Meze 99 Classics Review – Walnut Wood High-Fidelity Headphones

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Meze 99 Classics is an over-ear headphone, with 40 mm driver units housed within closed wooden earcups. Though the majority of headphones only have a few special aspects, the 99 Classics boasts exceptional sound performance, exquisite craftsmanship, and a noble packaging. The stylish, well-polished, glossy wooden earcups realize an elegant portrayal.

When purchasing headphones, various considerations play a significant part, besides sound. Wearing warmth, mobility, as well as haptics and appearance. Suppose an exceptional architecture and the usage of natural resources like wood are high on the wish list. In that case, it is usually necessary to fall back on rather high-priced models from renowned manufacturers—until the arrival of Meze 99 Classics.

Meze 99 Classics Walnut Wood Hi-Fi Headphones Review

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Meze 99 Classics Specifications

Type: Closed-back Over-ear High-Fidelity Headphones | Frequency Response: 15 Hz – 25,000 Hz | Impedance: 32 Ohms | Sensitivity: 103dB at 1KHz, 1mW | Drivers: Dynamic | Drivers-Size: 40 mm | Weight: 260g

Meze 99 Classics Overview

Meze 99 Classics inspires with its perfect design, high-quality materials, exemplary workmanship. The excellent comfort, balanced, and accurate sound are also among the Meze 99 Classics’ best-ranked features. Meze attempts to maintain the characteristic style of noble standards.

The wooden earcups have been crafted mindfully, very pleasing to the touch, and from an aesthetic point of view. Listening to Meze 99 Classics without DACs and amplifiers, we were already very happy with the performance. The conventional equipment alone is enough to absorb almost every detail of Meze’s performance – delivering a peculiar audio experience with slightly accentuated low and medium frequencies.

Package

On the onset, the package appears high-quality, very tough, and robust; it has a glued insert with the company logo on the front of the case.

Meze attempts to maintain the characteristic style of noble standards. The gold embossed black box conceals the handy hard case, containing the headphones themselves and all the necessary accessories.

In addition to the 99 Classics themselves, a 3.5 mm to 6.3 mm adapter, a plane adapter to two 3.5 mm plugs, two cables, and a lightweight fabric case. The two wires are covered with Kevlar braiding, whereas the short cable comes with a one-button control panel with an integrated microphone.

The long cable is a three-meter cable, which can be used for indoor listening. The short cable (1.2 meters) is designed for listening with a portable Walkman or a smartphone.

Design & Ergonomy

The Meze 99 Classics Walnut headphone is a gorgeous pair of over-ear with luxurious wood earcups. The design is enclosed; thus, it ensures the listener substantial noise insulation.

One of the strengths of this model is its design. The wooden cups cut on a CNC machine embody a unique texture, making each pair of Meze 99 Classics unique from the rest.

The cups’ exterior surfaces are qualitatively polished, yet no glossy lacquer has been used; hence its surface doesn’t collect fingerprints.

The wooden earcups have been crafted mindfully, very pleasing to the touch, and from an aesthetic point of view.

There are three versions of this model: silver framework and walnut earcups, gold and walnut, and a white leather version with a silver headband and maple cups.

With Meze 99 Classics, listening to music is always enjoyable: the polyurethane earcups prevent from putting pressure on your ears, while the headphones weigh as little as 260g, the lightweight headband accommodates any head size and allow the headphones nestle on your head snugly.

The headphone connection is straightforward and user-friendly, having two standard connectors. Each connector carries a distinctive label (Left-Right).

The material quality and the craftsmanship are beautiful, both visually and at hand. The Meze 99 Classics embodies an elegance that can be matched by only a few other headphones.

Sound Quality

These headphones boast an impressive 103 dB sensitivity, an impedance of 32 Ohms. The announced frequency response is 15 Hz – 25 kHz.

On the box, there is a rather smooth frequency response graph. Therefore, these headphones could be operated using even the most energy-starved devices, but also by using a high-quality music player.

Listening to Meze 99 Classics without DACs and amplifiers, we were already very happy with the performance.

The conventional equipment alone is enough to absorb almost every detail of Meze’s performance – delivering a peculiar audio experience with slightly accentuated low and medium frequencies.

Meze 99 Classics performed brilliantly in hip-hop, rock, jazz as well as pop music. The bass is a tad emphasized, but without any superfluous elements, it is kind of softened to achieve a full-bodied sound effect. Still, it is also beneficial to the overall performance. In general, the bass response is satisfactory for the majority of styles.

With the Meze 99 Classics, the sound is superbly balanced, delivering breathtaking power and energy throughout the entire spectrum from bass to treble.

With tight bass and coherent, but detailed vocals, the high frequencies are not intrusive, which appeals to the ears, the sound never tires; it brilliantly engages every musical genre you play.

The attention to detail is pretty dazzling for a set of headphones worth such a small price, and quite frankly, not even the high-end models of established players in the audio headphone industry match Meze 99 Classics.

The trebles are transparent, devoid of any sharpness, beautifully balanced, and calibrated sufficiently to provide a clearer and more precise sound without dampening the sound stage.

Conclusion

Meze 99 Classics inspires with its perfect design, high-quality materials, exemplary workmanship. The excellent comfort, balanced, and accurate sound are also among the Meze 99 Classics’ best-ranked features.

These headphones sound dangerously good, in so far that when a song is mixed poorly, Meze 99 Classics will degrade it further, as it picks up all the imperfections in the track. In the end, it’ s worth choosing lossless formats to suit these headphones quality-wise. Offering abundant attention to detail, Meze 99 Classics mainly caters to enthusiastic music lovers and serious audiophiles to an extent.

Meze doesn’t have an overly analytical sound signature, though it still plays detailed with a vivid reproduction of the sound. The 40 mm drivers have an impressive response curve, it puts an accent on musicality and tastefulness, rendering a beautiful presentation.

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