Meze 99 Classics Review

#Meze #99Classics #Woodheadphones

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[JoshuaValour]

Let's not talk about the fact that I completely mispronounced the word "epitome" right at the beginning. Not sure how this slip of the tongue got through. But.... it's here to stay.




I will start the memes off - Joshua "epitome" Valour :)

[Infuzibil]

I have been a owner of these headphones for about 4 years. Here's what I can say that nobody else will (I've read and watched all reviews, believe me).
1. These are not portable headphones. Yes, they are easy to drive. Yes, they are closed back. BUT...
a) Wood can be easily scratched or stained. You don't want that.
b) The 3.5 mm jack is straight, which means you can easily break it in your pocket.
c) When you walk, the elastic band will bounce, which will produce some not very musical sounds. Annoying.
d) The metal headband can conduct sounds amazingly well. And that is not a compliment. A slight tap on the band with your nail will reverberate to your scull.
e) The sound isolation is good, but not outstanding. You will have trouble enjoying the music on a plane or in the subway.
f) The travel case is bulky and plugging/unplugging the cable while on the go is a pain.

2. Meze don't pair well with glasses. More than that, if you still use them with glasses, they will rub the pleater in a matter of weeks.
3. The cups are large enough, but not very deep. Your ear might touch the bottom. This might or might not be an issue for you.
4. While the sound is warm, pleasant and visceral, you might get tired by the lower midrange after a while.

All the above being said, you might think that i don' t like Meze. Which is absolutely not true. This is a very good pair of office headphones or even home headphones, if you don't want to disturb your family while listening to your favorite music. But, once again, they are not very portable. I tend to use my Bose 700 for this. They are more compact, more comfortable and, most importantly - they have noise cancelling.

I hope that will help you decide before pulling the trigger and buying these, especially if you're on a tight budget.

[TabletopUpgrades]

I have had them for a while now and here’s my take as a layman (certainly not a reviewer and don’t have the experience of hundreds of cans). I was looking for an upgrade on my Grado SR80’s and was considering SR325e as I love the 80’s so much. I hope this helps someone.

1. The are better than my Grado SR80’s on several fronts which I will discuss. The SR80’s at the time I bought them were a What Hi-Fi five star product and considered to be an “analytical” open backed headphone. The Meze 99 Classics (terrible name, sounds like a chocolate bar) just sound better to me.

I’m not experienced enough to know whether this is “soundstage” or “separation” or any of the other arguably bullshit audiophile words used to qualify the difference between pieces of audio equipment but they just sound better. The music sounds more “realistic” and I hear things in my favourite albums that I haven’t heard before. I find that I lose myself in the music which I suppose is the point.

2. They are easy to drive. So no further investment in fancy headphone amps is necessary. This isn’t always the case with higher end headphones.

3, All the components are individually maintainable. They are screwed rather than glued together which means the getting replacement parts is easy and fitting them yourself is possible. I have a real problem with planned obsolescence and these have been designed to avoid this problem. Classic materials, timeless design (in my opinion) and everything is replaceable.

4. They are really comfortable. All the Grado’s I’ve tried (even the expensive ones) aren’t and end up hurting after not even a full album. I put foam pads on my 80’s which some say negatively affects the sound. None of that to worry about here as they are comfortable.

5. The headband design is genius. It fits to your head without any adjustment, automatically. This isn’t the case with many headphones and can lead to much messing around which detracts from the listening experience.

6. I nearly didn’t buy these because of this review. All I heard from this review (which I enjoyed by the way, thank you Josh!) was “bass” “bass bass” “bass bass bass”. Which in my mind is the signature of something like a dr Dre beats. A characteristic that a teenager thinks means “good sound”. Don’t worry. It’s fine.

Josh listens to hundreds of sets of headphones and can more accurately say than me whether these are bassy but chances are you’re more like me. A lay person who really likes music, has tried a few select pairs of decent headphones. Don’t worry, they’re not massively bassy, don’t let that put you off. They are all-round better than the Grado SR80’s which are considered an entry-level analytical headphone.

7. It comes with two sets of cables, a shorter one with a mic (the mic isn’t brilliant, but good enough for phone calls) and a long lead. Many headphones only have the longer leads which are inconvenient in many circumstances. It’s a small consideration which I appreciate and leads to me using them more.

8. They come with a fantastic travel case. Very stylish and practical. Again, another expense saved.

9. They are vegan if that is important to you, it is me. No leather, all PU articifical leather.

[cnnlive]

I have to put this out there: I own the Meze 109 Pro's because of these. I use Youtube for most of my music videos and I find that I use these more than anything else I own. I do own quite a few open back 'high end" headphones that image / soundstage better, certainly cleaner treble and extension. The midrange on these is actually quite good and the bass is great on any pop, r&b, rock, etc". I find it hard to go back to open back when listening to almost anything but "high end" music samples. I would consider this a "must have" for any headphone person out there that likes to hit Youtube and listen to normal music. The best thing about the 99 Classics - NO SIBILANCE on bad recordings! Thanks Joshua!!!

