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

The Meze 99 Classic is a beautiful looking, extremely comfortable headphone that does a great job of reproducing the fill sound spectrum. I compared it to a Denon AH-D5200 that I bought at the same time, playing it through the headphone output of a Marantz SR5011 with no other amplification. It nicely reproduced both Steve Hacketts piercing guitar solo and the very deep bass in Genesiss Firth of Fifth. It also did a great job reproducing the sound effects in Star Wars episodes IV and V. As mentioned in other reviews, the bass is strong from this headphone, although not overpowering. I would call it a luscious sound. If this was the only headphone I tried, then I would have been very happy with it. However, I compared it to the Denon D5200, which is not fair because the Denon cost twice as much, but I was curious if my 62-year old ears with tinnitus could tell the difference. They could, and I preferred the slightly clearer sound of the Denon, so I returned the Meze. Still, I highly recommend the Meze 99s to anyone who is looking to buy a headphone in the $300 range.

Absolutely wonderful headphones. Paired it with my FIIO Amp and it gives me a full bodied sound. The balance between the bass, the mids, and the higher end is amazing for this price point. Love the amount of accessories it came with including different cables and an airplane adapter. The last headphones that I got with an airplane adapter were Bose Quietcomforts. These are miles above those with regards to sound quality. I found my new set of headphones for listening. These ones!

Listening set up: MacBook / iPhone + Oppo HA-2se + (headphones) Music I tried: 1960 Stravinsky Columbia Recording of Le sacre du printemps / Beach Boys Pet Sounds / Oneohtrix Point Nevers Replica / general hip-hop/dance music Head size: ~ 12 circumference (larger than most) || Listening preferences: Im not a bass head, I do prefer warmer mids Comparable Products I tried alongside: Beyerdynamic DT-1350 [80hms] (5th favorite) / Sennheiser 598 (4th) / Grado 225e (3rd) / Beyerdynamic T51i (2nd) / Meze 99 Classics (1st) *** As hopefully you know, everyone hears music differently (everyones ears are different), and everyone has preferences. Just because I prefer these doesnt mean you will. Overall +/-: + Where do I start, ok basics: comes with detachable headphone cables, package comes with two different length nylon coated cables that are tangle resistant. Comes with 3.5mm/1/4 converter. Long cable is perfect, I never not use it. + Adjustable headband works well with varying head sizes, Ive had multiple friends try it and none of them complained about uncomfortable pressure points, or not fitting well. I have a large head, these were the only ones I tried that fit well enough. + Leather ear cups are comfortable, I can wear these for hours. Its a preference, but I look forward to wearing these. + Wow the mids on these are so pretty. Listening to records like Unknown Mortal Orchestras II, the guitars are so glistening and warm coming across. + Highs arent as shrill or exciting as Sennheiser, but they are still pleasant. Enjoyed Stravinsky greatly on this. Sound stage made me feel present to recording. + Bass is there, but not dominating (as I prefer, not for everyone). Has color, but is reserved to allow rest of recording to shine (unlike Beyerdynamics which were too bass heavy in my opinion for listening to anything other than dance music) + Perfect for offices, very little noise bleed, and isolates you well enough from keyboard/general office noise. - Sub-bass could uses some more color, I tend to use bass boost feature on Oppo HA-2SE sometimes when listening to rap/dance music. - Nothing really, I struggle to complain about these. Sure its no open-back $1000 headphone, but my god I enjoy them. - The headband isnt really convenient for travel, but fine enough for office spaces. These aren’t marketed as portable, so don’t buy them for such purposes. Seriously buy these. Seriously. Wow. ****Note: I didn’t try these without my DAC/Amp, so I have no idea how these without them. I would strongly suggest that if you buy any headphone above $150 you get a dedicated DAC/Amp to drive them properly.

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.

Great set of headphones, havent quite got the fit right yet so I sometimes get a bit of ear strain. Nice and loud compared to my Void Elites that I was using previously. Have yet to use them with a proper DAC but going of how they sound now I think they will work great.

I just recently got into hifi, so I dont have that much to compare them to, but on their own I love wearing them, the sound is amazing, they look gorgeous and you barely feel them on you. The carry case and all the extras included are a good bonus and shows the attention to detail from Meze. Ill definitely be getting more Meze headphones in future.

