[Leeco]

For anybody interested, I put my pair of Neo's for sale: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fs-meze-99-neo.892244/
They don't get any head-time, cause I keep using my Senn HD700 or Audioquest Nighthawks all the time.

 

[koover]

Bro that’s a great price! These “should” sell today. If not? Waaaaaat?

 

[kushanukum]

I just got a good deal on a pair of 99 Neo's and I'm enjoying the a lot, especially with my Cayin tube amp.

 

[jwbrent]

I took advantage of the $50 savings on the Neos and received them today. I like the design a lot, and the plastic used on the cups is well done, not cheap looking at all, in my view. Burning them in ...

 

[rafaelo]

I read an Amazon review which influenced me a lot and I have decided to use the brainwavz velour pads. I do not know even if I changed them properly or even if this leather enclosure can fit inside the space as the original one.

The way I am using them right now obviously make the headphone look a lot more uglier although so much supremely comfortable to me since I love the velour feeling. To be honest though these velour pads are not even close qualitywise to the sennheisers 6XX series pads which I really adore.

The diameter from the inside part of the pad is smaller I believe and this probably affects the sound considerably.

Now YMMV a lot and maybe you will NOT like the change in signature and that is quite understandable.

But if you like the change it is very probable that you will like it a lot since according to me there is a significant change in the sound signature. To my ears this is a game changer not a fine tuning move.

These pads + balanced cable + xCan = I do not believe what I am hearing.

Only thing I need somehow to place them differently and make the headphone look pretty again.

I hope Meze will devote effort to really develop proper velour pads of serious quality for the 99 series.

 

[koover]

I read an Amazon review which influenced me a lot and I have decided to use the brainwavz velour pads. I do not know even if I changed them properly or even if this leather enclosure can fit inside the space as the original one.

The way I am using them right now obviously make the headphone look a lot more uglier although so much supremely comfortable to me since I love the velour feeling. To be honest though these velour pads are not even close qualitywise to the sennheisers 6XX series pads which I really adore.

The diameter from the inside part of the pad is smaller I believe and this probably affects the sound considerably.

Now YMMV a lot and maybe you will NOT like the change in signature and that is quite understandable.

But if you like the change it is very probable that you will like it a lot since according to me there is a significant change in the sound signature. To my ears this is a game changer not a fine tuning move.

These pads + balanced cable + xCan = I do not believe what I am hearing.

Only thing I need somehow to place them differently and make the headphone look pretty again.

I hope Meze will devote effort to really develop proper velour pads of serious quality for the 99 series.

Appreciate the info but you really haven’t told us what changes in sound you’re hearing. I for one would be very interested in your views as I believe it will also affect the 99 classics sound if used with these pads.

 

[Bansaku]

I read an Amazon review which influenced me a lot and I have decided to use the brainwavz velour pads. I do not know even if I changed them properly or even if this leather enclosure can fit inside the space as the original one.

The way I am using them right now obviously make the headphone look a lot more uglier although so much supremely comfortable to me since I love the velour feeling. To be honest though these velour pads are not even close qualitywise to the sennheisers 6XX series pads which I really adore.

The diameter from the inside part of the pad is smaller I believe and this probably affects the sound considerably.

Now YMMV a lot and maybe you will NOT like the change in signature and that is quite understandable.

But if you like the change it is very probable that you will like it a lot since according to me there is a significant change in the sound signature. To my ears this is a game changer not a fine tuning move.

These pads + balanced cable + xCan = I do not believe what I am hearing.

Only thing I need somehow to place them differently and make the headphone look pretty again.

I hope Meze will devote effort to really develop proper velour pads of serious quality for the 99 series.

Been wanting Meze to release velours since day 1. Now My curiosity has peeked, and perhaps I shall give'em a try.

Appreciate the info but you really haven’t told us what changes in sound you’re hearing. I for one would be very interested in your views as I believe it will also affect the 99 classics sound if used with these pads.

+1 on this!

 

[rafaelo]

Appreciate the info but you really haven’t told us what changes in sound you’re hearing. I for one would be very interested in your views as I believe it will also affect the 99 classics sound if used with these pads.

