[peterinvan]

To judge a headphone, any headphone, you need to look at the entire chain: source - DAC - AMP - cables - headphones.

Unit variations if any, are unlikely. What changes are the components constituting a given chain.

That is IMHO, one of the reasons why opinions about gear posted on forums are of little value. They focus on one component and ignore the rest.

Also, each reviewer should post their audiogram frequency curve (or age?). We all hear differently.

 

[Quadfather]

Perhaps the best looking HP under a grand. Truly amazing build. Wished I could say the same about the sound but we all like different things.

I hate it on my Sonys, it's good with LPGT, but it's fantastic on the Lotoo Paw 6000

 

[Erick Muller]

Perhaps the best looking HP under a grand. Truly amazing build. Wished I could say the same about the sound but we all like different things.

For me the meze 109 pro is a little lacking in the bass region, it's very well extended but lacks impact, I can EQ a bass shelf and it adds a little bit more slam and punch to this wonderful HPs, but still is not at Focal's level of slam and punch in that regard, but it has other attributes that make it pretty much a toss up between the OG Clears and the 109 pros.

 

[Twizzleshnizzle]

For me the meze 109 pro is a little lacking in the bass region, it's very well extended but lacks impact, I can EQ a bass shelf and it adds a little bit more slam and punch to this wonderful HPs, but still is not at Focal's level of slam and punch in that regard, but it has other attributes that make it pretty much a toss up between the OG Clears and the 109 pros.

I get what you mean. For me 109 has the fuller bodied sound with more timbre. Clear has superb dynamics. They're different enough to happily own both together.

 

[JeroenNietDoen]

For me the meze 109 pro is a little lacking in the bass region, it's very well extended but lacks impact, I can EQ a bass shelf and it adds a little bit more slam and punch to this wonderful HPs, but still is not at Focal's level of slam and punch in that regard, but it has other attributes that make it pretty much a toss up between the OG Clears and the 109 pros.

I think the bass of the 109 slams well enough. In my opinion it most certainly outclasses the Edition XS easily.

 

[Quadfather]

I think the bass of the 109 slams well enough. In my opinion it most certainly outclasses the Edition XS easily.

I like the bass. We all prefer different sound. Too much bass slam is entirely irritating to me.

 

[JeroenNietDoen]

SOmething else by the way, the only complaint I have about the Meze 109 Pro is the cable. I absolutely hate this cable. I'm not an expert on aftermarket cables, I ordered an OpenHeart 16 core cable.

 

[Erick Muller]

I think the bass of the 109 slams well enough. In my opinion it most certainly outclasses the Edition XS easily.

Unfortunately I'm to used to Focals visceral punch when it comes to DD HPs, so in that regard for me the 109 pros without EQ is a little bit lacking in the punch and slam department, that's not to say there's not any punch there, but in some regards I think that my LCD-X or LCD2C slams harder than the 109 pros straight out of the box, no EQ. I'm not saying that this is bad, it's just different sound signatures and this is one of the reasons I always tuned my headphones either by changing pads, EQ or in some cases even modding them(well paying other people to mod them for me) because I like a more impactful sound presentation.

 

[Erick Muller]

SOmething else by the way, the only complaint I have about the Meze 109 Pro is the cable. I absolutely hate this cable. I'm not an expert on aftermarket cables, I ordered an OpenHeart 16 core cable.

The stock cable is godawful tbh, almost as bad as focal's stock cables. I'm using a periapt splyt cable for the meze 109 pro and I can use it with both my focals and the 109 pro, the meze 99 classics tho is a no-go with that cable.

 

[g4ndr1k]

I tried this headphone like a year ago and it looked nice and felt super comfortable.

However the treble was bothersome.

At Canjam London i was at Chord booth and they had a stack of Anni/Qutest or w/e And it didn't seem harsh as my first audition which ibelieve was Questyle CMA 12 IIRC

Is there quite big differences in variance from those who have heard multiple sets?

Somehow, the treble, IMHO, is very good for my ears when pairing with Sony 1Z M2 using cheap OFC custom cable 4.4mm. Much better than my Ananda Stealth.

 

[marekm]

It is indeed. But synergy is key and many "audiophiles" ignore it.

Headphone is not a stand alone piece of gear it is part of a chain. All components matter.

I think that I have said it before

 

[Quadfather]

It is indeed. But synergy is key and many "audiophiles" ignore it.

Headphone is not a stand alone piece of gear it is part of a chain. All components matter.

I think that I have said it before

Very true. I have multiple great combinations throughout my gear.

 

[qboogie]

are you on the stock cable? i heard it can actually cause that "bad" treble for some users.
either the upgrade cable or the hart audio cable can indeed fix that. but i am not 100% sure if that is legit or true, but for me the 109 is beautiful with the hart cable and i don't need to eq them

The same explanation was offered in wave theory's review of the 109 pro. He A/B tested the stock vs the aftermarket cable and said the stock sounded harsher and more sibilant.

 

[Quadfather]

SOmething else by the way, the only complaint I have about the Meze 109 Pro is the cable. I absolutely hate this cable. I'm not an expert on aftermarket cables, I ordered an OpenHeart 16 core cable.

I have an aftermarket cable from LQI Cables and love it.

 

[Death_Block]

Colour certainly goes with it