I bought these headphones (used) on Amazon a few years ago after considering the Oppo and Fidelio X2. While these arent end-game headphones, these are excellent well rounders. Comfort- 4/5; Not as good as the Philips 9500, but pretty good for upright listening. Leaning back, these slide a bit. A bit of compromise due to the weight and materials. Sound Unamped- These are low impedence headphones that you plug it straight into your phone or computer. At first, I was not really impressed. These werent as good as the Philips 9500, but isolated better and looked nicer. Sound Amped- With a good amplifier/DAC- (I used the Massdrop Grace DAC and Cavalli tube hybrid), this headphone sounds significantly better. It sounds uncannily like the Sennheiser 6XX. Excellent musicality and texture. Fairly wide soundstage *for a closed headphone*, but not as much as a good open headphone. Excellent bass. Nice, textured trebles. Liquid mids (with the right source). Isolation- These are not as isolating as the excellent Sony soundblocking headphones. These block sound about as well as the ATHM50 (if Im not mistaken). All in all, they can take the edge off things. While there are better headphones (at higher cost), these headphones are just good enough that I can hold off on getting new ones. In a sense, these headphones have probably saved me several grand in headphone envy. -Matt ps. I can highly recommend the audioengine D3 to power this amp. Its not as creamy or black as the Cavalli CTH, but is noticeably better than plugging directly into a laptop headphone out.

So first things first this is going to be a bit long in the tooth but the TLDR version is as follows: For someone just starting to develop their ear for audiophile peripherals and devices who also happens to be leaning towards luxury stylings, this is an unbeatable package (that also doubles as an investment). These deliver a detailed and non fatiguing listening experience and damn do they look good doing it! Im going to begin by explaining a brief background on my listening habits and what devices I have experience with. First and foremost I am by no means an audiophile, but I am becoming more interested in HIFI audio as time has gone on. My very first pair of headphones I ever purchased were the Auvio 33-290 (A very apt direct comparison to the Meze 99s if only looking at the contents of the boxes haha!). I seriously thought they were the coolest headphones ever what with the ANC (powered by two AAA batteries as was the fashion at the time) and a hard case as well as two cable attachments 1 for a hifi stereo and another for an airplane audio port (the perfect set up for an angsty teen whos family moved around as often as mine did). I used these as my daily drivers for years and I never even considered there being a better alternative. So you could imagine my surprise the first time I tried on a pair of first generation Bose QuietComfort QC1s. Before then I never realized a pair of headphones could simultaneously be quiet (the Auvios being all plastic and rather cheaply made rattled like crazy), comfortable (the plush memory foam on the Bose was a treat to my head after the abuse the earcups and headband padding had taken on my Auvios), and actually make music sound better (the first time listening to a pair of high end headphones after only ever listening to a set of cans from radio shack is really only something you can experience for yourself). Now all that being said I never did buy that set of Bose headphones because I didnt really care much about the difference in quality once I saw how much more expensive they were than my Auvios. Even though I didnt buy them, that first experience with a luxury headphone still stuck with me and eventually lead me to the Meze 99 Classics over a decade later. I can safely say listening to the Mezes for the first time took me right back to that same feeling I got with the QC1s! For starters calling Meze headphones high end or luxury is to almost understate the actual beauty of the headphones themselves and the overall presentation. From the logo on the form fitting hard case to the gold accents and walnut ear cups, everything on these exudes confidence and quality craftsmanship (hell even the zippers are satisfying). Im going to break everything down to those three key areas I mentioned before: Quietness: These headphones have a spring steel headband which means theyre extremely solid (no rattle to be found here). You also wont find any plastic on these headphones and every piece is secured with screws so all you hobbyists out there can tear them down and replace components as needed with very little fuss! The cord also is part woven kevlar and part rubber coated which also contributes to a nearly noiseless headphone (the most noise Ive heard from them has been the earpads adjusting after slipping the headphones on, something that will change once theyre broken in of course). This cable can of course be upgraded to a balanced cable should you aim for a more audiophile focused listening experience. Comfort: The first thing I noticed when I picked up the box was just how light the entire package was, something that was a great indicator of just how comfortable these were going to be for extended listening. You couldnt imagine my face once I was actually holding the headphones solo, it was like some sort of antigrav technology (hyperbole I know, but theyre seriously light!). Then once I actually got them on I immediately knew I could never go back to a standard headphone band. Having a self adjusting memory foam headband coated in PLU with the lush earcups was a total treat! Again I have to express how weightless the package feels due to how comfortable it is! The fact that they dont majorly squeeze your head is a major plus as well. This is still yet another area that can still be improved further with the wide availability of differing earpads (I am honestly smitten with these ones though, the comfort and noise isolation is perfect for my tastes and I havent noticed the pads contributing to any sort of increased base presence as Ive seen mentioned in other reviews). Music Enjoyment: Again, I cant stress enough that Im not an audiophile but that I do thoroughly enjoy music and have a pretty decent ear for it (dont worry though, Im not about to go on about frequency response and things of that nature, better to leave that to the pros). So when I say that these improve the listening experience what does that mean exactly? Aside from the obvious comfort of the headphones themselves (a must for extended listening sessions) you also get a far more full bodied 3D audio experience from your music. This is a headphone that will seriously give you moments of amazement and joy as youre able to hear elements of your favorite songs that you might never have noticed before. If you pay attention you may even start to get this spatial awareness of where the different elements composing a particular song are coming from. Its really one of those experiences that will stand out to you the more time you spend with these headphones. That being said, you may be wondering if theres a particular genre that these excell at and so far I havent found one that stands apart from the rest. I listen to A LOT of music encompassing many genes (Id say my comfort zone is somewhere between punk and prog rock with a lot of new age jazz for some variety) and these headphones have truly improved the listening experience with every song Ive tried them with. They can even take some crunchier punk recordings and still pump some extra depth into them without really making you notice that lowfi quality in a bad way. Theyre just really great all around headphones delivering depth that you would normally need open backed headphones to even scratch the surface. They handle these different elements all while delivering a really fun listening experience that isnt going to fatigue your ears and doesnt require anything more than the device of your choice to achieve. Final Verdict: Given that my most recent pair of headphones prior to purchasing these was not my old Auvios I must admit my world was not turned upside down in the exact same way with my first listening session, my enjoyment more so built over time. These days I use a pair of Sony WH-CH510s for music and a pair of Skullcandy Hesh 3s for gaming and travel. Neither of these are particularly high quality headphones, but they can still deliver a pleasurable listening experience without being overly expensive or fussy. The 99 Classics, on the other hand, are in a class all their own in terms of the quality and engineering in comparison to their cost. Not only do they look the part of a premium headphone but they sound incredible to boot and are fully serviceable. This all boils down to these being more of an investment for me personally as Ill be able to keep these operating for years to come and even upgrade certain components as my needs change. The fact that these headphones can hit so many marks at the $300 price point is truly a remarkable feat and something to be admired (especially in the wake of planned obsolescence). All in all, Im overjoyed to own these headphones and if you find yourself looking to invest in a quality pair of headphones, I think these could fit your needs just fine!

