[Howlin Fester]

That's great thanks! I'm going to start with having a go at making the ones for the amps. Need to do some research on what cabling to purchase in the first place..

I noticed you are a fairly new Head-fi member, so I'll throw a couple of things out there to you. But if you know all this already, i apologize. Only trying to help.

Look up the DIY Cable Gallery thread. I found a lot of good information there when I wanted to make some cables. Helped me pick a good soldering iron, where to order cable, connectors, heat shrink, etc. You can also look up DIY and XLR adapter to see what others may have done. I haven't done a cable in a long time.

My suggestion would be to make an adapter first. That will be useful for a number of different headphones. JUST REMEMBER!!!! NEVER connect a balanced output to a single ended headphone. It will do bad things to your amp.

Here is a quote from Ray Samuels (A highly regarded amp designer) on the RSA Intruder thread - last page.
Quote from Ray: "The worst is when some one takes the balanced output of the INTRUDER & shorts the buffers to get a SE signal. That heats the buffers & make them distort."

A number of my headphones are terminated with a mini-4 pin XLR (male) Then I have some different adapters to plug into my amps. I have a kobikon (RSA uses these) 4 pin balanced to 4PinMiniXLR (female), I have a 1/8 TRS to 4PinMiniXLR female, 1/4 TRS to 4PinMiniXLRfemale. I got all these from Moon Audio.

And to keep this on Meze theme, hopefully Meze will offer at least a couple of different connection options for the balanced cable. Something that adapters can easily be created for.

Here are two pictures of my setup. Left picture shows my TH-900s terminated in mini4pin XLR male and the mini4pin XLR female beside it.
Right picture shows 2 of the adapters. Kobikon 4 pin to mini4pin xlr female on top, and 1/8 TRS to mini4pin xlr female on bottom. Both are about 12 inches. Moon Audio Blue dragon.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Having both Meze 99 Classics and iDSD BL on my hands right now, so much fun!!!

I love how this song sounds with the combo! No enhancements, just their natural sound!

 

[Richsvt]

I just returned/sold off some stuff to pick the 99 Classics up. Looking forward to hearing how these are. Will primarily pair these with the Fiio X5iii and Cowon Plenue D. Never had wooden cups before (at least in a full size phone). If they are half as striking as they are in pictures, this will be a real treat.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I just returned/sold off some stuff to pick the 99 Classics up. Looking forward to hearing how these are. Will primarily pair these with the Fiio X5iii and Cowon Plenue D. Never had wooden cups before (at least in a full size phone). If they are half as striking as they are in pictures, this will be a real treat.

They are even better! It's been a long time since the Wow factor has dissipated and they still manage to amaze me every single time I take them and put them on my head!

Knowing X5-3, you're clearly in for a treat!

 

[Bascule]

I noticed you are a fairly new Head-fi member, so I'll throw a couple of things out there to you. But if you know all this already, i apologize. Only trying to help.

Look up the DIY Cable Gallery thread. I found a lot of good information there when I wanted to make some cables. Helped me pick a good soldering iron, where to order cable, connectors, heat shrink, etc. You can also look up DIY and XLR adapter to see what others may have done. I haven't done a cable in a long time.

My suggestion would be to make an adapter first. That will be useful for a number of different headphones. JUST REMEMBER!!!! NEVER connect a balanced output to a single ended headphone. It will do bad things to your amp.

Here is a quote from Ray Samuels (A highly regarded amp designer) on the RSA Intruder thread - last page.
Quote from Ray: "The worst is when some one takes the balanced output of the INTRUDER & shorts the buffers to get a SE signal. That heats the buffers & make them distort."

A number of my headphones are terminated with a mini-4 pin XLR (male) Then I have some different adapters to plug into my amps. I have a kobikon (RSA uses these) 4 pin balanced to 4PinMiniXLR (female), I have a 1/8 TRS to 4PinMiniXLR female, 1/4 TRS to 4PinMiniXLRfemale. I got all these from Moon Audio.

And to keep this on Meze theme, hopefully Meze will offer at least a couple of different connection options for the balanced cable. Something that adapters can easily be created for.

