Hey guys
Because of your video about the meze 73 Classics
I'm interested in the brand. Now I've heard rumors about meze using Esmooth's headphones which they just brand.
What would you guys think? Would it even be possible to test them? As it's very hard to get your hands on them so it seems.
Friendly greetings
Milan (The Belgian)
Van der Veken
Yes they are,
I did some research and read up on some audiophile forums and found out that meze is using esmooth headphones just rebranded. I would strongly suggest buying Esmooth over Meze, you're just paying for a name. I was going to buy the Classics 88 which cost around $300 and i found out that Esmooth makes the same exact headphone called the ES-881EB which are around $65. They use the same exact drivers and all. Was a little pissed off because i ordered them and then the next day i asked for my money back because i found out about Esmooth. Meze sent me a pretty aggressive email telling me that they assure the Esmooth are their sister company in which they produce lower quality products. I can't believe they blatantly lied to me, they were trying so hard to make me not want to ask for my money back. I sent them an email back telling them the specs of the headphones and the exact model they used on the Esmooth and the Meze and then they told me that wherever i got my sources it was complete bullshit. I've seen a few teardown videos showing the parts, so i know they are exactly the same. They use the same wood, connectors, drivers, padding material, and same wiring. Sorry but i don't care about a name brand.
Anyways, i ordered those Esmooth and i love them, they perform very similarly to my Sennheiser HD595 for 1/4 of the price. The ebony does a great job at giving a warm tone. The bass is crisp, the treble echoes, and the mids don't interfere with the treble and bass.Esmooth/Meze like a classical tone, so they like to have high bass/treble and mids a little lower. This type of headphone is great for rock/metal and classical music.
I've read those comments as well, but I also found reviews on those same forums that weren't that positive about Esmooth. that's the problem I have with this subject :)
But thanks for your vision on the subject :)
GRTS
http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/45149-about-the-meze-scandal-the-problem-and-a-shoutout-to-linus/
i wasn't charged $50 for shipping like that guy said on the forum on linustechtips. I payed $30 for shipping so total for my product was $95.
Everybody has to decide for himself in these matters.
There are some problems with Meze though:
- It's an English ltd, probably incorporated by proxy, with no ties to the UK whatsoever, it's a one-man Romanian operation, there is no sign of any real company infrastructure. The only reason why it's an English Ltd is because it's a cheap company form with limited liability, and doesn't require any capital, but if something goes wrong, like for instance the company is fined a couple of millions of Euros for violating the EU safety regulations or product liability guidelines, the company can go bankrupt without losing any real money;
- The products are marked with CE, if they're not they're not compliant with the European mandatory safety standards, and there is no record that I can find of Esmooth or Meze products having been checked by a control organism for compliance to either CE or Tüv. So that's probably a ticking timebomb;
- The headphones are said to be african ebony. If that's true (which it probably isn't, my guess it that it's cheap Chinese female Ginkgo tree wood), than that's a major violation of exotic wood import regulations in both the US and Europe. So either way, it's not right;
- Antonio Meze (probably not his real name, Meze means "Starter" as in food in the Balkans, similar to the Italian, Turkish, Maltese, Greek and Persian versions of the word) has a proven history of telling lies when asked about the Esmooth products he rebrands and sells for 3 to 5 times the retail price of Esmooth, which means that it's even more times the OEM price of the products, even though the only added value he offers is untruthful information about the specifications and provenance of his products, and a whole lot of marketing in that he sends out a bunch of products for review to YouTubers and consumer electronics websites that are not specialzed in audio equipment. He was banned from headfi.org for lying to the editors and for making several alias accounts to praise his own products, pretending to be a satisfied consumer;
- The headphones as such don't sound bad, but do not sound balanced at all, they sound like generic polyprop drivers, because that's probably what they are. It's definitely possible to get better sound quality from cheaper products from real companies, that are also product safety regulations compliant. In general, it's better to get headphones that may sound less spectacular, but that also don't have the sharp mid-high frequency peak these kind of cheap Chinese drivers have, but rather are more balanced throughout the spectrum, because as you use the same headphones for a long time, your ear adapts to them, and you'll have potential hearing damage of headaches than with headphones that are not so balanced in output over the entire spectrum.
- In conclusion: I predict that the company will die within the next two years. Do with it what you want, like I said, everybody should make up his/her own mind, and noone is forcing anyone to buy everything that's shown on YouTube... just let the YouTubers enjoy their sponsorship or freebies, take it for what it is, not for what it's not.
Thanks for the heads up. I think I'll grab these instead of the meze 73 classics:
http://www.amazon.com/Technica-ATHESW9A-Portable-Wooden-Headphones/dp/B0030O0Q2U