Meze Audio

Headphones built to be taken apart

Antonio Meze came to headphones from industrial design, founding the company in Baia Mare, Romania in 2011. It shows in two ways. The first is obvious: the walnut and machined metal of the 99 Classics, and visible engineering where most of the category reaches for plastic.

The second matters more. Meze headphones are designed to be repairable: almost every part can be replaced, from earpads and headbands to drivers, with stock held years after launch. In a category where a broken headband usually means a new headphone, that is a real difference, and it makes the cable an upgrade path rather than a fixed fitting.

The planar models use Rinaro's Isodynamic Hybrid Array driver, developed jointly with the Ukrainian engineering firm and used by nobody else. Alongside them sit the dynamic headphones, open and closed back, and the Alba in-ears.

The larger planar models want proper amplification. The dynamic models will run from a phone.