- Meze Audio unveils new open-back headphones in a premium finish
- The manufacturer promises ‘breakthrough’ in planar magnetic drivers
- ‘Luxurious’ materials suitable for a £1,850 / $2,000 (around AU$3,100) price
Meze Audio, a Romanian headphones manufacturer behind some of the best planar magnetic headphones available today, claims its new POET model marks a breakthrough for the high-end audio technology.
These headphones are designed with aesthetes and audiophiles in mind, with an open-backed construction and wired connection to ensure you get high-quality audio, a reliable connection, and a well-sized soundstage to appreciate the resonance of the POET’s planar magnetic drivers – as well as the "audible emotion" that Meze professes for its latest cans.
But the POET headphones are also carefully crafted aesthetic objects, with an “intricate steel grill, magnesium chassis, and soft suede leather headrest”, alongside braided 3.5mm copper cabling for connecting to a source device.
Planar magnetic drivers have existed for many years now, offering an alternative to the dynamic driver design used in the vast majority of the best headphones.
Planar headphones essentially deploy a set of magnets on either side of a vibrating ultra-thin diaphragm in order to emit sound, requiring more power and larger, heavier hardware than standard drivers – achieving planar’s unique magnetic resonance and improved bass response. The POET headphones boast a frequency response of 4Hz-96kHz, vastly expanding the usual 20Hz-20kHz range in both directions.
However, Meze Audio claims to have advanced the technology further, with help from electro-acoustic engineers at Rinaro Isodynamics in Ukraine.
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A press release says “POET incorporates several breakthrough features that set it apart in the world of high-end headphones. These include a Hybrid Magnet Array designed to create a uniform, powerful magnetic field across the diaphragm, as well as a Parus diaphragm with an incredibly low weight (just 0.06g) and expansive active area for pristine audio reproduction. The result is ultra-low distortion (<0.05%) and ultra-high-resolution audio that captures every nuance, from the deepest sub-bass to the highest treble frequencies.”
Meze adds that “Each driver is hand-assembled and tested at Rinaro’s state-of-the-art facility in Ukraine, ensuring unmatched quality and performance.”
Meze Audio has certainly impressed us before: in our five-star review of the Meze Audio 105 AER headphones, we called them “open-backed wired over-ear headphones that easily trounce all rivals at the level”.
At 350g, the POET headphones are still weighty overall – the dynamic driver Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones come in at just 250g – but they're still lighter than the recently announced Fiio FT7 planar headphones, so it's all relative. The luxurious price tag may keep it out of bounds for many shoppers, but for anyone after a truly premium listening experience, Meze Audio’s lineup increasingly looks like one of the best options out there.
The POET headphones are available now for £1,850 / $2,000 (around AU$3,100).
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