While craftsmanship, comfort, and all around beauty are likely the first things that come to mind when you think of Meze Audio, they have also led the way with technological innovation. Their flagship headphones have used the innovative Rinauro Hybrid Isodynamic drivers for an impressive blend of artistry and technology. Now with Poet, they’ve combined their signature driver tech with Dan Clark Audio’s Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System. Can this combination of technology and design deliver true poetry in headphone form?
Build and Design
The package is solid, if not mind-blowing, including a hardshell travel case and one of Meze’s Premium Copper cables with an 8’ length, 3.5mm TS connectors, and a 6.3mm termination. I appreciate that unlike some of Meze’s older cases, the Poet case is something that can be packed for a trip without taking up your entire suitcase. If you’re not familiar with the cable, it’s a surprisingly supple PCHUD wrapped Copper cable, that’s also one of my overall favorite headphone cables.
The first pictures I saw of Poet left me feeling a little skeptical about its looks, but Poet is absolutely stunning in person. Poet’s chassis is closer to Liric and Liric 2, with its thin frame, but a slightly different wire headband suspension design. While the headband design isn’t quite as robust as those on the Empyrean and Elite, it still generally holds up to Meze’s comfort standards, though it’s not as accommodating for wider heads. The earpads also have slightly more space than the similar earpads on the Liric, providing a more comfortable fit for people like me with larger earlobes.
Sound
Poet is one of Meze’s boldest tunings yet, and is probably the biggest divergence yet from their typical tendency towards a slight warm coloration. The treble is one of Poet’s most prominent features, and the extension of the midrange into the bass is very linear. Probably the closest comparison to other Meze headphones is the 109 Pro.
Poet’s bass offers excellent extension, accuracy, and texture, presenting a very clean, technical sort of bass response. Poet has good slam and impact as well though the slam can take a little bit of coaxing to deliver its full force.
The midrange is exceedingly natural, with incredible timbre, and a lifelike feeling with guitars, pianos, orchestral instruments and voices. If you’re a “timbre-head” looking for a planar magnetic headphone with timbre that meets your standards, Poet is among the best.
Poet has a bit of treble emphasis that sometimes seems closer to the territory of a typical HIFIMAN tuning than Meze. There’s quite a bit of energy, especially in the upper treble, giving Poet a good amount of air and a good sense of resolution at the top.
That sense of air gives Poet a spacious sounding delivery with a good sized, wide soundstage, but the up close imaging takes precedence over the overall size of the stage. Poet provides weight and body to instruments that combine with the timbre and resolution for a sound that can put you in the room with the artist – especially with more stripped down genres like folk and indie rock. That big expansive sense of space is great with classical music and film scores as well.
Though most of my impressions were done with solid state sources, I think the most I connected with Poet was using OTL amps. Poet is a bit of a chameleon, and its design makes the low-end very source dependent, so it’s a very different beast on an amp with a high impedance output. There’s a thick, buttery feeling to the low mids that gets unlocked with tubes, and I felt more slam and impact along with a slight smoothing of some of the upper frequencies.
On Jack Johnson's "I Got You" the whistling at the start of the song sounds like it’s in the room with you. The plucking of the acoustic feels equally natural and lifelike, and the texture of the bass makes it come alive. Imaging perfectly places Johnson and his acoustic guitar in the room. There’s a nice tight punch to the bass that perfectly complements round textured bass guitar. Poet demonstrates a transportive quality – putting you in the room with the band – with the combination of imaging , detail, timbre, and resolution.
With a classic jazz track like Thelonious Monk “‘Round Midnight.” Poet provides a similar experience: cleanly separating each instrument, and putting them on a stage in front of you. There’s a touch of the click from the keys on each note with the piano, a clean pluck in the upright bass, and the horns are nicely blended off to the side. Poet nicely blends the space between the instruments for a great sense of the environment.
On a more electronic track like “Block Rockin’ Beats” by Chemical Brothers, Poet demonstrates good subbass extension and strong dynamics in the bass, while cleanly separating each layer as it’s added. With the tonal balance being more shifted to the treble, some of the more noisy “sound effect” type electronic elements can become a bit harsh and come forward too much in the mix, but when the sub drops hit, the deep slam will make you forget all about it.
Comparison: HIFIMAN Arya Unveiled, Meze Audio Empyrean
The day after Poet was officially released, we had it at CanJam, side by side with the HIFIMAN Arya Unveiled and a collection of headphone amps. In my listening, I found the two to have some interesting similarities and differences that buyers in the $2000 range might be interested in. I also wanted to listen to the evolution of Meze’s sound, from the original Empyrean to today.
Compared with Arya Unveiled, the first thing you’ll notice is how much more premium Poet looks and feels. Along with that is the comfort: Poet molded onto my head like it was meant to be there, Arya Unveiled just sort of plops down and rests there in a way that’s fine, but doesn’t provide a lot of confidence in the headphones.
In terms of sound, there are a lot of similarities to the general tuning. Arya Unveiled has a wider soundstage, but things also sound more distant and diffuse than with the weightier imaging on Poet. In a direct comparison, Poet’s weight and timbre can make Arya Unveiled feel a little thin. Arya does present a little more depth to the bass and more impact than Poet though.
Meze Empyrean is smoother and more relaxed, with a broader, warmer shelf in the low mids and bass. While I’ve always enjoyed Empyrean’s warm, intimate vocal presentation, Poet’s vocal presentation is more clear and lifelike. Empyrean is less detailed than Poet, but also a little less forgiving with older or more poorly recorded tracks.
The Bottom Line
Poet isn’t the perfect headphone, but there are some things that it does at a level that’s competitive with headphones 2 or 3 times its price. The timbre and performance with acoustic instruments is some of the best in the world, and the vocal imaging is equally impressive. Meze skillfully brought together artistry and technology to deliver an impressive headphone in the Poet.