[ShivasIrons]

This headphone accepts EQ extremely well. You can completely change the sound signature. Really critical aspect of considering buying this.

[jjurss]

These were my first "expensive" headphones and I love them. I've had them for 7 years and they're still going strong, definitely my daily drivers for games and such.

Loved the review, very honest and it's good to know I'm not insane for loving these cans

[Ouroboros_Rex]

It's not as dense as i thought it WOOD be.

Hahaha

[theinnocent_one]

Ask Meze to send you the Empyrean Josh.
Its an experience on the level of the LCD4.

[shaned]

It is definitely my "fun" headphone. My top two are Grado GH2 and Beyer T5p.2's. These are a "Jack of all trades, master of none". They sound GREAT coming out of my LG V30. $399.00 in Canada and worth every penny. To me.

Shane D

[joshvanes]

It's funny how Meze created this headphone for natural-sounding acoustics and timbre and the reviewer is like, "I wouldn't recommend this for acoustic."

Safe to say we don't have the same ears.

[Xanderqwerty]

My meze 99 noir are my favorite headphones. The comfort and sound quality are just fantastic. The only downside is they get warm after wearing them for a few hours

[AIRFORCEFREAK]

I feel like people would look at this review and be like worthless but headphones like this definitely have a place in the market. Especially if they are well made and sounds like they have good balance here.

[David-djkb]

I’m currently testing these out myself and will review them and I have the same conclusion as well. Whether it’s worth the money is something I’ll have to look into further. Great review BTW!

[AuraMaster_]

I know that pad swapping is super popular with these cans to lower the bass a bit and brighten up the highs. Usually that ends up looking kinda goofy on a headset that really does look phenomenal with the stock pads.

I mention this because you're able to buy the smaller pads off the Meze store (and anywhere else they sell, like Amazon), and these smaller pads do exactly what the original original 99 classics pads did, and what everyone tries to replicate 3rd psrty pads - lowers the bass shelf a bit, rolls it off smoother into the mids to reduce muddiness, and brightens up the top end a bit.

The 99s have also undergone a stealth update in the past year with some reworked earcup joint mechanics and some milled out bass ports. They keep the punchy characteristic without getting over the top or overbearing.

[bbeeezzy]

Two things:

1. No need for the tape to easily find L & R because the Left plugs have a ridge molded into them which is very easy to feel. I discovered this after owning them for about 4 months. You're welcome, 99 fans.

2. I think Josh gives these a bit of a short shrift. First, the low end: Yes there is some excessive low end, but it's really not that bad. I only find the need to shave about 2dB off the 62 Hz and 125 Hz bands with EQ, and not even all the time. Some recordings really need help in the lows (old recordings, most classical, etc). They're also great for outdoors, where bass usually disappears (with all my closed backs, at least). But if you are completely anti EQ and are sensitive to low end, these will probably not make you happy.

Second: the highs and mids. One could easily take Josh's description to mean these are muffled or dull sounding (like the typical Audeze sound or something). This is completely untrue. The 99's have a very natural, life-like balance in the mids and highs IMO, with very nice detail and clarity (for this price class). No, they're definitely not what I'd call bright, but I don't like bright headphones. They're also not dull or veiled either. The highs really just sbout right, IMO (akin to the Senn 600 maybe? no, not quite. but almost).

I do agree about soundstage and imaging though. They're ok, but a bit behind the competition. Pretty decent width (for closed back), but not much depth. And not nearly as good at imaging and separation as something like the 600.

Anyway, no one hears things the same way, so take my impressions fwiw.

And I really like your channel, Josh. Great stuff!

[giedriuskavaliauskas]

Hi. I enjoy your reviews, I think your preference sound signature is very similar to mine. And I own Meze99. And I was on the "quest" to find a good, comfortable, non-fatiguing closed back headphones for around 300. I tried numerous headphones starting from Denon DXXXX, to some top bluetooth ones and I was only satisfied with Meze. My point being - at the end of the review you claim these are not wort 300 USD. Name other closed back headphones for this price that can sound better than these and I'll give them a try :)

[Heldermaior]

I love this headphone. You need to EQ it imho and change pads to a smaller diameter ones. But it has the most natural sound I ever tried. If you remove around 5 db of low bass (30 to 60 hz) it keeps the natural reverberations of instruments but get rid of the bassy extension into the mid range. Add a peak to the 2k to 4k for a bit more detail. It works really well. Oddly, one of the things I like about these is the soundstage. I think they do it really well... For closed backs.

[maxdondada]

This was an excellent review thanks for posting Josh you helped me finally decide to pull the trigger on these.

[doblofiber]

3:59 The moment to put the headphones without cable and got a do the b-roll "yeah this sounds good move"...

[Smitty_Werbenjagermanjenson]

Great video; BTW "Epitome" is pronounced like "ep-it-oh-mee"