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Massdrop x Meze 99 Noir Review (Headphone)

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I'm guessing a review of my beloved Nightowls would be similar.
The measurements is one part. Important to give you an idea how the headphones will perform but not really who will sound to you. I have the 99 classic and I really like them. From the other hand I don’t look to Harman target as my preference.
 

Neutronman

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Interesting stuff. I have a set of Meze Neo 99's and to be honest I have enjoyed the bass. I just installed Peace and Equalizer and have been playing with Parametric EQ files. This is the one that I prefer. Still has good bass, but to my ear is less muddy.

Preamp: -6.4 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 27 Hz Gain 6.3 dB Q 0.53
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 374 Hz Gain 6.7 dB Q 1.48
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 481 Hz Gain -3.9 dB Q 0.33
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 4806 Hz Gain 2.0 dB Q 1.07
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 19416 Hz Gain 4.1 dB Q 0.50
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 2982 Hz Gain -2.5 dB Q 3.17
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 3805 Hz Gain 3.6 dB Q 2.21
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 4536 Hz Gain -2.8 dB Q 2.73
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 6485 Hz Gain 2.3 dB Q 4.87
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 8350 Hz Gain -1.2 dB Q 2.35
 

7smurfs

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The meze 99 noir comes with TRRS cables - however, my schiit magni heresy says not to use TRRS cables?
 

Netzbandit

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I just came here to grab @amirm's EQ settings for my 99 Classics :)

A recommendation for every owner: Buy a pair of Brainwavz Oval pads (hybrid) and use the EQ settings. What you'll get is the most comfortable pair of headphones with a very pleasant sound. I love mine! :cool:
 

WickedInsignia

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Dekoni Meze 99 pads are like the new pads or the old, better sounding, ones?
They're a slightly different mess and more similar to the new pads. The measurements on that page are consistent with the new pad measurements I've seen around.
From my research the old 99 Classics sound is gone unless you could obtain the original pads. Even then, you would likely suffer comfort issues.
 

Nabooh

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I have to post, since I bought the Yaxi stpad2 from a friends, which came cheaper than buying the Meze small pads in EU.

I was not a fan of the Meze 99, I bought them because they are REALLY confortable, and the bass emphasis make podcast/video/movie/game sound great/engaging, which was my goal, to have a closed back headphone when I'm in the TV room and my girlfriend is sleeping.

They were more wrong in terms of tonality, than fun. And I wanted to change that. Small pads were an obvious choice because:
-Thinner pads reduce the bass and bringup the high
-Smaller pads also reduce the bass

With the Yaxi pads, I'm more than pleased with the Meze 99 Classics, because it's finally sounds fine! It's not perfect, but it's not "ohmygad what this garbage bass is doing all over my midrange". The Meze still have a lot of bass and rumble, but it DOES NOT bleed anymore on the low mids, it feels more "separated" while listening music. The high frequencies are a bit more forward, which is good given how recessed they were before.

I think small pads ( for ATH MSR7/M40/M50 ) on the Meze fix the tonality, while keeping the fun parts.

If you hate "lot of" bass, you will still not like the Meze 99, but if you want a fun headphone with a more balanced sounds and tonality, small pads are clearly the way to go, I now understand why they were first praised when released, before Meze completely ruined the sound with the pad revisions.


BTW, I also have the brainwavz Hybrid pads oval, reviewed by oratory1990. it reduces the bass a little bit, because it's perforated on the side, but it still have the "muddy/bloomy" type of bass because these pads are way too deep. IMO, you will get a much better sound on the Meze by buying smaller pads in leather/pleather, than buying bigger and deeper pads made in a material that let the sound escape ( velour ) because it will improve the bass quantity, but not the quality.
 

rex4539

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I have come to understand that every person likes a different flavor of sound so EQ is essential.

Once you hear it with proper EQ, you cannot unhear it.

