[CCsaZ428]

The issue with the stock pads has to do with the bloated bass. It's not really an issue but more like a preference. To me it sounds good with the stock pads and I like the boomy bass for explosions in games and movies and sometimes in music too.

There is so such thing as "they don't sound as good as they used to".

Fortunately Meze Audio is one of the very rare brand that let us order accessories to change sound. Truely appreciate that! If you want, you can go ahead and order the smaller pads.

Yeah you’re right it really comes down to personal preference and what you like. I just worry that the bass will overshadow everything else. Like you said if I don’t like the pads I can always replace them. Do they still sell the original pads? I have a hard time finding them online.

 

[CTR640]

Yeah you’re right it really comes down to personal preference and what you like. I just worry that the bass will overshadow everything else. Like you said if I don’t like the pads I can always replace them. Do they still sell the original pads? I have a hard time finding them online.

No worry, the treble is still very clear and silky, no detail is lost. You'll hear anything and I'm surprised myself. There is no overshadowing.

And the smaller pads and other accessories are available on Meze Audio their official store. Not sure about the shipping to your country tho.
It can happen some of the accessory are out of stock, it's a matter of time for them to be back in stock again.

 

[CTR640]

Yeah I feel you, for the past week I’ve been looking at all the different pads you can replace onto the Meze to change the sound of it for better or for worse. I’ve seen so many different padding options and so many people say they love these pads and someone else would say no they don’t sound good they sound horrible on my ears. I know it’s all personal preference, and not being able to test it out on my own ears sucks big time since I’d be blind buying. I haven’t heard anybody talk about the Shure HPAEC1540 Replacement Alcantara pads for the meze 99 classics yet so I’m very interested on why you went with those and how they changed the sound signature for the better.

The true and honest answer: you can't. We all were buying the headphones blindly (or more like deaf lol). If you really wanted great sound and comfort, you won't be looking at overrated and overused headphones/earphones like from Apple, Sony, Samsung, Beats and other popular brands. You'd be looking for brands that might be only popular amongst a certain group named 'audiophiles'. Such brands are Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, Audeze, Meze Audio, Klipsch (unfortunately this one is getting non-existent) and other brands that are specialized in audio for almost everyone from budget to high-end. All you gotta do is have max budget, what your usage are, equipment, preferences and you'll find your path on your endgame headphones.

 

[Rackhour]

I saw Meze’s tutorial video on how to replace ear pads. Is the process as nondestructive as it is made out to be?

I had the same debate few months ago and I'm glad I went ahead and bought them. At first, I was really disappointed because I wasn't aware of how the new pads affected the sound (in a bad way) but thanks to this forum, I learned about different pad options. I went with the Shure HPAEC1540 Replacement Alcantara pads.

How did the sound change?

 

[CCsaZ428]

The true and honest answer: you can't. We all were buying the headphones blindly (or more like deaf lol). If you really wanted great sound and comfort, you won't be looking at overrated and overused headphones/earphones like from Apple, Sony, Samsung, Beats and other popular brands. You'd be looking for brands that might be only popular amongst a certain group named 'audiophiles'. Such brands are Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, Audeze, Meze Audio, Klipsch (unfortunately this one is getting non-existent) and other brands that are specialized in audio for almost everyone from budget to high-end. All you gotta do is have max budget, what your usage are, equipment, preferences and you'll find your path on your endgame headphones.

Yeah I don’t like beats, apple, Sony and Bose has good Noise cancellation. The sound is not as good as other brands though. Unless maybe higher end Sony’s. I’m not a audiophile but I do love the brands and headphones in that specific category. Really higher end good quality cans in general. It’s just most people don’t listen to really high end audiophile headphones out of a IPhone most of the time they have a lot of equipment.That way they can get the most out of there cans. I feel I don’t want to be at that stage yet I still like headphones that I can plug into my IPhone are easy to drive and sound great. I hope that makes sense. I feel the Meze will do a good job at that.

