Meze 99 Classics Walnut Gold Headphones (Gold & Black)

Product Information

We aimed for perfection in every component we designed. CNC carved wood ear cups, cast zinc alloy hardware with an electroplated coating, stamped manganese spring steel headband, memory foam and soft PU leather are the materials your hands and eyes will get to enjoy. No plastic here for you to see. Two 1.6" (40mm) Mylar-cone drivers are at the heart of the 99 Classics, each held in an injection-formed frame of reinforced ABS, a tough, rigid plastic. The 99 Classics' specifications include a frequency range of 15Hz–25kHz, a sensitivity of 103dB/1kHz/1mW, and an impedance of 32 ohms. Meze Audio didn't enter the headphone business until 2009, when founder and designer Antonio Meze "was searching for a pair of headphones that he could connect to in the same way that he felt connected to his Fender Stratocaster guitar"—this according to Raluca Vontea, who works as the company's brand manager. Vontea adds that Meze, who has experience designing products for a number of different industries, wanted to create "an object to pour his passion for music in, an object that is full of personality and life and that has its own story." Meze Classic headphones are designed and engineered in Romania and manufactured and assembled (including drivers) to Meze's specifications in Zhuhai, China. The Zhuhai factory, with a workforce 1000 strong, also makes headphones for other audiophile brands; Meze's headquarters, in Baia Mare, Romania, has a staff of 15.

That solidity extends to the bass frequencies too, with lows impressively deep and well defined, whether they’re anchoring the droning bassline underpinning Billie Eilish's Therefore I Am or the sombre heaviness of James Blake's Atmosphere cover. Those who like their bass fat but not overbearing will be pleased with the Mezes’ low-frequency handling.The choice of wood is an inherently difficult one. The rich colours of walnut require the use of air drying, a long and expensive procedure. The process of shaping just a single pair of earcups takes up to 8 hours. The whole process of sanding, lacquering and finishing the last 45 days. The wooden components are carefully inspected and no flaws are permitted to reach the final assembly. As former InnerFidelity editor Tyll Hertsens noted in his review in February 2016, the 99 Classics are basically screwed together and can easily be taken apart for servicing. Before receiving my review samples from Meze, I'd borrowed a pair from CNET editor and Stereophile contributor Steve Guttenberg, and during that loan the 'phones' earpads came loose from their earcups. Reinserting each pad's narrow collar into its cup's outer seam was easy. Compared to the class leaders at this level, they aren’t as crystal clear or technically precise as the leaner-sounding Austrian Audio Hi-X55, which are more analytical in the way they surface detail and express themselves dynamically. Verdict

It is worth mentioning that all the wood that we use in our headphones is strictly harvested from sources with a certificate of origin. That is, mature trees that have reached the end of their life cycle. This way, we are helping the environment and we're giving the old trees a chance to shine one more time in the shape of Meze headphones.

The flimsy-looking skeletal frame is surprisingly rigid, while their large padded headband does well to prevent pressure from building on the head. With and without glasses on, we spend hours listening to the Mezes during testing, and their design is light and comfortable enough to do so without feeling burdened. I was immediately taken with the 99 Classics' top-to-bottom coherence: a generally even tonal spread, with no part of the audioband dominating the rest. Spatial performance was good for sealed headphones, with generously sized images focused at the center of my cranium. Even at loud volumes the 99s kept their cool, never sounding shouty, edgy, boxy, or otherwise criminal in the treble. Midrange to lower frequencies were also evenly distributed. Generally, all frequencies were reproduced with well-proportioned weight. The 99s were neutral in the best sense of the word.