šŸ”· Meze 99 Classic/Neo/Noir

Iā€™m a little hesitant to buy used in the pandemic world, but Iā€™ll take a look, thanks.

I got these today andā€¦
OMG theyā€™re soooooooooo comfy. I totally understand why people rave about SRH1540 comfort. Headphones are actually usable for me now. Iā€™d be even happier if they were like another 5mm deeper, but Iā€™m nitpicking.

Itā€™s only been like maybe an hour now, but initial impressionsā€¦

They are slightly wider and a lot deeper than the stock ones, but the inner hole diameter is similar. They do fit through the stock grooves, but are slightly harder to install compared to the stock ones, because the material is softer and there is less tension around the edge. Still, after you get used to the difference, it only takes a minute or so to put them on.

Sound signature seems similar. I feel like the mid/highs might be slightly cleaner now. Bass is about the same? Perhaps slightly less overpowering compared to the small pads, but the difference is not as obvious as the difference between the two stock pads. I need to spend more time listening to better understand the changes.

Still, comfort is so much better.
Hopefully my opinion will stay the same after a few hours of using them.

Next up, Hart Audio cables and a BT dac/amp!

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pls let us all know what you think of the new pads after the honey moon phase has ended. I still need to find new pads for my pair.

Ugh, Iā€™m kind of in the same boat. The small pads on the 99 are not the most comfortable but I love the bass response. But every time I try a more comfortable pad, I lose that bass and I keep having to come back to the small pads. Iā€™d pay good money to have a more comfortable pad but maintains the bass.

Let us know after testing them out how you feel about the bass with the new pads!

Sooo, the honey moon phase ended, then the annoyance phase started, and well long story short, I returned everything.

Alright, letā€™s see. The Shure pads are good. If youā€™re looking for pads that sound kinda like the small Noir pads, but are more comfortable, theyā€™re a good choice.

HOWEVER. I personally did not like how they felt on my ears. I kept feeling itchy. Might have been the particular pair. Or something else wrong with me. People swear by these pads, so most likely me. Could also be because ofā€¦

The headband. Iā€™m right on the edge of its size abilities, and the clamping felt too high. Sadly, the Shure pads, for all the good they did, also increased the clamping feel a little bit.

In the end, for me itā€™s Comfort > Sound > The rest.
So, I took advantage of Dropā€™s excellent return policy and sent them back.

I miss the sound, but it is what it is.

I think itā€™s worth trying the Shure 1540 pads. I liked their sound signature. Iā€™m a noob audiophile tho, so I might have missed stuff? If you can get them from Amazon.com, they have free returns :slight_smile:

You guys hear about Yaxi st pads on these. Read they might be clutch in another forum. Have a set orderedā€¦will report.

Well, I bought the Meze 99 Noirs from Drop last year, and love them. I honestly donā€™t remember what pads I have on them, though theyā€™re one of the two sets they came with. I did buy a Meze balanced cable for themā€¦ mainly because why not? Iā€™ve connected them to the HiBy R3 Pro using the balanced inputā€¦ very pleasurable. I also listen to them on my computer with Audirvana (using the Audioengine DAC in between with regular cable)ā€¦ even more pleasurable. I got them because my wife will not tolerate hearing leakage from open headphones, so closed headphones it is. I still own a pair of NAD HP-50s (also closed and pleasurable), but like the Noirs better. I will sell the HP-50s once I work up the energy to list them somewhere.

if they turn out to be amazeballs let us know and post an amazon link

How would you say the detail is on them? How would it compare to others in its price range like the 6xx and 58x for detail and bass extension? Is the bass more textured than the Sennheiserā€™s?

Iā€™ve not tried the headphones you mention, so I couldnā€™t say. I can say that I prefer the Noirs to the NAD HP-50 headphones, which they have replaced. As for detail, bass extension, texture, and whatnot, Iā€™m probably not an audiophile and am uncertain what those things are. I just think the Noirs are highly pleasurable, and I can listen for long periods without fatigue. They sound like Iā€™m getting everything that can be got, especially if the recording is good!

One other thing about the Meze Noirs is that Meze makes a balanced cable which works well with the balanced input on my HiBy R3 Proā€¦ also balanced inputs in other devices, but with an adapter. I ordered both the cable and adapter from Amazon. There is no balanced cable option for the NAD HP-50s I have. Finally, besides reading various reviews, I decided to pull the trigger on the Noirs after they displaced the HP-50s on the innerfidelity.com wall of fame for closed headphones.

Listening to my 99ā€™s all day through my tube amp. Nothing but Miles Davis all day long. I ended up buying a TON of Miles Davis when I first got into him. I bought 5 or 6 CDā€™s and then bought a box set from Amazon. Several decades covered for a wide range of sounds. Shuffle is awesome.

I sometimes forget how much I love these headphones. Light on the head, soft on the ears and crystal clear through my tube amp. A very mellow Friday. :smile:

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which tube amp?

The builder is a small company called Mapletree Audio Design in Ontario, Canada.
The Model is called the Ear+ HD II. It is a low impedance tube amp.

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Wellā€¦thought I got the black pads for a refined lookā€¦however

So that happened. Feel like @ZeosPantera would approve.I am really liking the padsā€¦cleaner ā€¦lighter tighter treble and still good base also tighter no bleed. The looks are kinda growing on meā€¦Iā€™ll prob still grab the blacks when I donā€™t wanna look like a classy clown.

Have a balanced cable heading my way as well. Mutliple peeps on other forum claim these two features Yaxi and Balanced take these from great to knocked out the park. Iā€™m already at greatā€¦especially bang for buck.

Now that I see these Iā€™m tempted go full schiit ā€œgamerā€ mode with these ( also read some good reviews bout sound)

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Hmmā€¦ I do have the Meze balanced cable and can vouch for it. I havenā€™t gone that far padwise (though I have Yaxis for my two Koss headphones), and now my discretionary budget for audio is all but exhausted, yetā€¦

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I am liking these more and more. I found myself staying up late last night working on designing and sourcing an audio rack for my home stationā€¦ random music off spotify and I caught myself on numerous ocasions tapping my foot or getting caught up listening - to the point it distracted me from the rack. Its like washing claybaring, changing the oil and waxing a covertable ( for me FJ40) and then the next day it being perfect out and just going for a ride through a park and catching it at the golden hour which youve never seen - I know weird drawn out metaphor, but thats the closest I can relate toā€¦just with the musicā€¦

5/5 recommendation for Yaxi stPads2 from me for these.

Excited to use balanced cable next.
Any EU peeps have recommendations for a 4pin male XLR to 2.5 female balance, that could get to me in a couple daysā€¦cants seem to locate. Drop wont ship here to me (Spain)

Also I ordered the Red Velour Brainwavz, sort of excited to try em, bout 50/50 for look to sound if im being honest. Yaxiā€™s have me covered for what Im enjoying hearing out of these.

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Thatā€™s weird. I got that exact adapter from drop in January no problems.

Hmmmmm maybe it was a glitch thenā€¦made it thru PayPal then claim canceled unable to deliver

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Iā€™m temped to try those. they look really good on them. are these the ones you used?:

https://www.amazon.com/YAXI-studio-headphone-Red-Black/dp/B00RGQGR76?th=1

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