I used to like the stock sound of the 99 Classics (everything stock from factory) and I have done so for a year. If you match it with the right equipment, you can definitely enjoy it without any hacks. But after I started tinkering with EQ for fun, I just cannot go back. Switching EQ on and off during songs, the change is mind blowing.

I personally don't find them bassy (as the majority seems to conclude) but instead I tinkered with various other frequencies that made them more enjoyable to my ears.

The thing is, I have tried all the EQ settings I could find online but none were good for me. In fact, the most common ones I found sounded horrendous to me. In the end, I found one that was kind of good and then brought it to my liking. I am now extremely pleased to the point that I plan no further changes or upgrades to my system as a whole.

Here are my EQ settings. I use FabFilter Pro-Q 3, which I highly recommend. It's one of the very few EQ plugins that supports extremely high sample rates (most other EQ plugins max out at 192KHz).

Band 1
Freq: 337Hz
Gain: +1dB
Q: 3.890
Curve: Bell

Band 2
Freq: 1350Hz
Gain: -3.10dB
Q: 0.210
Curve: Bell

Band 3
Freq: 1965Hz
Gain: +0.80dB
Q: 4.610
Curve: Bell

Band 4
Freq: 3736Hz
Gain: +3dB
Q: 4.210
Curve: Bell

Band 5
Freq: 6417Hz
Gain: +2.60dB
Q: 3.810
Curve: Bell

Band 6
Freq: 7494Hz
Gain: -1.80dB
Q: 3.840
Curve: Bell

Band 7
Freq: 7716.9Hz
Gain: +2.76dB
Q: 1
Curve: Bell

Band 8
Freq: 9418Hz
Gain: +2.50dB
Q: 0.530
Curve: Bell

Band 9
Freq: 20426Hz
Gain: No gain
Q: 1.725
Curve: High Cut

Meze 99 Classics EQ.png


I initially had 10 bands but I ended up liking more the use of these 9 bands. Feel free to try them out and see if you like them. Perhaps you can use them as a starting point and then tinker to your liking. Keep in mind, these are meant to be used with the stock pads.

Happy listening!
 

Robbo99999

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I have come to understand that every person likes a different flavor of sound so EQ is essential.

Once you hear it with proper EQ, you cannot unhear it.

I used to like the stock sound of the 99 Classics (everything stock from factory) and I have done so for a year. If you match it with the right equipment, you can definitely enjoy it without any hacks. But after I started tinkering with EQ for fun, I just cannot go back. Switching EQ on and off during songs, the change is mind blowing.

I personally don't find them bassy (as the majority seems to conclude) but instead I tinkered with various other frequencies that made them more enjoyable to my ears.

The thing is, I have tried all the EQ settings I could find online but none were good for me. In fact, the most common ones I found sounded horrendous to me. In the end, I found one that was kind of good and then brought it to my liking. I am now extremely pleased to the point that I plan no further changes or upgrades to my system as a whole.

Here are my EQ settings. I use FabFilter Pro-Q 3, which I highly recommend. It's one of the very few EQ plugins that supports extremely high sample rates (most other EQ plugins max out at 192KHz).

Band 1
Freq: 337Hz
Gain: +1dB
Q: 3.890
Curve: Bell

Band 2
Freq: 1350Hz
Gain: -3.10dB
Q: 0.210
Curve: Bell

Band 3
Freq: 1965Hz
Gain: +0.80dB
Q: 4.610
Curve: Bell

Band 4
Freq: 3736Hz
Gain: +3dB
Q: 4.210
Curve: Bell

Band 5
Freq: 6417Hz
Gain: +2.60dB
Q: 3.810
Curve: Bell

Band 6
Freq: 7494Hz
Gain: -1.80dB
Q: 3.840
Curve: Bell

Band 7
Freq: 7716.9Hz
Gain: +2.76dB
Q: 1
Curve: Bell

Band 8
Freq: 9418Hz
Gain: +2.50dB
Q: 0.530
Curve: Bell

Band 9
Freq: 20426Hz
Gain: No gain
Q: 1.725
Curve: High Cut

View attachment 192355

I initially had 10 bands but I ended up liking more the use of these 9 bands. Feel free to try them out and see if you like them. Perhaps you can use them as a starting point and then tinker to your liking. Keep in mind, these are meant to be used with the stock pads.

