Some impressions with the Geek Out 1000 powering these:
These do an excellent job separating out vocal layers. On Fleetwood Mac - Dreams (West German Target pressing) this is especially apparent in the chorus. Each of the three vocalists is distinctly identifiable in space. Well done, Meze Audio, this isn't usually the case. I think these do a little better than the HD600 on this song.
On Eagles - Hotel California (DCC Gold), the jet pan is a little lost in the mix. I think it is due to some emphasis on other parts and the relatively limited soundstage depth. Imaging is generally good, but there isn't very much air around most instruments. There is an average sound stage. Bass sounds a touch warm and thick.
Listening to the new jazz album from Jenny Maybee and Nick Phillips, Haiku, I'm caught off guard in a couple tracks by some dagger sharp piano. I think this may have to do with the 5Khz peak on the frequency response chart. One thing that is interesting about listening to headphones that push some frequencies to extremes, is that you notice peaky parts of recordings you hadn't noticed otherwise. When I switched to the 64Audio X2 (2 BA Adel model), the sharp piano was still there, but it was less emphasized and not painful. The same was true with the HD600.
San Francisco Orchestra - Mahler Symphony Number 8, Part I, IV. Gloria Patri Domino (DSD64) is a great track for looking at vocal extremes and separation. These headphones are very suited to choral work. Absolutely fantastic! The soprano sounds dynamic and vibrant and the other singers are nicely placed and layered.
Similarly, Trondheim Solistene - Magnificat, Et Misericordia (24/352.8) has great vocal separation. You can't pick out individual voices in entirety, but the flourishes of individual vocalists pull away from the choir nicely.
On Why - Strawberries the bass is a bit bloomy. It still sounds good and has decent extension (still shows up at 25hz, but doesn't drop as low as this track can go with any authority). The percussion is good but not among the best of headphones I own. It feels a touch slow on transient response. I get more out of my Trinity Audio Atlas and Echobox X1 on transient speed and note decay. The slow decay gives a bit of a romantic character to the sound, but I have a tendency towards incisive lighter sounds.
In another story of revealing characteristics of the headphones, the quality of Regina Spektor's track, Fidelity, is exposed a bit at the beginning when the bass is dropping. There is a little bit of noise in the track that I hadn't really noticed that the Meze 99 Classics amplify a bit. I confirmed it with the HD600; it's there.
These headphones are easy to drive. I only have to take the GO1000 to 20 volume on my laptop. I think a little more impedance might lower the noise floor a bit, though, which might eliminate the problem above.
The headphones are beautifully constructed, but the pad size and depth are significant flaws. I have average size ears, but these are not circumaural to anyone with ears much larger than a 6 year old. The pads are also shallow. The combination of this and some clamping power from the headband means that I get a bit of physical ear strain after a few hours of listening. Meze's next headphone needs to actually get around the ear. I know it doesn't look as stylish, but I'll take comfort over style--give me bigger earholes and deeper pads.
My prelim conclusions: stunning vocals, beautiful design, premium feel, great accessories; some treble fatigue, unforgiving of noise in the low end of recordings, bass thick but not very textured, overall thickness to sound from bass, cup size not big enough (that's right I said it), and can cause ear soreness due to small pad size and clamping. These are good headphones, but I'm not sure I'd put my money on these over the Oppo PM3, which is in a similar price range, but more comfortable, with a more even handed frequency response and some of the best mids in it's price-range. One potential advantage that I haven't got to hear on these is the ease of getting a balanced cable. These have the now ubiquitous mono 3.5mm dual jacks (HiFiMan HE1000, HiFiMan HE-X, HiFiMan 400i and 400s circa 2016, Sennheiser HD700, Oppo PM1, Oppo PM2) so balanced cables are easily available. If I owned any of those headphones, I would have been able to do a balanced shoot-out between the HD600 and the Meze 99 Classics using the LH Labs Geek Pulse X-Infinity. It would have been exciting. Maybe if I win these at the end of the tour I can update my review.
I still need some more time for more comparative listening, and a full review will be forthcoming.
Here's some pictures!
