Review: Meze 12 Classics Gunmetal – Depeche Node

Disclaimer: Meze graciously supplied the Meze 12 Classics Gun Metal for the purposes of this review. It goes for 79$ USD. You can find out more about it here: 12 Classics Gun Metal.

I want to avoid the word classy. I want to do that because I hate getting bogged down in excessively icky alliteration. But like 11 Neo, there is so much good to say about 12 Classics. And, though I hate doing so, I’m tempted to start with price. 79$ isn’t a lot of money in today’s audiophile milieu. It’s also not a lot of money for an earphone as polished as the 12 Classics.

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Both the 11 and the 12 start with the same essentials: box, three single flanged silicon ear tips, one dual flanged silicon ear tip pair, and a pair of always-comfy Complys. 11 Neo’s dual flange tips surprise by being comfy enough for a full album listen, though do the usual pain thing after that. But my ears are super sensitive. Neither do they like loud, nor do they like tough and invasive. Comply it is. That, or Ortofon’s brilliant clear flanges, which you’ll find in the ortofon e-Q8 and the Grado GR8e and Grado GR10.

Hint to both makers and enthusiasts: Ortofon flanges are the bomb.

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I can’t complain about the cramped and zippered case Meze threw in. While its chemical smell curls nasal hairs, it protects and organizes well.

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With the exception of its walnut cabinet, Meze 12 Classics and 11 Neo feel and look the same. That means that 11 Classics is sturdy, and for a 79$ earphone, extremely polished. About the only thing I can complain is how fat its sound chamber is post sound-tube. It bunches up against my ear canal, at times making sturdy fit a bit of a thing.

Whatever. Read my 11 Neo review. You’ll get the drift.

Sound and more after the jump:

4.1/5 - (25 votes)
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Back before he became the main photographer for bunches of audio magazines and stuff, Nathan was fiddling with pretty cool audio gear all day long at TouchMyApps. He loves Depeche Mode, trance, colonial hip-hop, and raisins. Sometimes, he gets to listening. Sometimes, he gets to shooting. Usually he's got a smile on his face. Always, he's got a whisky in his prehensile grip.

4 Comments

  • Reply January 26, 2017

    Isaac Harkness

    Nathan,
    Can you confirm that the Ortofon tips fit the 12 classics? I think I would like to order them for my own, but I wanted to check the fit. Also, I like the double flanges for their fit and sound quality, how does the sound compare with the Ortofons on?

    Thanks!

    • Reply January 30, 2017

      Gilang W

      Yes. Tried putting medium sized ones and they fit perfectly. The mezes are however quite large for other tips such as spinfit and sony hybrids

      • Reply February 1, 2017

        Isaac Harkness

        Thank you Gilang!

  • Reply July 19, 2018

    Indrajit

    Can you compare Meze 12 Classics and Soundmagic E80 sonically? I have a Fiio X5III so I think the more revealing earphone will counter X5iii’s richness more.

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