Meze Audio: Meze 99 NEO
When I’m on about earphone comfort, I’m on about Beyer’s Xelento and Astell&Kern’s AKT8iE. When I’m on about headphone comfort I might talk about the DT880 and to a lesser extent, the HD600. If I didn’t in the same breath mention the 99 Classics, all credibility of mine is gone.
All of it.
There really isn’t anything quite so comfy that you can squish pop over your ears. There’s nothing that so easily disappears, that you so easily forget about wearing. Apart from its man-made pads, the 99 Classics is as heavenly as it gets. The Meze 99 NEO is exactly like it, but with plastic, rather than wood shells. Its pads are now easier to exchange. And, its sound, while just as good as the original, has more high-frequency bite, which helps extend the size of the crowd at Rattle and Hum, and the club size in Armin Van Buuren’s live shows.
The Meze 99vNEO is 60$ less expensive than the original, and latches onto the 99 Classics Walnut Silver’s yoke and fastening hardware colour scheme. Its black cups and racing stripe put it squarely in the beginner BDSM scene, which may or may not be a riot of an idea. I like its look better than the original, but as I discover the heady world of floggers, collars, and ball gags, I sort of wish the headband was chain.
Expect good (and evil) things from this headphone.