Meze Audio POET Planar Magnetic Headphone Review – Sparkle In The Rain

The Meze Audio POET was provided by the company for my review – and I thank them for that. You can purchase it from mezeaudio.com.

The $/€2000 Meze Audio POET is an exquisitly-made, comfortable, neutrally tuned but slightly warm sounding headphone with excellent resolution and superb spatial rendering.

Introduction

Meze Audio strike again. The company from northwestern Romania has subscribed to delivering high-end audio in timeless designs since 2011. They most recently released the well-received $400 105 AER headphone and are now following up with their premium POET, which It is the open-back alternative to their LIRIC 2 model.

Meze uniquely blend Romanian tradition, fine arts, and lifestyle with modern pragmatism. The POET is a cooperation between Meze and Ukrainian company RINARO, with a bit of Dan Clark Audio under license. It incorporates the most exquisite materials and features a colour combination which you either find very attractive…or not good at all.

The POET is assembled in Baia Mare, located in a former mining district from Roman times (gold, silver, copper and other base metals). The POET’s metallic styling with the prominent copper faceplates could be interpreted as a homage to the region’s industrial past.

Specifications Meze Audio POET

Physical Things and Technology

In the box you find a PC-ABS hard-case containing the headphone, a cable in a PU leather baggy, and the paperwork including a fancy booklet (that smells really good). PC-ABS stands for polycarbonate/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, a mix of two thermoplastics that is strong, durable, and heat resistant. This container is reminiscent of my luggage when I explored for heavy oil in the Gobi desert. Should last for a while.

The 2.5 m long hand-braided Furukawa cable is made of high-purity oxygen-free copper (aiming to optimize signal clarity and minimize noise). It is extremely pliable, has no microphonics, and comes with a 6.3 mm plug and 3.5 mm TS connectors. I weighted it at 105 g.

The actual headphone is of intermediate weight (350 g without, 410 g with earpads). Its headrest is made of soft suede leather (also smells good) and the headband of flexible titanium alloy. The magnetic earpads (easy to replace) are relatively deep (I measured 2 cm) but the openings are not super large (I measured 7.5 cm by 5 cm). Although I have very large ears, they fit perfectly in there.

In terms of comfort, I watched a 3.5 hour German carnival session and the POET were super comfortable (but the show was crap).

The POET is not overly hard to drive, though a phone is obviously not enough. I ran it on low gain on the Burson and CH-Amp amplifiers I used for testing (see below).

The heart of the POET are its light-weight MZ6 planar magnetic drivers, developed and hand-assembled by RINARO in Ukraine. The MZ6 are “Isodynamic Hybrid Array” drivers, a technology aiming to optimize spatial imaging and accurate placement (and it works really well).

Meze also implemented Dan Clark Audio’s AMTS technology (under license). This “Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System” consists of strategically placed metal pieces covering selected openings in the driver frame, aiming to attenuate high-frequency peaks to “sweeten” the treble.

Tonality and Technicalities

When looking at the frequency response graph, you see a strictly neutral tuning with linearity from the sub bass to the lower midrange, a modest pinna gain between 2 and 3 kHz, and an elevated upper treble — pointing to a bright-neutral sound with a somewhat anemic bass.

But that’s not the case. The sound is actually marginally warm with a vibrant, agile low end: call it tepid. Nothing missing down there.

Using different source equipment yielded different sound signatures: the Tradutto-Burson combination generated a softer and more relaxed image than the “sharper” Tradutto-CH-Amp combo, with the FiiO K17 being somewhere in between.

Choosing the “wrong” equipment can make the POET bright for some. I am very sensitive to excess energy in the upper midrange and lower treble, much more so than my colleague Alberto and former colleague Rudi, for example, and the POET is never shouty or shrill at these frequencies to my ears.

But I am relatively insensitive to upper treble spikes because of my age (I served in the German army when Romania was on the other side of the iron curtain). Younger listeners may perceive the POET’s upper treble stronger.

Back to the low end. The bass digs deep into the sub bass (as you expect from a planar magnetic driver) with enough mid bass to please the listener, but without a “hump” that bangs against your eardrums (another sensitivity of mine). It is reasonably tight, with good attack and impact, and there is always a pleasant rumble down there. The low end brings life and some warmth into the mix.

Male and female vocals are somewhat forward and wonderfully three-dimensionally rendered. The first time since its 1987 release that I heard the full potential of Paul Heaton’s voice in the Housemartins’ song “Build”. And I have listened to this song hundreds of times. Female vocals are equally well etched out. Very realistic.

Voices are very accurately placed in 3D space. Despite not being shouty, the upper midrange is rather energetic.

Midrange clarity and resolution are outstanding, as you would expect in this price category. I had never known that there was a background singer in Phil Collins’ 1981 song “In The Air Tonight”. What a discovery over 40 years later.

Another indicator of the superb resolution is Ray Brown’s humming and mumbling clearly audible in “You Look Good to Me” on The Oscar Peterson Trio’s 1964 album “We Get Requests”. Generally, the POET brings new life to even old recordings; it is somewhat forgiving of mediocre recordings.

Treble is lush and sparkly, triggered by the peaks above 10 kHz (classic Meze’s handwriting), and, as mentioned before, may be strong for some. Lower treble is not recessed and also not overdone. Treble resolution is also outstanding.

Like in Meze’s recent circumaural open-back 105 AER model, staging is not overly wide but it has quite some depth. And, most of all, there is a huge headroom and a fantastic spatial reconstruction with excellent placement. That’s where part of the money is.

Imaging is superb, and so is layering. Separation is mostly living up to these levels, too, but may suffer slightly when there are (too) many players on stage. Dynamics is also very good.

Concluding Remarks

The POET is a premium headphone in essentially all aspects: it is superbly made in a timeless design, comfortable, performs homogeneously, and particularly excels in resolution, spatial reproduction, and accurate placement (even with single-ended circuits). The only concern is the upper treble that may be too strong for some. But this is no problem for “well-aged” listeners like me.

Very enjoyable!

Until next time…keep on listening!

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Disclaimer

Our generic standard disclaimer.

About my measurements.