Meze Audio

Lore & Background

The idea for Meze Audio began in 2009, when founder Antonio Meze, an industrial designer traveling extensively for work, sought a pair of headphones he could relate to as he did his Fender Stratocaster guitar. Dissatisfied with available options, he started experimenting with existing parts and using wood for speaker enclosure cups, a departure from the plastics and polymers common at the time. In 2011, he founded Meze Headphones (later renamed Meze Audio) in his hometown of Baia Mare, Romania.

The company's breakthrough came in 2015 with the launch of the Meze 99 Classics, its first in-house developed headphones, which received multiple awards and nominations after an Indiegogo campaign. This success was followed by earphones in 2016 (12 Classics and 11 Neo) and the Meze 99 Neo headphones in 2017. In 2018, Meze Audio partnered with Ukrainian company Rinaro Isodynamics, which had been at the forefront of planar magnetic development since the 1980s. Combining Meze's design approach with Rinaro's driver expertise, they created the Empyrean headphones, which established Meze Audio's position in the high-end market.

Subsequent products include the Rai Penta IEM (with 2 dual balanced armatures and 1 dynamic driver), the entry-level Rai Solo IEM (2019), and further collaborations with Rinaro: the ELITE headphone (using different driver materials for a distinct sound) and the LIRIC, the first closed-back headphone powered by Rinaro's Isodynamic Hybrid Array driver, reengineered for portable use. In 2021, Meze Audio also introduced the Empyrean Phoenix as part of its Art Gallery collection, a collector's item celebrating the union of art and high-end audio technology.

Reader's Guide

Meze Audio's significance lies in its trajectory from a small Romanian startup to a recognized name in high-end audio, driven by a distinctive design philosophy and strategic partnerships. The company's early adoption of wood for headphone enclosures set it apart from mainstream plastic and polymer designs, and the success of the 99 Classics demonstrated that a crowdfunded product could achieve critical acclaim. However, the pivotal moment was the 2018 partnership with Rinaro Isodynamics, which leveraged decades of planar magnetic research to produce the Empyrean. This collaboration not only elevated Meze Audio's technical credibility but also led to a family of products—ELITE, LIRIC, and the Empyrean Phoenix—that expanded its reach into different segments of the audiophile market. The company's legacy is defined by its ability to combine industrial design aesthetics with advanced driver technology, and its products are sold worldwide through online and retail channels.

Did You Know?

• Meze Audio was founded by industrial designer Antonio Meze in 2011 in Baia Mare, Romania.
• The Meze 99 Classics, launched in 2015 after an Indiegogo campaign, were the company's first in-house developed headphones.
• Meze Audio partnered with Ukrainian company Rinaro Isodynamics in 2018 to create the Empyrean headphones.

Origins & the Founder's Vision

Antonio Meze was an industrial designer working for various agencies and manufacturing companies. In 2009, while traveling extensively for work, he found himself searching for a pair of headphones that would resonate with him the way his Fender Stratocaster guitar did. That personal quest became the seed of an entire company. Rather than settling for existing options, he began experimenting with components already available on the market, teaching himself the mechanics of headphone construction. A defining choice emerged early: he turned to wood for crafting speaker enclosure cups, a deliberate break from the plastics and polymers that dominated the industry at the time. In 2011, he formalized this passion into Meze Headphones (later renamed Meze Audio) in his hometown of Baia Mare, a city in northwestern Romania. The company's DNA was thus set from day one—rooted in a designer's eye, a musician's sensibility, and a willingness to challenge conventional materials.

The Breakthrough & Building a Name

The 99 Classics, launched in 2015 through an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, represented a pivotal milestone: they were the first headphones Meze Audio developed entirely in-house from the ground up. The project earned multiple awards and nominations, and its success gave the young Romanian company its initial foothold in the competitive audiophile market. Momentum built quickly in the following years. In 2016, Meze expanded into the earphone segment with the 12 Classics and 11 Neo, and in 2017 the 99 Neo arrived to round out the Classics lineup. A further refinement came in 2021 with the 12 Classics V2, an upgraded iteration featuring a redesigned form. Each release reinforced the brand's identity as a small, design-driven operation capable of competing with far larger manufacturers, all while remaining anchored in Baia Mare.

The High-End Leap & the Rinaro Partnership

In 2018, Meze Audio made a strategic gamble that would redefine its market position. The company partnered with Rinaro Isodynamics, a Ukrainian firm that had been pioneering planar magnetic driver technology since the 1980s. The collaboration married Meze's user-centered, aesthetic-driven design philosophy with Rinaro's deep research expertise in planar magnetic drivers, producing the Empyrean headphones. This product established Meze Audio firmly in the high-end audio tier, appealing to the most demanding and exacting listeners. The partnership yielded further fruits in 2021: ELITE, a headphone sharing the Empyrean's design language but employing different driver materials to deliver a distinct sonic character, and LIRIC, the first closed-back headphone powered by Rinaro's Isodynamic Hybrid Array technology, reengineered specifically for portable use. Both products demonstrated that the Meze-Rinaro alliance was not a one-off but a sustained creative engine.

Expanding the Ecosystem & Artistic Identity

Beyond over-ear headphones, Meze Audio steadily broadened its product family. Shortly after the Empyrean, the company introduced the Rai Penta, its first flagship in-ear monitor, combining two dual balanced-armature drivers with a single dynamic driver. At the end of 2019, the Rai Solo arrived as an entry-level IEM option for audiophiles stepping into the brand. In 2021, Meze Audio unveiled its Art Gallery collection with the Empyrean Phoenix, a rare collector's item explicitly celebrating the intersection of fine art and high-end audio technology. This artistic dimension echoes the founder's original inspiration—treating a headphone the way a guitarist treats a Fender Stratocaster—as an object of personal meaning and aesthetic identity. Today, Meze Audio's headphones and earphones are sold worldwide through both online channels and retail stores, carrying the design sensibility of a small Romanian workshop into living rooms and studios across the globe.