Meze elite

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by AllanMarcus, Sep 1, 2021.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Any cliff notes for the video? Sorry, I'm too impatient to watch YT videos. Also don't have enough time and I'm cranky older person who is still stuck in 90s BBS.
     
  2. Pancakes

    Pancakes Friend

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    It finally dawned on me why the Empy and Elite are technically not very competent.

    The driver is split into 2 (inner coil and outer coil) creating 2 different radiating surfaces. From their techno babble it looks like they are attempting to reproduce the highs from the small inner surface and lows from the large outer surface. Think of a two way speaker with mid and tweeter.

    Problem is, in the Mezes, there's no crossover. So you have two different drivers playing 20Hz - 20KHz. Even if both drivers were the same size (they aren't), the fact that they're different geometry/construction means they will *not* reproduce sound the same way. So naturally, you lose resolution etc.

    Technically speaking, this is a terrible concept.
     
  3. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    I believe Magnepan separates their panels into sections for higher frequencies and lower frequencies but they might pinch the driver between the two so it's not one diaphragm doing it all but in different places. It would be cool to see one of Audeze's sand bouncing slow motion videos with one of their ortho drivers and see what's doing what.
     
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  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Really can't do xover, unless the traces are separate. And if they were separate traces on a shared diaphragm, with one set lows and the other highs, that would be a recipe for disaster.

    [​IMG]

    Laser interferometer at different points about to see how it really works. IMO, symmetry is best.
     
  5. Pancakes

    Pancakes Friend

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    Naturally. I'm just saying the whole concept is subpar. They in essence put two separate drivers onto a single diaphragm.
     
  6. Pancakes

    Pancakes Friend

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    I don't remember if the diaphragms are separated. But, at the very least, they're separate voicecoils with a crossover in between. I have a set of .7 but never took the grills off to look at the diaphragm.
     
  7. ckhirnigs

    ckhirnigs Friend

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    @purr1n Not sure if the request was facetious, but here's a quick run-down of the video:
    1. Best build quality and comfort of any TOTL headphone he's tried
    2. Very musical presentation with "enough" technical performance (slightly less than others in price range)
    3. Easy to drive and matches well with lots of amps and DACs
    4. Best magnetic pad-swapping system he's tried
    5. Stock cable leaves something to be desired

    I agree with all of this, though I haven't compared the Elite to anything in its price range. I owned the Verite Closed on multiple occasions, and from memory, the Elite beats it in technical performance and comfort. It seems to handily outclass my Auteur that I have on hand. I'm not able to comment on the driver design other than to say, it certainly doesn't sound gimped to me in any way.
     
  8. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Request was both serious and facetious. I don't mind people leveraging SBAF to promote their vids and social media. However give us a bone, even if a short paragraph, on the actual product (a description of the video doesn't count).

    The last six posts from his guy were links to vids and descriptions of the vids for SEO. We're a socialistic communist community internally in many ways. When we have people "gaming" SBAF in such a way, the community as a whole suffers.
     
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    Last edited: Jul 7, 2022
  9. Pancakes

    Pancakes Friend

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    At least he managed to compare the product to other similar products. His McIntosh headamp review that he "blessed" us with was all superlatives and zero substance.
     
  10. ckhirnigs

    ckhirnigs Friend

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    I totally get it. If you are a member of SBAF solely to plug your own YouTube videos, you're not really an asset to the community.
     
  11. Jinxy245

    Jinxy245 Vegan Puss

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    I do remember really enjoying the Elite when I heard it at CanJam (show conditions, don't remember the gear yadda yadda...) but I'd be curious about a head to head against RD's modded LCD-X. I'm still itching to hear that one, and the price delta would make it more attractive for most if it stands up to it (which I have a feeling it will).

    I'm not trying to make you feel bad @ckhirnigs it's just just the way I usually weigh things in my mind. I have a hard time with the mega-buck offerings if there is a more accessible option with a similar performance. I do look forward to more impressions as they come in though, I like a lot about Meze...I thought their mid priced can that's coming out had promise.
     
