[AutumnCrown]

Well, my extra pair of PSB earpads that i used on my 99C's just started tearing... anyone know of an alternative that makes the 99C's sound like when they had the original, better sounding pads? Or where you can buy replacement pairs of PSB earpads?

Is that the PSB m4u earpads you are talking about? Also, have you tried the latest generation pads? It seems like no one really knows how the latest generation pads sound compared to the original, or even how many generations of pads there have been. Perhaps Meze could clear up this latter issue for us?

 

[thehamubrglar]

Well, my extra pair of PSB earpads that i used on my 99C's just started tearing... anyone know of an alternative that makes the 99C's sound like when they had the original, better sounding pads? Or where you can buy replacement pairs of PSB earpads?

I gave up on finding PSB replacement earpads here in the US. I could order them from Australia but it was $25 shipping After trying many different third party pad options for the Classics, I settled with the Audio Technica MSR7 replacement pads. They were the best I could find for balancing comfort with listening quality (the stock Meze pads sound the best but were WAY too small). I tried several pads that felt great on my head but ruined the Classics' sound for me (I'm looking at you Brainwavz Sheepskin!!!), but I've been using the MSR7s for the last 6 months+ (5-8 hours per week day continuous use) and they work wonderfully. Feel free to check my post history. good luck

 

[slumber86]

Meze came this morning, the first hour the bass was HUGE and bomy, after some listen and some white noise things are setteling up. Love the stereo imaging and the lush highs!

Will use pink noise all night, these beauty can only get better!!

 

[Zenrap518]

I gave up on finding PSB replacement earpads here in the US. I could order them from Australia but it was $25 shipping After trying many different third party pad options for the Classics, I settled with the Audio Technica MSR7 replacement pads. They were the best I could find for balancing comfort with listening quality (the stock Meze pads sound the best but were WAY too small). I tried several pads that felt great on my head but ruined the Classics' sound for me (I'm looking at you Brainwavz Sheepskin!!!), but I've been using the MSR7s for the last 6 months+ (5-8 hours per week day continuous use) and they work wonderfully. Feel free to check my post history. good luck

I contacted PSB Support and they told me to contact their parts department for pricing and availability. Maybe you can try to contact them get a pair too.

 

[Zenrap518]

PSB support tried back and said that I can get the pads for no charge and that I just have to pay $15 for shipping

 

[AutumnCrown]

After trying many different third party pad options for the Classics, I settled with the Audio Technica MSR7 replacement pads. They were the best I could find for balancing comfort with listening quality (the stock Meze pads sound the best but were WAY too small).

Have you tried the latest version of the Meze earpads?

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

I gave up on finding PSB replacement earpads here in the US. I could order them from Australia but it was $25 shipping After trying many different third party pad options for the Classics, I settled with the Audio Technica MSR7 replacement pads. They were the best I could find for balancing comfort with listening quality (the stock Meze pads sound the best but were WAY too small). I tried several pads that felt great on my head but ruined the Classics' sound for me (I'm looking at you Brainwavz Sheepskin!!!), but I've been using the MSR7s for the last 6 months+ (5-8 hours per week day continuous use) and they work wonderfully. Feel free to check my post history. good luck

how well do the 99 Classics fit over that black hat @thehamubrglar ?

Did you get the first 99 classic that has smaller pads? That why they are too small for you, or is the new one still too small?

 

[thehamubrglar]

PSB support tried back and said that I can get the pads for no charge and that I just have to pay $15 for shipping

Awesome! Did they ask for proof of purchase? I don't own the headphones but wouldn't mind trying the pads.

Have you tried the latest version of the Meze earpads?

Yes I purchased the Classics around May of 2017. My understanding is that there are anywhere from 2-4 different variations of pads including the Neos (not sure if Meze ever clarified this, I have dropped off following this thread long ago). The pads that came with the Classics were the smalls (I got the white/silver edition). I spoke with Meze support and they shipped me the larger pads free of charge. The updated pads didn't really help much and I still found them to be much too small. So to answer your question, unless they have released a newer, larger pad since ~ August 2017 then yes I have tried the latest version but it didn't help much.

how well do the 99 Classics fit over that black hat @thehamubrglar ?

Did you get the first 99 classic that has smaller pads? That why they are too small for you, or is the new one still too small?

I'm not 100% sure if I had the second or third pads shipped to me by Meze. Please see my above response. Regardless, all Meze pads that I tried were painful for me in long listening sessions. All sizes were comfortable at first, but if I kept them on for more than an hour or two it began to dig into the side of my head.

 

[rafaelo]

Referring to a previous discussion these finally are the Charges due for my HD6XX ordered from massdrop:

Customs Entry £ 8.50
Import Duty £ 4.13
Import VAT £ 31.53
Total £ 44.16

So 159£ + 44£ + a 3m cable from Amazon approx 215£ in total.

Not bad for a model that is not available in Amazon any more.

On another note there is an offer in Meze site for father's day for free shipping for an order of 39£ and above. I exploited that to order a 3m cable for my Neo and new pads set.

