MEZE AUDIO | 4.4mm OFC Upgrade Balanced Cable for 99 Series | Silver-Plated OFC Copper | 4.4mm Male to Dual TS Mono 3.5mm Male Connector Plug | Cable Length 1.50m/4.9ft

I'm not an audiophile by any measure. I'm just someone who likes to lisen to good music and just happened to audition the Meze 99 Classics. Was blown away. And after about 2 months of heavy daily use (I'm a full-time student), I decided that the headphones could use an upgrade. AND these were 50% off. Turned out to be a great decision. The improvement to the headphones is real, in fact these should come as standard. I have decent ears, and have decided that I want to enjoy my ears before age catches up. These cables, in a very subtle manner, bring out the nuance and potential of the Meze 99 Classics headphone. AND they are balanced cables. The differences come in the following quiet yet noticeable difference: better separation in that you can hear different instruments with more finesse for example Dave Brubeck's Take 5, you can hear the sax breathe, you can "echolocate" each of the instruments and musicians. Listening to high quality sources now makes sense to me and there is a difference (or maybe it is my ears) and of course a DAC and software combined with a lossless source makes a tangible difference. There is more depth and texture to the music now. Bass frequencies seem tighter. Mid to high frequencies seem to have better clairty. Human vocals are more throaty. I listent to different kinds of music, from classical like Mozart, Mussorgsky, to punk, Ramones, rock like Queen, ACDC, U2, electronica like Depeche Mode, pop like Erasure. And these cables helped the Meze 99 Classics. It also seems like there is less need for more energy to drive the headphones because these are either more efficient because of the better quality materials or that they are balanced and the DAC I'm using them with is optimized for output to balanced 3.5mm signals. I would give 4.5 stars because it was only a cable and the input is a 2.5mm jack and it doesn't come with a converter to 3.5mm. Most mass market users' gear isn't going to demand 2.5mm jacks. Won't cost that much more to include a converter, please. It was a hassle as the 3rd party provider took ages to deliver their item and the cables sat on my desk and it took 3 weeks before I could use them.

Do you own a headphone amp with that strange little extra headphone jack, and you're wondering whether upgrading to balanced audio is worth it? So was I, and I dipped this $50 toe in the pool to see how it went! Short answer - hell yes, it's worth the investment if you can spare the money (but don't feel cheated if you stick with what you've got). I have the 99 Noir, into a Fiio BTR5 headphone amp, being fed via Bluetooth from an android box. I listened to a couple of minutes of song #1 on the original cable, then swapped to this one, then left it in for song #2 before reverting back to the original, and went back and forth sevral times until I got a good feel for the different experiences. First track, Inxs, Devil Inside, Dolby Atmos mix. It sounds incredible as is, wide and spacious but with heft. Swap to balanced and the difference is immediate. The bottom end doesn't just have heft, it has real weight now. Micheal Hutchence's vocals are super prominent and intimate, you can hear the emotion in his performance like never before. Wow. I Wish, Stevie Wonder. That sludgy bassline at the beginning now sounds like it's got purpose, huh, that gives me an idea. King Tubby - Country Gal Dub (from Dangerous Dub LP) - hell fire. This is a miracle - it does not sound like it was recorded on a paper cup and a bit of string! The sub-bass on this recording is phenomenal now, just seeps in through your bones while the the top end plays around effortlessly. This is an absolute treat. Ha, Ok, I got it. Last track - The Absolute, ft Suzanne Palmer - I Believe (Mark's Original Gospel House Mix). Curious, the main vocal sounds pretty compressed to begin with, but when it all kicks in you can tell the difference, and it's delightful. That bigass kick drum fills the bottom end, but the background vocals stay nicely prominent, and the keybard line that kicks in and gets lost on cheap equipment has all the room it needs to do its thing. The accuracy here is amazing, the cutoff on the keyboard line is so sharp it sounds like there are razor blades where the keys should be. Oh, Mark, I believe for sure :) Right - conclusion. If you bought a pair of classics / noir / neo headphones already, you appreciate the finer things, but not at any cost. If you're like me, they represent something of an optimal balance between design, cost, value and delivery. So, should you pay another $50 for this upgrade? Well... Will it make your classics sound 16.5% better? Uhm, you should go place an order right now, why are you still reading? Will it make your neo or noir 25% better? If you can afford it, absolutely. The quality being poured into your ears through this cable means your Mezes would still be a great proposition at $250, so if you love your cans, you owe it to them to make them the best they can be. Finally, is balanced worth the upgrade? To these ears, it seems like the difference between the local takeaway and a proper restaurant. Sure, you can go get a decent meal and it's fine, but the second you taste that Michelin goodness, you know exactly why you splurged. If you want Michelin Star audio, you know what to do.

