INTRODUCTION
I want to thank Meze for giving me a spot on the 12 Classics tour. It's been fun giving these a listen!
This is the second time I've had the opportunity to review Meze products, and I want to make sure I say a few things about them before moving on with the review. The first Meze product I reviewed was a very nice pair of closed headphones, the 99 Classics (LINK to review). I really liked those a lot, but there were a few things holding them back from being just good enough for me to shell out my hard-earned cash for. What were those? Well, one was aesthetics. At the time I reviewed them, they only came in Walnut/Gold/Black or Maple/Silver/White. Neither of those struck my fancy. I'm not a fan of white headphones, and I thought the gold was a bit too bling-bling for my tastes. I recommended that Meze make a version with Walnut/Silver/Black, and they responded quickly by releasing that version with a bit more restrained aesthetics. Nice! Next up was the choice of pads. They were a bit too shallow, so my ears touched the driver covers. I really don't like this, so I (and several others) suggested deeper pads. Last, the cable exits straight down out the cups and is wrapped in nylon fabric, resulting in scratchy microphonics when the cable rubs on your shoulders. I suggested that they keep the fabric below the y-splitter but change to a less microphonic covering above the y-splitter. Ok, that was quite a while ago. When I was at RMAF recently, I ran into Antonio and Mircea from Meze and topped at their booth to chat. They had a beautiful pair of Walnut/Silver/Black 99 Classics sitting there, so I hooked them up to my Lotoo PAW Gold and took a listen. Huh? What was this? My ears no longer touched the driver covers. Awesome! The cable was still completely sheathed in scratchy fabric, but with the aesthetic improvement and new pads I couldn't resist. I purchased a pair of 99 Classics of my own. Why did I take this detour? To let you know that the Meze team is small enough to be responsive to suggestions for improvement and nimble enough to implement them quickly. I think that's important when deciding how to spend your hard-earned cash, so I wanted to point out that the team at Meze are cool cats!
TL/DR REVIEW
Alright, for those of you who don't want to watch me ramble on about the 12 Classics (and 11 Neo) (well, and other stuff, to be honest
), here's the down-low...
SPECS
FR Curve From Meze's 12 Classics Product Page
PACKAGING
I'll let the packaging speak for itself...
ACCESSORIES
You get the clamshell zipper case shown above in the packaging section plus a shirt clip and a few pairs of tips. Meze also includes a pair of Comply tips (not pictured). Single-flange wide bore tips would be a nice addition!
BUILD + ERGONOMICS
The shells are wood barrels with aluminum end caps complete with fancy-schmancy Meze trident logo and aluminum nozzles. Strain reliefs are just fine. It would be nice if the L/R markings were more visible.
Play/Pause + Receive/End Call Remote + Mic. I'm sure it's functional, but I used these with DAPs so I didn't test.
Y-splitter is aluminum and again bears the Meze logo. Strain reliefs are fine and are reminiscent of those on the earpieces. Notice that there isn't a cinch. The cable feels quite rugged, and I don't have any concerns about durability. It is a bit thick above the y-splitter which, combined with the lack of cinch, makes wearing these over ear a no-go.
Gold-plated 3.5mm plug with aluminum construction. Strain relief is a bit short but fine.
FIT
As mentioned above, these are obviously intended to be worn down and any attempt to do otherwise will almost certainly result in frustration.
SOUND
The single dynamic driver 12 Classics have a slightly warmed-up sound with tight punchy bass, neutral mids, crisp highs, and good soundstage. I listened to them out of several sources from budget to TOTL DAPs with Electronic, Classic Rock, and Metal and found that they scale well as you use better sources and sound good with all of the music I threw at them. My experience with the Lotoo PAW Gold pairing was particularly eye opening, producing very tight, punchy, visceral bass and crisp highs that were well-defined but not hot.
Tip rolling allows you to tweak the sound as usual. Stock single-flange tips were my point of reference, resulting in the sound as described above. Comply provide an even warmer experience with smoother highs more akin to the 11 Neo. Stock double-flange tips reduced bass a slight bit, opening up the top end and increasing soundstage. Spiral Dots leaned them up quite a bit, giving a slightly warmed-up reference type sound.
By comparison, the 11 Neo are warmer, smoother, and more relaxed with stock single-flange. Bass increases a bit, as does lower mid presence. Highs are smoother without losing too much definition. Soundstage is more closed in comparison but is still good for the pricing. Tip rolling provides similar results as above, with Comply probably warming these up too much for most people, stock double-flange tips open them up a bit, and Spiral dots bringing these pretty close to the sound of the 12 Classics with the stock single-flange tips. 11 Neo do lack technicality compared to the 12 Classics and don't scale as well, but they're still a good buy at their price point.
SUMMARY
In my opinion their responsiveness to tip rolling and increasingly better sources indicates that these punch above their price point, making them an easy recommendation with just a few minor caveats which are that the cable should be more pliable/supple above the y-splitter to allow for over-ear use, the lower cable is a bit prone to microphonics, and the accessories package lacks single-flange wide-bore tips. Great job Meze!
With all that said, here's my video review. I hope it's useful. Enjoy!
Thanks again to @MezeTeam for sponsoring this tour. You're cool cats, and I'm glad I had the chance to meet you at RMAF. Keep up the good work!
I want to thank Meze for giving me a spot on the 12 Classics tour. It's been fun giving these a listen!