 

[Rackhour]

Yeah I don’t like beats, apple, Sony and Bose has good Noise cancellation. The sound is not as good as other brands though. Unless maybe higher end Sony’s. I’m not a audiophile but I do love the brands and headphones in that specific category. Really higher end good quality cans in general. It’s just most people don’t listen to really high end audiophile headphones out of a IPhone most of the time they have a lot of equipment.That way they can get the most out of there cans. I feel I don’t want to be at that stage yet I still like headphones that I can plug into my IPhone are easy to drive and sound great. I hope that makes sense. I feel the Meze will do a good job at that.

IMO, it takes more than just good finances to expand your equipment.

I am somewhat curious about amps and DACs, but I live in company housing provided as part of annual contracts. I want to be able to pack stuff up quickly when the time comes to leave.

And I feel like there still are many quality headphones that can be easily run on an iPhone.

 

[RestinPeart]

Yeah I feel you, for the past week I’ve been looking at all the different pads you can replace onto the Meze to change the sound of it for better or for worse. I’ve seen so many different padding options and so many people say they love these pads and someone else would say no they don’t sound good they sound horrible on my ears. I know it’s all personal preference, and not being able to test it out on my own ears sucks big time since I’d be blind buying. I haven’t heard anybody talk about the Shure HPAEC1540 Replacement Alcantara pads for the meze 99 classics yet so I’m very interested on why you went with those and how they changed the sound signature for the better.

Here's how it went in my case, I always had my eyes on them but was on the fence for a few reasons, like you said, not being able to try them before buying really sucks and reading completely opposite reviews didn't help either, for instance, on YouTube, InnerFidelity puts them on his wall of fame in a heart beat....and Metal571 says that the new pads completely over powers the bass and basically destroyed them.(paraphrasing here...but you get my point)

So I decided to try them anyway because at $399 (Canadian money) I already paid 4 times that for other headphone I own and figured that if I don't like them at all, I could always sell them to recuperate some of my money...and I didn't really believe that pads could change the sound that much, so I went and bought them.

When I got them, I completely understood what Metal571 meant in his YouTube review, that's when I started to look for different pads option on the web and found out about this thread. Many different pads options were mentioned but none of them were available, either sold out or simply not sold at all in Canada.

The Shure 1540 pads were mentioned a few time in this thread and in different YouTube videos reviews and were available for around $60 in Canada. I have a pair of Shure 940, so I was able to try the 940 pads on my Meze, right away, the bass sounded way more controlled, less boomy, I could almost get the same results with the original pads by lowering the 250 Hz frequency in my Fiio M11 using the EQ but the 940 pads seems to tame the exact frequency that cause the bass to be bloated, better then EQing.

So I went and bought the Shure 1540 pads hoping that they would give me the same results as the 940 pads and maybe a little more controlled bass and more comfort.

I don't know if the 1540 pads are better than the 940 but one things is for sure, I don't regret one second having bought the Meze and the 1540 pads, perfect match as far as I'm concerned..to a point where I feel no desire to search for the perfect sound anymore.

One more thing I must add is that I also bought at the same time the Meze 2.5 mm balanced cable for my Fiio M11, that also made a difference but the pads swap alone made the biggest improvement.

Sorry for the long post, hope that helps.

 

[CTR640]

Yeah I don’t like beats, apple, Sony and Bose has good Noise cancellation. The sound is not as good as other brands though. Unless maybe higher end Sony’s. I’m not a audiophile but I do love the brands and headphones in that specific category. Really higher end good quality cans in general. It’s just most people don’t listen to really high end audiophile headphones out of a IPhone most of the time they have a lot of equipment.That way they can get the most out of there cans. I feel I don’t want to be at that stage yet I still like headphones that I can plug into my IPhone are easy to drive and sound great. I hope that makes sense. I feel the Meze will do a good job at that.

