I attended the two-days Paris Audio Video Show 2023 this weekend, and I would like to share my impressions with the forum. Please be patient as it was my first show, this is my first post, and anyway I will express only personal opinions or emotions - no absolute judgements, I am quite novice in the field, so I cannot make definitive statements even if I wanted.
So this is a photo of my morning run, just to show that I actually live in Paris, France:
Photo is taken from the Bir-Hakeim bridge - every time I pass by there are tourists (and very often newlyweds in white dresses) being photographed by some professional photographer...
The show location was in the Palais de Congrès at Porte Maillot, in the West periphery of Paris, next to the Hyatt Regency Hotel (whose name was Concorde Lafayette until 2013). Porte Maillot is one of the eight "doors" of the Bois de Boulogne, an immense park next to Paris, not far from the Arc de Triomphe.
So let's get inside the show (at the 3rd floor), and the very first stand is McIntosh:
Of course I am looking for headphones, and on the left there is Meze Audio. It is a Romanian company, and they showed their full fleet of headphones (at 30% discount, by the way). People were nice and allowed me to listen to the Meze Liric, their flagship closed-back headphone, developed with planar technology by Rinaro.
Note that being next to McIntosh and high-volume speakers, it was almost impossible to hear anything from open-back headphones, so I preferred to concentrate on closed-back ones.
And my impression was: WOW !
I listened to (somewhat random choice as I had to browse through their DAP):
- Mariah Carey, Without you: clear voice, strong basses, powerful drums, wide soundstage
- Linkin Park, Numb: I actually don't like this song so...
- Hooverphonic, Mad about you (live at Koningin): globally warm, round, not spiky. Applauses sound right.
- Hans Zimmer, Time (from Inception): first minute is actually inaudible due to external noise, rest is good
- Francesco De Gregori, La leva calcistica del 68: guitar is crystal clear, as the voice of the singer and the harmonica
- Fleetwood Mac, Dreams: full sound, I used to hear more trebles in this song (with other cans), but trebles are actually there.
So, you understood that my first impressions were "amazing" - fit was also OK on my head, they are quite light (390g) and thought for portable use. In fact the only negative remark is that their look is not so "luxurious" such as other can (see the following), even other Meze models, they are just nice all-black, not be noticed by walking.
Final point the price: they are listed at 2000€, with special -30% during the show. I was tempted...
Thanks to the nice people of Meze Audio coming from Romania:
(rest of the show in following posts)
So this is a photo of my morning run, just to show that I actually live in Paris, France:
Photo is taken from the Bir-Hakeim bridge - every time I pass by there are tourists (and very often newlyweds in white dresses) being photographed by some professional photographer...
The show location was in the Palais de Congrès at Porte Maillot, in the West periphery of Paris, next to the Hyatt Regency Hotel (whose name was Concorde Lafayette until 2013). Porte Maillot is one of the eight "doors" of the Bois de Boulogne, an immense park next to Paris, not far from the Arc de Triomphe.
So let's get inside the show (at the 3rd floor), and the very first stand is McIntosh:
Of course I am looking for headphones, and on the left there is Meze Audio. It is a Romanian company, and they showed their full fleet of headphones (at 30% discount, by the way). People were nice and allowed me to listen to the Meze Liric, their flagship closed-back headphone, developed with planar technology by Rinaro.
Note that being next to McIntosh and high-volume speakers, it was almost impossible to hear anything from open-back headphones, so I preferred to concentrate on closed-back ones.
And my impression was: WOW !
I listened to (somewhat random choice as I had to browse through their DAP):
- Mariah Carey, Without you: clear voice, strong basses, powerful drums, wide soundstage
- Linkin Park, Numb: I actually don't like this song so...
- Hooverphonic, Mad about you (live at Koningin): globally warm, round, not spiky. Applauses sound right.
- Hans Zimmer, Time (from Inception): first minute is actually inaudible due to external noise, rest is good
- Francesco De Gregori, La leva calcistica del 68: guitar is crystal clear, as the voice of the singer and the harmonica
- Fleetwood Mac, Dreams: full sound, I used to hear more trebles in this song (with other cans), but trebles are actually there.
So, you understood that my first impressions were "amazing" - fit was also OK on my head, they are quite light (390g) and thought for portable use. In fact the only negative remark is that their look is not so "luxurious" such as other can (see the following), even other Meze models, they are just nice all-black, not be noticed by walking.
Final point the price: they are listed at 2000€, with special -30% during the show. I was tempted...
Thanks to the nice people of Meze Audio coming from Romania:
(rest of the show in following posts)
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