Background:
 
I’m a 30 year old bank examiner and an audio enthusiast. My other hobbies are cars, fitness and occasional clubbing. I’ve been an “audiophile” since I got my first stereo system in 2010 (Yamaha amp and Monitor Audio speakers). I still enjoy speakers a lot, listen to Dali speakers these days, but I like headphones as well, especially when I’m doing stuff on computer or I’m outside somewhere.
 
I prefer full, balanced sound with elevated bass. I dislike harsh treble and treble peaks, I also dislike pronounced upper midrange. I enjoy slight upper midrange dips for fatigue-free listening experience. I listen to most genres, but I prefer electronic music, dance music, alternative and other modern genres but I also enjoy classical a lot, especially when it’s a live performance. Extended and powerful bass response is important to me.
 
Meze 99 Classics Specs:
 

1. Transducer size: 40mm
2. Frequency response: 15Hz - 25KHz
3. Sensitivity: 103dB at 1KHz, 1mW
4. Impedance: 32Ohm
5. Rated input power: 30mW
6. Maximum input power: 50mW
7. Detachable Kevlar OFC cable
8. Plug: 3.5mm gold plated
9. Weight: 260 gr (9.2 ounces) without cables
10. Ear-cups: walnut wood

 
Accessories:

Carrying case, 2 set of cables (1 long cable and 1 short cable with mic), aeroplane adapter, 3.5mm to 6.4mm adapter.
 

 
Design and Fit:
 
 Meze 99 Classics could be the dream headphones for people who like headphones made from wood. The cups are made from walnut and have a satin finish wood grain. It feels very nice and luxurious in hand. It also looks very attractive and yummy. The design is also very fashionable. It is a headphone that can turn heads in public, as the combination of wood and gold look very attractive together. It is not a particularly manly or feminine design and will look good on everyone. The good thing is even if you don’t like the gold look, Meze offers other choices as well such as the silver design.
 
Meze 99 Classics are over-ear headphones and cover around my ears. They are also fairly comfortable. However, my ears touch the fabric inside the cups, thus my ears are very close to the driver. This has a huge effect on the sound signature of 99 Classics and is probably the intended wearing style as the sound signature will be different if the pads were larger and ears were further from the driver. I will speak of this in Sound Analysis section of the review. For most people, 99 Classics will be very comfortable headphones, especially for the intended portability purpose. 
 
Sound Analysis
 

 
I exclusively listened to EDM and contemporary pop with 99 Classics. Some tracks I have listened to: This One's For you by David Guetta, This Girl by Kungs, Tears by Clean Bandit, Sex by Cheat Codes, This is What You Came For by Calvin Harris, Bonbon by Era Istrefi, Too Good By Drake, Lyrics by Skepta and many others.
 
99 Classics are very easy to drive. They sound good from iPhone 6s or Chord Mojo. I think they don’t scale much, if at all. Actually I think iPhone 6s’ flat and neutral sound signature fits better to 99 Classics than the slightly fuller and warmer tonality of Chord Mojo. In terms of bass performance or detail, I did not find to Mojo to add anything over iPhone 6s, only volume.
 
99 Classics are fairly balanced headphones. The bass is slightly elevated but this is necessary since these are portable headphones and in noisy environments low frequencies are the first to suffer. Thus, out and about these will sound very neutral in low frequencies. In quiet environments, these will have slightly elevated bass response but not even that much. I do not find it anywhere near basshead levels. Just right enough to enjoy EDM, pop and other contemporary music.
 
Mids are the strongest point of 99 Classics. If you are a mid lover, then you’re in for a treat. The reason why mids sound strong is due to the design of 99 Classics. The drivers are very close to ears and this makes the mids sound louder and stronger. Just try it with any V-shaped headphones you have. For instance, Fostex TH900s fit loosely around the ears and the ears are far from the drivers. TH900s are, by their nature, v-shaped headphones. However, if you press the earpads towards your ears, you will hear more mid detail and the sound will become less v-shaped. If, as people have been speaking in 99 Classics threads, Meze start to sell some bigger, traditional size earpads, I believe the sound will become less mid-focused. I would see this as a welcome change, because I like mids as neutral or slightly pushed back. I am not a fan of in-your-face mids. If you like your mids, however, 99 Classics will be great for you. There is actually a slight dip in upper mids and this was probably by choice to prevent upper mid harshness but low-mids and mid-mids are very strong.
 
Treble of 99 Classics are airy and present but never harsh. If you like excitement in music and enjoy treble, you will like 99 Classics. Even if you prefer headphones with reduced treble, you will still like 99 Classics. The treble is present and extended but also flat and polite.
 