The term 'audiophile' can lead to extreme arguments that are totally senseless. I'll never consider myself being one but I do appreciate really great sounds. If I have the funds for and I want it, then I'll get it if I really want it. Of course within limitations like not spending grands on an aux cable

The reason why most people don't listen to really high-end headphones is of course because of the price, they can cost from 299 all the way in the grands. Perhaps it could be marketing too. You know Klipsch? Their headphones are now getting very rare and prices are going up. Klipsch discountinued the Heritage HP-3. And then we have Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser, both are specialized in high-end cans but they do have affordable headphons too and even for gaming. But not a lot knows about them. MSI, Asus, Gigabyte on the other hand are very well known brands and specialized in gaming headphones but maybe not in the soundquality-wise. Audeze for both too and they advertised the Penrose series.

And then as you have discovered, pads can alter the sound. However, some suckers like me, I tend to keep my stuff stock and am very cautious too.

There is so much to learn in the world of audio.

 

[Rackhour]

Here's how it went in my case, I always had my eyes on them but was on the fence for a few reasons, like you said, not being able to try them before buying really sucks and reading completely opposite reviews didn't help either, for instance, on YouTube, InnerFidelity puts them on his wall of fame in a heart beat....and Metal571 says that the new pads completely over powers the bass and basically destroyed them.(paraphrasing here...but you get my point)

So I decided to try them anyway because at $399 (Canadian money) I already paid 4 times that for other headphone I own and figured that if I don't like them at all, I could always sell them to recuperate some of my money...and I didn't really believe that pads could change the sound that much, so I went and bought them.

When I got them, I completely understood what Metal571 meant in his YouTube review, that's when I started to look for different pads option on the web and found out about this thread. Many different pads options were mentioned but none of them were available, either sold out or simply not sold at all in Canada.

The Shure 1540 pads were mentioned a few time in this thread and in different YouTube videos reviews and were available for around $60 in Canada. I have a pair of Shure 940, so I was able to try the 940 pads on my Meze, right away, the bass sounded way more controlled, less boomy, I could almost get the same results with the original pads by lowering the 250 Hz frequency in my Fiio M11 using the EQ but the 940 pads seems to tame the exact frequency that cause the bass to be bloated, better then EQing.

So I went and bought the Shure 1540 pads hoping that they would give me the same results as the 940 pads and maybe a little more controlled bass and more comfort.

I don't know if the 1540 pads are better than the 940 but one things is for sure, I don't regret one second having bought the Meze and the 1540 pads, perfect match as far as I'm concerned..to a point where I feel no desire to search for the perfect sound anymore.

One more thing I must add is that I also bought at the same time the Meze 2.5 mm balanced cable for my Fiio M11, that also made a difference but the pads swap alone made the biggest improvement.

Sorry for the long post, hope that helps.

You did say that you’re not sure if the 1540 pads were better, but you don’t regret the combo with the 1540 pads. How would you attempt to describe the new sound? Judging by how you worded your post, the conclusion I’m drawing is that the bass is more to your liking.

 

[RestinPeart]

I saw Meze’s tutorial video on how to replace ear pads. Is the process as nondestructive as it is made out to be?



How did the sound change?

I saw Meze’s tutorial video on how to replace ear pads. Is the process as nondestructive as it is made out to be?



How did the sound change?

Sorry for the long post, hope that helps.
affecting the overall presentation

I saw Meze’s tutorial video on how to replace ear pads. Is the process as nondestructive as it is made out to be?



How did the sound change?

You did say that you’re not sure if the 1540 pads were better, but you don’t regret the combo with the 1540 pads. How would you attempt to describe the new sound? Judging by how you worded your post, the conclusion I’m drawing is that the bass is more to your liking.

Don't know if you own them but if you do, lower the 250 Hz frequency by 2 to 3 db on your player, that's what come close to the sound difference in the bass with the 1540 pads compare to the stock pads.

 

[Rackhour]

Sorry for the long post, hope that helps.
affecting the overall presentation


Don't know if you own them but if you do, lower the 250 Hz frequency by 2 to 3 db on your player, that's what come close to the sound difference in the bass with the 1540 pads compare to the stock pads.

Unfortunately I do not own this pair. I’m just going through threads about closed backs that fall under my budget and may interest me, hence the really open ended question.

