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

Excellent sound to go with the beautiful looks. Very easy to drive. Is it neutral? no. Enjoyable? YES. Comparing to Oppo PM3, I like both. PM3 is like listening to a performance inside recording studio, everything is super clean, while Meze 99 makes me feel like sitting in a concert hall that has more exciting and warmer acoustics. Sometimes I wish the bass could be a little tighter. So far I have only tried this for 24 bit FLAC or DSD files (mostly classical music) with the following DAC/amps: iFi Micro iDSD, Dragonfly Red 1.0, and Acoustic Research AR-M20 HiRes Audio Player, Sony NW-WM1A HiRes Walkman (SE and balanced output). They all sound wonderful.

I stumbled upon this headphone after reading InnerFidelitys headphone buyers guide dubbed The Wall of Fame. I was looking for a decent headphone to use at work - one that was closed back and not ridiculously expensive so as to attract too much attention. My headphones at home are the Oppo PM-1s which are Oppos flagship planar magnetics. I drive them through a Hegel H160 DAC/Amp in my home office while at work I use a Dragonfly Red DAC/Amp. The Oppos are very open headphones and pretty much useless at the office. Lots of noise come both in and out. This led me to a hunt for decent closed back headphones. I didnt want to spend a fortune both because of the attention and risk of damage (ruled out the Audeze LCD-XC and Mr. Speakers Ether Flow C). It came down to the Oppo PM-3s and the Meze 99 Classics. My real complaint with the Oppo line is that they can tend to sound too boring. Everything is so perfectly clear and the soundstage is pretty decent but sometimes you just want them to wake up - at times they are too perfectly behaved. So that ruled out the Oppo PM-3s. I wanted to mix up my headphone collection a bit and I am happy I went this route. This is a very fun headphone to listen to. Everything plays with attitude. For a headphone they have a lot of punch. They do a wonderful job of taming extreme high frequencies and the mids are beautiful. I have been listening to a lot of electronic, classic metal, classic rock, and indie on these headphones. They all sound incredible. So why four stars? My only real complaint with the headphone is in the bass. With the volume cranked up a bit it real tends to get out of hand and flutters. One of the reasons I was drawn to this headphone was for the slightly elevated bass but I just wish it was cleaner. Meze, maybe you should release a high end flagship headphone with perfect bass. Id buy it :).

I didnt expect these headphones to sound as good as they do. The 99 classics plus amazon hd music have been a real joy to listen to. Only gripe, earcups are a little small for my ears, cups rub against my ears. Very comfortable to wear for extended listening sessions. I can only describe the sound as natural and warm, not to bright.

Pros: - Sound quality : You can hear distinct sounds playing at the same time very well. - Nice wood design, looks very good. Cons: - Bass not that deep ( I dont know why some people in the comment said there is too many bass ... ). - Microphone simply inexistant, its physically there on the cable but barely works. - My inner ear feel pressured like if the headset was sucking up the air, its uncomfortable. - When turning my head I can ear my movements inside the headset. - Overpriced overall I decided to return the product.

I am an audiophile. I also own the Senneheiser Massdrop HD 6xx open back and the Senneheiser HD 569 closed back. I use a good separate headphone amp. These cans are at least on par with the Senns, but in a different way. I wouldnt say these are a better headphone than those pairs, but these are at least as equally as good in a different way. Tremendous bass and treble while maintaining an very good to excellent midrange. The Senns maybe have a better midrange, well, they probably do, but they dont showcase the low end and the high end like the 99 Classics. If you are into neutral headphones, try the 99 Classics for a welcomed change when you get tired of analytic neutrality.

I ended up sending this back, since they were too dark sounding for my tastes. Your tastes may differ, of course. Just FYI, my favorite headphones are Focal Elears, which are much more balanced in my opinion.

I got these after watching dankpods. He was right. These have quality sound in bass, mids, and ok high end. I use these with my ipod all the time. Im thinking of getting a Bluetooth amp.

Having seen these on a YouTube video from Dankpods and loving the look of them I decided to look further into them, I couldnt find a bad thing written about them anywhere. My experience is as good as the reviews I saw, they are Comfy, lightweight and sound great, the cables that come with them are good quality (a Longer one for home listening and a shorter one with an inline mic for Cellphone use), They also come with a lovely hard shell case to store everything in. I also purchased a Bluetooth DAC (Fiio BTF5) that makes them even more convenient (better yet the DAC, headphones, Cables and adapters all fit within the case) . The Headphones are made of Lovely wood paired with lovely silver hardware, a spring steel head loop and a soft auto adjusting headband, the ear-cups are lovely and soft. I would recommend these to anyone, they are simply the best headphones I have ever owned. Well Done Meze on making a reasonably priced headphone that doubles as a piece of art.

