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Redcap
18
Apr 26, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
After reading the many positive reviews on these headphones from this site, as well as other sources, I willingly plunked down $200 for a seat on the Meze bandwagon. My conclusion: let me off at the first stop. I had such high hopes for the Meze 99 Noir. Their $300 MSRP price point suggested they might be a substantial upgrade in sound quality over my Sony MDR-7506 headphones which hover around the $100 mark. I would have been quite content to have the Noir 99’s give the 7506’s a proverbial kick to the curb. As a caveat to my comparison on the sound of the Meze and Sony , I appreciate the fact that these 2 headphones have different sound signatures and were designed for different listening purposes. Soundwise, the Noir 99’s definitely produce more bass than the 7506’s. The Sony’s bass is anemic compared to the Noir. That said, although the bass on the Meze was far more prominent, to my ears it sounded wooly. For example, thumps on kick drums were loud, but lacked definition. In listening to various music genres involving piano, I found the 99 Noir to again sound muffled in comparison to the clarity of the MDR-7506. By comparison, the Meze phones sounded like someone had tossed a moving blanket over the piano. To my ears, female vocals came across much more life-like and clear on the Sony than the Meze. While the Meze Noir 99’s certainly clobber the Sony MDR’s in terms of providing a fuller sound, I feel they come up short in too many other areas. Costing 2 to 3 times as much as the Sony 7506, I expected the Meze to a administer a quick and effortless beat-down. Instead, the Meze 99 Noir headphones appear to be a case study of the law of diminishing returns.
Hyde
1119
Apr 28, 2019
RedcapFrom what I gathered is that these headphones need some burn in period also the smaller ear pad sounds better than the big ear pad. Did you manage to try the small ear pad? It's been a while but from memory I thought the MDR-7506 sounded a bit thin and cold and Meze sounded a bit warmer and organic. So it might take a bit to adjust to the new sound signature. But like I said it's been a while so I could be wrong.
Redcap
18
Apr 29, 2019
HydeThanks for mentioning the smaller ear pads. On your recommendation I switched over to them today.I think they sound marginally better than with the larger ones. The bass seems to have been tamed down a bit. I did burn them in for about 30 hours. For my ears, I didn’t notice a meaningful difference. Your comparison between the Sony MDR7506 and the Meze is a fair one. Your point about the Sony being cold and thin in comparison is certainly valid. I share your assessment that the Meze offers a much more warmer sound. I would even go further and say the Meze is a much more fuller sounding headphone. You’re spot on about the differences in sound signatures between the two. Cheers
RedcapI'm truly mystified about all the glowing reviews everywhere about these headphones. If you switch out to the smaller earpads and used some heavy equalization you can get them to sound sorta OK. But for $200 I feel snookered. These are not "fun" headphones. They are "awful" headphones. Even the laughable Beats sound better than these cans.
(Edited)
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