  12. MisterRogers

    MisterRogers Ethernet Nervosa

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    Even those of us who like Elite (my daily driver), certainly wish it was priced more reasonably. To my mind, positioning it at 3k would be a bunch more palatable, and I suspect would really help drive more popularity / sales.
     
  13. ckhirnigs

    ckhirnigs Friend

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    No offense taken whatsoever. You guys don't know me, but I am about as frugal as they come in most aspects of life. I make an exception when it comes to a handful of things, namely audio equipment, food and my ping pong table (which cost more than a few cars I've owned!) That being said, by trading my VC for the Elite, I feel like I almost stole the things. I even sold the upgraded silver-plated copper Meze cable that came with the headphones, bringing my actual investment well under $2K for the Elites. Considering what I have tied up in them, they are an incredible-sounding set of headphones.

    Obviously, not many people will manage to get these for anywhere near the amount I did, even on the used market, so the question is whether I would hypothetically pay over $3K for a used set of Elites or $4K for a new set. I can say no only because I can't see myself paying over $3K for any headphones, no matter how good. It was a big deal for me to pull the trigger on my first set of VCs during ZMF November a couple of years ago. That remains the most I've ever spent on one piece of audio equipment (about the same as I spent on my ping pong table!)
     
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  14. dubharmonic

    dubharmonic Friend

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    The Elite deserves more credit than it’s received in this thread. Meze has filled a market niche here that was empty, and I’m glad they did.

    Overall Elite sound closest to an egg-shaped Hifiman, like an HE1000, with less splash in the treble. With the angled alcatara pads (my favorite by far) it has a wide, full, detailed yet relaxed and non-fatiguing character.

    Elite is not picky with amps, but it can scale. While it doesn't make sense on paper, pairing Elite with a Feliks Euforia gives great results.

    At this price point, Elite isn't out of place. To my ears it's much more engaging than LCD-5 or Expanse. Elite doesn’t have intensity or thump like 1266 or Susvara, but they're 2/3 the MSRP price and are so efficient that they can be driven by a portable.

    Strengths
    • Extremely efficient
    • Extremely comfortable
    • Possibly best build quality in the industry
    • Tube synergy potential
    [​IMG]
     
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  15. ckhirnigs

    ckhirnigs Friend

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    I also invested in a set of the Angled Alcantara pads for my Elite recently. I was switching back and forth between the Hybrid and Angled pads and couldn’t decide which I preferred until one track made the distinction quite clear.

    I was listening to Radiohead - Pyramid Song using the Hybrids and noticed one section of the song (at the 2:00 mark to be exact) where the mid-bass seemed a bit bloated and indistinct. I knew one of the claims for the Angled pads was that they dialed back the mid-bass a bit. I switched to the Angled pads and listened to the same section of the song. Sure enough, the bass was clearer and more detailed. I’ll probably stick with the Angled pads moving forward unless I find myself wanting that mid-bass boost again.

    As an aside, I recently bought a relatively expensive solid-state amp. It was the Cen.Grand 9i-806 “Little Silver Fox”. My plan was to get out of the tube amp game and have one really nice solid-state amp to use with all my headphones. In theory, it wasn’t a terrible idea, but one of the pros of the Elite messed up the whole experiment. The Elite is so easy to drive that the $2400 Little Silver Fox, with its 15W at 32 ohms, didn’t seem to make a meaningful improvement to the already impressive sound I was getting out of the Elite driven by either my Cayin iHA-6 or Quicksilver Headphone Amp.

    I did the only thing a logical person could do in this situation, I returned the Little Silver Fox. Despite this, I have nothing but good things to say about the amp and the dealer I bought it from. If I had harder to drive headphones like the Susvara or HE6, maybe the improvements would have been more readily apparent.

    So now I’m back to enjoying the Elite with less expensive amps and starting to seriously consider a DAC upgrade. The OG BF2 is great, but I think a Yggdrasil variant will be calling my name soon.
     
  16. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    Even the original Empyrean had good synergy with Euforia. Meze headphones seem to work well with Feliks amp
     

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