This is the second time I've had the opportunity to review Meze products, and I want to make sure I say a few things about them before moving on with the review. The first Meze product I reviewed was a very nice pair of closed headphones, the 99 Classics (LINK to review). I really liked those a lot, but there were a few things holding them back from being just good enough for me to shell out my hard-earned cash for. What were those? Well, one was aesthetics. At the time I reviewed them, they only came in Walnut/Gold/Black or Maple/Silver/White. Neither of those struck my fancy. I'm not a fan of white headphones, and I thought the gold was a bit too bling-bling for my tastes. I recommended that Meze make a version with Walnut/Silver/Black, and they responded quickly by releasing that version with a bit more restrained aesthetics. Nice! Next up was the choice of pads. They were a bit too shallow, so my ears touched the driver covers. I really don't like this, so I (and several others) suggested deeper pads. Last, the cable exits straight down out the cups and is wrapped in nylon fabric, resulting in scratchy microphonics when the cable rubs on your shoulders. I suggested that they keep the fabric below the y-splitter but change to a less microphonic covering above the y-splitter. Ok, that was quite a while ago. When I was at RMAF recently, I ran into Antonio and Mircea from Meze and topped at their booth to chat. They had a beautiful pair of Walnut/Silver/Black 99 Classics sitting there, so I hooked them up to my Lotoo PAW Gold and took a listen. Huh? What was this? My ears no longer touched the driver covers. Awesome! The cable was still completely sheathed in scratchy fabric, but with the aesthetic improvement and new pads I couldn't resist. I purchased a pair of 99 Classics of my own. Why did I take this detour? To let you know that the Meze team is small enough to be responsive to suggestions for improvement and nimble enough to implement them quickly. I think that's important when deciding how to spend your hard-earned cash, so I wanted to point out that the team at Meze are cool cats!
TL/DR REVIEW
Alright, for those of you who don't want to watch me ramble on about the 12 Classics (and 11 Neo) (well, and other stuff, to be honest
SPECS
- Frequency response: 16Hz - 24KHz
- Impedance: 16Ohm
- Sensitivity: 101dB (+/- 3db)
- Total harmonic distortion: < 0.5%
- Noise attenuation: up to 26dB
- Titanium coated 8mm mylar driver
- Copper-clad aluminum voice coil
- 3.5mm gold-plated jack plug
- 7N OFC cable, lenght: 1.2m
FR Curve From Meze's 12 Classics Product Page
PACKAGING
I'll let the packaging speak for itself...
ACCESSORIES
You get the clamshell zipper case shown above in the packaging section plus a shirt clip and a few pairs of tips. Meze also includes a pair of Comply tips (not pictured). Single-flange wide bore tips would be a nice addition!
BUILD + ERGONOMICS
The shells are wood barrels with aluminum end caps complete with fancy-schmancy Meze trident logo and aluminum nozzles. Strain reliefs are just fine. It would be nice if the L/R markings were more visible.
Play/Pause + Receive/End Call Remote + Mic. I'm sure it's functional, but I used these with DAPs so I didn't test.
Y-splitter is aluminum and again bears the Meze logo. Strain reliefs are fine and are reminiscent of those on the earpieces. Notice that there isn't a cinch. The cable feels quite rugged, and I don't have any concerns about durability. It is a bit thick above the y-splitter which, combined with the lack of cinch, makes wearing these over ear a no-go.
Gold-plated 3.5mm plug with aluminum construction. Strain relief is a bit short but fine.
FIT
As mentioned above, these are obviously intended to be worn down and any attempt to do otherwise will almost certainly result in frustration.
SOUND
The single dynamic driver 12 Classics have a slightly warmed-up sound with tight punchy bass, neutral mids, crisp highs, and good soundstage. I listened to them out of several sources from budget to TOTL DAPs with Electronic, Classic Rock, and Metal and found that they scale well as you use better sources and sound good with all of the music I threw at them. My experience with the Lotoo PAW Gold pairing was particularly eye opening, producing very tight, punchy, visceral bass and crisp highs that were well-defined but not hot.
Tip rolling allows you to tweak the sound as usual. Stock single-flange tips were my point of reference, resulting in the sound as described above. Comply provide an even warmer experience with smoother highs more akin to the 11 Neo. Stock double-flange tips reduced bass a slight bit, opening up the top end and increasing soundstage. Spiral Dots leaned them up quite a bit, giving a slightly warmed-up reference type sound.
By comparison, the 11 Neo are warmer, smoother, and more relaxed with stock single-flange. Bass increases a bit, as does lower mid presence. Highs are smoother without losing too much definition. Soundstage is more closed in comparison but is still good for the pricing. Tip rolling provides similar results as above, with Comply probably warming these up too much for most people, stock double-flange tips open them up a bit, and Spiral dots bringing these pretty close to the sound of the 12 Classics with the stock single-flange tips. 11 Neo do lack technicality compared to the 12 Classics and don't scale as well, but they're still a good buy at their price point.
SUMMARY
In my opinion their responsiveness to tip rolling and increasingly better sources indicates that these punch above their price point, making them an easy recommendation with just a few minor caveats which are that the cable should be more pliable/supple above the y-splitter to allow for over-ear use, the lower cable is a bit prone to microphonics, and the accessories package lacks single-flange wide-bore tips. Great job Meze!
With all that said, here's my video review. I hope it's useful. Enjoy!
Thanks again to @MezeTeam for sponsoring this tour. You're cool cats, and I'm glad I had the chance to meet you at RMAF. Keep up the good work!