If you look at reviews, people rarely have much bad to say about the Meze 99s. After having them for a few days, I can see why the comments are typically good. Heres my quick take. First, these are really nice looking phones. Fashion cans, as some call them. They seem of excellent build quality and finishing. I havent noticed any flaws out of the box. Uniform wood grain, generally well sorted. Im a sucker for natural wood, so that gets them off on a good foot. These arent very weighty or massive, in terms of full sized headphones. They feel sturdy, though, with everything depending from a spring steel headband. The auto-fit feature works well, making them a breeze to put on. Comfort is good, but not perfect. I find that my ears *just* touch the internal cavity wall of the phones sometimes, and this can build into slight discomfort. But very minor. The ear pads themselves are cushy, and theres a reasonably light clamping force. These wont be good for jogging around or doing parkour. The sound has a strong bass foundation, and goes deep enough to catch the pedal tones of a pipe organ with authority. Nuance is good, but not hyper-critical, as some headphones get. Overall, its a good mix of detail and forgiveness/fun. The 99s are not trying to be perfectly flat in response, but to instead give you a visceral and exciting presentation. Mission accomplished. Nothing is bloated, distorted, or exaggerated. No lack of mids or highs, but not fatiguing levels of either. These are VERY EFFICIENT. Powering them with a portable player or your phone wont be tough. On my Dragonfly Black amp, I am at loud on volume 3/100. Yeah. Concert volume at 5 or 7. Quiet at 1/100. So there you go. Sound isolation is pretty good. Youll notice nearby trench warfare, but the whir of a fan or the clothes dryer will largely fall away. Thus far, worth the money I paid, no question.

These sound like they are worth 2x their price. These are great all arounders, but best for hip hop, reggae and other bass heavy/forward genres/songs. Oh and get a little amp, really opens them up, but they’re pretty good right out of the box. If you’re spending less than 500 these are awesome, great starter audiophile headphone