Here are two pictures of my setup. Left picture shows my TH-900s terminated in mini4pin XLR male and the mini4pin XLR female beside it.
Right picture shows 2 of the adapters. Kobikon 4 pin to mini4pin xlr female on top, and 1/8 TRS to mini4pin xlr female on bottom. Both are about 12 inches. Moon Audio Blue dragon.

Thank you so much - I really appreciate your taking the time for this!


Ben

 

[Richsvt]

I just got these today and they are indeed a beautiful piece. Light-weight and gorgeous wood finish. Love the gold accents. Super comfortable and easy to adjust headband. Using the longer cable.

These are an amazing pair. I am coming from Mr. Speakers Ether and HiFiman HE-400i for full sized. So not great comparisons to those as different drivers and open versus closed.

I have had many closed units and had gotten rid of all of them. The ones I liked the best were the Sennheiser Momentums. But, I was just captured by the open phones more. I wanted to get back to some closed and tried the On-ear Momentums but returned them as couldn’t get used to the sound and comfort was horrible. These Meze came highly recommended so wanted to try them

Wanted to give my initial impression from right out of the box. I am not using equipment to measure anything, just the seat of my pants on songs on I know very well. These are own personal observations.

Equipment used: Fiio X5iii and the MBP>Schiit Bimby>Schiit Lyr 2

Sounds are wonderful out of the Fiio. More than enough power to drive these nicely. Same songs from the Desktop, everything with more authority. Clarity and dynamics just well beyond (which is what you’d expect from a superior Dac and amp). Desktop had way too much power for these so I had to be careful not to destroy them or my hearing.

Songs:

Chicago- Wishing You Were Here- great harmonies and small details. Love the range of vocals. Meze rendered spot on.

Chris Isaak- We Let Her Down- great song for male vocals. Isaak’s sultry timbre is just captivating. Again, Fiio and Meze was spot on. Schiit was stunning.

Level 42- Something About You- Excellent bass line and vocals, Missing a little detail around the guitars. Otherwise, mid-range vocals a little muffled. Similar on the Schiit.

Led Zeppelin- No Quarter (from The Song Remains the Same album)- excellent live performance. Soundstage was wide but loss a little vertical extension. Superb instrument placement. Again, a slight loss of mid-range micro-details.

Stone Temple Pilots- Sour Girl- Awesome instrument separation example for the guitars separate nicely left and right at different parts of the song. Fiio and Schiit provide nice separation. Still some top-end sparkle.

Phish- Bouncing Around the Room (Live from Atlanta 1996)- excellent stage- wide and deep- some vertical extension loss. Details were spot on. Vocals rendered accurately.

Bill Evans- For All We Know (We May Never Meet Again)- Instrument placement was superb, details were excellent. Deep black silence in the pauses. Piano excellently rendered. Felt like he was playing right in front of me in a nice intimate setting.

M83- Midnight City-Bass extension mixed with the highs was fabulous. Just the right amount of distortion. Harmonies in the vocals were excellent. Very musical

So, after a couple hours, I have to say that these are a keeper. Love the comfort and fit. These are great sounding pair. I had seen some small limitations but I have not burned these in yet. Again, I have to shift my expectations from open to closed types. Also, these are somewhat unforgiving. Throw a crappy Mp3 at them and you get a crappy rendition. Use some higher resolution files and these sing. I found that I got lost when listening. I had to go back and re-listen to some sections to make sure I was hearing things right. To me, that is always a great sign of a great headphone, if I get lost and close my eyes when listening, then you’ve got me. I am really curious to see how these even out some and I adjust to then sound better.

I’d like to replace the cable but the connectors are super slim so getting a nice custom one may prove challenging. I have Trevor at Norne looking into this for me.

Well done, Meze. Very Nicely Done.

 

[chungjun]

Have just placed an order for Meze 99C... <del>blind</del> deaf purchase based on review...

Hope it's a keeper...

 

[nassq8]

Have just placed an order for Meze 99C... <del>blind</del> deaf purchase based on review...

Hope it's a keeper...

