DaYooper
Headphoneus Supremus
True love is being able to keep them!
MEZE AUDIO ELITE - The New Isodynamic Hybrid Array Headphone - official thread
- Thread starter MezeTeam
- Start date
Congratulation. A new family means two of you are joining hands to experience a new life and receiving blessings from every new step..
If you have to let go the Elite because you are getting married, trust me, you should consider a closed-back as replacement. When you want to listen to your headroom while your wife are watching her YouTube of Neflix, a closed back will help you a lot. Or when she is reading but the leaked music from your open-back headphone is "disturbing". Sharing a space with your wife will means new habit and new practice.
The LIRIC is waving to you.
implicitzen
New Head-Fier
she's been living with me for almost a year now. I have my own office and I use open backs in there. Probably will never go back to closed backs for at home listening lol.Congratulation. A new family means two of you are joining hands to experience a new life and receiving blessings from every new step..
If you have to let go the Elite because you are getting married, trust me, you should consider a closed-back as replacement. When you want to listen to your headroom while your wife are watching her YouTube of Neflix, a closed back will help you a lot. Or when she is reading but the leaked music from your open-back headphone is "disturbing". Sharing a space with your wife will means new habit and new practice.
The LIRIC is waving to you.
ThanatosVI
Headphoneus Supremus
The Liric is my headphone of choice whenever my significant other is falling asleep on the CouchCongratulation. A new family means two of you are joining hands to experience a new life and receiving blessings from every new step..
If you have to let go the Elite because you are getting married, trust me, you should consider a closed-back as replacement. When you want to listen to your headroom while your wife are watching her YouTube of Neflix, a closed back will help you a lot. Or when she is reading but the leaked music from your open-back headphone is "disturbing". Sharing a space with your wife will means new habit and new practice.
The LIRIC is waving to you.
Myshkin
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2016
- Posts
- 60
- Likes
- 83
Thanks to whomever recommended the burson conductor 3x reference in this thread earlier. Just got it today and the sound is much improved from just my ifi black label! 
Arcamera
1000+ Head-Fier
Elite in the house I look forward to listening when I have some quality time.
I look forward to listening when I have some quality time.
Haha, if there is one thing I learned in this hobby, never say never on your next toy, you'll never know what you'll walk into tomorrow.
implicitzen
New Head-Fier
maybe. but i'm pretty addicted to the wider soundstage that open backs have to offer. I'm on a never-ending quest for expansive soundstage and detail of the HD 800S but with bass like the elite has. If i could frankenstein the best parts of these headphones together, I'd be in audio heaven
Arcamera
1000+ Head-Fier
Wow. Well, I can only add to the chorus: these headphones are excellent. Putting on some large orchestral music, as I usually do (Arnold Bax Tone Poems, David Lloyd-Jones, Royal Scottish, Naxos), I'm struck by the soundstage/imaging, and a presentation that is clean, transparent, fast, balanced, and with greater tonal weight and perhaps more accurate timbre than my HiFiMan headphones (HE1000SE, HE1000V2). And even a little more comfortable to wear than the already comfortable Empyrean. Beautiful. Now, the million dollar question: Is the Elite worth the money? Rather than offer the usual sober equivocations and "Your Mileage May Vary," yada yada, I'll just say: Hell Yes.
Edit: I'm trying to find something critical to say about the Elite, lest I sound too flaky. OK, granted, Honeymoon Phase and all that. But here's all I got:
1. For my tastes, I'm still probably going to EQ the treble down a little bit. But I do that with almost all headphones. Nothing egregious about the top end.
2. Looks: Fit and finish is great, but I'm kind of neutral about the silver aesthetic. I wish they offered that sexy blood-red look that was a limited edition on the Empyrean. Wearing the Empyrean/Elite still makes one look like an alien, or robot. But who here really cares about that? It's about the sound, baby!
Edit: I'm trying to find something critical to say about the Elite, lest I sound too flaky. OK, granted, Honeymoon Phase and all that. But here's all I got:
1. For my tastes, I'm still probably going to EQ the treble down a little bit. But I do that with almost all headphones. Nothing egregious about the top end.
2. Looks: Fit and finish is great, but I'm kind of neutral about the silver aesthetic. I wish they offered that sexy blood-red look that was a limited edition on the Empyrean. Wearing the Empyrean/Elite still makes one look like an alien, or robot. But who here really cares about that? It's about the sound, baby!
Last edited:
I get you, sometimes our "sense" tell us that we should remind critical, but our mind has sold us completely when we had a very enjoyable music experience, you won't really mind the shortcomings that you have noticed, right?
There are something in our life that we can judge by numbers, but headphones experience is not one of those, definitely not when we are referring to high quality headphones price at the north of $1K. So let's spend more time to enjoy what we have as-is.
Remember our Rai Penta give away competition with HiFi+ last years? We had a lot of fun last year and we decided to all-in with a more attractive prize. You get a chance to win the ELITE, our new isodynamic hybrid array flagship headphone worth £3,699.