Just for educational purposes, and feel free to search the Internet to your visceral content, the high level difference between balanced and unbalanced or SE (single ended) cables are: SE or unbalanced cables share a common - or ground connection across your left and right connections to the headphones, and balanced has a Left +, Left -, Right +, Right - connections to truly separate the left and right connections to your audio drivers. Is this important? It depends on a few factors or variables. 1. Does your audio player’s or headphone amp’s headphone output offer a balanced connection? 2. Is it truly balanced inside of the device you’re plugging into? (There are clever tricks manufacturers may do to support a balanced output but literally is not truly differential balanced.) 3. Does the output device provide better specification and amp output stage to make it feasible to change from SE to balanced output? 4. Do you need additional volume because your headphones require more power than the SE connection can offer? There are other factors but those are some key ones before you dive into upgrading your headphone cable from SE to balanced. I happen to own more than a few headphones, and a few output devices that support SE, S-Balanced (iFi Audio’s method of connecting a single ended jack and provide the audio quality of balanced), and differential balanced output. With this cable into the Meze 99 Classics connected to a true differential balanced output, the headphones sound nicer. Cable material has some factors to that but I have a thing about cables and headphones, the difference is minimal between different metals or coatings on the metal itself. I’ve been in some of the top studios across the globe and they connect their million dollar+ consoles with a db25 cable that breaks out to 25 distinct 24 gauge wires punched down with a tool to a patchbay 2 wires plus ground wire per channel 8 channels. That’s being used to record HiRes audio so the thickness or material makes very little difference, but I digress. Back to these awesome cables, it is very well constructed, cable doesn’t get tangled up, sounds great and makes the headphones sound a tad better, and being connected to differential balanced output, I get more volume at the same setting as SE cables. I won’t get into how differential balanced amps can further reduce noise and artifacts from the DAC/Amp stages. It’s a definite improvement! So if you have the right equipment to connect a Meze 99 Classics headphone using balanced cables, try these out. They’re fantastic for its intended purpose. Hope that helps.

I got this cable to use with the 2.5 mm balanced out on my Hiby R3 player, and the Meze really sing running in this configuration. In practice the main difference is the increased voltage makes for increased volume. With the standard output jack and stock unbalanced cable, I'd run the volume generally around 58-62, and with balanced out and cable, you get approximately the same volume in the mid-40 range. Due to the difference in volume, I can't say for sure if that alone accounts for the improvements in stereo separation and bass response I hear, but I perceive it as improved audio. Enough of an improvement that I'm willing to forego the convenience of the pause/play button on the stock cord, and accept the inconvenience of switching cables whenever I want to use another playback source. It may be an elaborate placebo ritual, but I spend a good part of my day listening to well recorded classical music, and this attractive and well built cable improves my enjoyment of the music. If you have a portable device that offers balanced operation via a 2.5 mm jack, and a pair of Meze 99 headphones, you will at least get increased volume with this cable, and most likely experience an overall improvement in audio quality. I've read various technical explanations of why balanced operation gives superior audio, and several that provide the charts and graphs that it show that it doesn't *really*, but at this point I wouldn't want to be without the ability to run my Hiby R3 in balanced operation.

This balanced cable on my Meze 99 Classics was slightly louder, but was moreover more detailed than the stock 3.5mm cable. Brought the background audio to life without overpowering the lead instrument. A must have to get the most out of the 99 Classics.

The 2.5mm balanced cable improved the sound on my Meze 99 Classics dramatically. I think it matters what your source is, so my source is lossless audio played locally off a Pixel phone into a Earstudio ES100 portable Bluetooth DAC w/ LDAC codec. But yeah, it completely changed the sound, to the point where I thought I was listening through different headphones. The sound throughout the frequency spectrum was less aggressive, more nestled in and integrated with the rest of the mix, but the bass especially was tighter and less aggressive. 99 Classics are great on mid and high-end detail, and at least for me, what this cable achieves is: it gives you that same level of detail, plus the sound entire signal sounding like a coherent, integrated, and pleasant package.

My HE-4XX headphones sounded wonderful with the original Kann (I don't have the newer Kann Cube), just using the normal 3.5mm unbalanced jack. But after shifting to these MEZE 2.5mm TRRS cables for balanced stereo output, I must say I am impressed! With a quality FLAC audio file, I can crank the volume on my Kann well above 130 and it still sounds great, no distortion at all. The extra power at high volume caused me no discomfort, it just raised the "WOW" factor to well past 13 on a scale of 10... yep, that dial needle just bent around the stopper pin! Audio seems even crisper and more dynamic -- which is saying a LOT, since the unbalanced stereo output on the Kann already sounded fantastic! These MEZE cables are supple, nice to look at, and pleasant to the touch -- and they just feel like a quality product. They are a bargain at the price. My new MEZE cables are staying plugged into my HE-4XXs until or unless my Kann dies, or I find the need to use my headphones on a less capable audio rig (for some obscure reason) without a 2.5mm TRRS jack. If your headphones are compatible and you have a 2.5mm TRRS audio source, I strongly urge you to make this upgrade! You will not regret it. BUY THESE!

This is just a very nice cable. I don’t ever look to spend a fortune on cables, and only purchase them if the stock cable is absolutely awful, or if it is too long or too short for my needs. I like a seven foot length at my desktop but prefer a four foot cable for the portable audio gear. I purchased this cable to use in a portable set-up and will use with my 109 Pro, Arya Stealth, LCD-S20, Sundara & others. I use a Fiio BTR17 as well as a Hiby Digital M300 in my little portable rig and it all sounds great together! I highly recommend this cable.