Sound Analysis.

Drivability – With an impedance of 32Ω and nominal SPL of 101dB SPL, Elite Tungsten needs a bit of power and I’d recommend driving it with a powerful DAP or a good desktop setup with a nice clean AMP.

Sound impressions were primarily written with the Hybrid Pads. There’s a Hybrid vs Alcantara pad comparison section in the end.

Summary – Meze Elite has a coloured, musical signature that goes for a fuller bodied and sparkly colour over a neutral reference approach. It has very good, far extending, linear bass extension (not seen as commonly in open back headphones), fuller than neutral lower-midrange, slightly recessed upper-midrange, slightly warmer lower-treble and sparkly upper-treble air region. It makes for an engaging signature that is also a very easy to listen to in long listening sessions. It does have its tonal caveats, which I’ll talk about in detail in the frequency range breakdown, but where it performs exceptionally well is – technical performance. So switching things up from my regular format, let’s talk about the technical aspects first. IMO, Rinaro driver’s capability, design and driver angle along with Elite’s cushy and engulfing earpad design allow Elite to have one of the nicest, widest, open sounding soundstages with class defining imaging as well as very good left to right separation and depth layering. It has a stage that pictures out of the head and engulfs the ears to provide a nice holographic experience with tracks that have a good stage and ambience mixed into them. It has very good detail retrieval and instrument realism, and even though all of this is available from the get go with the stock tuning, it all shines even better when you calibrate Elite to a neutral target. The stock fuller and slightly warmer signature takes the headphone a bit more towards musical colour – masking a bit of the technical performance in favour of warmth and musicality.

Now, let’s dig in deeper into the tonal aspects of sound…

Bass – Elite has very good sub-bass extension with the Hybrid pads and about a 3dB mid-bass boost. So it not only is able to recreate sounds till 20Hz but also rumble to the level of feeling slight tickling vibrations in the earcups with songs that have significant sub-bass mixed in them. The mid-bass boost does add in extra punch and weight to instruments and I can see lovers of coloured punchy tuning maybe appreciating the stock tuning more, but I being a reference head, prefer EQ-ing it down to neutral as I much prefer a clean and transparent approach, particularly when it comes to bass and lower-midrange as major boosts in these regions can quickly bloat and muddy up the mixes otherwise. The Rinaro driver is able to do speed and precision very well and Elite sounds very dynamic and punchy, maybe not as punchy as the kind of punch Focal headphones have in general, but the attack, hits and precision that are required to recreate the technical aspects of bass, Elite does very well. It all shines even more when calibrated to a neutral target (more on this in the later part of the sound section).

Midrange – It has a fuller bodied lower-midrange presentation which adds in extra body to instruments and a slightly recessed upper-midrange which reduces the forwardness of vocals and instruments in the mix and takes the instrument definition a bit back in the soundstage. I see a quite a wide chunk of audiophiles preferring such fuller than neutral, coloured tunings but to a reference head like me, I particularly prefer my lower-midrange to be linear as it otherwise tends to make songs sound a bit muddy and bloomy, which the Elite can come across as with certain songs, but not all. Regardless, I prefer to EQ-ing it to a cleaner, more linear lower-midrange and a proper ear gain of about 9dB for accurate tonality and definition of vocals and instruments because then I can have both worlds and switch between the signature with a flick of a switch. In the stock tuning, the instruments come across slightly fuller and as a result, the soundstage presentation a little fuller as well. Elite takes EQ really well and with calibration EQ, calibrated to either my Neutral or Preference Target, Elite’s actual technical performance goes into overdrive and along with reference accurate tonality, it greatly improves the midrange timbre, greatly assisting Elite’s already impressive realism of instruments.

Treble – Elite has warmer treble tuning and a sparkly upper-treble tuning. This keeps vocal sibilance and sharper attack in check and prefers to go for a slightly warmer presentation (in line with the fuller bodied tuning) but the upper-treble boosts add in the required sparkle and sizzle on top resulting in a nice exciting signature rather than a laid back one. If Elite didn’t have an airy upper-treble presentation, it would’ve become a rather dark headphone, which thankfully it isn’t. The airy treble tuning not only helps with creating a vivid and exciting signature but also very good detail retrieval and an airy soundstage.

Hybrid vs Alcantara Pads.

The Alcantara pads clean up some of the lower-midrange fullness in the 250-600Hz region by 1-2dB but then don’t have as good bass extension till 20Hz as the Hybrid pads do. With the Alcantara pads, the Elite has a minor sub-bass roll-off around 40Hz but one which is mostly only audible with the deepest sub-bass rumbles. It has slightly better ear gain (less recession in upper-midrange) but still not close to reference accuracy. Elite with the Alcantara pads have a significant upper-treble peak which stands out compared to the Hybrid Pads.