Happy listening!
This would make them even more V-shaped than they already are, because you're scooping out the middle which further emphasises the bass in comparison whilst increasing the highs above 4kHz that are already high, so I kinda doubt this EQ would work for most people, it would seem unlistenable if you imagine the effect on the following frequency response:
index.php
 

rex4539

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I don't doubt any of this.

But this is what sounds better to my liking.

I have tried Amir's settings and many others I found online. They did not sound good to me.

In the end, it's a matter of personal preference and having the ability to EQ on your own personal liking is awesome :)
 

Robbo99999

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I don't doubt any of this.

But this is what sounds better to my liking.

I have tried Amir's settings and many others I found online. They did not sound good to me.

In the end, it's a matter of personal preference and having the ability to EQ on your own personal liking is awesome :)
That's fine, I just wanted people to know what an extreme EQ it was.
 

Arouraios

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Hey everyone : )
I know the thread has been inactive for a while but I was reading through this while tuning my EQ and I have some remarks I haven't seen mentioned.
First of all, I agree, the upper bass is terrible. I wouldn't use the headphones without reducing those 400ish Hertz by a lot. And, I agree, there's really not anything that makes them sound much better than other headphones I've tried.

However, and this is a big but, the sub-bass is nothing short of amazing. I like listening to Techno or Hardstyle quite a bit and the 99 Neos have done wonders for me experiencing those songs. Put in a bass shelf between 50-100 Hz, bump it up by 15db and feel the track.

No other headphones I own or have had the chance of listening to (/equalizing) can compare in that area. Not only does sub-bass often distort much more but most headphones just can't go as far. I know what good audio sounds like and I use other headphones for most music but sometimes I just crave that sub-bass and that is something were the 99 Neo objectively excel.

Also the build and design are awesome and they're great to use on the go.
 

Googolbyte

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These were, hands down, the worst pair of headphones I ever tried on out of the box.
 

Sean Olive

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I wonder if “a very useful low anchor” could be spun into a marketing sales pitch? ;)
Maybe if spun in the correct way: "This headphone was engineered to meet a new standard in sound quality validated in controlled double-blind study by an independent third party. There was almost 100% consensus among listeners that the headphone was one of the most unique sounding headphones they had ever auditioned and it quickly became a new benchmark reference when judging the sound of all other headphones."
 

Zensō

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Maybe if spun in the correct way: "This headphone was engineered to meet a new standard in sound quality validated in controlled double-blind study by an independent third party. There was almost 100% consensus among listeners that the headphone was one of the most unique sounding headphones they had ever auditioned and it quickly became a new benchmark reference when judging the sound of all other headphones."
Perfect!
 

solid12345

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These were, hands down, the worst pair of headphones I ever tried on out of the box.

it’s truly funny how audio perception is. I own a Utopia, HEKse, Beyer T1, many summit phones and ordered this on a blind buy, this was one of the most impressive $200 pairs I’ve ever owned :p Now the massdrop AKG K7xx, got that too and it’s bloody awful and grating on my ears.
 

IAtaman

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Ridiculously mumbled out of the box sound, claustrophobic ear cups that also double as ear furnaces and brain piercing ringing you get if you accidentally hit the metal headband wires aside, these cans are not that horrible actually. They look somewhat different, they are lightweight and their sub bass response is ok once you EQed the hell out of it. Recommend it if you want a pair of cans to hang on the wall to break the "all black" look with a somewhat "brownish black" look.

PS. No Kiwis have been hurt in the writing of this post.
 
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