The 99 Classics started it all for Meze Audio, and since their release, while Meze has experimented with a wide range of different headphone styles, they haven’t really returned to the closed-back, dynamic format of their first headphones: until now. Strada is the latest headphone from Meze Audio, coming in the form of a more premium closed-back dynamic driver style at $800. Does it offer a true upgrade from the 99 Classics and can it match up with the quality of Meze’s open-back headphones like the 109 Pro?
Build and Design
Strada shares its silhouette with the Meze Liric series, and borrows additional elements from the Liric 2, like the wood earcups. The mix of wood grain, copper, black magnesium, and green highlights give it a truly unique look. On the technology side, Strada borrows the driver design from the 109 Pro, giving it a strong foundation to build from. Strada’s package includes a case, cable, and basic adapters. The cable is Meze Audio’s new standard cable, with 3.5mm headphone connections and a 3.5mm termination.
As we’ve come to expect from Meze, Strada is very well-built and comfortable. The headband and pads are the same hybrid leather pads as Liric 2, and Strada is just a little bit lighter than Liric, making them even more comfortable. The clamp force and stability is well balanced: they’re very secure, but don’t feel overly tight or clampy. Between the weight, materials, and stability, Strada provides excellent comfort and is very much usable while you’re walking around. Strada’s isolation is above average for audiophile headphones – good enough to black most outside sounds from getting in, and to keep your music in your ears unless you really crank it.
Sound
Strada is remarkably open and clean sounding for a closed-back headphone, with strong separation and spatial characteristics. The overall tuning is well-balanced with a largely neutral delivery of mids and treble, and a low-end that emphasizes the subbass over midbass. The end result is a headphone with a really impressive soundstage, and a natural, lifelike overall sound.
Strada’s subbass is strongly elevated, but the upper bass is actually pulled back a little. This leaves you with really strong rumble and emphasized electronic bass elements in modern production, but the weight and impact of the bass don't quite match up to the subs. The benefit is that you get strong bass quality and the feel of bass emphasis, but there’s virtually no sense of bleed up into the midrange or muddiness.
The midrange feels natural and clean, and is definitely one of the highlights of Strada. Strada gives you great timbre and clear, emotional vocal presentation, along with strong layering and detail in the mids. Genres focused on acoustic instruments and vocals play especially well with Strada because of that.
In the highs, Strada offers nice extension and a crisp sense of resolution without pushing the treble elements too hard. There’s enough treble presence to catch smaller details like breath and reverb in the music, but the overall feeling of Strada remains somewhat relaxed and nonfatiguing.
While we’ve reviewed a number of great closed-back headphones that ultimately ended up not being particularly portable, Strada is perfect to take on the go in just about every way. The weight and comfort is part of that, as is the solid closed-back isolation. The final piece of Strada’s portable headphone prowess is its efficiency. Strada has 40ohm impedance and 111db sensitivity, meaning that you can drive it with just about any device out there. While you might have to really crank your phone to get good volume out of the Apple Dongle, just about any audiophile portable DAC, DAP, or dongle should have plenty of power for Strada.
On “Excursions” by A Tribe Called Quest, there’s a clear texture of the opening bass loop playing on a record, demonstrating Strada’s strong presentation of details. The vocal comes in crystal clear, letting you know that the loop texture was a production choice, and the rest of the beat hits after that, with each hit of the deep subbass hitting with enough rumble to scramble your brain. The spatial aspect is clear as well, putting the main vocal and additional elements in front of and around the listener, with a good sense of realism.
Strada presents “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by the Beatles on a wide stage with a great balance of spaciousness and blending in the sound. Each instrument sounds clear and lifelike, and the vocal delivery brings you back to 1968, putting you in the studio with George Harrison. Strada’s bass feels nearly perfect for this sort of track, offering a balanced punch, with a strong sense of natural atmospheric depth.
Listening to “Driver’s License” by Olivia Rodrigo, the vocal presentation again puts you just a few feet away, with a strong balance that gives you intimacy without sibilance. When the bass drum comes in, there’s a nice thump, and as the layers build around the core beat and vocals, they’re each cleanly separated with nice articulation in every instrument and layer. Ultimately Strada does one of the things that Meze does best: brings the emotion of the song and performance and delivers it to your ears.
Comparison: DCA NoireX
About two years ago, the Meze Audio Liric 2 and Dan Clark Audio E3 launched within a few months of each other, presenting a battle of the $2000 closed-back headphones, with E3’s cleaner sound and stronger technical capabilities on one side and Liric 2’s more lush, relaxed presentation on the other. While Strada is a little late to the party, alongside of NoireX ($1099,) we can have a rematch between Dan Clark Audio and Meze Audio – just at half the price this time.
In terms of the build, design, and comfort, the two are pretty evenly matched. Purely in terms of looks, Strada stands out with a unique look – though it’s certainly not for everyone – while NoireX has a simpler design, with a clean, all black finish that most people will probably prefer. They’re very close for comfort, but I find Strada to have a more secure fit when I’m walking around with it, which gives it an edge there. I’d say the overall quality is about equal, and the difference here is largely a matter of preference.
In terms of sound, it’s a similar battle to the one between E3 and Liric 2, but NoireX isn’t quite as clean and refined as E3, while Strada stays closer to neutral, and doesn’t go into the warmer territory of Liric 2. NoireX is still the stronger technical performance, with a sense of speed and articulation, along with a certain crispness in the treble, that exceeds what Strada is doing there. Strada, however, hits harder in the subs, while maintaining a much more natural overall feeling, with better timbre as well. Strada vocal presentation is better as well, giving in the edge for music more focused on acoustic instruments and vocals, while NoireX has the edge with more complex music, or production that is more electronic in nature.
Final Thoughts
Strada is, in many ways, a blending of familiarity and innovation. Visually, its design shares a lot with Meze’s other closed back headphones, but the green accents combine with the wood cups to give it a wholly unique look. In the tuning, they capture a lot of what make the 109 Pro so well loved, but add a subbass boost that ultimately transforms the sound into a uniquely balanced closed-back headphone. While there’s a lot about Strada that was surprising or unexpected, what we ultimately ended up with is quite possibly Meze Audio’s best closed-back headphone yet.