 

[CCsaZ428]

The term 'audiophile' can lead to extreme arguments that are totally senseless. I'll never consider myself being one but I do appreciate really great sounds. If I have the funds for and I want it, then I'll get it if I really want it. Of course within limitations like not spending grands on an aux cable

The reason why most people don't listen to really high-end headphones is of course because of the price, they can cost from 299 all the way in the grands. Perhaps it could be marketing too. You know Klipsch? Their headphones are now getting very rare and prices are going up. Klipsch discountinued the Heritage HP-3. And then we have Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser, both are specialized in high-end cans but they do have affordable headphons too and even for gaming. But not a lot knows about them. MSI, Asus, Gigabyte on the other hand are very well known brands and specialized in gaming headphones but maybe not in the soundquality-wise. Audeze for both too and they advertised the Penrose series.

And then as you have discovered, pads can alter the sound. However, some suckers like me, I tend to keep my stuff stock and am very cautious too.

There is so much to learn in the world of audio.

You’re 100% right there’s so much to learn in the audio world. I keep researching and researching all day haha I just love learning. Thank you for all your help though I’m going to go with the Mezes and if the bass is too much I can just do a pad switch once again thank you.

 

[CCsaZ428]

Here's how it went in my case, I always had my eyes on them but was on the fence for a few reasons, like you said, not being able to try them before buying really sucks and reading completely opposite reviews didn't help either, for instance, on YouTube, InnerFidelity puts them on his wall of fame in a heart beat....and Metal571 says that the new pads completely over powers the bass and basically destroyed them.(paraphrasing here...but you get my point)

So I decided to try them anyway because at $399 (Canadian money) I already paid 4 times that for other headphone I own and figured that if I don't like them at all, I could always sell them to recuperate some of my money...and I didn't really believe that pads could change the sound that much, so I went and bought them.

When I got them, I completely understood what Metal571 meant in his YouTube review, that's when I started to look for different pads option on the web and found out about this thread. Many different pads options were mentioned but none of them were available, either sold out or simply not sold at all in Canada.

The Shure 1540 pads were mentioned a few time in this thread and in different YouTube videos reviews and were available for around $60 in Canada. I have a pair of Shure 940, so I was able to try the 940 pads on my Meze, right away, the bass sounded way more controlled, less boomy, I could almost get the same results with the original pads by lowering the 250 Hz frequency in my Fiio M11 using the EQ but the 940 pads seems to tame the exact frequency that cause the bass to be bloated, better then EQing.

So I went and bought the Shure 1540 pads hoping that they would give me the same results as the 940 pads and maybe a little more controlled bass and more comfort.

I don't know if the 1540 pads are better than the 940 but one things is for sure, I don't regret one second having bought the Meze and the 1540 pads, perfect match as far as I'm concerned..to a point where I feel no desire to search for the perfect sound anymore.

One more thing I must add is that I also bought at the same time the Meze 2.5 mm balanced cable for my Fiio M11, that also made a difference but the pads swap alone made the biggest improvement.

Sorry for the long post, hope that helps.

I saw some other people on Z reviews demo of the meze 99 classics that recommend the 1540 sure pads for the Mezes and it helps with the bass a lot like you said less boomy more controlled he even said better highs. I made my decision and I’m going too purchase the Mezes with the 1540 pads. Thank you for all your help I appreciate it.

 

[CCsaZ428]

IMO, it takes more than just good finances to expand your equipment.

I am somewhat curious about amps and DACs, but I live in company housing provided as part of annual contracts. I want to be able to pack stuff up quickly when the time comes to leave.

And I feel like there still are many quality headphones that can be easily run on an iPhone.

Yeah I’m mainly looking for quality headphones that can run off a IPhone good I just like to relax and jam out to music but I don’t like beats or anything like those haha. Have you tried to Mezes? If you have I wanna hear your experience with them.

 

[PopZeus]

Before pad rolling, I'd upgrade to the Meze silver cable first. That will probably impact which pads you end up keeping on the 99 Classics after opting to ditch the stock pads.