I believe Meze should sell some assessories through Amazon UK. Is too much according to my opinion to pay 17£ shipping for a 20 euros cable.

On another note, I am totally ignorant about balanced cables and I would be grateful for some help. Is any reasonable priced balanced cables for Meze that can be used both for xDSD and ES100? Is that possible? There are people in this thread that use balanced for ifi products and for ES100 but can be used for both? Apologies in advance for my ignorance regarding this question.

 

[erich6]

Just going to add:
1.) Thanks for this mega-thread. It helped me to buy a used pair of silver/walnut meze 99 classics last year. *excellent headphones* and great for releasing stress in waves.
2.) The Cavalli CTH amp on massdrop pairs amazingly well with this.
3.) It's surprisingly close how similar these sound to the Sennheisser 6XX headphones. However, these have isolation.
4.) These are remarkably tough, but elegant. I'm the guy that caries diamonds and carbide inside my pockets and destroys everything I touch...these have survived my abuse.

Agree with you completely except I haven't heard the CTH amp. Can you elaborate on how they pair with the 99 Classics?

 

[someyoungguy]

Just got my 99 classics in from the courier depot today. Also bought the upgrade silver cable so I could use these balanced - in fact, I don't own any IEMs and these are the first headphones I've owned that can do balanced, so I'm breaking my balanced virginity as I type I'm pairing them with the balanced out from my Plenue R. Also have a ZX300 on the way so bought the 99 classics in order to be able to fully evaluate both of these DAPs and get a feel for them.

Straight up I might agree a bit with the post above that the bass is a little boomy and muddy, hopefully clears up with burn in. My current go-to headphones are B&W P7s, and those took me about 10-20 hours on and off before one day I picked them up and thought "damn these are good", so certainly have experienced burn in on headphones before. The balanced out on my Plenue R also has absolutely no burn in either.

Thanks to the tips shared in this thread I also ordered the Brainwave sheepskin pads, and swapped them on straight away - the stock pads are shallow! my ears were touching the drivers and I'm not exactly a wing-nut eared person. I have to say it is quite fiddly getting that little piece of fabric to insert into the slot when swapping pads, kind of wish they came with some little instructions for insider tips on how to change them easily; but in total was perhaps 10 minutes to swap both.

So a bit early for me to give reliable impressions of sound, but I'm really impressed with how beautifully these are made, and the great packaging and cases with both the 99 classics and upgrade cable

 

[superuser1]

I had got the dekoni pads to try with these and initially didn't like the change in sound (bass and sub bass disappeared, top end improved a little) bringing the stock pads back on. I tried to break in the dekoni pads by compressing it for about 2 weeks between books and other similarly weighing objects. I put them on this morning and listening to some Space, ambient music i must observe that the sub bass has tightened and the lack of a mid bass hump accentuates the sub bass and the trebles a bit.

I think ill try them out for a few days more before making a call which put keep on.

 

[Thatsgr8]

I am in the market for a set of the 99 Classics. My question is, what amp if any are you driving these with? Does a tube amp warm these up or is it overkill? A solid state does not sound like the direction I want to go. Mind you I have neither amps right now. I am basing this off everything I have read over the past month or so about amps. I am also looking to add a DAC with DSD or High Res. I have read about the last 30 pages of this thread and did not read much about an amp or a DAC with or without DSD, High Res used. I'm interested and curious and new to the game. Any help would be great, thanks.

 

[slumber86]

I am in the market for a set of the 99 Classics. My question is, what amp if any are you driving these with? Does a tube amp warm these up or is it overkill? A solid state does not sound like the direction I want to go. Mind you I have neither amps right now. I am basing this off everything I have read over the past month or so about amps. I am also looking to add a DAC with DSD or High Res. I have read about the last 30 pages of this thread and did not read much about an amp or a DAC with or without DSD, High Res used. I'm interested and curious and new to the game. Any help would be great, thanks.

Fundamentally they scale well, my advice is to use a cold one, solid state is better, because they have already much warm and bass, adding a tube amp can be "too much"

 

[rafaelo]

I am in the market for a set of the 99 Classics. My question is, what amp if any are you driving these with? Does a tube amp warm these up or is it overkill? A solid state does not sound like the direction I want to go. Mind you I have neither amps right now. I am basing this off everything I have read over the past month or so about amps. I am also looking to add a DAC with DSD or High Res. I have read about the last 30 pages of this thread and did not read much about an amp or a DAC with or without DSD, High Res used. I'm interested and curious and new to the game. Any help would be great, thanks.

I would recommend xDSD for those without any hesitation. Since they are easily driven xDSD is more than enough.

In addition, these are very light comfortable headphones so xDSD is also a very good match because you can have it in your pocket and move around with them very easily. In contrast, I find 4XX a bit heavy to move my head a lot so not very convenient for portable use and in this case maybe is more suitable to have a proper desktop amp.

For more information, you could check my xDSD review in the related head fi reviews section.