Review: Meze 99 NEO – riot

Sound

Honestly, I don’t hear much between Classics and NEO, but I have a few hunches as to why I prefer NEO, at least two of which are worth Headfonia ink.

My first impressions were thick with the idea that 99 NEO sounded, not thicker, not darker, but more warbly. This was especially true between mid mids and high mids, and maybe again between high bass and low mids. It’s a minute double step which minutely clouds – or perhaps clods – the image, substituting some of the 99 Classics’s clarity for a bit of fringe. In camera parlance, it’s commonly called ‘classic Leica glow’. Except that’s not quite accurate; 99 NEO clouds on just so. Kind of like after working out your muscles swell because of all the extra blood in them. It’s still obviously you, just you engorged with blood. Well, NEO’s is a permanent aberration, and it’s one with blood-swollen shoulders, no matter how minimal.

Inner Fidelity has a great article about Meze’s new pads. The new pads make a noticeable difference. In fact, they may make more a difference than wood VS composite. With the same pads, both Classic and NEO are more boxy though the mid mids. With the old pads, either one seems slimmer, and depending on your definition, more healthy. In either case, NEO smears upper mids a bit more, but again, the difference is workout shoulders vs normal shoulders.

To my ears, NEO has a stronger contrast between midrange clarity and upper mids and high. It is slightly more grainy than the 99 Classics. 99 Classics is smooth, extended, and totally gels. 99 NEO’s grittier, contrastier sound does the rock and roll thing, slurring upper reverb edges here, echoing percussion there. And though each is minute, it adds up to a sound which isn’t as z-axis deep, but which is wider and more live.

It excels in reproducing the vivid, obnoxious, and reverent concert venue. Its 99 Classics roots keep it from cutting sibilance up top, and equally keeps bass under control. High extension is equal between the two. Ditto lows.

Overall, the differences aren’t huge. Meze 99 NEO is as much, if not more, 99 Classic as a twenty times washed Van Halen t-shirt is a Van Halen t-shirt. It should please those looking for a rougher, more tumbly listen that follows the original as closely as possible. This slightly more rough and tumble experience helps push the stage out, flatter and wider. It’s less deep, but still impressive. Classic or NEO, that’s an indelible 99 trait.

The meh

The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that a harder composite would have been better. Harder composite washes cleaner. It wouldn’t affect sound as much, though.

End words

I wrote its caveats for you. Personally, I prefer Meze 99 Neo. It better fits my assumptions regarding the 99’s BDSM styling. Of course, neither 99 is painful, so perhaps we can remove the M. Meze 99  NEO is all pleasure. The only thing that pains me are the smudges its composite picks up, which, to be honest, is a first for these eyes.