[lifeisbeautiful]

Not sure...But if you look at my profile when the 99 Classics came out I returned them. Two reasons, comfort and sound. I prefer this 2nd gen pad. I haven't heard the Neo 99 that Tyll was referencing. I do think the 99 Classics with the new pads are a better all around product. The 99 Classics have been making a big splash for a while but I prefer the new larger pad and didn't like the original. Without hearing or seeing the Neo I can't say. Could be two possibilities, one could be it is a different pad, I doubt it, and the second could be the resonance inside the plastic cup or the plastic and larger pad combo. Compared to the only other comments I have seen (DobGeorge) they are polar opposites. Tyll is so turned off now and DobGeorge had a stiffy. To me when someone was so enthused about a can it makes their VIP section and now it is trashed something has happened. I will try to reach out and see if I can obtain a review same so we can get another unbiased opinion.

Looks like he measured the 99 classics with both old and new pads?

 

[subguy812]

I probably wasn't clear. Tyll made a comment regarding he feels something else has changed aside from pads and housings.If the drivers haven't changed, then it is tuning of the drivers or the pads and plastic housings. I know people that have never heard the first 99 Classics with the shallow pads that are testing the Neo 99 right now and are saying that it sounds different compared to the second pads on the 99 Classics.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I probably wasn't clear. Tyll made a comment regarding he feels something else has changed aside from pads and housings.If the drivers haven't changed, then it is tuning of the drivers or the pads and plastic housings. I know people that have never heard the first 99 Classics with the shallow pads that are testing the Neo 99 right now and are saying that it sounds different compared to the second pads on the 99 Classics.

 
Whoa... Don't hurt me 

 
 
I'm absolutely unbiased! 
 
But I don't know exactly either. Neo sounded a bit strange when I got them, bruning in and they opened up. 
 
As for 99C, never heard the version with small pads, so I do not know. 
 
99 NEO seems to have different pads actually. 

 

[subguy812]

Whoa... Don't hurt me   

I'm absolutely unbiased! 

But I don't know exactly either. Neo sounded a bit strange when I got them, bruning in and they opened up. 

As for 99C, never heard the version with small pads, so I do not know. 

99 NEO seems to have different pads actually. 

Different than the 99 Classics? Honestly that is why I made a comment about pad switching earlier. It really can affect sound. Add in plastic as opposed to wood, different pads and possible tuning adjustment or no tuning adjustment with the new cups or new pads and it could cause an issue.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Different than the 99 Classics? Honestly that is why I made a comment about pad switching earlier. It really can affect sound. Add in plastic as opposed to wood, different pads and possible tuning adjustment or no tuning adjustment with the new cups or new pads and it could cause an issue.

 
I have no idea what the changes are, waiting for @MezeTeam  to tell us actually 

 
The pads feel similar, not the same. between 99C and 99N. They are hard to remove off 99N and harder to put back on. There are minor differences inside the cup as well as far as I can tell. 

 

[PL4Y3R 0N3]

I have no idea what the changes are, waiting for @MezeTeam
  to tell us actually 

The pads feel similar, not the same. between 99C and 99N. They are hard to remove off 99N and harder to put back on. There are minor differences inside the cup as well as far as I can tell. 

As soon as I read Tyll's comments I thought of this, as the impressions here were so different. Hopefully this gets sorted out before he decides to reevaluate their position on the wall of fame. I'd hate to see them get taken down over a misunderstanding.

 

[nmatheis]

Why just a Mojo? 


Try them with something epic, an iDSD BL or a FiiO X5-3 or a Hugo! 

I know we all have personal preferences, but I'm having a hard time with calling X5-3 epic, George. For my taste, it was mediocre at best. Of course, YMMV...

Even metal requires burn in these days? Headphones getting more complicated by the minute.

\m/ \m/

I have no idea what the changes are, waiting for @MezeTeam
  to tell us actually 

The pads feel similar, not the same. between 99C and 99N. They are hard to remove off 99N and harder to put back on. There are minor differences inside the cup as well as far as I can tell. 

How can you tell there are differences inside the cup? Did you open it up?

 

[sov73811]

I did a silly thing today.
 
