105 AER

The first impressions when you open the box for the 105 Aer is wow! A flawless presentation. For the price of just under £400, these are presented in a way that would put many £1000 headphones to shame. From the graphics on the box, to the protective carry case inside, everything is beautifully presented, making me feel special and that is before looking at the headphones themselves.
I am happy to report, the headphones do not disappoint, they look stunning. The build is a mixture of high quality ABS plastic, anodized stainless steel and pleather. I love the look of the open cups, with real metal mesh visible though the organic contoured holes. Also, I really love the gun-metal finish on the metal components that connect the cups to the headband, and the textured finish on the plastic makes it look and feel more premium than shinier alternatives. The pads are a synthetic valour, which feels nice and soft to the touch.
These feel mid-weight in the hand, which is good, as I sometimes find very lite headphones can feel fragile. These have a reassuring heft, without feeling too bulky.
The adjustment mechanism is a simple sprung comfort strap, so these adjust automatically to your size when you put them on. I would say the clamp force is relatively high out of the box, a bit like Sennheiser HD600’s, however I like this because the headphones do not slide around on my head when I am moving around or dancing!
The comfort strap, although quite thick, is quite firm and can leave a bit of a pressure spot in the middle of the head, however this is not severe and only noticeable after listening for over an hour. The pads are lovely and soft on the head, though quite narrow sideways, they have good height, and are deep enough for even sticking out ears like mine.
The stock cable is very good, a bit thin, but also high quality, with metal connectors and a nice soft braiding material, that does not have any unwanted microphonics. The length of the cable is perfect for me, around 160cm. So there is not lodes of unwanted cable on the floor, but also there is enough length for me to sit back in my chair when listening on my home setup. Although the 3.5mm terminal have the same long and thin metal barrels as with the 99 Classic cable, the 105aer does not have a recess in each cup, so you can use any cable you like with fuel 3.5 connectors. I will add that I like this cable, so have not needed to swap out for another.
So on to the sound. Firstly, these are quite easy to drive, and can be powered from a phone, however I noticed a significant improvement to the dynamics and treble detail, when I paired these with my Topping A90 amp, on medium gain. Going all the way to high gain did add a bit of unwanted wooliness to the bass, so don’t over do the power.
These headphones have a very pleasing tonality on purely instrumental recordings, bringing out the best in piano and acoustic guitar and are equally at home with a grand orchestra as with an intimate jazz number. The separation between instruments is great, Vocals are slightly pushed back in the mix but separated really well, so a v-profile to the tuning, with a bit of mid-base enthesis. The soundstage is relatively wide, but not unrealistically so, about the same as on the Hifiman Sundara open. The mid treble is nice and silky, with good aer (pun intended), however there is an upper treble drop off, so these are not fatiguing at all, but can lack a bit of that zing and ultimate detail in the upper register. Recordings with forward vocals sound slightly filtered, quite romantic. This is not a headphone for heavy punching dynamics, it is more polite than that. I have found that recordings that are particularly punishing above 5khz (Portishead for instance), are smoothed off with these headphones, in a really sweet way.
Conclusion
For the price these headphones have a fantastic blend of luxury, in the build and in their tonality. Not only do Meze 105aer steal the show at this price point, with their looks and romantic sound , but when parts wear out they can be easily replaced too. These will be headphones I enjoy for a very long time.
Paul Bloom
Pauls Little Room Reviews

I have used this headphone for several months now and it is by far the best open-back in its price range, nothing comes close. Thank you, Meze Audio!

Very comfortable with great build quality & more importantly great sound. Excellent delivery service.

Excellent value for money, great build, great sound