Of note, they do have the larger, plusher earpads found on later 99 Classics revisions and I did find the Neo to be that much more comfortable than early 99 Classics that felt a bit cramped. Their flagship product named Empyrean Phoenix is one of a kind and I hope their 99 neo will stand to their brand image. While these headphones are hugely listenable due to their pleasant tonality and comfort, they aren’t exactly natural-born entertainers. This way, we are helping the environment and we're giving the old trees a chance to shine one more time in the shape of Meze headphones.

And though high-notes are still not forward in any way, they are quite even throughout; portable headphones usually have a lower treble spike to add the impression of detail making the 99 Neo quite a rarity. What hit your eyes first is the quality protective case you have, it is made of hard material that take perfectly the shape of Meze headphone, with not extra space. The bass have great body and weight even if it slighlty decay on mids on bass heavy tracks, mid bass being pumped up and ultra energic giving an exciting turn to acoustic drum used in jazz or rock, mids being lively with impressive presence and timbre that can deal so well with vocal, piano or violin, and treble having just enough extension to give you the details you need without the harshness or peaks that can make long listening fatiguing : Neo is a rebel maestro that know how to read a partition and give it all layers it need but with an expressive twist that will sure polarize audiophile.

Takstar is all metal including the cups and look very similar to Audio technica ATH50, we can neither say they are beautifull or ugly, and overall sturdiness is excellent. They did achieve some improvements with a slightly tauter bass performance and clearer midrange from my HA-2 though they will play happily from any decent smartphone or standalone DAP. The wooden components are carefully inspected and no flaws are permitted to reach the final assembly. This outstanding comfort begins with those swivelling earcups and absolutely fantastic earpads that are roomy even for those with large ears such as myself and stuffed with extremely plush memory foam.

Bass of MEZE is warmer but have more body and a wider presence, lower region is more accentuated than the more punchy energic presentation of PRO82, wich feel faster than Meze but dryier too. Unfortunately, it sometimes lacks the necessary precision and firmness, so that it sometimes grumbles grumpily instead of hitting hard. Melody Gardot’s C’est Magnifique (Sunset in the Blue, Decca) plays and there is an edible, analog-like richness across this track that is, for lack of a better word, spellbinding (in the best sense). Of course when paired with more expensive sources—Cayin N6II/A01 and the iBasso DX220/AMP1 Mk II—the 99 Classics scaled beautifully.

Overall – 9/10, Meze have proven that you don’t need lambskin leather, stainless steel accents or chromed chamfers to create an appealing design, nor do you need complex folding mechanisms to achieve portability and a reliable fit. They are truly works of art, that marry form to function to technology in a way, that, one imagines, the artistic masters—Da Vinci, Cézanne, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Matisse—would have approved. This comparaison experiment underline the fact that more details do not equal to more enjoyment as well as richer sound, because the body of everynote give a more realist musical rendering in they end. As Meze arent foldable, they take lot of space in your bag with there protecteive case that you sure want to use to portect there precious look, so its the type of headphone you care about while the PRO82 in other hand are more a all terrain and careless (to some extend) type of headphone and do not really need protective case as they are quite hard to scratch or break.