[adeypoos]

Lucky boy!

 

[Dobrescu George]

My impressions are incoming very soon as well! 

 

[erich6]

The burn-in will help tame some of the bass.  Also, I pair mine to an Oppo HA-2SE and that also helps tame the bass a bit.

 

[jinxy245]

Heard these at CanJam NYC. I and a friend were very impressed. I don't need another $300 headphone. But I felt I'd either get these or the Focal Listen, or both, eventually.

So, a few weeks go by. And, I just bought the 99 Classic Gold demo set from Stereo Exchange's moving sale ... should I say? ... $150. [!] I consider myself very lucky.

The condition of them makes me believe they were not auditioned very much. Maybe it was something they thought they'd sell but then didn't, so they didn't keep them out? Because I never saw these there. Then all of a sudden they were there in their 'everything must go' headphone display case. I was stunned. And snapped it up!

Incredibly good pairing with the Opus #1 DAP. Re-listening to tracks I just listened to via the Mojo. And I can comfortably say it's one of my few headphones that don't really need the Mojo to reach their potential. It's killer right from the DAP.
Edit: OK maybe that's just with lossey Redbook. The divide is wider in favor of the Mojo driving the 99 with lossless high bitrate stuff I bought from HDTracks.

Good catch...I wanted to make it down to Stereo Exchange, but was scared for my wallet (a few major purchases recently). The 99s for a buck fity? Insane....enjoy.

 

[Ampeezy]

I'm really really liking these meze's, even though i was not expecting too much from them. I still think the bass is still a tad too strong, although it will be awesome for any basshead. Beyond that the signature is a pleasure to listen to, and the phones are very decently detailed. Distortion is an issue for me with dynamics, and here i hear none. Treble is slightly rolled off but very nicely extended, so its detailed enough but forgiving with any song. Very nice purchase for a portable application.
 
I am getting some SPOCC cables to see if it helps any with the bass

 

[Dobrescu George]

  I'm really really liking these meze's, even though i was not expecting too much from them. I still think the bass is still a tad too strong, although it will be awesome for any basshead. Beyond that the signature is a pleasure to listen to, and the phones are very decently detailed. Distortion is an issue for me with dynamics, and here i hear none. Treble is slightly rolled off but very nicely extended, so its detailed enough but forgiving with any song. Very nice purchase for a portable application.
 
I am getting some SPOCC cables to see if it helps any with the bass

 
I managed to get the treble to extend all the way up. 
 
Took a ton of EQ and it also took me to use my custom ESS chip stup for it, but what I can make out of this is that many DAPs and implementations are actually a bit rolled off and 99C responds to that (?) 

(Talking about physical roll off, I did EQ them to get this well extended in both ways signature)

EDIT::: This is actually why I haven't reviewed them yet. I wanted to make sure whether there is any roll-off in the treble or bass areas, but after enough fiddling, I can safely say that they can be managed to have no roll off and extend to 20kHz with no problems. 

 

[peter123]

I definitely find the treble on the 99C to be a bit rolled off as well so different ears I'd guess.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I definitely find the treble on the 99C to be a bit rolled off as well so different ears I'd guess.

 
 
I don't want to come as misleading. 
 
This is a custom ESS DAC setup and this is how the EQ looks for it. With this, the treble is not rolled off. 
 
What I meant there is that it is not physically rolled off. There are headphones where they won't do the higher registers regardless of how much treble you apply to them through EQ. This is why I think that 99C is so great. The potential is amazing. 
 
Take SE846 for example, that one is rolled off so badly that EQ cannot save you from the despair, no matter how much EQ you add. 
 
Since I'm somewhat of a treble addict with a slightly obtuse taste, I do EQ every single headphone in existence. The question is whether it can take EQ and not distort.
 
The base signature for 99C is smooth and slightly rolled off, making for a rather silky top end. 

 

[peter123]

I never use eq so that probably the reason for our different impressions.

The reason for me not using eq is nothing more fancy than a combination of me being lazy and owing way too much gear

 

[Light - Man]

I never use eq so that probably the reason for our different impressions.

The reason for me not using eq is nothing more fancy than a combination of me being lazy and owing way too much gear

 
I am afraid you are not alone in that lazy boat of ours - sinking with the weight of too much gear and therefore rudderless. 

 
The day I start to use Eq's is the day I hang up my wife's ballet slippers!

 

 

[Dobrescu George]

I never use eq so that probably the reason for our different impressions.

