality. The mids and highs are that good. UPDATE: I received my replacement pair No channel balance issue with the second pair, so my first mustve been defective. BUT, the small but noticeable frequency response discrepancy between the drivers still exists, as noted by ear with music and with a sine sweep test tone. Thus, the imaging could be better- some vocals, guitars, bass, etc. mixed dead center in the original recording will present slightly panned to the left or right depending on what part of the frequency spectrum they occupy. However, this is common in cans in this price bracket. Lastly, on my second pair, one of the two cables was defective. The TRS cable was fine, but the TRRS cable with the inline mic sounded like it was miswired out of phase, with a very hollow sound. The effect was similar to a plug not inserted all the way into the jack, but it was. source device was Galaxy S8. This phone works fine with other headphones with TRRS plugs and inline mic/remotes, so the problem is definitely in the Meze. I didnt test this cable with the first pair, so Im not sure if this issue is a one-off manufacturing defect, or a design defect / incompatibility. Still really like these headphones though.