[PopZeus]

I finally received the ifi hip DAC and the Silver Upgrade Cable in 4.4 balanced. Then listened to an ultra HD track from Amazon Music HD with my iPhone 12. What can I say? I am not fully convinced, maybe I had to high expectations? The sound is pretty mushy with emphasis on the deep end where I thought the silver cable would help with. Or is it the audio file (but they are all 24/192 tracks). Or do I need different pads as well? And if so which would help in this case? I also noticed extreme interferences between the dac and my iPhone because the connection cable is too short, so I guess I need an extension as well. And the silver cable has untwisted a bit at the end where it runs into the jack. I do not know if this is just a cosmetic issue or not...

Pad swaps usually deliver bigger tuning changes than a cable swap. Afaik, the smaller pads bring up the mids and lower treble by around 5dB when compared to the stock pads. Look, don't get me wrong. Even with the smaller pads this is still a bassy headphone, and there is a bit of cup resonance that is inherent to the design. But it is much closer to something most people would warm but natural and very forgiving of poor recordings.

 

[Johnfg465vd]

I finally received the ifi hip DAC and the Silver Upgrade Cable in 4.4 balanced. Then listened to an ultra HD track from Amazon Music HD with my iPhone 12. What can I say? I am not fully convinced, maybe I had to high expectations? The sound is pretty mushy with emphasis on the deep end where I thought the silver cable would help with. Or is it the audio file (but they are all 24/192 tracks). Or do I need different pads as well? And if so which would help in this case? I also noticed extreme interferences between the dac and my iPhone because the connection cable is too short, so I guess I need an extension as well. And the silver cable has untwisted a bit at the end where it runs into the jack. I do not know if this is just a cosmetic issue or not...

If you haven't already, give Hip-DAC some burn in.

Got my silver cable 3 days ago. In my limited experience (I own 3 silver cables), a cable upgrade (even silver) won't turn a bassy headphone into something else.

Pad change makes more impact on SS (sound signature), I've tried 5 different pairs. Try stock small pads, I've read that they improve bass quality (ordered mine, they'll arrive in 8 days). If you feel comfort might be an issue, get dekoni sheepskin for meze (a bit costly though)

 

[OspreyAndy]

On the subject of bass, the good thing about this 99 Classics being very modular and serviceable hence easy to mod. From my own experience playing with cups mass can influence bass. The more free space the bigger bass, the more condensed tighter it goes. For my on 99 classics I will sandwich in some thick dense foam and will report back how it goes. For an Etymotic user I am not keen on the amount of bass on this thing.

 

[pk4425]

I've heard that chord products bring out the best in the 99. Maybe it's just clean power and source? I don't think pads would change detail levels, only loudness. Shame to hear about the hip dac, I was considering it myself

I use the hip-dac with the 99 Classics. Unbalanced, stock cables. Works just fine. But you sure as hell don't need the Bass Boost feature on the hip-dac with the 99 Classics!

 

[pk4425]

Pad swaps usually deliver bigger tuning changes than a cable swap. Afaik, the smaller pads bring up the mids and lower treble by around 5dB when compared to the stock pads. Look, don't get me wrong. Even with the smaller pads this is still a bassy headphone, and there is a bit of cup resonance that is inherent to the design. But it is much closer to something most people would warm but natural and very forgiving of poor recordings.

True. But the problem is, the 99 Classics with their stock pads don't have what anyone would consider to be "roomy" cups. They're snug around bigger ears.

Swap to the smaller pads, and these things are way too small and create pain for those with larger ears or heads, like me.

 

[CTR640]

Meze 99 Classics + stock pads + silver upgraded cable = pure joy :3

 

[magicalmouse]

Meze 99 Classics + stock pads + silver upgraded cable = pure joy :3

Interestingly, my journey with the 99 classics began with the larger pads which were way too bassy for me, i bought the smaller pads which made a real difference and after some time (several months of prevaricating) i bought the silver cable on 30 day trial. The silver cable sounded initially very bright and i burnt it in for many hours (around 50) - after a few weeks it has settled down and comparing it with the (shorter) stock cable the difference is night and day (imo) - the treble and mids are clearer and more defined without any hint of being over bright or sibilant and the bass has settled down - the are still bassy headphones but it is defined bass not the boom of the original cable, i am using the meze out of a mojo, ifi nano black (firmware 5.2 as i found the meze sounded artificial with 5.3c) and a musical fidelity x-cans 3 (modified) and they all sound good combinations - obviously subjective but isn't all hifi listening.

Anyway if you are able to try out the silver cable on approval it is worth doing so.

I am using it with a 3.5mm single ended cable as all my daps/amplifiers are single ended.

 

[CTR640]

Interestingly, my journey with the 99 classics began with the larger pads which were way too bassy for me, i bought the smaller pads which made a real difference and after some time (several months of prevaricating) i bought the silver cable on 30 day trial. The silver cable sounded initially very bright and i burnt it in for many hours (around 50) - after a few weeks it has settled down and comparing it with the (shorter) stock cable the difference is night and day (imo) - the treble and mids are clearer and more defined without any hint of being over bright or sibilant and the bass has settled down - the are still bassy headphones but it is defined bass not the boom of the original cable, i am using the meze out of a mojo, ifi nano black (firmware 5.2 as i found the meze sounded artificial with 5.3c) and a musical fidelity x-cans 3 (modified) and they all sound good combinations - obviously subjective but isn't all hifi listening.

Anyway if you are able to try out the silver cable on approval it is worth doing so.

I am using it with a 3.5mm single ended cable as all my daps/amplifiers are single ended.