The reason for me not using eq is nothing more fancy than a combination of me being lazy and owing way too much gear

 
Sounds like you're having fun either way though 

 
 

   
I am afraid you are not alone in that lazy boat of ours - sinking with the weight of too much gear and therefore rudderless. 

 
The day I start to use Eq's is the day I hang up my wife's ballet slippers!

 

 
You also sound like you're having a lot of fun 

 
 
 
My view on EQ is that it is fun to play with. 
 
Then again, I make games (programming / writing) as my first job and play games a lot so maybe it is just not everyone's thing to play 

 

 

[sabloke]

If you need to EQ then you bought the wrong gear IMHO

 

[adeypoos]

Day 4 - things have settled down across the frequency range now.  Far less of the errant bass and treble of day 1, but the lovely, musical warmth the 99C's exhibit still shines through like a beacon.  Been listening to some more rock today and another thing has struck me about the sound, the 99C's really shine when there is a distorted guitar sound.  I guess the effect is akin to that of tube v solid-state amp and you fellow guitarists will know what I mean by that.  There is something about the way distortion is rendered, in that it makes the music much creamier and more listenable.  I often find the sound of distorted guitars to be a problem for headphones(and hi-fi equipment generally) in that there is often a glare to the sound that is harsh, making certain genres of music unpleasant to listen to.  Now it certainly isn't perfect, but my hearing isn't and I'm not sure that ultra high end headphones would do a "better" job than the 99C's in terms of listenability.  I am convinced that the slightly elevated bass warmth and possibly the wooden maple tonality may be the reason for this.  Again, I have to stress that I am listening through the bare output of a Macbook Pro, so I'm sure the sound will notch up further when a dedicated headphone amp is used.  
Something I haven't mentioned yet is the soundstage.  Wow, for closed back headphones the 99C's are very good and that along with fairly good sound isolation means they are very practical for all kinds of situations.  The sense of space instruments is fine indeed, but not with a sterile, dissection of the finer strands of the music, retaining the feeling of togetherness at all times and the focus on the emotion and performance of a song.
 
These are fine headphones indeed!

 

[Dobrescu George]

If you need to EQ then you bought the wrong gear IMHO

 
It is a thing of being obtuse. There is not a single piece of equipment on earth that will ever sound as I want it to, so I tweak everything. 
 
It is safe to know that not everything can take the same amount of EQ nor does everything take EQ the same way. 
 
For example: There is a difference of how much EQ 99C can take and DJ1P can take before the sound becoming distorted, loosing transient response or smearing. 
 
99C can take the most EQ without distortion from the 300$ price range. DJ1P distorts badly if the same EQ is applied and this is something obvious even to the untrained ear... 
 

  Day 4 - things have settled down across the frequency range now.  Far less of the errant bass and treble of day 1, but the lovely, musical warmth the 99C's exhibit still shines through like a beacon.  Been listening to some more rock today and another thing has struck me about the sound, the 99C's really shine when there is a distorted guitar sound.  I guess the effect is akin to that of tube v solid-state amp and you fellow guitarists will know what I mean by that.  There is something about the way distortion is rendered, in that it makes the music much creamier and more listenable.  I often find the sound of distorted guitars to be a problem for headphones(and hi-fi equipment generally) in that there is often a glare to the sound that is harsh, making certain genres of music unpleasant to listen to.  Now it certainly isn't perfect, but my hearing isn't and I'm not sure that ultra high end headphones would do a "better" job than the 99C's in terms of listenability.  I am convinced that the slightly elevated bass warmth and possibly the wooden maple tonality may be the reason for this.  Again, I have to stress that I am listening through the bare output of a Macbook Pro, so I'm sure the sound will notch up further when a dedicated headphone amp is used.  
Something I haven't mentioned yet is the soundstage.  Wow, for closed back headphones the 99C's are very good and that along with fairly good sound isolation means they are very practical for all kinds of situations.  The sense of space instruments is fine indeed, but not with a sterile, dissection of the finer strands of the music, retaining the feeling of togetherness at all times and the focus on the emotion and performance of a song.
 
These are fine headphones indeed!

What you're hearing is very low distortion and very good transient response. 
 
99C manage to play distorted guitars without adding further THD and keeping the transient response UP so the ADSR of the song is not affected by the transducer. 

 

[PinkyPowers]

EQ'ing can save you a LOT of money. It can transform a headphone you once loved into a headphone you love again. Or turn an IEM that is nearly perfect into something the suites you better than you ever thought possible.

It's such a cheap, easy tool that delivers phenomenal value to those of us unlucky enough to have fallen into the audiophile hobby.