As far as soundstage goes, both depth and width are very good for closed-back, portable headphones. These do not feel like closed-back headphones at all. I found 99 Classics great for multimedia purposes and enjoyed watching films with them very much as there was a very 3D soundstage and great explosions due to the bass capabilities of the headphones.
 
As far as comparisons go, I find my Noble K10U Aluminium and Ultrasone Edition M  to be easily superior to 99 Classics as they should be due to the price difference. They play on a higher technical level on every part of the frequency response. Compared to Oppo PM-3, a more fair comparison can be made. PM-3 will give you more technical performance, more detail retrieval, more scalibility, more powerful bass and fuller sound. 99 Classics will give you a wider and bigger soundstage, more treble excitement (but not necessarily more detail) and better performance for films and games.
 

 
  
Conclusion
 
99 Classics are great headphones at their price point. They are very nice allrounders and can be used at home and outside for various purposes whether it be music, games or films. I would easily recommend them to people who enjoy fun factor rather than analysing music and for people who prefer to have only one set of headphones. In the future, I hope to see headphones with 50mm biocellulose drivers from Meze Headphones with the same wood design. As portable headphones, you cannot go wrong with 99 Classics. Recommended.

 
 
Background:
 
I’m a 30 year old bank examiner and an audio enthusiast. My other hobbies are cars, fitness and occasional clubbing. I’ve been an “audiophile” since I got my first stereo system in 2010 (Yamaha amp and Monitor Audio speakers). I still enjoy speakers a lot, listen to Dali speakers these days, but I like headphones as well, especially when I’m doing stuff on computer or I’m outside somewhere.
I prefer full, balanced sound with elevated bass. I dislike harsh treble and treble peaks, I also dislike pronounced upper midrange. I enjoy slight upper midrange dips for fatigue-free listening experience. I listen to most genres, but I prefer electronic music, dance music, alternative and other modern genres but I also enjoy classical a lot, especially when it’s a live performance. Extended and powerful bass response is important to me.
 
Noble K10U A Specs:
 

1. 10 balanced-armature drivers per side
2. Updated Noble universal form factor and geometry featuring precision machined aluminum housings
3. Sensitive enough for use with smartphones as well as portable amps and DAPs
4. Hand-assembled and matched
5. Detachable cable with industry standard 2-pin configuration (0.78 mm diameter)

 
Accessories:

Lots of tips, cleaning tool, hard case, pouch.
 
 

 
 
Design and Fit:
 
Noble K10UAs surely have a striking design. It’s made from two pieces of aluminium, one part is silver whereas the other part is red. In my opinion, pictures don’t do justice to how lovely these IEMs look. Before getting these in my hands, my impressions of the design weren’t very favourable. I thought they looked like packed chocolate. However, in person, ı can tell you they look so cute and lovely. I’m not saying cool because they don’t have that industrialist design with sharp, manly corners like Campfire Audio Andromeda, for instance. These have a more unisex vibe and I think a more fashionable design. Women as well as men can wear these and look fashionable. I care about style a lot and I think K10UAs are very stylish and can turn heads easily in public. Their design and colourful look will make sure of that. In addition to the silver-red style, Noble also sold a limited run with black-gold look. I think combinations of several colours would be very nice for people who care about looking good while wearing these in public. I'm sure Wizard has some plans for that.
 
I have small ears so I cannot wear many big IEMs in the market. Noble K10UAs have 10*2 drivers inside but due to the masterful design, they are rather small and fit very nicely. They protrude outside a bit, but not even that much. These are more comfortable than my previous IEMs Earsonics Velvet which had 3*2 drivers. The tips that came with K10UA, however, didn’t fit well in my small ear canals except for the medium foam tips. I’m using JVC Spiral tips with K10UAs now and the fit is excellent. Most people will do fine with stock tips though.
 
Sound Analysis
 
I used to despise IEMs. I could never get one they fit and sounded well to me. That changed when I got into the world of multi balanced armature IEMs. They sounded clear, precise and more musical. My first BA IEM was Earsonics SM64 which sounded great but was very hard to drive (96 ohms). The 2nd BA IEM I had was Earsonics Velvet. Velvet had much higher resolution and was easier to drive compared to SM64 but not overly so. I sold it because I was not happy with its build quality but I believe it might be the best IEM in its price category, especially if you’re a basshead.
 
My impressions below are of K10UA + Chord Mojo combo. Recordings were from Apple Music for the most part, and some flac files. I should say though, K10UA is very easy to drive and sounds excellent just with iPhone 6s as well.
 