Yeah, when using the silver cable, the bass has gotten more punchy and no more bloated bass or sloppy bass(?). The treble is better too. When I was using the stock cable, the mids weren't that nice to hear but it is indeed a night and day difference. As desk dac/amp I got the Fiio K5 Pro, so far I like it. I enjoy audio, not to analyse audio.

I use the 3.5mm silver cable with rhodium 3.5 to 6.3 adapter. It looks sexier too

 

[Johnfg465vd]

Interestingly, my journey with the 99 classics began with the larger pads which were way too bassy for me, i bought the smaller pads which made a real difference and after some time (several months of prevaricating) i bought the silver cable on 30 day trial. The silver cable sounded initially very bright and i burnt it in for many hours (around 50) - after a few weeks it has settled down and comparing it with the (shorter) stock cable the difference is night and day (imo) - the treble and mids are clearer and more defined without any hint of being over bright or sibilant and the bass has settled down - the are still bassy headphones but it is defined bass not the boom of the original cable, i am using the meze out of a mojo, ifi nano black (firmware 5.2 as i found the meze sounded artificial with 5.3c) and a musical fidelity x-cans 3 (modified) and they all sound good combinations - obviously subjective but isn't all hifi listening.

Anyway if you are able to try out the silver cable on approval it is worth doing so.

I am using it with a 3.5mm single ended cable as all my daps/amplifiers are single ended.

Hey, I've got similar setup to yours. Mojo for portable use and iFi Zen Stack (5.2 Firmware) for desktop. Interestingly, I prefer stock cable for vocals and SPC for everything else. The SPC kind of strips away some warmth and comforting nature of the vocals. Maybe burn in will improve the sound more for me, I did 17 hours of almost continuous playback.

 

[iFi audio]

But you sure as hell don't need the Bass Boost feature on the hip-dac with the 99 Classics

Affirmative, that's a bit too much

get dekoni sheepskin for meze

Works rather well, though!

 

[JamminVMI]

Meze 99 Classics + stock pads + silver upgraded cable = pure joy :3

Meze 99 Classics + stock pads + Schiit Loki Mini Plus = pure joy

We're all different - but getting to the same joyful place is always possible and usually fairly simple.

 

[iFi audio]

Meze 99 Classics + stock pads + Schiit Loki Mini Plus = pure joy

I'd throw in a cable that opens them up a bit, but other than this you're good

 

[OspreyAndy]

Meze 99 Classics Makeover:
Finally I managed to muster the nerve and time to mod my Meze 99 Classics as I indicated earlier.

Why:
I love this 99 Classics, everything about it. The build, finesse and the vibrant sound it offers. However being so attuned to flat neutral and natural sound of Etymotic ER4SR and Shure KSE1500, I found the bass to be a bit too much for my taste. Also I can sense some micro details are somewhat being suppressed mildly in the background.

The good thing is, Meze built this 99 Classics fully modular and highly serviceable. Which means it is relatively easy to dismantle. The mods that I did is totally non destructive and quite reversible (should the results after mod is not up to my expectations).

So here goes:
After the pads are removed, the housing unit and the driver plate are easily detached with the removal of the 4 torx screws. As seen below it already have a circular foam pad serving as dampening substance.

1st stage of the mod is to replace the small pad with larger and denser foam that will fill the entire chamber cavity. Easily fashioned with a sharp scissors to match the cavity shape. Reassembly would require a bit of persuasion to snap the driver plate back as the bigger foam now will need to be compressed down. The goal for this mod is to emulate very limited sonic resonance that usually will result of tightening of bass (as how I have learned from previous closed back headphone mods)

2nd stage is simply the removal of the fabric screen at the front of the drivers. Easily and safely peeled off with the use of knife edge to dislodge the border glue. I was meticulous with this procedure as I want to preserve the fabric screen to ensure I can place it back should the need arises. The goal for this is to allow for better micro details presentation that could be veiled by the screen. The end state, only one layer of screen will be used now which are the one attached to the stock pads

3rd stage, playing with bass breather ports. As commonly done on many closed back headphones, bass breather holes are used in varying sizes. For example Fostex T50rp series will have several ports that you can close/open to influence lower frequency responses. For 99 Classics there's a pair of 3 rather large holes placed on the top and bottom of the driver plate. In this instance I opted to leave only one hole remaining (one each top and bottom). Electrical tape was used to close the holes and these are perfectly reversible as well.

And so everything reassembled and unless I am telling you that this 99 Classics has been modded, there's no way anyone would guess what lies underneath. All looked stock and tidy.

So does it work? Hell yes! it worked.

The difference:
Immediately audible, bass are a lot tighter and tidy now. Very very disciplined and richly textured. Now it does sound a lot more neutral to my ears. Playing through Diana Krall's tunes confirmed my expectations as the micro details are more pronounced with her piano strokes and percussion decays presented with better authority. Spinning through Russian Circles "Harper Lewis" also confirmed that the bass now remained impactful and deep, minus the overpowering presence. Guitars raged with better bite on the riffs much similar to what I normally heard through ER4SR and KSE1200. Most importantly, the 99 Classics vibrancy that we love remained intact.
Bottom line, I am very happy with the results, it exceeded my expectations and loving this Meze 99 Classics even more now

 

[iFi audio]

Immediately audible, bass are a lot tighter and tidy now.

You're also getting less of it I presume?

 

[OspreyAndy]

You're also getting less of it I presume?

From my perspective, it's not less. I see it as being overly generous in the amount of bass to begin with. What I did was to tune it down in size what I perceive as neutral, natural and normal as per my usual listening on par to what Shure KSE1200, Etymotic ER4SR and AKG K52 presented to me.