EQ-ing headphones and calibrating Elite to two of my target curves – Neutral and Preference Target.

If you’re a fan of headphones and still haven’t gotten into the world of EQ, I highly recommend that you do! Tuning headphones isn’t as easy as multi-driver IEMs and so hitting a target curve (company’s own internal or one of the popular ones) to perfection is way more difficult. Even if a headphone is tuned fairly well, EQ can take it to a whole different level of awesomeness, especially one that has really good technical performance like the Meze Elite. EQ can do stuff that no amount of source experimentation or cable rolling can even touch otherwise. 

Tip – If you’ve never EQ’d before or don’t know where to start from, you can start with using AutoEQ presets in Soundsource or Wavelet and then try experimenting with the EQ after the AutoEQ function. AutoEQ calibrates the headphone to the Harman target, which is a balanced target curve and a good starting point to experiment and find your preferences. It will help rectify the problematic frequency regions and you’ll see a substantial improvement in tonality right away. You can then experiment with the 10-band EQ after the AutoEQ feature to learn your preferences better.

Here I’ve included EQ recommendations calibrating the Elite to my ‘Animagus Neutral’ and ‘Animagus Preference’ Targets. I developed my Neutral Target with the Harman In-Room target as the starting point and tweaking it by ear to something that sounds like a very slightly sloped take on flat response speakers in a good room. The Neutral Target eqs the Elite to a very clean and transparent sound with a very linear and neutral bass response. My Preference target is a W-shaped take on the Neutral target as it adds in a nice 7dB sub-bass shelf along with a bit more upper-treble to balance out the bass shelf and to keep everything sounding vivid and exciting. This makes it sound like you’ve added a nice sub-woofer to very nice high fidelity flat response speakers.

Also attached are files for Soundsource and Wavelet. If you don’t use or have access to those 2 apps, I’ve included the EQ setting in writing too. If you only have a 10 band EQ, then just use the first 10 Filters. If you want to refine it as close as possible to the target curves, use all the 17 Filters.

Heads up! – These EQ calibration files have been created using measurement of 1 sample of Meze Elite. Due to differences between different units as well as measurement and coupling differences with the measurement rig and on different human heads, it might not translate properly to all Meze Elite units but can definitely serve as a good starting point. Regardless, I’d recommend tweaking the setting to your taste.

Animagus Neutral Target. 

Soundsource – Elite Hybrid Earpads to Animagus Neutral Target (Soundsource)

Wavelet – Elite Hybrid Earpads to Animagus Neutral Target (Wavelet)

Preamp: -12.6 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 33 Hz Gain 1.1 dB Q 1.400
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 65 Hz Gain -1.3 dB Q 2.000
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 230 Hz Gain -1.6 dB Q 0.500
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 320 Hz Gain -1.6 dB Q 2.000
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 400 Hz Gain 1.4 dB Q 2.000
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 720 Hz Gain -1.6 dB Q 0.900
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 1800 Hz Gain 7.7 dB Q 1.200
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 2900 Hz Gain -1.7 dB Q 2.000
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 7800 Hz Gain 4.3 dB Q 0.600
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 18000 Hz Gain -4.5 dB Q 0.800
Filter 11: ON PK Fc 409 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 8.000
Filter 12: ON PK Fc 1000 Hz Gain -1.0 dB Q 8.000
Filter 13: ON PK Fc 5300 Hz Gain 2.0 dB Q 6.000
Filter 14: ON PK Fc 6350 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 8.000
Filter 15: ON PK Fc 8600 Hz Gain -3.0 dB Q 9.000
Filter 16: ON PK Fc 9600 Hz Gain 10.0 dB Q 9.000
Filter 17: ON PK Fc 14000 Hz Gain -5.0 dB Q 9.000

Animagus Preference Target.

I haven’t yet perfected my Preference Target curve for Over Ear headphones. So for now, try and see how you like Elite tuned to my In Ear Preference target curve. The main thing I’m looking to perfect in my OE preference target curve is the balance between bass and upper-treble but even the calibration to my IE Preference has Elite sounding really good, maybe more than the Neutral target for lovers of bass.

