I’ve always been a fan of underdog brands, and Romanian headphone maker Meze definitely counts as one. The company has been making wave amongst audiophiles, and today we have in for review their most affordable headphones – the £185/$199 Meze 99 Neos. These are far from cheap headphones at that price, but when the other end of Meze’s range tops out at €4000 they’re still relatively modest!
As you’d hope, the Meze 99 Neo still carry a certain air of authority with their black textured plastic earcups and zinc alloy headband. They actually look more expensive than they are, and their blend of high-quality metals and plastics goes some way to justifying the price point – though they of course don’t look or feel quite as premium as the wooden earcups of the Meze 99 Classic. The headphones are well-built too, held together entirely by screws and metal fixings to ensure complete repairability. I haven’t felt the need to test this, but reports elsewhere suggest they’re easy to tear down.
What’s particularly intriguing about the 99 Neos is their suspension-style self-adjusting headband. I’ve never been the biggest fan of this design, but the 99 Neos are effortless to wear – and this is helped by some seriously deep earcups and only moderate clamping force. These design features mean they outperform other headsets I’ve tested in recent months like the Grado SR325x and Sennheiser HD 660S2 in terms of comfort for me. The thick cushions also provide good passive noise isolation. This makes the 99 Neos a great set of travel headphones, and also benefits extended listening sessions.
I’m also going to give a shoutout to the fantastic hard case offered by Meze with the 99 Neos. It’s one of the best hard cases I’ve had with a pair of headphones, and even holds a candle to the one featured on the Focal Bathys – a set of wireless cans that are four times the price of these Mezes. It also comes with some handy accessories, including adapters for different-sized headphone jacks to ensure vast compatibility, including an airplane adapter, so you aren’t starved of stellar audio when on your flight to somewhere hot and sunny.
Meze says that the 99 Neos offer a warm, balanced sound profile, and I’d generally agree with this. They’re a crisp, clear and detailed listen with plenty of warmth that makes listening to my usual playlist of tracks an absolute joy. A listen to a live cut of James Taylor’s Walking Man exemplified this perfectly, with a generally smooth and refined sound that isn’t harsh or sharp in any sense. This especially goes also for the presentation of the mid-range with a warmth and clarity to vocals that make everything from JT to Porcupine Tree’s harsh Herd Culling a joy. Even in the sea of hammer-over-the-head rock, Steven Wilson’s vocals remained clear. This warm, balanced sound profile certainly helps to make the 99 Neos suitable for a wide range of genres.