Yes, indeed, I am loving these...pretty certain these would be dethroning my current office headphone, for those very reasons. And the bass, I feel is not as intrusive as it was the first few days. It’s not quite as tight as the H6 but it’s close, and the quantity is better. I think what keeps it from sounding too messy is that the subbass isn’t boosted. And the mids, of course, are great. Much better than the H6.
I did try something though last night, while testing tracks between the two; my Fiio has a bass boost, which I tried a few times before but never really used it other than experimenting those few times; something about a bass boost switch feels like you’re artificially boosting a frequency, like it’s not as authentic. Sorry if that doesn’t make sense. Anyway I applied it on my H6 during testing.
This boost on my H6 actually brought vocals closer to the tonality of the 99, and brought the bass to a similar level, but I don’t think it provided the same sense of dynamics, power, or crunch of the 99. It also seems to have masked the rest of the mids, or made them not as distinct. They also sound a little less tight and more cloudy, possibly because it boosts the subbass too. I’ll have to keep experimenting with this to see how close it really is. Either way, my 99 Noir did come across as a little muddy on some tracks but it didn’t sound like it was due to bass; more like the treble wasn’t as clear and the stage wasn’t as wide so it felt more congested.
Right now, in my mind:
99 Noir: Natural, full, punchy, stuffy
H6: Neutral, thin, light, airy
Trade-offs there are, yes, as expected. But the Meze is coming along. Maybe a balanced cable would help give the sound more room to breathe. Few more days to a week of comparing and hopefully I’ll come to a decision of which one to make my daily driver. One thing I know, is I like both so much I’ll probable keep both!
