CALL ME SHALLOW, BUT I FELL deeply in love with the Meze Classics 99 headphones even before I heard them.
Those precision carved, hand-finished, solid wood earcups, stainless steel headband, self-adjusting headband strap, and sumptuous earpads all lend a luxury feel to the design, though the price is solidly affordable. No other headphones near the price look and feel like the 99 Classics.
My review sample featured Meze’s light maple earcups, but you can also get 99 Classics with dark walnut cups. Meze claims the process of making a single pair of earcups takes up to 8 hours. Meze is based in the Transylvania region of Romania, but the headphones are made in China.
The 99 Classics feature proprietary 40mm drivers, and impedance is rated at an easy-to-drive 32 ohms. Even with the wood earcups, the 99 Classics weigh just 9.2 ounces, pretty light for a pair of full-size, over-the-ear headphones. The closed-back design doesn’t provide all that much isolation from external noise. You get two sets of Kevlar-reinforced, cloth-covered cables: a 44-inch one with a mic and phone controls, and a 9.5-foot one for home use. Both cables are terminated with 3.5mm plugs, and you get a 6.3mm adapter plug.
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