To join the Meze Audio Elite give away competition, please go to our Competition Page and fill in the correct answer in the form. Alternatively, send your answer on a postcard (including your name, address, and contact details) to: ELITE COMPETITION; MEZE AUDIO, Iuliu Maniu str., nr. 38, 1st floor, ap. 2, Baia Mare, 430131, Romania.
The competition will run from December 2nd 2021 until February 3rd 2022. The competition is open to everyone, but multiple, automated or bulk entries will be disqualified. The winner will be chosen at random on Friday, February 4th, from all valid entries, will be contacted via email (where possible) and their name will be published on this here webpage and in HiFi+ magazine. The Editor’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Meze Audio and Absolute Multimedia (UK) Ltd. are compliant with the Data Protection Act and UK laws apply. Our policy is such that we will not pass on your details to any third party without your prior consent.
Simon Lucas reviewed the Meze Audio Elite in Hi-Fi+ issue #201 (pages 65-68) where he wrote, “Antonio Meze has overseen the launch of precisely half a dozen products – and a solid half of them have been launched in the last 18 months… it seems reasonable to expect a pretty sizable statement when Meze Audio launches a £3,699 isodynamic hybrid array over-ear headphone that sits right at the top of its suddenly burgeoning model range.”
He went on to say, “At the back of the driver is the hybrid magnet array, arranged to develop uniform activation across the whole surface of the diaphragm. At the front there’s a reinforced polymer housing. And in between sits Rinaro’s ‘Parus’ diaphragm, which somehow manages to combine an active area of 4650mm2 with an all-in weight of 0.11g.”
Simon concluded the review by saying, “the Elite are among the most accomplished headphones around – at any price. In sonic terms, the Meze Audio Elite have next-to-nothing to apologise for”.
To join the Meze Audio Elite give away competition, please go to our Competition Page and fill in the correct answer in the form. Alternatively, send your answer on a postcard (including your name, address, and contact details) to: ELITE COMPETITION; MEZE AUDIO, Iuliu Maniu str., nr. 38, 1st floor, ap. 2, Baia Mare, 430131, Romania.
The competition will run from December 2nd 2021 until February 3rd 2022. The competition is open to everyone, but multiple, automated or bulk entries will be disqualified. The winner will be chosen at random on Friday, February 4th, from all valid entries, will be contacted via email (where possible) and their name will be published on this here webpage and in HiFi+ magazine. The Editor’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Meze Audio and Absolute Multimedia (UK) Ltd. are compliant with the Data Protection Act and UK laws apply. Our policy is such that we will not pass on your details to any third party without your prior consent.
Simon Lucas reviewed the Meze Audio Elite in Hi-Fi+ issue #201 (pages 65-68) where he wrote, “Antonio Meze has overseen the launch of precisely half a dozen products – and a solid half of them have been launched in the last 18 months… it seems reasonable to expect a pretty sizable statement when Meze Audio launches a £3,699 isodynamic hybrid array over-ear headphone that sits right at the top of its suddenly burgeoning model range.”
He went on to say, “At the back of the driver is the hybrid magnet array, arranged to develop uniform activation across the whole surface of the diaphragm. At the front there’s a reinforced polymer housing. And in between sits Rinaro’s ‘Parus’ diaphragm, which somehow manages to combine an active area of 4650mm2 with an all-in weight of 0.11g.”
Simon concluded the review by saying, “the Elite are among the most accomplished headphones around – at any price. In sonic terms, the Meze Audio Elite have next-to-nothing to apologise for”.
TheMiddleSky
Headphoneus Supremus
Agree, very well said (written) here!
Have you tried Arya V2 btw? While Elite is one of the most favourite headphone in the market for me, I can't really listen to Arya V2, everything feels bright, thin, and sibilance. HE1000SE is much better option, but pricing almost like Elite though.
implicitzen
New Head-Fier
I have listened to the arya v2. I did like it quite a bit. im also a fan of that bright airy sound signature and wide soundstage effect.
Or so i thought, the elites have kinda ruined other headphones for my preferred genres. I now understand why people recommend certain headphones for different genres. Ive only ever had bright headphones before the elites. Went from dt990 pro > hd800S > meze elites. Not sure what im really after at this point.
Admittedly, this hobby is a massive rabbit hole you can easilg get sucked into. Hard to just be happy with what you got when you think there could be something better still out there. I think we're all just chasing that holy grail of the perfect headphone. But i have no idea where to look due to my inexperience with the vast majority of product offerings.
TheMiddleSky
Headphoneus Supremus
That's great, if you value the hifiman sound sig, then Arya is solid choice for the price. If I have to be in that situation, I think I will buy ZMF Auteur or Clear MG.
I think that's the main benefit living in a city with audio store. I'm a fomo person actually, and have chance to demo many kind of headphones indeed really helpful for my mental/wallet health haha.
Arcamera
1000+ Head-Fier
Yeah, the Mezes throw a curve ball-- going back to my HiFi Mans, everything suddenly sounds too thin and bright. Even compared to the brighter Elite (brighter vis a vis the Empyrean). Meze brings more tonal weight, making things sound more accurate and satisfying, IMO. And indeed, true about the hifi rabbit hole...
Users who are viewing this thread