Updated review at the end - leaving the original first: Comfort: I have a fairly large head and it fits well. It is soft on the ears. It is warmer than other headphones I have used in the past, but not enough to make me think badly of them. All in all, very comfortable. Sound Leakage: When playing music, I cant hear any outside noise. When playing at medium levels, nobody else can hear the music I am listening too. I have not played them with really loud music to know if anyone can hear them besides the listener or not in that situation. Sound quality: I am not good at describing this, but I will try my best. I do hear details in the music in the mid and highs, but at the same time it sounds a little dull or muffled. It has a good amount of bass (more than many other headphones I have tried), but I cant hear as much details in the low end as I can with the mids and highs. I had high hopes for this based on all the audiophile reviews, but it surprises me that so many people like this type of sound profile. I expect headphones (or any speaker system for that matter) to sound as if the music and vocals are right in front of me. The Meze 99 Classics do not sound like that to me. The best example I can give is that it seems like the highs and mids (especially the vocals), are too far a way - like you are listening to someone else playing music through the wall of an apartment. I can hear each and every word and various subtleties in the music, but it doesnt sound vibrant or rich and certainly not sounding like it is being played right in front of me - like it does when you see a band live. I guess I would describe the sound I prefer as more open, vibrant or airy sounds and with good clarity and detail at all levels (mids, highs and lows). In summary, the Meze 99 Classics are comfortable, although warm, have good clarity at mids & highs - not the best I have heard, but really good for the price. I dont find the lows to have enough detail for my tastes. But the part that kills these headphones for me is what I mentioned above - the sound signature they produce overall feels muffled or fake to me. It must sound like the music is being played live right in front of me and Meze 99 Classics fails in that regard. And since that is the number 1 thing I look for, these headphones are not for me - even with their great clarify for the price. ***Update March 19th 2018*** I have been asked to specify what setup I was using to test these headphones to help people understand the context of my review. Also, since I have been using these headphones for a while now, I wanted to provide an update. To answer the question first. I bought these headphones for use with portable devices (tablets, laptops, cell phones, etc...). I had no intention of getting something that required an amp to get acceptable volume levels or require an EQ to produce the sound signature that I like. I already have a high quality setup for just pure home use for something like that. So I purchased the Meze 99 Classic to be directly plugged into and used with portable devices. That means I needed headphones that had a low ohm rating. The Meze 99 Classics, rated at 32 ohms, fit the bill for these types of source devices. Now after trying the Meze 99 Classics out on multiple source devices for weeks now, I found that some devices are adding a lot more color (not a good thing for my tastes) than others. However, the Meze 99 Classics sound colored & recessed to some level on all the source devices I have tried. Lets cut to the chase. Will you like these headphones for use with portable devices? I think that for most people, they will say yes. Because I think a lot of people in the market for better than average headphones will like the clarity of the mids and highs that these headphones bring. And I think most of them will be happy with the extra bass and most people won’t be bothered that these headphones sound “bass colored” at all frequency levels and somewhat recessed. However, there will be some audio enthusiast, like me, that having the sound colored is not acceptable. The bass should be there, I love bass. But for my tastes and others like me it is not ok that the bass bleeds into the mids or highs, nor is ok to us that it makes them sound recessed (muffled, in the background, closed, or however you want to describe that sound). If you fit into this category of listener, you will be disappointed by these headphones. To give a better analogy than when I said the Meze 99 Classics sounds like good music being played behind a wall, let me say this instead: At one time, I put a good audio system into my car, including an amp in the trunk and an EQ. I carefully selected speakers to get the clarity I was looking for and I made sure I had good woofers for clear bass with the punch that I wanted. I could hear details at all frequency levels and I could feel the vibration of that bass punch through the back of my seat (without any of that distorted rattling you hear in some bad setups) and without drowning out the mids an highs. Picture the mids and highs mostly coming from the speakers in the front of my car – where I was sitting - and the bass mostly from the back. It was in perfect balance. I can hear everything without anything overwhelming and drowning out other sounds. With the Meze 99 classics, the sounds is like the opposite car speaker setup – meaning like the bass is coming from speakers up in front of the car - closer to your ears - and all the mids and highs coming from the speakers in the back – making them sound recessed (in the background). Again this is more notable on some sources than others and maybe if you ran it through an amp and an EQ, you can fix that. But for the use I have intended – plugged directly into portable devices, the recessed and colored sound is there and that is not what I am after.

The looks of this headphones is simply stunning with the walnut and the metal frame. To be honest, that why I bought them. And the fact that theyre closed ear cups so that you dont other people when you listen to them. They come with a very nice zippered black hardcover storage case which is very practical and quite pretty too. The sound quality is decent with pronounced bass and good clarity on the top end, however it isnt very tight or very well balanced throughout the frequency spectrum, so I do not consider this to be audiophile quality. But hey, its $99... The metal frame and self adjusting headband work well, look good and the headphones are light and comfortable in an upright position. If you want to lie down in bed or on the sofa the bulkiness of the ear cups and the metal frame sticking out cause the headphones to shift on your head at a weird angle, which makes it less comfortable. Also the ear cups/muffs could be a little bit bigger. I do not have huge ears but they do touch the sides. Furthermore the metal frame rings (metal clunky sound) when to touch it or when you bump into something, or shift around on your pillow. I upgraded to a nicer cable but the included cables are not bad. All in all for the $99 this is a stunning piece of headgear with pretty decent cables and a very nice storage container!