I did refer to an Amazon review because I want to give credit to people that deserve it and said thinks better and before than me. So quoting Mr Pete H. From Amazon UK:

"Fit well, very comfortable and definite sound improvements. Tames the bass a lot which leads to higher clarity, transparency, soundstage with the beautifully natural tonal balance remaining. Ones ears can get a bit warm and sound isolation/leakage is increased. The hybrid pads remain the best out of the 3 as the noise isolation/leakage isn't affected as much so they're still suitable for office/out and about listening allbeit the sound is marginally better through these."

Commenting further on the comment above using my personal taste I can say that mostly aggree with comments regarding the change in the sound signature.

But I believe ears feels less warm than the original ones although I can test this properly in the summer. Noise isolation: I am not sure because did not use them side by side I was using predominantly 58x before change pads on those, I asked my wife and noise isolation seems acceptable even if not great but i need to take them in the office for the final test before I make a final judgement.

The biggest improvement is on bass, bass and bass. Since I am listening a lot of house music the bass was overwhelming on bass emphasized tracks, the signature too much warm and not in a good way. Particularly with my tube preamplifier the headphone before did not cooperate well at all and in general with warm systems. Now the bass is tamed considerably so all other frequencies can breath so more and highs are revealed better, the headphone is definitely more neutral. All frequencies are improved but not sure if this is because of an overall improvement across the range or because bass is tamed in reasonable levels and everything can be revealed better.

I can understand that people that were not listening house music or similar before could never notice if something is going wrong in lower frequencies but then again this is not important to them as these frequencies are not used often in a repetitive mode as usually in house/EDM music.

The headphone now seems more open actually it behaves like an open headphone. There is some clarity in upper frequencies but as I said not sure if this the result of clearing the bass. The sound now seems simply cleaner less conjested more natural for longer listening hours.

The thing is though the pads do not seem firm enough like the sennheiser pads so I am not sure if they will stand the passage of time. I am not sure if the integrity of the foam will remain rigit after while.

And finally, NO still do not have the tibre of the wood and sweetness of the classics still prefer my classics a lot. And I would not say yet that I would prefer this from 58X but 58X is a very special budget open headphone with even better velour pads.

 

[koover]

I did refer to an Amazon review because I want to give credit to people that deserve it and said thinks better and before than me. So quoting Mr Pete H. From Amazon UK:

"Fit well, very comfortable and definite sound improvements. Tames the bass a lot which leads to higher clarity, transparency, soundstage with the beautifully natural tonal balance remaining. Ones ears can get a bit warm and sound isolation/leakage is increased. The hybrid pads remain the best out of the 3 as the noise isolation/leakage isn't affected as much so they're still suitable for office/out and about listening allbeit the sound is marginally better through these."

Commenting further on the comment above using my personal taste I can say that mostly aggree with comments regarding the change in the sound signature.

But I believe ears feels less warm than the original ones although I can test this properly in the summer. Noise isolation: I am not sure because did not use them side by side I was using predominantly 58x before change pads on those, I asked my wife and noise isolation seems acceptable even if not great but i need to take them in the office for the final test before I make a final judgement.

The biggest improvement is on bass, bass and bass. Since I am listening a lot of house music the bass was overwhelming on bass emphasized tracks, the signature too much warm and not in a good way. Particularly with my tube preamplifier the headphone before did not cooperate well at all and in general with warm systems. Now the bass is tamed considerably so all other frequencies can breath so more and highs are revealed better, the headphone is definitely more neutral. All frequencies are improved but not sure if this is because of an overall improvement across the range or because bass is tamed in reasonable levels and everything can be revealed better.

I can understand that people that were not listening house music or similar before could never notice if something is going wrong in lower frequencies but then again this is not important to them as these frequencies are not used often in a repetitive mode as usually in house/EDM music.

The headphone now seems more open actually it behaves like an open headphone. There is some clarity in upper frequencies but as I said not sure if this the result of clearing the bass. The sound now seems simply cleaner less conjested more natural for longer listening hours.

