MEZE AUDIO2.5mm OFC Upgrade Balanced Cable for 99 Series | Silver-Plated OFC Copper | 2.5mm Male to Dual TS Mono 3.5mm Male Connector Plug | Cable Length 1.50m/4.9ft

I'm not an audiophile by any measure. I'm just someone who likes to lisen to good music and just happened to audition the Meze 99 Classics. Was blown away. And after about 2 months of heavy daily use (I'm a full-time student), I decided that the headphones could use an upgrade. AND these were 50% off. Turned out to be a great decision. The improvement to the headphones is real, in fact these should come as standard.I have decent ears, and have decided that I want to enjoy my ears before age catches up.These cables, in a very subtle manner, bring out the nuance and potential of the Meze 99 Classics headphone. AND they are balanced cables. The differences come in the following quiet yet noticeable difference: better separation in that you can hear different instruments with more finesse for example Dave Brubeck's Take 5, you can hear the sax breathe, you can "echolocate" each of the instruments and musicians. Listening to high quality sources now makes sense to me and there is a difference (or maybe it is my ears) and of course a DAC and software combined with a lossless source makes a tangible difference.There is more depth and texture to the music now. Bass frequencies seem tighter. Mid to high frequencies seem to have better clairty. Human vocals are more throaty.I listent to different kinds of music, from classical like Mozart, Mussorgsky, to punk, Ramones, rock like Queen, ACDC, U2, electronica like Depeche Mode, pop like Erasure. And these cables helped the Meze 99 Classics.It also seems like there is less need for more energy to drive the headphones because these are either more efficient because of the better quality materials or that they are balanced and the DAC I'm using them with is optimized for output to balanced 3.5mm signals.I would give 4.5 stars because it was only a cable and the input is a 2.5mm jack and it doesn't come with a converter to 3.5mm. Most mass market users' gear isn't going to demand 2.5mm jacks. Won't cost that much more to include a converter, please. It was a hassle as the 3rd party provider took ages to deliver their item and the cables sat on my desk and it took 3 weeks before I could use them.

Just for educational purposes, and feel free to search the Internet to your visceral content, the high level difference between balanced and unbalanced or SE (single ended) cables are:SE or unbalanced cables share a common - or ground connection across your left and right connections to the headphones, and balanced has a Left +, Left -, Right +, Right - connections to truly separate the left and right connections to your audio drivers.Is this important? It depends on a few factors or variables.1. Does your audio player’s or headphone amp’s headphone output offer a balanced connection?2. Is it truly balanced inside of the device you’re plugging into? (There are clever tricks manufacturers may do to support a balanced output but literally is not truly differential balanced.)3. Does the output device provide better specification and amp output stage to make it feasible to change from SE to balanced output?4. Do you need additional volume because your headphones require more power than the SE connection can offer?There are other factors but those are some key ones before you dive into upgrading your headphone cable from SE to balanced.I happen to own more than a few headphones, and a few output devices that support SE, S-Balanced (iFi Audio’s method of connecting a single ended jack and provide the audio quality of balanced), and differential balanced output.With this cable into the Meze 99 Classics connected to a true differential balanced output, the headphones sound nicer. Cable material has some factors to that but I have a thing about cables and headphones, the difference is minimal between different metals or coatings on the metal itself. I’ve been in some of the top studios across the globe and they connect their million dollar+ consoles with a db25 cable that breaks out to 25 distinct 24 gauge wires punched down with a tool to a patchbay 2 wires plus ground wire per channel 8 channels. That’s being used to record HiRes audio so the thickness or material makes very little difference, but I digress.Back to these awesome cables, it is very well constructed, cable doesn’t get tangled up, sounds great and makes the headphones sound a tad better, and being connected to differential balanced output, I get more volume at the same setting as SE cables. I won’t get into how differential balanced amps can further reduce noise and artifacts from the DAC/Amp stages. It’s a definite improvement!So if you have the right equipment to connect a Meze 99 Classics headphone using balanced cables, try these out. They’re fantastic for its intended purpose.Hope that helps.

Needed a quality 4.4mm cable for my hifiman Ananda Nanos. Cable is quiet, wraps easy, and doesnt get all jacked up with shape memory. Sounds great and the price was right!