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.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

A large drawing is placed at the front of the box right under the company logo and above the product name.

The serial, barcode and country of manufacture are all placed on the left side.

A faint drawing of the 109 PRO is printed at the rear of the box.

Once you open the box, you'll see the hard EVA carrying/storage case inside which Meze has placed the entire bundle.

Aside the 109 PRO headphones inside the box you'll also find a hard EVA carrying/storage case, 1.5 meter long soft TPE cable (single to dual 3.5mm), 3 meter long soft TPE cable (single to dual 3.5mm), 6.3 mm gold-plated jack adapter, leather pouch and the user manual.

THE 109 PRO

The 375g heavy 109 PRO are made out of aluminum, manganese steel, high-quality black walnut wood (our sample was closer to brown), vegan leather, hard plastic and soft velour.

In terms of size the 109 PRO are mid to large sized ones.

The level of detail is pretty impressive starting from the self-adjusting headband with the manganese steel parts on both sides and yes moving to the black walnut wood used for the exterior of the earcups.

At the bottom rear of both earcups we find 3.5mm ports.

On the interior of the earcups Meze has placed their logo and the made in Romania.

Here you can see an exposed view of one of the earcups (marketing material).

The model name is also placed on the exterior of the headband.

Meze has bundled a very good hard case with the 109 PRO which as expected has their logo at the front.

This case has plenty of room inside for both the 109 PRO and its entire bundle.

For this review I mostly used the FiiO M15 and M11S music player (FiiO R9 and iFi Audio Diablo 2 too but not nearly as much).

CONCLUSION

    Even though the 109 PRO emphasizes highs a bit more than expected (at times this can become slightly annoying at high volume levels, especially if you don't play with the equalizer) this was actually very good for listening to pop music from the 80's and 90's (FLAC/MQA 16/24 bit). The balanced bass levels may not be the strongest selling point of the 109 PRO (not powerful enough for some music genres) but they fit quite well with the crisp, vibrant and detailed mids and highs produced by it (as does separation) so I can't say I have any complaints here. Comfort is also at high levels with the self-adjusting headband working as expected (largely thanks to the lightweight construction of the 109 PRO) and the large velour earpads fully enveloping your ears. What you will either love or hate is actually the open-back nature of the 109 PRO since the effectively means you'll need to use them in quiet places rather than outside. This actually worked very well for me since I do like to be aware of anything happening at the office or at home (again, largely due to my pets) but I imagine this will not be the case with many of you out there. Also worth pointing out is that Meze offers the 109 PRO in a bundle together with their copper balanced PCUHD premium cable which should further improve audio accuracy (unfortunately this wasn’t sent to me).

Currently retailing for USD799 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 799Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the 109 PRO by Meze are priced well, always compared to their direct competition. Yes, this doesn’t make them quite affordable but with their target audience being demanding audiophiles’ price shouldn’t be an issue. All said and done the 109 PRO deliver as advertised and since they are among the top three headphones I’ve used to date they clearly deserve the Platinum Award.

PROS

- Near Excellent Build Quality
- Very Good Audio Performance (Detailed, Crisp & Vibrant Mids & Highs / Warm Bass)
- Comfortable
- Self Adjusting Headband
- Bundle
- Open Back Design (For Some)

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Open Back Design (For Some)