Soundsource File – Elite Hybrid Earpads to Animagus Preference Target (Soundsource)

Wavelet File – Elite Hybrid Earpads to Animagus Preference Target (Wavelet)

Preamp: -15.8 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 31 Hz Gain 7.5 dB Q 0.500
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 190 Hz Gain -0.5 dB Q 2.000
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 280 Hz Gain -3.5 dB Q 1.200
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 570 Hz Gain -1.9 dB Q 2.000
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 920 Hz Gain 0.5 dB Q 0.500
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 1000 Hz Gain -2.2 dB Q 2.000
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 1800 Hz Gain 7.1 dB Q 1.100
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 2700 Hz Gain -1.0 dB Q 2.000
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 3200 Hz Gain -1.2 dB Q 2.000
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 8600 Hz Gain 4.3 dB Q 0.600
Filter 11: ON PK Fc 403 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 10.000
Filter 12: ON PK Fc 5424 Hz Gain 2.0 dB Q 6.000
Filter 13: ON PK Fc 6400 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 8.000
Filter 14: ON PK Fc 8610 Hz Gain -4.0 dB Q 10.000
Filter 15: ON PK Fc 9665 Hz Gain 12.0 dB Q 10.000
Filter 16: ON PK Fc 14069 Hz Gain -5.0 dB Q 8.000
Filter 17: ON PK Fc 16750 Hz Gain -4.0 dB Q 8.000

Comparisons.

Meze Empyrean (Leather Pads).

Empyrean is Elite’s younger brother and Elite’s MZ3SE driver is actually an advanced version of Empyrean’s MZ3 driver. Elite follows a similar tuning philosophy to the Empyrean but balances the frequency ranges much better along with significantly bettering the technical performance. Empyrean has good reach down low like the Elite but comes across bassier as well as bloomier than the Elite because of having more presence from 20-500Hz. As a result, Elite comes across relatively cleaner and better tuned as the bass does not bleed into the mids as much. Empyrean has slightly better forwardness in the 1-2.5kHz but then is much warmer in the lower-treble region. Elite is much better balanced and linear in the 2.5-10kHz region. Empyrean has slightly brighter mid-treble but Elite is airier up top. All of these combined results in Elite sounding as a much more refined version of Empyrean and that continues to technical performance too. Elite has a cleaner soundstage, significantly better imaging but also better micro-detail retrieval, left to right separation and depth layering. EQ’d to the same target, the Animagus Preference Target, and fine tuned to have them both sounding extremely similar, Elite’s technical performance shines even better against the Empyrean. Instruments sound more realistic, have stronger presence and are better separated in the stage, along with the stage having a slightly deeper depth.

Focal Utopia 2022.

Utopia has a dynamic driver and is Focal’s flagship headphone, coming at $5000, a good $1000 more than the Elite. Both are extremely well built headphones but Elite has a higher class industrial design and attention to detail. When it comes to fit, there is absolutely no competition as Elite is a significantly more comfortable headphone with ideal clamp force and very little pressure on the top from the headband. Utopia, though quite a comfortable headphone, is a more traditional fitting one. Meze on the other hand has broken ground with what’s doable in terms of design, fit and comfort.

Coming to sound, Utopia comes across more neutrally tuned right off the bat, though still not perfectly neutral. Even though Utopia has very good extension down low, it’s not as extended as the Elite and that comes across if and only if there is sub-bass playing in a song or movie that deep down low. Utopia has a very neutral mid-bass and lower-midrange presentation whereas Elite has a mid-bass boost as well as north of neutral fuller lower-midrange. Utopia has more accurate ear gain, about 10db of it. It does have a slight dip in the 1-2kHz region but is quite accurate otherwise. Elite on the other hand is a bit laid back in this region and all this combined results in Utopia coming across more accurate, cleaner with stronger instrument definition while the Elite warmer, fuller and more coloured. Both headphones are warmer in lower-treble and airier with their upper-treble tuning, but Elite is even airier. When it comes to technical performance, Utopia has cleaner soundstage with stronger instrument definition owing to the nature of its more neutral tuning but Elite on the other hand has a slightly more holographic stage with wider and deeper boundaries as well as better left to right separation. Both are very good at detail retrieval but I feel when you EQ them both to the same target curve (by computing and ear), Elite come across very slightly better at micro-detail retrieval as well as depth layering.

Sennheiser HD800S. 

HD800S was Sennheiser’s flagship at one point and one of the best performers when it came to fit, comfort as well as technical performance, particularly soundstage. I find Elite and Sennheiser HD800S as comfortable but probably prefer Elite because of cushier padding and the better, more preferable suspension strap design for longer sessions.

