It’s a pity that the owner of a pair of great-looking headphones can’t appreciate the aesthetics while using them, of course. Because if we had a pair of Meze Audio Epoque headphones, we’d want to be able to look at them as much as possible.
The latest pair in Meze Audio’s Art Gallery collection, the Epoque are limited edition versions of the Romanian company’s flagship Elite flat magnetic headphones, and pay homage to the iconic Art Nouveau (“new art”) artistic movement. ‘ in French) and the beautiful era’) period to which it belonged.
“This particular art style was of great importance throughout my creative journey, and I wanted to express my admiration for it through my own craft,” said Antonio Meze, chief designer and founder of Meze Audio. “Like the artists of the time, we take inspiration from forms, textures and patterns found in nature. We try to revive creativity and add real artistic value to a world of mass production. Epoque is the perfect reflection of our artistic sensibilities.”
When we say “limited edition,” we really mean it: Only 100 units of the Epoque will be available worldwide, priced at $5,000 each.
As you can hopefully see from the attached images, the inspiration for the design is evident in the intricate decoration incorporated into the finish of the Epoque. The aluminum frame of the headphones features various shades of gray, while Meze says shapes resembling stems and flowers have been precision-crafted by hand on the cups, as well as on the carbon fiber headband. Apparently, because of such a painstaking painting process, it takes more than a day to complete each frame.
As for the engineering behind the art, the Epoque, like the Elite, represents the pinnacle of Meze’s engineering. At the heart is the same custom MZ3SE Isodynamic Hybrid Array driver (created by driver specialist Rinaro) that uses a combination of individual switchback and helical voice coils to more accurately direct sound waves around the natural shape of the ear.
You can read more about the technology in the Meze Epoque and Elite here, and while neither pair has made it through another 12 rounds of testing, we’re impressed with what we’ve heard from Meze models so far.
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