The thing is though the pads do not seem firm enough like the sennheiser pads so I am not sure if they will stand the passage of time. I am not sure if the integrity of the foam will remain rigit after while.

And finally, NO still do not have the tibre of the wood and sweetness of the classics still prefer my classics a lot. And I would not say yet that I would prefer this from 58X but 58X is a very special budget open headphone with even better velour pads.

Thank you for the response.
Eliminate the pad comfort, it doesn't sound like this is something that I'd be interested in if it turns this headphone neutral. Not for me. It definitely wouldn't work for the 99 classic as it would just ruin the sweet sound that it already posses....to me at least. Appreciate the detailed and thorough response man!

 

[rafaelo]

Thank you for the response.
Eliminate the pad comfort, it doesn't sound like this is something that I'd be interested in if it turns this headphone neutral. Not for me. It definitely wouldn't work for the 99 classic as it would just ruin the sweet sound that it already posses....to me at least. Appreciate the detailed and thorough response man!

I do not know what exact effect these pads will have to classics since I am happy with classics a lot and I am not very much motivated to try it there but the comment from the guy above in Amazon is regarding the classics. I took his advise and implement that to Neo where I wanted to tame that excessive for me bass. Now when I am saying neutral just to be clear I meant more neutral in comparison with what was before there is still plentiful bass but it is much better defined and behaved.

And my concept of sweetness is coming from the wood tibre not sure how these pads will tame sweetness since my neo sound even sweeter than before with these pads. In any case, my recommendation is firstly for people that are not happy with neo and before selling it I am recommending the change above as a last resort advise and also for the manufacturer that according to me should offer some choise with different pads like audioquest did. When someone is completely happy with something should not make a change like you never change any player in a winning team unless you are bold enough.

And every ear is different as discovered recently I can't keep the earpods stuck in my ears for a phone conversation they keep falling down. Obviously a pad choice related to sound is personal as well.

Tubes are also great i love them but as you rightly said not for portable use. I wish to have the luxury to play with tubes more often but unfortunately I have not.

 

[Mhog55]

For those living in the States, roughly how long did it take to get your balanced cables, ordered direct from Meze Audio?

 

[xxAMAROKxx]

Tubes are also great i love them but as you rightly said not for portable use. I wish to have the luxury to play with tubes more often but unfortunately I have not.

Meze 99 neo don't work with my Little Dot II (OTL tube amp). It's due to their low 26 ohms impedance.

 

[rafaelo]

Meze 99 neo don't work with my Little Dot II (OTL tube amp). It's due to their low 26 ohms impedance.

Many thanks, Interesting information.

As I said above, I have only buffer/preamplifier and hybrid tube cheap stuff so I do not know about the Little dot which would be my first choice under other circumstances.

But really want to know how much impedance headphone I need to use with little dot? When you say does not work you mean does not play at all or does not sound good?
Obviously classics at 32 ohms is the same I guess.

 

[xxAMAROKxx]

Many thanks, Interesting information.

As I said above, I have only buffer/preamplifier and hybrid tube cheap stuff so I do not know about the Little dot which would be my first choice under other circumstances.

But really want to know how much impedance headphone I need to use with little dot? When you say does not work you mean does not play at all or does not sound good?
Obviously classics at 32 ohms is the same I guess.

There was an extreme distortion, when I tried Neo with LD II. What I know, OTL amps work well with a high impedance headphones. More ohms you have -> more power you get. And transistor amps are recommended for a high current hp's. I suppose, that good hybrid amp is ok.
According to LD II, They wrote 32 - 600, but some of my 32 ohms HP's do not work either and some do. Maybe it depends also on a power consumption of the HP, but I would not advise you wrong.

 

[rafaelo]

There was an extreme distortion, when I tried Neo with LD II. What I know, OTL amps work well with a high impedance headphones. More ohms you have -> more power you get. And transistor amps are recommended for a high current hp's. I suppose, that good hybrid amp is ok.
According to LD II, They wrote 32 - 600, but some of my 32 ohms HP's do not work either and some do. Maybe it depends also on a power consumption of the HP, but I would not advise you wrong.

Very interesting, thank you. Did you change any opamp in your little dot or still have the original one?