HD800S is popularly known as the king of soundstage and it still is as relevant as it was when it launched years back. Since these two are technical achievers, let’s get the tonal comparison out of the way quickly so that we can get to comparing the technical performance, which I’m sure most are more interested in, in this comparison. Both HD800S and Elite aren’t perfect when it comes to stock tuning, but if I could only listen to the stock tuning, I’d actually take the Elite because of its more comfortable, easy to listen to signature (especially for longer periods) than the HD800S, which is significantly bright not just relatively but in general! Elite extends deeper and has better sub-bass performance. HD800S has a slightly sub-bass roll-off but very good neutral tuning till 1kHz. On the other hand, Elite is punchier in mid-bass and fuller in lower-midrange. Even though the HD800S too is a bit recessed in the upper-midrange, it is a bit more accurate with its ear gain relatively and has better forwardness and definition of instruments. It’s HD800S’ treble tuning that is blaringly bright to the point where it sounds strident (especially to the treble sensitive) and why it needs EQ to sound its best.

Coming to the fun part – technical performance, due to the starkly different nature of their tuning, I think it’s probably better to talk about technical performance by taking the tonal variable out of the way. So, with both of them EQ’d to the same target – my Animagus Neutral Target, HD800S has a cleaner soundstage that extends deeper and forms a nice envelope around the head but it’s the Elite that has a bigger, more holographic sounding stage with wider boundaries. Due to wider, more spaced out boundaries, Elite also has better left to right separation as well as more space between panned instruments. Elite also has better sub-bass rumble transfer even tuned to the same target curve, better instrument imagining and especially – better realism of instruments. Its driver really has very good timbral quality, even more once the tonal issue are fixed with EQ calibration. All in all, I think Elite manages to come out as the superior headphone but only by a small margin, which goes on to show how good the HD800S still is and how the theory of diminishing returns kicks in greatly as you go up the price segments.

Conclusion.

I think Meze has created a wonderful specimen to show what exceptional industrial design looks like and how one can make a big headphone fit extremely comfortably while keeping the design highly attractive and the build feeling like a luxury collectable – setting an example for most companies to learn from. Meze have also done really well when it comes to technical performance – especially the out of head staging with very good imaging, L-R separation and space between instruments – making Elite worthy of the TOTL title in today’s world for its technical performance. What’s even more impressive is their ‘designed for life mentality’ where they’ve designed the whole headphone in a way so that each part is serviceable and replaceable if ever needed. When it comes to sound performance, the stock tuning has quite a bit of colour, whose likability will be subject to one’s liking and preferences, especially people who do not EQ or haven’t learnt how to do it properly yet. I personally find the stock tuning very engaging, musical and pleasant to listen to, especially for longer sessions, something I can really enjoy for hours on the end. But me being an audio engineer and a reference head, I just couldn’t stop myself from experimenting and was off to calibrating the Elite to my Neutral Target curve within the first hour to see what was achievable as I was already highly impressed with its technical performance. With EQ calibration, Elite shined even better as it takes EQ really well and the driver’s timbral performance for instrument realism was wonderfully highlighted and with that Elite became my go to headphone for critical music listening as well as to work on productions. In general, if you’re a headphone enthusiast and not EQ-ing your headphones, I strongly recommend you learn and try it properly as I think you’re missing out on something that can be tweaked to your preference a 100% to make for an exceptional listen, especially when it comes to TOTL headphones like the Elite that have remarkable technical performance.

All said, I think Elite deserves acclaim and I can highly recommend it as a must try headphone for every audio enthusiast, not as a blind buy (which I never recommend) but as a ‘must audition and hear for yourself’ if you ever get the chance or come across Meze Audio’s booth in expos or their dealers in your vicinity.

---

Gear used for testing and review.

• Desktop setup – Universal Audio Apollo + DROP THX AAA 789 Amp
• DAPs – HiBy R6 Pro 2 | Lotoo PAW6000
• Phone – OnePlus 7 Pro + Tanchjim Space

Artists I like and listen to.

• Rock – Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Switchfoot, Imagine Dragons, Daughtry, Green Day, MuteMath, X Ambassadors, Dave Matthews Band, Vertical Horizon, Our Lady Peace, Lifehouse, Fall Out Boy, Breaking Benjamin, Muse, ACDC, Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine, Biffy Clyro, I Am Giant, Normandie, Paramore, Slash & Guns N Roses, 3 Doors Down.
• Pop Rock – John Mayer, Coldplay, Paul McCartney, James Bay, Hunter Hayes, Niall Horan, Keith Urban, The Bros Landreth, Bryan Adams.
• Progressive Rock/Metal – Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson, Karnivool, Tool, Dead Letter Circus, Periphery, Lamb of God.
• Pop/Soft Rock – Ed Sheeran, Adele, Taylor Swift, OneRepublic, The Script, Gavin James, Magic Man, Maroon 5, Bruno Mars, Charlie Puth, Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, Oasis, Panic! At the Disco, TwentyOne Pilots.
• EDM – Chainsmokers, Zedd.