What are you thinking of getting because I’ve had similar thoughts myself?
Brainwavz sheepskin pads made a vast improvement IMO plus they don’t rot like the stock pads tend to.
Focal Elegia, I have the Elears and really like them, the sound signature is supposed to be very similiar in the Elegias but in a closed back package. Something’s come up though that’s made me delay all this so the Mezes will have to stay put for now.
I had considered the Elegias because of there reduced price. However, I had a pair of Focal Spirit Professionals which sounded great but had to be replaced 3 times because of a cracked headband. Put me off Focal tbh and was one of the reasons why I went for the Meze 99C’s because their metal and wood construction and replaceable parts.
Not had any issues with my Elears well built , comfortable and sound great. Keeping the Mezes now anyway as had to give up on the idea for now. I love them just fancied a change.
I’m looking for another closed back pair as sound leakage is an issue so might give these an audition. How is the sound balance compared with your Elears?
I didn’t get the Elegias in the end so haven’t compared them. Other monetary priorities came up. I still only have my Mezes for closed and my AGK K550 which are for work. I have heard they have a similar signature though to the Elears. Mezes are a different beast to the Elears which have more rounded bass and come across more neutral. The Mezes can never be considered neutral they are very much balanced for Rock , where the Focals work well across all genres. I can listen to the Focals for hours as they are way more comfy to. Mezes are a fun listen but sometimes lack the depth the Focals go to.
Good stuff… they will certainly get a lot better from new. (But careful they do change quite significantly in sonic character). When new they are rather warm and lush but after a few hundred hours that opens out to quite a lively sprightly life like sound with no peaking or glare with great transparency with no apparent artificial contrast or edge… it’s wonderful. You might want to consider the Meze silver plated leads that change the balance slightly to a faster and more extended sound… certainly recommend if you have high quality source.
I use the HMS enabled Dave for my Empyreans (unbalanced with leather pads) … and in such a setup you can hear how the Empyreans excel over the Focal Utopias for example… at least for my ears… I appear sensitive to peaking around 6 to 8 k
I have a pair very similar to those, very comfortable. I used to use mine with my arranger keyboard!
I was tempted by reduced price and 40% saving on replacement Celestee. So far so good and will serve their purpose when closed backs are required. They won’t replace my HD800S.
Budget for a replacement wire as 1.2 m cable supplied is too short to be of much use unless running from your phone in your pocket.
CK
Thanks Simon. I had already looked at buying the Meze upgraded silver cables but the 8.2 foot length is a bit limiting for my “seating pleasure”. I am going to get a similar cable custom manufactured for the Meze Empyreans by Moon Audio (of Cary North Carolina- where I once lived a long long time ago). The Moon cable uses silver conductors made of 99.99998% UP-OCC Stranded Silver 24AWG Teflon insulated variable width stranding. It also uses top of the line Furutech Connectors (to both the headphones and the amp). And best of all it comes in up to 6 meter (20 foot) length.
Ok sounds good… perhaps at that length might be worth considering balanced headphone leads.
I recall my HD590’s with great fondness. So comfortable, and easy on the ear. They had a lot of detractors, but those of us who loved em, loved em…I may still have mine somewhere. I’ll have to have a root around.
They are available in balanced leads and the amp has both 6.3 mm and balanced XLR inputs. Do you feel the balanced would work better at that length? Could there be a drop in performance even with the XLR connector at 6 meters? If so, do you have a recommendation for a maximum length? Thanks.
I asked Mezze about balanced silver leads in custom lengths. They confirmed 6m - 7m would not affect the sound and recommend a maximum of “around 10m”.
Great. Thanks.