INTRODUCTION

    Listening to music is something all people do, just at different scales which usually have to do with cost. Remember watching and listening to the first Nautilus floor standing speakers introduced by B&W (Bowers & Wilkins) back in the mid 90's and I was blown away, not just in terms of sound reproduction but also looks/design. At the same time, I had two TANNOY floor standing speakers which honestly couldn't hold a candle to the Nautilus (still very good overall, for a mid-end speaker set). Needless to say, the same applies to pretty much everything in the electronics market in general, including of course headphones. Now, it's no secret that I'm not an avid headphones user (as a pet owner it somewhat stresses me out when I can't listen to what's happening around me) but over the years I've used dozens of models and well the time has come for me to test one by Meze Audio and more specifically one of their best-selling headphones to date, the 109 PRO.

    Founded by industrial designer Antonio Meze in 2011, Meze Audio is a high-end audio company from Baia Mare, Romania, crafting headphones and earphones renewed for timeless design, pure comfort and engaging, vivid sound, timeless, original, purposeful. This is what best describes the Meze Audio design philosophy. We strive to create products that are beautiful, yet meticulously engineered to deliver exceptional performance. Each headphone we make evokes a sense of timelessness and longevity, reflecting our commitment to lasting value. To us headphones are a perfect blend of design, high functionality and ergonomics. We are a Romanian brand with soul and technical know-how that does it all out of pure love for sound and art.

   The open back 109 PRO is based on two 50mm dynamic drivers which thanks to their W-shaped carbon fiber dome, beryllium coated semi-crystalline torus, aluminum frame and copper-zinc alloy stabilizer can deliver a rather impressive frequency response of 5Hz-30KHz with 112dB sensitivity and 40Ohm impedance. In terms of materials Meze has used high-quality black walnut wood for the exterior of the earcups, vegan leather for the self-adjusting headband, aluminum and manganese steel for the frame and soft velour for the earpads. One more thing that stands out is the bundle since Meze ships the 109 PRO headphones with a hard EVA carrying/storage case, 2 soft TPE cables with 3.5 mm jacks (1.5m / 3m), 6.3 mm gold-plated jack adapter and a small leather pouch. So, let's see just how good the best-selling and award-winning 109 PRO really are.