Meze 105 AER Headphone Review – The Soft Parade

The $399 Meze 105 AER is a stylish around-ear (circumaural), open-back headphone characterized by an enjoyable “fun tuning” with emphasized bass and sweet treble allowing for long listening sessions.

The Meze 105 AER headphone was provided by the company for my review – and I thank them for that.

Introduction

AER is Romanian for air. This addition to the 105 AER’s headphone’s name alludes to its open sound. Meze are a company from Baia Mare in Transylvania that have supplied audio aficionados with stylish headphones and earphones since 2011. Today, the company offers a cross section of models between $200 and $4000.

Meze do not follow trends, they create them. They always weave local traditions and tastes into their products – with confidence. When you buy a Meze product, you get something distinct that stays relevant for a long time (think of the Meze 99 Classics, popular since 2015).

The company’s audio engineers don’t appear to care too much about the know-it-alls who push their own in-house frequency-response graphs. Meze tune their headphones and earphones as they think they should. In the past, this led to some lower-treble peaks, which may have been fatiguing to some listeners, for example the Meze RAI Solo iem or the Meze 109 Pro headphone.

But recently, the company released the balanced, generally well-perceived Meze ALBA iem. Even better for them, they then hired the audio engineer who tuned the closest competitor model, which promises very interesting new headphones in the future.

Speaking of the $800 Meze 109 Pro, the 105 AER was designed as its smaller sibling, but with a more generally agreeable tuning for long casual listening sessions. This very stylish headphone is an over-ear, open-back design. It has the same geometry and frame as the Meze 109 Pro.

Inasmuch we promote (tongue-in-cheek) “Music for the Masses” in our blog title, the 105 AER may indeed have mass appeal.

Convince yourself!

Specifications MEZE 105 AER

Physical Things and Usability

In the box are the headphone in a sturdy carrying case, a small cylindrical soft (anti-scratch) felt container holding the cable and a 6.3 mm adapter, as well as the usual paperwork.

The 105 AER’s headband is made of stamped manganese spring steel with cast zinc-alloy detailing and a self-adjusting PU leather headband (no hinges to fiddle with). The caliper (or clamping) pressure is just right for my slightly oversized head. There is no folding mechanism.

The earcups contain a 50 mm driver of the Meze 109 family (sans Beryllium coating), and with PC-ABS (“plastic”) instead of wood…which contributes to the 105 AER’s light weight and high durability.

The velour earpads are roomy (7 cm/5 cm inner diameters) with a generous depth. The combination of headband (caliper pressure), generous earpads, and the light weight let the 105 AER sit stable on my head for long, comfortable listening sessions.

The 1.8 m cable is Kevlar reinforced, very pliable and has essentially no microphonics. It features a 3.5 mm straight TRS plug and is connected to each ear cup with a 3.5 mm TS plug (the left one has a prominent notch for blind or nightly use). You can easily find 3rd-party cables of this kind, for example when using the 105 AER with a 4.4 mm balanced headphone amplifier.

The haptic of this headphone as well as its optical appeal are very good.

The 105 AER has been designed for easy maintenance. It can be easily taken apart for cleaning and repairs. With its rather high efficiency of 112 dB/mW and low impedance of 42 Ohm, these cans are very easily driven by a phone (and sounds quite decent with my iPhone) but benefits sonically from a good DAC and external amplification.

Tonality and Technicalities

I tested the 105 AER over many days and long hours with all possible equipment, from CD players (FiiO DM13 BT, Moondrop DISCDREAM 2 ULTRA) and Questyle M15 dongle to handheld devices (iPhone SE 1st gen., Questyle QP1R) to desktop stacks (EarMen Tradutto and SMSL DO200 MKII DACs with Earmen CH-amp and Burson Funk amplifiers). I ran all sorts of genres through its 50 mm drivers, from classical through jazz, to pop and rock. The 105 AER worked with all of them.

The Meze 105 AER’s tonality is characterized by an emphasized low end and a slight dip in the lower treble, making for a lush, warm, agreeable “fun” sound without any screechiness or harshness (compared to the Meze 109 Pro).

Bass is well extended into the deepest sub bass, there is a bit of distortion giving it a slightly loose touch. It is stronger perceived than shown on the frequency graph because of the very late pinna rise at 2 kHz, after all the human ear hears the whole frequency spectrum in context. The low end has a good punch without being aggressive. A pleasant tickle on the eardrums at moderate volumes.

At its upper end, the bass bleeds somewhat into the lower midrange causing a slight bloom in the voices, which adds richness and volume but also removes some of their sharpness and accentuation – and cuts into midrange clarity and resolution.

Upper midrange has a substantial pinna gain that adds some brightness to higher (female) vocals and thins them out a bit, but this effect is small to negligible when (counteracting) bass is present in the music.

Lower treble are tamed down (compared to the Meze 109 Pro), starting to roll off at around 5 kHz, removing some midrange energy but also avoiding any harshness. Cymbals are somewhat recessed and reasonably well defined, but there are only limited sparkle and “AER” coming from the upper treble (which is actually rather low…any graph data above 10 kHz are naturally inaccurate). I don’t find the lower treble rolloff having dramatic effects on the listening pleasure other than avoiding a potentially fatiguing element.

Staging is of decent depth, width, and height. The open-back design creates good space and 3-dimensionality that is somewhat counteracted by the emphasized low end. Vocals are not right in your face but also not too far back, therefore well placed. Imaging, that is the ability to locate of all players and instruments in their actual position as well as instrument separation are good.

According to the company, this headphone has been designed for casual, long-period listening without getting tired, and it serves this purpose very well.

Meze 105 AER Compared

In terms of comfort and fit, the 105 AER is comparable to the open-back Sennheiser HD 600, 650, and 6XX, but with slightly more space around the ears. It has a much smaller caliper pressure than the rather tight closed-back Sennheiser HD 620S. The HD 620S beats the others in terms of resolution and accentuation (“sharpness”), but at the expense of a more energetic upper treble, which adds headroom but may become fatiguing for some.

The Sennheiser HD 600 has a limper bass than the punchier 105 AER, but a greater treble extension. Because of its elevated bass that somewhat intrudes the lower midrange, the 105 AER has the aforementioned bloom with richer, thicker vocals, which takes away from midrange resolution and clarity in some tracks.

In comparison, the vocals are better etched out and sharper, but also leaner in the HD 600. The Meze’s lively low-end adds some depth to the stage. Cymbals are better resolving in the HD 600 and not recessed as in the 105 AER. The Meze provides the most relaxed listen of the lot.

Concluding Remarks

The Meze 105 AER is a well-rounded, complete package, from accessories through the appealing design, great haptic and excellent comfort, to its sonic performance. Its slightly bassy lush sound without fatiguing treble makes it enjoyable for long listening sessions of all kinds of genre, without having the last word in resolution. For those who seek the ultimate detail, Meze offers models at ten times the 105 AER’s price.

I really like this headphone.

Until next time…keep on listening!

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Disclaimer

Our generic standard disclaimer.

About my measurements.