As the title say I am wondering if anyone could give me any input on the effects of rolling pads on the 99 Noir. I ask as I was planning on picking up a pair for portable use. But I have heard complaints of muddy mid bass due to the new pads that come with them from mass drop. So before I buy a set I wanted to know what sort of alternative pad would sound good on them.
Meze makes 2 pads. The smaller ones are what you want to go with. When the 99 Classics were first released, the small pads were what came with it (those were the ones Z heard the 99 Classics with in his review). After some complaining by some head-fiers, they made a revision pad that was larger and deeper. Better comfort, but it changed the sound and the bass became very bloated. They now offer both pads.
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And to add to that, both pads come with the noirs already. So you can try out both 
.
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Matter of fact, I think I will try the smaller pads. I’ve only used the larger ones because the others looked too small. But it’s worth a listen
The smaller aren’t as comfortable, but they do give a much more linear sound.
That’s one reason I made this post, I wondered if there was away to get similar sound to the small ones but in a more reasonable size.
Yeah I made an attempt. I did like the sound more but no way too uncomfortable for me. My ears fit into the size just fine. But they’re not deep at all! The drivers were entirely resting in my ears. Switched back. I am on a hunt for new pads for them.
I thought I read somewhere that the brainwavs oval pads were pretty decent on these. For 20 bucks it’s worth a shot
However, the larger ones, at least to me, aren’t that bad in comparison. Like yeas the bass is a little looser but it didn’t completely change the sound like some pads do.
The fear I had was that the increase in volume would give the mid bass to much bloat as that was a complaint of the larger alt pads that come with it. I wondered if maybe a valuer or micro suede pad would not present such a situation.
Actually, the only other pads that sound decent are Dekoni Pleather M50X pads. not very easy to pad roll the meze’s. the brainwavz make them extremely V shaped in an awful way.
do you know tat is for sure for all material types? is it just due to pad shape change?
I tested all the dekoni pads and only the m50x protein leather dekoni sounded OK on them…but the small stock pads are the only ones that sounded right, in my opinion.
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well damn, how many pads do they have? quite a few iirc. do you remember what it was that sounded bad about the adjusted sound?
It just either eliminated the bass and added to much treble, or vice versa. Pad swapping becomes difficult when stock pads of a headphone have small ear cavities.
so my meze 99 noir arrived the other day. The new large pads are not the most comfortable but sound ok except for the fact they have an awkward hollowness to them that I do not like. The smaller ones sound WAY better but are very not comfortable to wear for lengthy periods of time. I tried swapping to my spare HM5 non angled sheepskin pads. The bass was ok but the mids had a hint of hollowness to them and you are right they made them very V shaped. I tried adding some felt to te back of the pads which on first testing seems to tame the treble very well. I’ll keep toying with sound dampening to see if I can make further improvements.
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Pretty much my exact experience. The smaller ones sound best.
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There is a solution to pad swapping with the Meze’s, but it will cost you: Buy the silver cable for $110. It tightens the bass and opens the mids and treble.
I picked up the noirs a month ago. Loved the sound. Not quite as comfy as my DT880 and DT770 with dekoni pads.
Soooo I got the dekoni pads for the noirs and I’m now in heaven. The sound was my signature to start with. I can hear the saw with definition in bass. Now I’m a little further away from the can with the dekonis and find it infinitely more comfortable (it doesn’t feel like the panel in front of the driver is resting on my ear.) Everything feels to have a bit more room in the sound. Bass is tight and the hairs on my ear can get a buzzing feeling if the bass is right. I can easily leave these on all day and forget I have them on. The cups aren’t tight against my kind of skinny head so I can hear the outside at lower volumes.
i am way late to this, but have u tried putting thin layer of very very porous foam on the larger ones? will reduce the hollow sound. experiment with thickness. to thick will reduce high frequencies. just a cheap option to try out if that is your biggest hold up to using the larger cups.
also sorry, this is waaaay late but hey better late then never right? might help someone else out