I have LCD-4, Utopia, HE-1000 V2, etc ...... and my Meze is a keeper! I use it exclusively in my office for portability. Do not expect world-class resolution, but fun and nice details with lovely and warm wave spectrum.

Just be sure to get yours with the large earpad. I had ordered mine way after the new earpad was introduced, but somehow I received one with older earpad!

 

[Dobrescu George]

I have LCD-4, Utopia, HE-1000 V2, etc ...... and my Meze is a keeper! I use it exclusively in my office for portability. Do not expect world-class resolution, but fun and nice details with lovely and warm wave spectrum.

Just be sure to get yours with the large earpad. I had ordered mine way after the new earpad was introduced, but somehow I received one with older earpad!

Glad to hear that you found a broken piece of heaven in your office as well!

 

[sov73811]

So while testing out my new Audioquest Nightowl I found my younger bro took my Meze 99C and has taken a liking to them. So much that he's not willing to give them back. Was able to send them to a buddy in soCal and he loved them too. He would have kept them probably if there was a wireless version (Meze, you listening?).

So now I'm kinda at a crossroad: buy another 99C or find a Neo just because I can? Tbh the 99C's bass is all the bass I can handle and then some. If the Neo is more then...hmm....
Plus I can fund a second 99C with Amazon credits but not yet the Neo.

Oh! Dobrescu George, I remember awhile back you posting a vocaloid song? Forgot to ask: Have you played Hatsune Miku Future Tone with the Meze headphones? If you're in for the high score you may not want to; the sound is so detailed, it's distracting.

 

[Dobrescu George]

So while testing out my new Audioquest Nightowl I found my younger bro took my Meze 99C and has taken a liking to them. So much that he's not willing to give them back. Was able to send them to a buddy in soCal and he loved them too. He would have kept them probably if there was a wireless version (Meze, you listening?).

So now I'm kinda at a crossroad: buy another 99C or find a Neo just because I can? Tbh the 99C's bass is all the bass I can handle and then some. If the Neo is more then...hmm....
Plus I can fund a second 99C with Amazon credits but not yet the Neo.

Oh! Dobrescu George, I remember awhile back you posting a vocaloid song? Forgot to ask: Have you played Hatsune Miku Future Tone with the Meze headphones? If you're in for the high score you may not want to; the sound is so detailed, it's distracting.

The game is too great though!

Meze 99 C have made all games so much fun for me! One, because they sound awesome and two because they are comfortable. I can wear them and forget I'm wearing headphones.

 

[chungjun]

Expecting delivery soon... kudos to local retailer for quick response.

By the way, as order placed is recent... can I expect my order to come with 'new' pads [i.e. slightly larger than original (or V1)]?

Or do I have to separately order for the 'new' pads [i.e. slightly larger than original (or V1)]?

Have just placed an order for Meze 99C... <del>blind</del> deaf purchase based on review...

Hope it's a keeper...

 

[Dobrescu George]

Expecting delivery soon... kudos to local retailer for quick response.

By the way, as order placed is recent... can I expect my order to come with 'new' pads [i.e. slightly larger than original (or V1)]?

Or do I have to separately order for the 'new' pads [i.e. slightly larger than original (or V1)]?

It is quite likely that you'll get a pair with the new pads! You can even check this out as the boxes have changed since the new pads were introduced!

 

[elNan]

It is quite likely that you'll get a pair with the new pads! You can even check this out as the boxes have changed since the new pads were introduced!

I'm very interested in these bad boys but I also share the same concern as @chungjun. I know you said that the new version of these headphones come with the "new" smaller pads, but is it possible to buy anywhere the previous version? Can you buy the pads separately?

 

[Dobrescu George]

I'm very interested in these bad boys but I also share the same concern as @chungjun. I know you said that the new version of these headphones come with the "new" smaller pads, but is it possible to buy anywhere the previous version? Can you buy the pads separately?

Woah

The new pads are bigger, the smaller ones are the older ones!

You can buy either of those directly from Meze as they're great guys and process orders pretty fast and deliver promptly (tested this myself).

But if you're buying a new set, you're probably going to get the larger, more comfortable set of pads!