My 3rd BA IEM is Noble K10U Aluminium. Noble K10UA has higher resolution and more balanced sound compared to U-shaped Velvet frequency response. I don’t do measurements and I couldn’t find any measurements for K10UA online (or regular K10U for that matter) but by ear I can tell you these: The sound signature is rather balanced in a musical way, K10UA has a very tasteful and masterful tuning. I hear that the bass is slightly elevated between 20 Hz-200 Hz. Low-mids are also slightly elevated compared to flat which results in a full, warm sound. Mid-mids are flat whereas upper mids are slightly lower than flat which results in a sibilance-free, shout-free, non-fatiguing sound. Starting with lower treble the FR climbs back to flat. Treble is extended, smooth and clear. You can hear every detail clearly and precisely. It’s not a subdued treble at all. That said, it’s also very non-fatiguing, there’s no hint of harshness. No extreme peaks whatsoever. There’s no veil either. The treble excites you with detail, provides excellent clarity and airiness. K10UA just does it in a musical, non-analytical way. It can be sharp and precise when it needs to be but it does that in a smooth way so you never need to turn volume down. I will say these impressions of the frequency response is totally by ear and I’m not a trained musician so measurements may show otherwise. However, this is what I’ve heard.
 
K10UAs are a jack of all trades. I could not find a single genre that doesn’t sound great with K10UAs. This is the one IEM that can satisfy all your musical needs, you don’t need anything else. I mainly listen to EDM and pop and there’s this misconception among people that mids don’t matter for EDM. That is not entirely true. Maybe upper mids are not very important but low mids are crucial for a club-like sound. For instance, I think Fostex TH900 fails in that area. It sounds very dry due to reduced whole mid frequency spectrum. Many people say it’s great for EDM but I don’t think so. It sounds more like a concert hall than a club. It’s fine for hiphop but not great for EDM. Many EDM tracks also contain vocals that add emotion to the tracks. One example is This One’s For You by David Guetta feat. Zara Larsson. Lovely Zara’s lovely voice adds lots of emotion to this great track, but you need good mids to feel these emotions. TH900 sounds distant and lifeless in comparison. I know some see headphones and IEMs like apples and oranges, but I’m simply comparing them in terms of sound signature and just trying to say why I think K10UA is better for EDM compared to TH900. High-end club systems sound more like K10UA, not TH900. High-end club systems make you hear vocals clearly as well as make sure you feel the sub-bass in your body.
 
K10UA as I said, is a jack of all trades. In additon to EDM. I sometimes listen to hiphop/grime, alternative, indie, classical and other genres. One of my recent favourites, Konnichiwa album by British grime artist Skepta sounds absolutely amazing. The bass hits hard while keeping control and being tight and Skepta’s vocals are crystal clear (if you can understand British Street slang). I then change to some recordings of Wiener Philharmoniker (which I had the chance to hear live in a concert recently) and even though nothing can beat that feeling of hearing classical music live, K10UAs can give a very respectable performance. Classical music sounds great with these IEMs as well. It’s a very full, realistic sound.
 
Regarding soundstage, I would say the depth is superb. It’s also wide enough to sound great with classical music where soundstage matters but I wouldn’t say it’s very wide like Earsonics Velvet. It is wide enough however. I’ll say it’s just wide enough. Imaging, instrument placement and separation are all excellent.
 
Conclusion
 
Even though the price of K10UA might be too high for many people, I will say this: It’s worth every cent. I had many purchases which I regretted. After a couple of weeks with K10UA, I can say this has been a purchase I’m very happy with. I listen to K10UA outside, while traveling, at home and it never ceases to amaze me with its musical and technical capabilities. I find something new to admire every single day and it encourages me to explore my favourite music again. Instead of going through lots of mid-priced IEMs, you can just buy K10UAs, sit back and enjoy your music. I will surely enjoy it for many years to come.

I'm not that much of an IEM guy. That said, I needed some IEMs as I sometimes travel. I wanted a good all-rounder, something with which I could listen to music on my phone and also play games on PS Vita.
 
I didn't want some "decent" IEMs though. I had those (Sennheiser CX-300 II, Audio-Technica ATH-CKX9IS) anyway. I wanted the best IEM out there. I've tried two that are said to be the best, Shure SE846 and Sennheiser IE800. I wanted a universal fit and these were said to be the best. SE846 are also great IEMs but to me they looked weird. IE800s look so cool and they are so small. Yet they sound amazing. I couldn't believe such small drivers could sound so good with any genre. Sub-bass is out of this world. Just listen to Daft Punk's Giorgio by Moroder with IE800s and you'll hear what I mean. Even though I can listen to these IEMs for hours without any fatigue, there's so much detail in the sound. These IEMs don't boost treble in order to create an illusion of a detailed sound but actually sound reference class without any coloration.
 
Also as gaming headphones on PS Vita (or multimedia) these headphones are amazing. Games sound great, and also movies. These also work well with Meridian Explorer.
 
I recommend these to everyone who want the best IEMs.