So I DO have the original pads (V1) and the improved pads that were released sometime in July or August of 2016 (V2). 
 
Just because I thought it was funny I took a look at the foam in both the old and the new pads. You already know you can pull the blue foam out of the pleather casings. The first iteration hardly acts like memory foam (most likely because it isn't) but I was surprised that both V1 and V2's foam is almost the same size. I mean...really really close. Like maybe 1mm or less difference. 
 
Hmm, why not swap the foam and see what happens is what I first thought. Turns out that by putting the V1 foam in the V2 pad covers, it seems that some of that extra bass seems to be almost at V1 levels. To my ears the converse happened as well. V1 pads sounded more like V2 pads. I need some help verifying this.
 
 
And yeah, I'm a bit surprised at Tyll's impressions. Am I mistaken that there seem to be a version 3 pad that comes with the 99Neo? Wish I got in on the tour but I got lazy and when I wanted in, whoops! Closed. Wonder if there is a V3 pad, Tyll may need a V2 pad. 
 
One other thing: you can put some foam in between the headphone and the V2 pad to nerf the bass a bit. Still doesn't get rid of the rumble (resonance? Help a n00b out here...).
 
 And coming in a few weeks: The 99 C goes up against the Audioquest Night Owl! Is there really $400 worth of more sound out of these suckers? Well I sure hope so because I paid $400 more than the Meze 99C! 

 

[Dobrescu George]

I know we all have personal preferences, but I'm having a hard time with calling X5-3 epic, George. For my taste, it was mediocre at best. Of course, YMMV...


\m/ \m/


How can you tell there are differences inside the cup? Did you open it up?

 
The cup has a surplus dampening material over the driver on the frontal plastic plate 

 
Don't know if it changes sound in any way, but it might. 
 
I cannot open them because i don't have the right type of screwdriver at hand 

 
As for X5-3, don't worry 

 What I mean is that it is a great device. I am still using X5-2 and will probably upgrade to X7ii since I'm one with a love for energetic signatures. But for people who are in love with smooth signatures, I thought it was pretty good. The only Mojo I tried didn't sound too good to my ears - not even as good as X5ii. I guessed that either I didn't like the signature or that unit had a problem. It sounded really dull and flat. The midrange had a really poor timbre - bass was ok, but treble was also smooth for my tastes. This is why I think that x5-3 is better - it gets the midrange better. But X5-3 also has a really smooth treble.
 
With metal, I want the cymbal crashes to be a bit more explosive - This is also why I'm EQ'ing everything so much. But all in all, X5-3 worked okay as a whole device and for the smooth sound lover, it should be a great DAP 

 

[subguy812]

George...You have been calling the X5iii epic since its release. The best DAP by the best company and so on. The same way you said the 99 Neo was better than the 99 Classics. You are welcome to your opinion but geesh....Please. Now you are talking about inside a cup of the 99 Neo and you haven't opened it.

 

[Dobrescu George]

George...You have been calling the X5iii epic since its release. The best DAP by the best company and so on. The same way you said the 99 Neo was better than the 99 Classics. You are welcome to your opinion but geesh....Please. Now you are talking about inside a cup of the 99 Neo and you haven't opened it.

 
The material is changed from wood to plastic 

 
Also my first impression was that I like Neo more. At this point I'm not so sure which one I like more. There is some error to be made if rushing when having an opinion, it is part of being human 
 
/As for X5-3, I don't own one. I asked FiiO to make a treble happy DAP. It is Epic in many aspects, and to be honest, I actually loved its bass and mids. I still own X5-2 due to the treble on X5-3 being too smooth for me... 
 
I took some photos of what I mean with the cups being changed. 

 
 

 

[PinkyPowers]

That right there must be why the highs are so tame.

 

[Dobrescu George]

That right there must be why the highs are so tame.

 
That black mesh is present on Neo but not on Classics 

 

[PinkyPowers]

That black mesh is present on Neo but not on Classics 

Why do you think I said what I said.

 

[jstps]

That black mesh is present on Neo but not on Classics 

I have the newest walnut silver 99 classics, and also have the black mesh...