My Meze Fukukawa single crystal headphones arrived today from Germany.
There was a bit of a sting, the wires were held at customs in the Deutsch.
Who's pinched my mustachio?
I had to pay freeee 'gin £64 in duties.... Ooouch my frankfurter!
EU custom duties on non-essentials are pretty steep.
Still, these cables were cheaper new, even with the taxes, than buying second hand on eBay.
Anyway gripe over. The quality on these cables are high notch.
I'm hoping to replace my Hifiman He1000v2 Etsy bespoke Mogami cables with the Meze ones.
I will do a comparison with the two cables, I will apply blindfolds, stand on one leg and eat beans while testing.
Oh here's some pics 😊
Er photo of box, stuffed with Deutsche newspaper.
Update: My conclusion after a quick review of the Meze cables.
Please kindly avert your eyes if you're not a Believer - Hallelujah!
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
I always desired a good Meze headphone but never thought, I'd purchase their cables. Let me appeal to your common sense first, don't buy these for headphones less then £500 but if you've invested in top tier dynamic or planar headphones, this could be an investment well spent. (there's a qualification, ensuring that your headphones have 3.5mm compatible socket)
I believe these come in 3 metres in length, there's no option to purchase smaller lengths. To avoid it getting tangled under my feet, I had to wind some of it in a loop and hold it together with the supplied Velcro.
Longer length cable, necessitated, turning up the volume a couple of notches when running the comparison tests between the Meze and Connexion Mogami bespoke cable from Etsy, to establish parity.
Subjective evaluation of two cables is flawed and I acknowledge that, what was obvious the L & R channels from the Meze cable was more clearly defined, it threw me off at first, I though maybe I hadn't fitted in the plug properly but these fit snugly as you can see from the photo.
Also note, Meze headphones tend to be recessed, so most of the protrusion is tucked inside the headphone.
I suspect they'll fit most 3.5mm recessed headphones, but if your type of headphone fits into this category, do check before purchasing.
Hifiman's are not recessed, virtually every 3.5mm plug will be compatible.
What have I learnt from this test? The Mogami ones are very good and £85 for 1.2 metre cable is most reasonable. The construction is of good quality such as Neutrik XLR amp plug and Amphenol headphone plugs are premium connections
The Meze connection plugs, I can't determine if these are their own or rebranding, also very good.
Is it worth more than three and half the price?
Of course not, but these are excellent, they seem to have a little bit more realism with the voice and instruments and more silence in the background. I like them a lot.
I'm not completely convinced about the burning in, does it really make that much of a difference? I like to be wrong, if they improve on further usage, then the fruit machine has regurgitated more of the shiny stuff.
As it stands, I'm more than comfortable with the improvements I hear with the sound, the Meze also has more emphasis with the treble but in a positive way, opening up more detail.
It is subjective, so take it with a grain of salt. I like them, I'm pleased with them and that's what matters.
If you have a good quality headphones, don't wrap the feet with nylon socks give them the finest cotton.
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