Sound Quality
So, we get it, Meze Audio is a master brand when it comes to designing and crafting beautiful headphones. But how about the sound performance of the 109 Pro? Well, I would say the new 109 Pro is an excellent performer, with many music genres and many different setups.
Meze Audio, as mentioned, uses a dual-composite diaphragm and a W-shaped dome with this dynamic driver, and beryllium coating with 22 microns of thickness. The diaphragm is also encased in a high-precision machined aluminium frame. For the acoustic design, Meze went with completely open ear cups and precisely angled driver placement.
The result of all of these design choices and engineering is simply a fabulous sound. 109 Pro is very dynamic, crisp, fast, energetic and warm in the mid-range. It’s a joyful headphone full of emotion, excitement and high pace & speed.
Bass
The New 109 Pro has a speedy and reasonably impactful bass response. It’s a natural and breathy presentation, and the dynamic driver is nicely balanced in terms of definition and control. The headphone gives you the appropriate bass whenever you need it but always keeps it under control. It’s not a bass headphone, but it’s certainly enjoyable for Pop and RnB tracks, though you shouldn’t expect a big bass response overall.
The quality of the bass is the most impressive part. Decay is great, recovery is excellent and the mid-bass area is just well-balanced without any excessive nature. This is just the right amount of bass quantity in my opinion. Since it has great quality too, I can easily say that this is one of the nicest-performing dynamic drivers I’ve seen in a while.
The mid-bass and sub-bass balance are excellent, and the transition from mid-bass to mid-range is well-organized and smooth. Overall, I couldn’t find any weakness in the bass performance.
Mids
The mid-range feels lively, vibrant and enjoyable. It’s rather a bit ”in your face”, but not overly so. The timbre has exceptional quality in my opinion, but I always like dynamic driver timbre so that’s not a surprise from Meze. They’ve done this with their Advar IEM too.
So the mid-range has a good definition, positioning, detail and transparency. It’s just so natural and flowing, yet highly technical in terms of dynamism, resolution and instrument separation. There’s great attack and liveliness here, with vibrant tones and life-like vocals. The 109 has a very clean and crisp mid-range, and you honestly can’t go wrong with it.
The 109 Pro sounds definitive, transparent and very detailed in the mid-range, giving you a very musical experience but with excellent resolution and micro details. The PRaT is quite impressive as well, with excellent detail pickup and resolution.
Treble
High frequencies are well extended with great detail and most importantly, with great articulation. The treble is crisp, somewhat on the brighter side with great sparkle with a very dynamic presentation. There’s good air and space with the treble, and the timbre for the cymbals is fantastic.
Some may find the lower treble a bit aggressive, but that would depend on the recording and the listening setup. There’s a good attack here with good speed, but it’s a bit on the edge at times with treble-heavy songs where you have an aggressive treble presentation in the recording. It’s not an ear-piercing reproduction at all, it’s just slightly aggressive in that area but again, you might have it differently with a tube amp setup for instance.
Highs are very transparent and resolving, and they have great stage positioning, separated from mids very well. Overall it’s a very realistic and well-defined treble performance which is impressive.
Technical Performance
The sound stage is quite good with the 109 Pro, especially in terms of width. But you shouldn’t expect it to compete with the big boys such as the HD 800 S, or Meze’s Empyrean or Elite. For a sub-1000$ headphone, the staging performance is very nice.
That brings us to the excellent imaging abilities of the 109 Pro. The new model from Meze has great layering and separation, so you can focus on whatever instrument, vocal or other elements of a recording. It has a very clean presentation in terms of delivery, and it merges these qualities with its impressive separation, sharpness and focus.
The 109 Pro is good on details and also very good in terms of overall resolution and transparency. When you combine great micro detail ability, realistic timbre, good PRaT and coherent performance altogether, you get one of the best options in the market among dynamic driver headphones.
Shane D
Nice write-up.
Seems like they were much more careful with the bass this time. I owned and loved the 99’s for about three years. I have always hoped for something between the 99’s and the Empyrean’s.
I have read that the treble is a little pushy, but will definitely look at them though.
Evan
I wonder how these compare to the Focal Elex since they’re right at the same price and both dynamic drivers
Frank
How is 109 pro compare to beyerdynamic T1 3rd ?
Aldo Cavacece
Why you don’ t write that this headphone can compete with high priced headphones?
Rita Mohanan
Amazing review. I have been enjoying the Meze 99 pro since a long time and I was always curious to read more about their headphone lineup. Will surely check this one out coz I love trying new headphones, being an audiophile. Looking forward to more reviews from your side!